“Keep my voice down?” He lowered his volume but not his angry tone.
I smiled for the benefit of the parents who were still giving us sidelong glances. “C’mon, let’s take a walk.”
I stood up, but Alex stayed seated, silently fuming. I left him on the bench while I ran over to the kids. I told them not to leave the playground area until we returned. When all three had promised, I walked back to the bench and stared at Alex with my hands on my hips until he stood up.
“I feel like you’re always mad at me,” I said as we strode side by side along the cement path that led to the soccer field.
“When I tell you to get something out of your house, it means get it away from you, not transfer it to your goddamn computer.”
“I can count on one hand the number of people who even know the flash drive exists.”
Alex stopped in the middle of the path. “Wrong! You have no idea who knows about the flash drive or why they might want it.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Fighting with Alex was not going to get him to help me. “Actually, I think I might know or, at least, why someone would want it. There’s only one file on the drive. A spreadsheet. I think it might be a list of private keys. Do you know what those are? They’re—”
“I know what a private key is!” Alex said, shaking his head in disgust.
“Enough, Alex.” I wouldn’t put up with Daniel’s condescension and I wasn’t going to accept it from Alex either. “I apologize if I insulted you. It wasn’t my intention. Now stop insulting me. I had no idea what a private key was until my ex told me.”
“Your ex?”
“Just someone I dated for a few weeks.”
“The math teacher?”
Obviously, MJ had told him about Daniel, although I didn’t know why. “Yes, but we broke up.”
“Why?”
“Does it matter?”
“You want my help, don’t you?”
I let out another slow breath and reminded myself again that I didn’t just want Alex’s help, I needed it. I had no one else to turn to. “If you must know, it’s because he thinks I’m crazy.”
Alex let out a laugh and Aaron stirred. “You are crazy,” he said and resumed walking.
“Not crazy the way you think I’m crazy. Tinfoil hat crazy. Check myself into the Wellstone Center crazy.”
“Why? What did you do?”
“I told him I thought the file on the flash drive might have something to do with why Jonah and Amelia were killed.”
Alex didn’t respond. He stared straight ahead and kept walking.
“Do you agree? Or do you think I’m tinfoil hat crazy too?”
“That depends.”
“On?”
Alex stopped and turned to face me. “What you’re planning to do with the file.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to steal anyone’s crypto if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“I wasn’t.”
“That’s why I need your help. I don’t know anything about this stuff. If the file really is a list of private keys, how do I find the owners?”
“You don’t,” he said and started walking again.
“You don’t understand. That’s my—”
Alex stopped short and pointed his finger in my face. “No, you don’t understand. You need to delete that file and move on with your life.”
“I can’t delete it and move on with my life! What if those private keys are somehow connected to my family’s murder?”
“What if they are? Knowing won’t bring them back.”
“But if I know what the connection is, I could go to the police.”
“What do you think the police are gonna do?”
“Arrest them.”
“The shooter is dead. The police don’t arrest dead men.”
“But I still don’t know why he shot them. And I need to. Not knowing will kill me.”