Page 49 of You'll Be the Death of Me

“Jason,” Jason said again, and joined Charlie in putting a hand on Robbie’s arm. “And yes, I’ve just stopped by for a quick chat. Why don’t we take it in another room?” His voice pitched up suggestively.

Robbie looked too terrified to speak. Before he could get any words out, Jason was pushing him down the hall. “Is your room this way?”

“Let me know if you’d like anything to drink, fellas!” Charlie called.

Dell and Cole followed down the wood-paneled hallway. Intricate sconces lit their path, and healthy-looking houseplants reached out leaves and tendrils from their pots along the walls.They passed a carpeted staircase, but Robbie didn’t turn up it. Instead, he all but stumbled backward into an open doorway across from it.

“This is more like it,” Dell said when they entered a cave more than a room. The shades were pulled, the light dim. The walls were painted a dark gray, and, other than a twin bed and a closet, a continuous desk lined the walls, crowded with monitors, keyboards, speakers, blinking boxes Dell couldn’t even identify. A chair that looked transplanted from a race car sat amid it all, spun to face the room, as if someone had gotten up from it moments ago. Much to Dell’s satisfaction, a little jar of CBD gummies sat next to the keyboard.

“W-what are you—?” Robbie tried with a stutter as Jason closed the door.

“Relax, kid. This will only take a few minutes,” Jason said, and pushed him into his chair. “Dell?” he said to the empty room. “Take it away.”

“If you must do this, at least be gentle,” Cole warned her. “He looks ready to faint.”

“I will,” she promised, feeling bad for Robbie but knowing they had no other choice.

Taking the same approach she’d used at the park, she turned around in front of Robbie and sat backintohim. She felt the fishhook behind her belly button again and immediately sensed the resistance.

“Robbie! It’s me again, Dell. Listen, I know this is weird, and probably scary, but you’re really doing me a favor. I need your help.”

“Get out!”Robbie shouted inside his head. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because! You are the only one we can trust,”she hedged. Shehoped he hadn’t gone running to the police or maybe a head doctor since she’d last seen him.

“No!”he resisted again.

“Robbie! I am not going to hurt you.”

“Please stop. Please stop. Please stop.”

“He’s resisting harder this time,” Dell said to Cole. “I don’t know if this is going to work.”

Cole twisted his mouth in thought. “Try saying something personal to him.”

Personal, Dell thought.Like what?

“Your grandpa seems really nice,” she tried. “He seems to really care about you.”

The struggling stopped. Robbie stilled. “Grandpa Charlie is the best. Don’t do anything to him.”

“I would never,” Dell said. “How long have you lived with him?”

The tension relaxed even further. “Since my mom died. He helped raise me, and now I take care of him.”

Dell’s dead heart softened. She never would have expected such a thing, but then, she’d never really talked to Robbie, and her and Jason’s whole opinion of him was based on stereotype.

“I’m sorry to hear that. About your mom,” she said.

“Thanks. It was a long time ago. I never knew my dad, so Grandpa Charlie stepped in. Please don’t do anything to me. I’m all he’s got. He’d lose this house if it wasn’t for my job.”

God, this kid was laying it on thick. She glanced around at his wall of computers and wondered how much money he made as an independent consultant if it paid for a waterfront home in the Marina District.

“What’s your job?”she asked.

Robbie paused for a long beat. “I’d rather not say.”

Her curiosity piqued, but she didn’t push. “Well, listen, I appreciate you talking to me. I know this is next-level bizarre, but I need to borrow your body again to talk to my friend Jason. And I need your permission. It won’t take long, and I am not going to do anything but talk to him, okay? Then I’ll leave you alone. For now.”