“The Sender said she was a liar and yes, I think my mom is lying to me.”

“If she is, it’s for a good reason.”

“Is it? Is it?” Grant’s voice rises. “I know that we’re supposed to think our parents are useless and lame and know nothing, but I love my mom and dad.” His voice cracks. This is not the kind of stuff he ever dreamed he would say to a senior, even an unpopular one, but he does it and he sees in Peter’s face that this is all right. “I don’t know why they would lie.”

“Because they love you. What people do for love…” Peter trails off.

“If we find out who is doing this, then we’ll know why it is happening,” Grant says.

“I brought a camera to conceal.” Peter holds up a small handheld camera from his bag, along with black masking tape. “Basically, we’re gonna aim this at the tree. There’s a flash drive that it will record to as a backup. It has a motion detector, so it won’t keep filming all the time.”

“Where did you get all this?”

“I asked another hacker who’s a hobbyist photographer. It’s his equipment.”

Grant walks Peter along the trail and points at the tree as they approach it.

“So that’s the famous tree.” Peter studies the angles. Then he places the camera in the low branches of a nearby tree.

“Check to see if something was left for you,” Peter suggests as he works. “After all, they sent you another email.”

Grant kneels by the tree and checks. “No, nothing. Seems dumb now that I ever hid things here.”

“We all need a place to keep our secrets,” Peter says.

“Where do you keep yours?”

“Oh, I don’t bother with secrets. No one truly has a secret in a world where we can be hacked.”

“You don’t believe that.”

Peter shrugs, makes a final adjustment to the camera, and camouflages it with a branch. “OK. Let’s go send your email and see if your stalker takes the bait.”

*  *  *

As Peter drives them to the high school, Grant sends the email from his phone: Hey. You keep saying stuff about my parents. I’d like to see some proof.

And a sudden reply, as if the Sender was reading emails when Grant’s message arrived: Your parents have the proof.

37

From Iris Pollitt’s “From Russia with Love” Adoption Journal

2002