Dead Ringer Read Free Page A

monitor a person’s online life.
Sasha tackled all that within her first six months. That’s how she earned the
name “Phenom.” You know you’re finally accepted into the community once another
hacker gives you a handle, and she received hers from Syke, the leader of the
Midnight Kids—one of the top hacking groups online.
    Sasha’s skills expanded a thousand-fold once she had the
support of Syke and his crew. They helped her develop an interface to track all
the communication she was monitoring. Sasha knew everything that went on inside
the computers of over three hundred fifty people—emails, chats,
downloads, searches, and more. After that, she built an alert system to let her
know when relevant information was shared. That is, if relevant
information was ever shared.
    It had been five hundred twenty-one days since the search
terms she’d built her system around popped up in the interface—almost a
year and a half since any of the people she was hacking mentioned the words
she’d been waiting to hear. Those words were the key to building her case.
    Sasha still checked in on the feed twice a day, every day,
no matter how useless the act felt. She couldn’t let herself give up yet, if
ever. She’d wake up, shower, get dressed, and then sit down at her computer to
check the feed. At the end of the day, she’d finish her homework, change into
her pajamas, and sit down to check it one more time before bed. Every single
day was the same. No new mentions of the search terms.
    They had obviously all forgotten about what happened, and
she hated them for it. Nobody wanted to remember that kind of tragedy, least of
all Sasha. And yet here she was again, as always, sitting before her computer
for the end-of-day check. She refused to let a day go by without honoring the
promise she’d made herself all those months ago, even if no new clues ever
surfaced.
    But today, all that patience finally paid off.
    Sasha saw the flashing red S on the top right of her
screen and a mix of joy and fear rushed through her body.
    She clicked on the icon, which opened the master-panel
listing of all the computers she followed. Sasha had built the system to
collect a huge amount of data—enough to give her the greatest chance
possible of finding the one thing she was looking for. But the deluge of
information wouldn’t be a problem today. The problem now was where to begin.
     
You have 942 mentions of the requested search term: Sarah Castro-Tanner.
     
    For a second, Sasha just froze. She didn’t know whether to
laugh, cry, jump up and down, or scream. Somehow every emotion available felt
right. Instead, she took a deep breath and clicked on the very first name on
the list: Andrea Adams. An instant-message screen popped open. She noticed that
Andrea Adams had engaged in an online conversation with a Christine Beck at
3:45 p.m., which was almost immediately after school let out for the day. Sasha
would typically do a control+F keyboard search to find mentions of the word
Sarah, but that wouldn’t be necessary. It was the very first thing Andrea Adams
said.
     
AndieA: Ohmygod how much would it suck to look like that girl Sarah?
Chelsbells: Think the new girl looks that similar?
AndieA: Enough.
Chelsbells: Did anyone tell her?
AndieA: Idk. Would you?
Chelsbells: No thank you. What would you say? “Welcome to Englewood. You
look just like the town’s most famous dead girl.”

Chapter 2
     
    Laura
     
    Laura sat on her bed working on the
latest in her ever-growing collection of infinity scarves. Her mom’s mom, Grandma
Hellen, had taught her to knit the summer that she stayed in her cottage in Santa
Barbara. Laura had been something like ten years old, but the lesson stuck and
knitting became her favorite way to relax—even if it did make her feel
like an old lady.
    Laura thought back on her first day at Englewood as she
stared at the needles flying around the bright-pink yarn. “I survived,” she’d
reported at the dinner table