“You’re awake early,” I said.
“I may have screwed up.”
“Oh?”
“You know I started a blog last winter, right?”
“Right.”
“Somehow it got linked over to some biggies, like BuzzFeed and BlogBlast, even the Huffington Post. I can’t believe the number of hits I’m getting and the number of people posting comments.”
“That’s great.”
Katy sighed.
“Isn’t it?”
“Lately I’ve been blogging for Coop. I wanted to talk about the stupidity of war, of young people dying far from home, in foreign countries, you know.”
“OK.” I had no idea where she was going.
“It went totally viral. But people were all over the map, talking about kids getting killed by drunk drivers, shot in drive-bys, shot by cops.” Katy twisted a strand of hair as she spoke. “Then, two days ago, this whole new thread started. About gangs.”
Uh-oh.
“I mean, there must have been two hundred posts about kids dying as a result of gang violence.”
Katy ran the strand of hair across her upper lip. Drew it back. Repeated the gesture.
“Do you know how many gangs there are in Los Angeles alone?” Her tone reflected shock and dismay.
“Tell me you didn’t write about the case I discussed last night.”
Nothing.
“Did you?”
“You never said not to.” Defensive. “And I didn’t use any names. I couldn’t. I didn’t know any.”
“Oh, Katy.”
“They were young, someone killed them. It’s sad, Mom. Even if they were drug dealers.”
“Did you mention me?”
“No.” Quick. “But I did say the murder happened here.”
“Did you identify the gang?”
Katy nodded.
Shit!
“This morning I found this posted to my site.”
She handed me a printout of the entry.
YOU TELL CRASY LADY DOC SHE FUCC MIGHTY GANG MIGHTY GANG FUCC HER. AND ALL ENEMIES. MIGHTY GANG SOS. SONS OF SAMOA CRIP. FUCC W SOS YOU DIE!!!
My heart threw in extra beats. I forced myself to keep smiling, willed myself to stay calm for Katy’s sake.
“Lady doc. Could that be you?” Katy asked.
I put an arm around her shoulders. “The Internet’s full of loons.”
Some of whom kill, I thought.
“Could it be a threat?”
“More of a rant.”
“How could they know? About you, I mean.”
“Relax.” I decided to low-key it for now. The posting was obscure and almost illiterate. What were the chances it was related to yesterday’s collision?
“I feel awful. I never thought—”
“Hey.”
We both looked up. Lily was in the doorway wearing a bikini top and cutoff jeans. Exceptionally short ones.
“So.” I patted Katy’s leg. “You have a surf lesson. Then what do you ladies have planned for today?”
“Miss Priss has agreed to a day at the beach. Going to risk burning her skinny black butt.”
“At least mine doesn’t go all freckly-ass red.”
Katy gave a thumbs-up. Lily returned it. Both were smiling.
Whoa.
