The girls stood in front of Rosie's house.
The summer heat was terrible and Arbel tried not to think about the shirt that stuck to her back, the drops of sweat that slowly trickled down.
But she thought about it quite a lot.
"Will you let me know when Lucy approves you on her Instagram account?" she asked Rosie
Rosie frowned "Why didn't you send her a follower yourself?" she asked
"If she really knows Leo then it would be weird for his sister to send her a follower, right?"
Rosie made a face. "I guess?"
Arbel let out a long breath, the heat didn't help her fatigue, the feeling that she was carrying some kind of weight. Weight that made movements harder, heavier.
"Rosie-" Arbel tried to use her serious voice, which was hard because she barely uses it "-you know you don't have to help me right? All of this, this whole pile of shit, is my problem. Mine and my family's.
It's perfectly legitimate if you have better things to do than investigate my little brother's life"
Rosie lightly smacked her on the shoulder "Breathe, girl-" she snorted
"-I only said that because you're better at social media than me. Do you think I won't help you? This is the most interesting shit I've done in the last year"
"Then you have to find hobbies" Arbel teased, but she smiled.
Rosie made a face at her before straightening up and pinching her cheek
"Now listen because this is important"
"First thing ouch-" Arbel said
"-but keep going"
Rosie didn't release her grip, just making sure Arbel looked her in the eyes when she spoke
"We're getting lost Arbel, there's too much information and we're losing direction. I'll take care of Lucy but you need to take care of the rest"
"The rest?" Arbel asked
Rosie sighed and released Arbel's cheek "Just reminding you what we found today. There are the pages Leo shoved behind the picture, we have the location of Ben you sent yourself like some kind of stalker, we have the whole story with Corey along with maybe three other names- Lucy, Carmen and Creed.
I don't know about you Arbel but to me it feels like a lot. And I can't even tell you that it's all reverse information"
Arbel sighed burying her face in her hands. She felt her sweaty face and felt a little disgusted.
"You're right, you're right-" she muttered to herself.
"-We're going too far and too wide, let's focus, share information"
Arbel pointed to Rosie "You're in charge of Lucy and her circle of friends. That means seeing what connection she had with Carmen and Cory, and how Leo fits into it. If you can figure out who Creed is then that would help at all"
Rosie nodded to herself "Okay, I'll update you the second Lucy approves me or I'll find something important"
Arbel pointed to herself
"I'll keep an eye on Ben's location, see if he goes to special places and if he does, take a screenshot.
Besides, I'll go through Leo's pages, try to translate a few more words and talk to the police to see if they've made any progress"
Rosie shook her head "What about your mother?"
Despite the summer heat, Arbel froze "What about her?"
Rosie looked at her uncomfortably
"You'll have to update her sometime you know" she insisted
The police said they would do it-" Arbel replied dryly "-I see no reason to do it myself"
Rosie sighed and looked up "How do I say this nicely?-" she wondered aloud
"-Arbel you'd be better off taking care of it yourself"
Arbel felt a little attacked right now, she didn't know why, but she did.
"Why?" she asked defensively
Rosie looked back down at her "Because your family situation isn't exactly standard, and the less the police sticks their noses in, the less chance there is that you and Leo will end up in foster care or something"
And the truth is that it was a good point.
What the police know is that her mother was on a business trip and that their father was out of the picture after the divorce.
What they don't know is that your mother's business trip is in fucking Antarctica, their father's location is unknown and it's better for him to stay that way and Leo and Arbel have more or less been living alone for years.
"I'll be eighteen in a few months," Arbel pointed out
"-and then everything will be fine."
But that didn't sound believable even to her ears.
"And what will happen between those months?" Rosie asked.
Arbel whined "It's not fair, I don't want to talk to her. How will this conversation even go? Hey mom, what's going on, remember your other child? The little one who used to be afraid of the dark, he's gone now. Oops?"
Rosie ruffled her hair in a futile attempt to comfort her. "More or less so I guess." She smiled a small smile at her.
"I hate my life," Arbel muttered
And with these happy words she and Rosie parted ways, each going to her own house.
The unfortunate difference was that Arbel's house was empty, and would remain so for a long time, she feared.
At least they had work to do after all, although Arbel didn't particularly want to do hers.
But like everything ever, it didn't seem like she had any choice.