“I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the neighbors are using her as a free dog waste cleanup service. She’s too excited about it.”
“Just what Santiago Investigations needs to be associated with: shit.”
“Yeah. You might need to change your name after this,” she agreed, carefully cutting a piece of tuna sushi in half. “I took a swing at my own primo case today.”
“You really don’t have to do that, Thorn.”
She shrugged. “Well, everyone else was having so much fun with theirs. And we learned exactly what bullying can lead to, thanks to the Channel 50 hostage situation. So Jasmine and I went to see what we were dealing with this afternoon.”
“I’m not gonna like this, am I?”
Riley filled him in on her run-in with Lance the Shithead.
“Is he old enough for me to punch in the face?” Nick demanded when she was done.
She shook her head. “Unfortunately no. He looks like he’s thirty, acts like a spoiled four-year-old, but he’s only seventeen.”
“Hmmm, that could push me into first-degree misdemeanor.”
“After meeting Kory and seeing this Lance kid in action, I’m invested. He’s terrorizing the entire school. Unfortunately I don’t think dressing up like a clown and hiding in a closet is going to be enough to force him into developing empathy. Got any ideas?”
“Sounds like you need to get to know your enemy,” he said. “The more you know about him, the more weapons you’ll find to use against him.”
“Yeah, but without my powers, I’d have to do it the old-fashioned way. How much trouble can I get into spying on a teenage psychopath?” Riley asked.
“A medium amount.”
“Hmm. It might be worth it,” she mused. “Your influence is definitely rubbing off on me.”
He grinned. “Does that bother you?”
“It should, but right now, I’m too enraged to care.”
“After Josie’s done scaring the piss out of this kid, talk to her. This is her area of expertise,” Nick advised. “The Art of Waris her middle name.”
“I’ll do that. Thanks.”
“Speaking of middle names…”
“No. Eat your sushi.”
They ate in silence for a few minutes before Riley spoke up again. “In brighter news, we still have a Halloween stash. None of our neighbors or roommates have found the gummy worms yet.”
“Where’d you hide them?”
“Filing cabinet in my office.”
“Nice.” He straightened in his seat as a red sedan eased up to the curb in front of the townhouse. There were two people in the front seat.
“Showtime,” Nick murmured, picking up the pair of binoculars. “Yep. That’s our guy. Wanna do the honors?”
“Gimmie,” she said. He handed her the digital camera and then set his phone to video.
“This is so exciting!” she hissed.
“Yeah, Thorn. Thirty seconds of excitement after three hours of ass-numbing boredom.”
“All in moderation,” she said, snapping away as the man got out of the car with a significantly younger girl. “Huh. She does have nice hands.”
