She purses her lips and lifts her chin, not wanting to admit anything. “I said it was real.”
“Real good.” I wink.
She rolls her eyes and then grows serious as the photos of the boy I took appear. “Cole,” she murmurs against her fingers. She looks at the images for so long I start thinking I made a mistake. Tears well up, and a sob catches in her throat. I snatch my phone back, but she waves me off. “No. I’m okay. It just caught me off guard. I think I should see him in person. Then what do we do? If we report this to the police, we’ll never get to see the crime scene. Or I won’t. You were already there.” She hops up and starts gathering her materials. I take her notebook and pens and tuck them away in her bookbag. After slinging it over my shoulder, I motion for her to exit before me.
“You sure about this?” I ask once we reach the sidewalk.
She stops and swings around. “Yeah. I’m an investigator, and that means sometimes I’m going to face difficult things. If I can’t visit a crime scene, if I can’t view a dead body, then I have no business poking around and solving these mysteries. You gonna stop me?”
Her chin juts out again. I pinch it and shake my head. “Nah, but you have to promise that you’ll never run around by yourself. As your assistant, I’m required to be with you at all times.”
“All times?” Her brow arches.
“All times you’re outside of your apartment or class unless you’re with your dad.”
“How about?—”
“No,” I cut her off. Without a trace of humor in my voice or on my face, I shake my head. “No bargains here, spygirl. You either take me along everywhere or you stay home.”
“Who’s going to stop me?” The chin lift again.
This time when I take her little jaw between my fingers, I don’t let go. “Me, rebel. I’ll stop you, and you won’t like the way I do it.”
She jerks out of my grip. “You’re being mean.”
“Cautious.” I tuck my hands into my pockets. “Let’s go see the dead body. Why are you so into this anyway? You have feelings for Cole?” That makes me scowl.
“No. I barely knew him. It’s just that crimes around here go unsolved. People disappear. People die. People get hurt, and the police don’t care because we’re poor and lack power, but everyone needs closure. I want to give that if I can. That and because solving mysteries is fun.” The bright look in her eyes reappears. “If you mean to keep an eye on me, better catch up.” And with that, she takes off running.
Chapter Four
JOSIE
“Does that hurt your feelings?” I ask Bam, following his lead. I have no clue where this warehouse is.
“What?” Bam glances down at me curiously, having no clue what I’m talking about. He must be used to it.
“People crossing the road or hurrying out of your way on the sidewalk?”
“Nope.” He shrugs.
“Good because it’s kind of cool, but I say that as the tiny person who gets bumped around in a crowd.”
“Who’s bumping you around?” Bam stops walking to turn slightly to face me. His eyes go up and down the old cracking sidewalk, ready to take on the imaginary person. It’s adorable how willing he is to protect me.
“If I said that guy, would you kick his butt?” I nod toward a man sitting at what used to be a bus stop, which I know is no longer in operation.
We’re on the edge of the city near the water. The buses don’t come here; hell, I don’t come here. Until now with my new trusty sidekick. I almost laugh at the thought of Bam being a sidekick. He really doesn’t have anything but main character energy.
“Kick his butt?”
“Ass, right.” My dad isn’t a giant fan of the curse words. Not sure why; he’s not super uptight, but that’s always been a button for him.
Growing up with it being only the two of us, I adhered to the few rules I did have out of respect for my father. He says you can only use those words when they are truly called for or they lose their power. I suppose he’s right, but I don’t think it would be the worst thing in the world if some of those words lost their power; however, “ass” isn’t one of them.
“So?” He glances at the older man sitting there. “You want me to kick his ass?”
“You’d really do it?” He gives another shrug, making it clear it doesn’t matter to him. It would be like asking him to take the trash out or unload the dishwasher. Both things I despise.
