Baker’s Law Read Free Page B

yelling at him—his eyes widened
     and he darted between the dry cleaners and the animal hospital.
    Traffic up Flower Tree was too heavy for her to run across on foot. She needed her
     SUV if she wanted to see where he ended up. Back in the shop, the girls looked up
     from the counter. One turned up her nose like Marissa had just walked out of the bathroom
     with her skirt tucked into her undies. The one from her neighborhood kept her back
     to her—like she’d never met Marissa before. Teenagers. They were a good portion of
     her patrons so she tried to ignore their lovely mood swings. And now she had to deal
     with them breaking into her shop.
    Marissa snagged her purse and keys and was coming out to tell Kya she’d be back as
     the girls all received their orders. The lot of them headed back out the store. At
     the door, the one from Marissa’s neighborhood paused—they’d met at block parties several
     times over the past couple of years. “I forgot my book. I’ll catch up.” She waved
     her friends away and walked back toward the counter. She checked over her shoulder
     a couple of times until the other girls were out of eyeshot. “You live up the street,
     right?”
    “Yeah.” Marissa leaned her hip against the display case, then waved her hand at herself.
     “Marissa.”
    The teen’s eyes widened for a moment, then she glanced at the cup in her hand with
     the store logo on it. “Cool.” She gave a quick nod of approval. “I’m Lexi. Why were
     you running after that boy?”
    “You know him?”
    Lexi nodded, then took a long sip of her drink. “He goes by Hill. He’s a senior at
     my school. Why were you yelling at him?”
    “He forgot his change,” Marissa lied easily. “Do you know where he lives?”
    Lexi’s cheeks flushed. “He, um, I don’t know. I should go. My friends are waiting.”
     She hurried to the door.
    “You forgot your book.” Marissa scanned the counter and the table they’d stopped at
     momentarily, but there was no book. By the time she turned back to Lexi, the girl
     was already out the door.
    Marissa shook her head as she removed her apron. “Kya, I need to run out for a bit.
     I promise I’ll be back in time to meet with my brother for the door.”
    “Okay, boss.” Kya came out of the back with the broom.
    Marissa headed out to her SUV. Was she being silly to chase after a teenage boy—one
     she’d unsuccessfully tried to turn in to the police chief?
    “Maybe it’s sleep deprivation,” she muttered as she slid behind the wheel. Lack of
     sleep or no, it didn’t stop her from driving the direction she’d seen the boy—Hill—go.
     She was being stupid. There were any number of places a boy could hide, not to mention
     he might have just gone home. She was crossing the bridge into one of the main neighborhoods
     in Oak Hollow as she shook her head.
    “Might as well go back.” Her brother was due at her shop any minute. Marissa made
     a U-turn as soon as there was a break in traffic. As she was pulling into her lane,
     a flash of color caught her attention. Bright green and blue. Whatever it was, it
     hung from a tree branch next to the small creek that bisected the business end of
     town from the soccer fields. It caught her attention more when she remembered where
     she’d seen something similar before, on Hill—his backpack.
    What in the world would the boy be doing next to the creek?
    She gnawed her lip. Stop or not, she wasn’t sure, but since she’d been going on foolish
     impulse since grabbing her keys, she went ahead and pulled over to the side of the
     road and got out. The small area off to the side of the bridge was more cluttered
     than she might have expected for a town that boasted its civic pride on every posted
     sign.
    “I must have lost my mind.” Marissa turned to head back to the SUV and the dirt under
     her foot gave way. She slid down the short embankment on her butt, squealing the entire
     way down until she hit the bottom.