Chasing Justice Read Free Page B

weren’t going as he had imagined.
    He watched her impatiently tuck her silky brown hair behind her ear and he realized that maybe he had misread her. Back in the diner he thought her murky dark-brown eyes had been calling out to him in a haunting way. She seemed to have a depth that he had struggled to find in anyone lately. Maybe at first she seemed like something beautiful that had been knocked down and was waiting to be picked up and dusted off. Now standing on the sidewalk, with no words passing between them, he felt silly.
    “Well, I guess that’s it then,” he said awkwardly, turning on his heels. It wasn’t usually hard for Piper to watch anyone walk away from her. She normally found herself relieved to be alone. This felt different. She had to stifle a little tug at her heart as she watched this man leave, and all that did was annoy her. She didn’t need butterflies in her stomach; she needed ice in her veins.
    Piper didn’t like the way he looked at her penetratingly, like he could see something that others couldn’t—the heaviness she carried. Starting right now he would be someone she’d need to avoid.

     

Chapter Two
     
    “Betty.” Bobby waved her over before she could head back to the kitchen. “What’s that girl’s name, and, for that matter, what’s her story?” At that question Betty lit up like a Christmas tree and plopped herself down in his booth, his real booth, the booth he moved to the moment he came back to the diner.
    “I have no idea. The girl doesn’t say a peep. Polite as pie, easily pleased, but she is closed up tight as a clam. I haven’t pried much, but you know how most people love to come in here and gush about themselves? Well she sits, reads, writes, and watches.” Betty’s hands were moving frantically, as they usually did when she gossiped. Bobby often wondered if she would know what to say if she couldn’t flail her hands around when she spoke.
    “Watches what?” Bobby asked, losing more interest in the story by the minute. After Betty’s animated response he was more convinced than ever that the girl was probably only taking in the sights of a lackluster town and dreaming up some soap opera to write an English paper about. That was the problem with living so close to a college. You often found yourself dealing with entitled students.
    “Everything. The girl seems like a private eye. She watches everything, and everybody. To tell you the truth, she’s got my antennas up. You know how I have that sixth sense about people? Well my radar is going off like crazy with her. She’s got something going on. I just haven’t asked the right questions.” Betty’s excitement over the whole thing had sealed the deal for Bobby. A nosy waitress hoping a boring customer will turn out to be something more than she is.
    “I’ve got to get to work.” Bobby laid his money on the table for Betty and kissed her lightly on the cheek. The woman was a bit cracked but she’d been better to him than his own family at times, and something about her always made him feel good.
    God knows he needed a reason to feel better. There were moments in everyone’s life that could be considered tipping points—events that became large black lines forever separating the before from the after. Bobby’s came two weeks ago, and it certainly changed his life, career, and plans.
    Sam Manton. Just thinking his name put a brick in Bobby’s stomach. He’d spent four months of this year, his rookie year, building a case against this creep. Manton was pretty widely known for importing dope of all kinds into Edenville and the surrounding areas. No one in the department showed much interest, which still puzzled him.
     
    Taking Manton down seemed like a no-brainer. Sure, maybe it was only water cooler chatter but the rumors of Manton’s deals had become enough to convince Bobby it was worth the department’s effort. It was at least worth investing some time into checking him out a little