Oh Say Can You Fudge Read Free Page A

right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then there’s a ninety-eight percent chance she found another dead body.”
    Rex’s mouth went flat, making a thin line of disgust. “Get the fire department out here.”
    “Yes, sir.” Charlene didn’t sound the least bit contrite. “That girl is trouble, Officer Manning. Be careful.”
    “Allie didn’t find a dead body,” he said sharply. “She called in the bomb threat like a responsible adult.”
    “I’m sure she did.” The communicator went dead as they hung up.
    I hugged my arms around my chest. “You’re right. He only looked dead. You should have let me go check on him. What if he needed help?”
    “Let me hear your phone messages.” Rex held out his big hand.
    I called up the voice mail, tapped in my password, and handed the phone to him.
    His frown grew darker as he listened. “I’m going to have to keep these. They’re evidence.”
    “What about Mr. Rivers? If you won’t let me, shouldn’t you at least go and check on him?”
    “You recognized the guy in the office?”
    “Yes, I think it was Rodney Rivers. He is the lead pyro tech I hired to do the Star Spangled Fourth fireworks shows.”
    Rex shook his head. “Dead or not, I can’t take the chance that the place isn’t rigged to blow. That’s a warehouse full of fireworks. If it explodes, he really will be dead, along with anyone else inside.”
    I heard sirens in the distance. The island was anti motor vehicle except for first responders. Then all rules were broken. It only made sense that we had an ambulance and fire truck. There was a limit to charm when people needed help.
    “Stay put!” Rex ordered and stepped out to direct the vehicles.
    I stuck my tongue out at his back. He whirled around, but I put my hands up and blinked innocently. “I’m staying right here.”
    Rex was not much taller than me, but he was a big man with shoulders as wide as a mountain, a thick neck, and a shaved head in the fit manner of an action hero. In the last few months, I’d gotten to know him well. He had even asked me out once, but I’d already said yes to my current boyfriend Trent Jessop. It’s not that Rex wasn’t attractive, but Trent left me feeling like the luckiest girl alive. Rex was a bit bossy . . . if you haven’t already noticed.
    Thirty minutes later, I still didn’t have my phone and had finally given up and sat down on the curb of the parking area. I watched as Sophie had flown out right after the call and came back with the crew from Mackinaw City. Three guys in thick bomb suits, with helmets in hand, strolled around the corner where the fire truck and ambulance sat.
    I was far enough away from the vehicles that I couldn’t hear what Rex said to the men, but their expressions were deadly serious as they put on the helmets and carefully entered the building through the door Rex had pushed me out.
    “First time I ever had to escort a bomb squad on the island,” Sophie said as she walked toward me from the far edge of the parking lot. “It must be serious for Rex to call in trolls.”
    Some people called anyone from the Lower Peninsula trolls because they lived under (south of) the Mackinac Bridge. The suspension bridge is the longest in the western hemisphere and the fifth longest bridge in the world. People around Mackinac were proud that it was nearly twice as long as the Golden Gate Bridge, but the claim to fame ended there as it was not nearly as wide.
    “Frances told him I had phone messages about trouble at the fireworks warehouse,” I said as she sat down on the curb next to me. “He got all bossy and practically dragged me out of the warehouse.”
    “If Rex called the troll bomb squad he had good reason to drag you out,” Sophie said. “I’ve known him for years and have never seen him panic.”
    “In my defense, I didn’t see anything to worry about until I peeked into the last office.” I hugged my knees to my chest.
    “Rumor has it you found yet another dead guy.” Sophie