The Red Hat Society's Acting Their Age Read Free Page A

pulled up at Mack’s, she got away and took off running. I recognized her from a photo the Amarillo PD posted. They’ve been looking for her a couple of days now. She’s a runaway. A fourteen-year-old foster kid name of Rachel Nye. The foster parents reported that she was missing when they woke up Wednesday morning.” He heaved a tired sigh, and Mia wondered if he had slept last night. “I thought I had her cornered, but she slipped right past me and disappeared.”
    Aggie pulled vases of dried flowers from beneath the inside counter. “That poor, poor, girl,” she said. “Her family’s probably worried sick about her.”
    “There are only the foster parents, and she hasn’t been with them more than a few months.” Cade pushed away from the counter and walked to the small fireplace at the side of the room. He glanced back at Mia. “You want me to get this going?”
    When she nodded, he slid aside the screen and rearranged the logs. He took a match from the mantel and lit it. Flames leaped, danced, and crackled as he tossed it in and turned on the gas beneath the logs. “Stupid kids,” he rumbled. “They just don’t think.”
    “Same as when we were young,” Leanne said, a frustrated edge to her tone. She fanned the checkered cloth she held, flapping it until it billowed.
    Cade watched the fire until the logs took hold of the flame. Then he turned off the gas and replaced the screen. “Anyway,” he continued, standing, “You ladies are my first stop this morning. I plan on dropping by all the local businesses to give them a heads-up. I’d appreciate a call if you see any sign of her. She has a history of stealing. Nothing seemed out of place in here this morning, did it?”
    Leanne glanced up from her work. She blinked at Mia then said, “Nothing except the fact that in our storage closet we found—”
    “—a mouse,” Mia blurted just as Aggie made a quick turn and knocked a vase from the table behind her. The vase didn’t break, but dried flowers scattered across the floor.
    “For heaven’s sake!” Aggie’s voice fluttered along with her hands as she stooped to clean up the mess.
    Leanne, Cade, and Mia converged to help.
    Cade chuckled. “What’s got you so jumpy this morning, Aggie?”
    Aggie blinked worriedly. Leanne started to answer him, but Mia cut her off. “Post holiday jitters, most likely. I know
I
have them. Too many Christmas goodies.”
    When the flowers were all back in the vase, everyone stood. Cade went to the counter for his hat, tugged it on then started for the door.
    Suddenly, the phone on the wall behind the counter rang. Aggie gasped, jumped, and stumbled backward against a table.
    Cade crossed to her quickly. “You okay?”
    She pressed a palm to her chest. “Just startled.” Her face turned as splotchy red as the checks on the tablecloths. “Who would be calling at this hour?”
    “You did eat too much sugar.” He smiled as she hurried past him, rounding the counter to answer the phone. “I thought maybe you saw that mouse.”
    “Oh, hello, Roy,” Aggie said after picking up. She paused. “Clean socks? They’re in the dryer. I didn’t get around to folding them.” Another pause. “There’s no such thing as a left sock and a right. Just take out two and put them on.”
    Listening to the phone conversation, Mia smiled at Leanne, who continued dressing the tables. Leanne didn’t smile back. She looked up at Mia with pursed lips, then said, “We don’t have a mouse, we have a packrat.” Her scowl left no question that she disagreed with Mia’s decision to cover for the runaway girl.
    “A packrat?” Cade looked back and forth between the two women. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s how you referred to Rachel Nye a minute ago.”
    Before Leanne could respond, Aggie hung up the phone and said, “That husband of mine . . . I swear I don’t know how he’d take care of himself if I wasn’t around.” She tightened her apron sash.
    Mia bit her lip as