Thief Read Free Page A

crotch.
    He cursed her as he dropped to his knees. As
soon as his hands were off her shoulders, Abby ran out from behind
the bush. She almost collided with Ryan, who'd been running top
speed around the side of the Humanities building.
    "It's him," Abby said, pointed at the man
writhing on the ground, clutching his crotch. "I still couldn't
pick him out of a line up, but I know it's him."
    She said the same thing first to campus
security, and then to a Reno Police Department detective by the
name of Ed Hastings. Neither of them quite believed her until they
found Abby's Walkman in one pocket of the thief's jacket. Abby's
mother had had the Walkman engraved with Abby's name and a good
luck wish.
    After Detective Hastings had handcuffed the
thief and deposited him in the back of a patrol car, he took Abby
aside. "I'm going to need you to make a formal statement, but one
thing I'm curious about."
    They were sitting on a bench by herself off
to one side of the Humanities building. Ryan and Jimmy had both
gone on to their next classes only after repeated assurances from
campus security that an officer would walk Abby back to her dorm
room after the police were done with her.
    "How did you know it was this guy?" Hastings
asked. "Out of all the kids up here, you tail someone you admit you
never got a good look at, and it turns out to be the right
guy."
    Abby explained her theory about the lack of a
backpack or books. "I just got lucky." Or unlucky. Her knees were
still shaking, and she wanted to swallow about a gallon of
mouthwash. For the first time in her life, she was glad her nose
was mostly stuffed up from a cold.
    Hastings shook his head. "No, you were good.
Not everybody would have put all that together. You might make a
good detective, you work at developing that talent you got."
    Abby shook her head. The only abnormal
behavior she ever wanted to deal with ever again were the boring
case studies in her Sociology textbook. She hadn't decided what
she'd major in yet, but she doubted it would be criminal justice.
Ryan was one of those people who knew in high school what he wanted
to do with the rest of his life, but Abby figured she had plenty of
time to figure that out.
    "I don't think so," she said. "I'm not the
confrontational type. Today was enough to last me for a long
time."
    Hastings shrugged. "Suit yourself. Not all
detectives chase down scumbags like that guy. There's all sorts of
crooks. Some of 'em wear suits and ties, and the trail's made of
paper." He took a business card out of his shirt pocket and handed
it to Abby. It had the Reno Police Department logo on it along with
Hastings' name and phone number. "You change your mind after things
cool down, you let me know."
    She stared at the card. Chasing down a paper
trail. She'd never thought about all the different kinds of work
police detectives did. She supposed she got all her understanding
of the way cops worked from televisions shows, just like Jimmy
Fisher. Still, she couldn't see herself in a police uniform.
    She made arrangements to go to the police
station to give a formal statement the next day. She said goodbye
to Detective Hastings and watched him drive away.
    The campus security officer was the only
person left at the scene besides Abby, and he was beginning to look
impatient. The students who'd milled around, trying to get a good
look at what was going on, had all gone back to their lives. That's
what Abby needed to do. Get back to her life. Her twenty dollars
and her I.D. were gone, but Detective Hastings said she'd get her
Walkman back after the thief's trial. If he went to trial. Hastings
said most guys like the purse snatcher took a plea deal. Chances
were she wouldn't even have to testify.
    She got up off the bench, nodded at the
campus security guard, and headed toward her dorm. The security
guard fell into step beside her.
    When they passed a trash bin at the front of
the student union, Abby almost pitched Detective Hastings' card in
with the rest