Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45351 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45351 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
“Noted, sir. Should I call your father?”
I check the time. It’s nine here so it’s four in the morning over there. Dad’s not going to be awake for another two hours. Besides, I’m an adult with a fat bank account. I can figure this out.
“Nah. I’ll deal with it.” I start for the house.
“Very well. I’ve placed the officers in the library and—“ He stops short and so do I. The officers have wandered out of the library and are standing on the terrazzo tiles of the back sundeck overlooking the pool. My mind flashes to the beer and possible weed that is being consumed below. I don’t love these classmates of mine, but no one is getting arrested at one of my parties.
I charge up the stairs. “May I help you?” I strive for pleasantness.
“How old is everyone here?”
“This is private property. Do you have a warrant to search the place? Because, if not, I think you should leave.”
The tall, gaunt officer who looks like he stepped out of a Tim Burton animation pulls a piece of paper from his breast pocket and flicks it in front of my face. “We have a warrant for the arrest of one Mallory Simmons. We have information that she is being harbored here.”
I snap to attention. No one is taking Mallory from me, particularly not the police. “I don’t know who you’re talking about. No one by the name of Simmons lives here. It’s my dad and me and my cousin.”
“Ms. Simmons is a dangerous runaway who has stolen thousands of dollars. For your own safety, it’s best if we take her off your hands.” The shorter one begins to move.
Felton steps up to block his way.
“Like I said, no one here goes by that. I’m going to ask you to leave,” I say, still trying to be nice because they have guns and Mallory’s in danger and I don’t want anything sick to happen because the cops are trigger happy.
“The school said that there was a new student that enrolled this week by the name of Mallory.”
A cold chill runs down my spine. These guys have been doing some leg work. “Yeah, and did you check her last name? It was the same as mine.”
“Let’s see some identification for your cousin then.”
I hold out my arms. “Dude. I’m having a party to celebrate the team’s championship win. Our fourth in a row. Maybe you read about it in the papers. Does it look like I’m carrying around my cousin’s ID?”
The Tim Burton character peers over his large beak of a nose. “We can wait while you get it. In the meantime, is that beer I smell?”
“Is that a lawsuit I smell?” I fire back. “Felton, get Baker and Baker on the phone. It looks like we have an abuse of power suit on our hands. What are your badge numbers?”
The threat of a lawsuit wipes the smugness off of Tim Burton’s face. “Fine. But we want Mallory. Give her up and none of your friends get charged with underaged drinking.”
“What’s going on here?”
I turn to see Aly and Owen standing right behind me. “Nothing. Go back to the party.”
“You two know of a Mallory Simmons?” interjects Tim.
Aly shakes her head. “We have a couple of Mallorys in our class. Mallory Ponds and then Carter’s cousin. She just started school last week.”
Tim pulls out a picture and shoves it in Aly’s face. “You recognize this girl?”
My heart starts pounding. The photo is clearly of Mallory. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail and she’s wearing red lipstick but it’s her all right. A few more students have come up the hill to the sundeck. They start passing the photo around.
“No. Never seen her before,” says Aly.
“Doesn’t look familiar,” Owen adds.
One by one the others chime in that the person in the photo is unknown to them.
Tim grows frustrated. His eyes scan the crowd and stop at a figure standing at the edge of the pool. “Her. Who is that?”
My heart’s in my throat by now so I can’t answer. Beside me, Felton has turned into a frozen statue.
“Oh that’s Carter’s cousin, Mallory,” Aly replies. She waves Mallory up to join us.
“What the hell are you doing?” Owen mutters under his breath.
Same, Owen. Same. My fingers turn ice cold. I know if I tell Mallory to stay down by the pool, it will tip off the cops so all I can do is stand helplessly as my girl slowly climbs the hill until she’s next to Aly.
“What’s up?” she says. Her voice is steady but her hand shakes. I want to walk over next to her and pull her into my arms but that wouldn’t be a very cousinly action.
“Call the lawyer,” I tell Felton. That’s all I can do at this point.