LITMIR.BIZ

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I won’t go anywhere. I’ll just sleep. For a month. Or maybe two.”

      “No, I am not about to leave you here by yourself in a strange hotel room in a strange city.”

      Marissa opened one eye. “Well, okay. Let me go hang out with Taylor. That was fun yesterday. She’s cool.”

      Kimberly dropped to the bed, confused. “Marissa, this isn’t a fun-and-games vacation. This is... I thought you wanted to be with me when I talked to these people.”

      “Well, of course, I want to know. But I... Can’t you go and tell me about it? You know, later? And I wouldn’t have to, er, actually, be there?”

      This last phrase, she uttered in a small voice. Her knuckles were white against the coverlet. She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes, but Kimberly could see that she wasn’t really sleepy anymore.

      No. She was...apprehensive. Yesterday had been tough for Marissa, maybe tougher than even Kimberly had realized. Was she putting her daughter through too much too soon?

      If she’d had anybody to leave Marissa with back home, Kimberly would have made this trip alone. But she really didn’t. Most of Marissa’s friends were off at camp or on vacation, and the ones who weren’t... Well, their parents weren’t Kimberly’s pick of the litter. Her own mother? That certainly hadn’t been a possibility.

      And Marissa had been okay with the plan, even a little excited. Still...

      “I’m sorry, honey. We barely know the Monroes. I can’t invite us out there—”

      Marissa rolled her eyes. “They’re practically family, Mom. I mean, Daniel found me. And Taylor wanted me to spend the night last night, or at least come out today.”

      “Look, it’s great that you bonded with Taylor—you and she have a lot in common, what with her own health issues—”

      “Mom! Not everything is about medical stuff. I like Taylor because she’s funny and cool and they’ve got a pool, which is way more fun than having to follow you around all day while you do your Nancy Drew thing. Me and Taylor, we’re not like a pair of old ladies, trading doctor stories.”

      “The answer is no. You know my rule. The mom has to call me. It can’t be something—”

      “Kids cook up.” Marissa finished Kimberly’s standard speech on the subject. “Oh, all right, you win! Again!” Then with ill grace she slung herself out of the bed and slammed the bathroom door.

      Kimberly sighed and rubbed her temples. Already she could foresee that the day would be a tough one. She knew, from long experience, that Marissa would stew for at least an hour, but then eventually, if she left her alone, her fair-to-partly-cloudy child would come around.

      This is for her, Kimberly told herself. It’s not as if I have any other options. And I certainly won’t trouble Daniel Monroe again!

      * * *

      THE POLICE STATION was smaller than Kimberly had expected, its cramped reception area bare and sterile looking and awash in fluorescent light. At the front desk, glass separated her from a police officer with a phone jammed to his ear and a harassed expression on his face. It seemed that each moment one phone call ended, another button would light up, and the officer would shrug apologetically and take yet another call.

      There was nowhere to sit, so Marissa passed the time by leaning against the wall and playing a game on her phone that beeped and pinged. Kimberly tried to rehearse what she’d say if she got the chance to talk to Officer Clarke.

      Finally the man on the other side of the glass plunked down the phone and smiled. “Can I help you?” he asked.

      Kimberly took a huge breath and started in on her story.

      “Wait, wait, you mean Lieutenant Clarke? He oversees our detective division. He’s out on a case now, but I can call him.”

      “Yes, that would be great!” Kimberly told him.

      “If you were by yourself, I could let you back there to wait for him...but, uh, policy says we can’t allow minors,” the officer told her. He gazed pointedly past Kimberly’s shoulder at Marissa.

      Marissa murmured in a singsong voice, “Told you I should have spent the day at Taylor’s.”

      Kimberly managed a smile. “Thank you, sir. It won’t be too long, will it? We don’t mind waiting here? Do we, Marissa?”

      The officer nodded. “I’ll call now, and then I’ll let you know.”

      The wait stretched out. Kimberly shifted from foot to foot, wondering why on earth the police department didn’t spring for chairs in the waiting room.

      As she pulled out her cell phone to check the time, it buzzed in her hand. She didn’t recognize the number, but the area code was the local one.

      “Hello?” she asked.

      “Is this Kimberly? Marissa’s mom?”

      “Yes, and this is...?”

      “Oh, I’m sorry! This is Ma, honey. Colleen Monroe. We were wondering if Marissa could spend the day with us. She’d mentioned to Taylor that you two would be in town for a few more days.”

      “Hmm.” Kimberly shot a look toward Marissa. She had an expression of patient endurance on her face. The earlier sullenness was gone. She seemed engrossed in her game, not even bothering to eavesdrop. “That’s very thoughtful of you—”

      “I don’t want to interfere with your time together. I mean, it is your vacation.”

      “No, ma’am, it’s not exactly a vacation. It’s—” What had Daniel told his family? Anything? Nothing?

      “Then, if it’s business, why not bring her on out? She’s welcome to hang out with us at our pool. Daniel’s sisters are both out of town today, and I’ve got the babies here, but it’s just them, and Taylor’s going stir-crazy not having anyone her own age.”

      “I would, but I’m waiting on someone that I hope to meet with, and I can’t leave at the moment.”

      “Not a problem. Daniel said he and one of his firefighters needed to pick up some vegetables out here on the farm for the station’s kitchen. If it’s okay with you, I’ll tell him to swing by your hotel and bring Marissa.”

      “Er—” At the mention of Daniel’s name, Kimberly’s skin prickled. “We’re not at the hotel. The person I need to meet works at the police station, a Lieutenant Clarke.”

      “Timmy? My goodness. Timmy and Daniel go way back—they were in high school together. And they won’t let young people in the back of the station, so it’s just as well that I send Daniel by to pick her up.”

      “Oh, that sounds like too much of a bother—”

      “No trouble at all. He’ll see you in a jiff.”

      And with that, Ma rang off.

      Kimberly tossed the phone back in her purse. She must have made some sort of noise because Marissa surfaced from her game.

      “What is it, Mom? Something wrong?”

      “No, it’s... Ma has invited you out to swim.”

      “Cool beans! So I can go?”

      “I guess. Don’t let it become a habit, okay? We don’t want to wear out our welcome. Daniel and someone else are supposed to come by and—”

      The connecting door to the back of the station swung open. A tall red-haired man with an overwhelming amount of freckles and dressed in khakis and a knit golf shirt smiled at them. “I’m Lieutenant Tim Clarke. I understand you’re waiting on me?”

      “Yes! I’m Kimberly—”

      The man waved a freckled arm. “Yep. Daniel’s

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