Page 18 of Blade

“The squirrels at Grams’, Micah.” She waved her hands at my face. “Anyway, that is not the point of this story.”

I knew it wasn’t the point, but I needed to distract her.

“I was looking for peanuts when I heard Old Man Johnson arguing with someone.”

“Who was he arguing with?”

“I’m not sure. I didn’t recognize his voice. I was hiding, so I didn’t get a look at him either,” she muttered, pacing the library aisle, stacks of books on either side of us.

“Then what makes you think it’s the Mob?”

“I’m getting to that if you would stop interrupting me.” She stopped her pacing and turned toward me. “You know you do that a lot. Why do you do that? Anytime I get super excited about something.”

I tilted my head to the ceiling, letting out a long breath.

“Becca, you’re spiraling. Why do you think the Mob is here?”

“Right, we’ll come back to that in a minute.” She wiggled her finger in front of my face, and I grabbed her hand, pulling her to sit on the floor because I knew the only way to get her to focus was to keep her from moving.

“Ok, so I didn’t see who he was talking to, but I heard what he was saying. He was threatening Old Man Johnson.”

Before I had time to ask, she continued, “What was he threatening, you ask? He was threatening Old Man Johnson with a beating if he didn’t give him what he wanted.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger, I released a small growl.

Becca jumped up from the floor.

“Why are you growling at me, Micah?”

“Because you are infuriating sometimes.”

Her mouth dropped open as I stood up. I placed my finger beneath her chin and lifted her mouth closed.

“Becca, you are jumping—no, leaping to conclusions that are going to put your life in danger one of these days if you aren’t careful.”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Now she was mad.

Mad was better than stupid.

I stepped toward her. “Becca.”

“No, Micah.” She stepped back out of my reach. “No, I know what I heard.”

“Becca, everyone knows Old Man Johnson has a gambling problem.”

No one knew this, but it was the best I could come up with on short notice. “He probably gambled more than he had, and the guy wants the money he owes. That is a tremendous leap to the Mob. One that you can’t just print. As a journalism student, you should know that.”

“I know that, Micah, I am still investigating. I won’t print anything until I know for sure. A talented journalist always prints the facts, not speculation. I thought you had more faith in me than that.” Becca turned on her heels and stomped away.

I would work that out later.

First, I needed to talk to my dad.

I knocked on King’s door.

Hearing him yell,‘Come in’,I opened the door to find him sitting behind his desk working on something.

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