Page 49 of Deadly Evidence
The fact that Mom hadn’t put him in his place had Lacey worried, big time.
“How’s the pup doing today?” Brady came into the stall and hunkered down next to Lacey, then reached over to stroke Mojo’s head. “She’s one lucky dog, you know. A few inches over, and the bullet would have hurt her pretty bad.”
When Lacey didn’t answer, he got back to his feet. “It’s a beautiful day for riding, isn’t it? I suppose it gets too hot to enjoy it come July.”
If he didn’t know, he was gonna be in for a big surprise. She smiled at that, figuring he wouldn’t stick around long once the temp hit over a hundred.
“How’s school going?”
“Fine,” she mumbled, clambering to her feet and dusting the straw off her jeans. “I gotta go.”
She brushed past him and headed down the aisle for the ladder at the far end, wishing he wouldn’t try so hard to be friendly.
He’d never done or said anything wrong, except that’s what her mom’s old boyfriend had done—he’d tried to be nice to Lacey just to win points with Mom, and that was just soshallow.
Greg, thankfully, hadn’t lasted very long, and Mom hadn’t dated anyone since then. But this guy...Lacey shuddered. He was cute and tall and she’d overheard Dante telling Vicente that he’d actually caught a glimpse of the guykissingMom.Eeeuw!
She glanced over her shoulder to make sure Brady hadn’t followed her. Then she climbed up the ladder nailed to the wall, hoisted herself through the trap door and fumbled for the light switch on the wall.
A half-dozen bulbs high overhead bathed the hayloft in light. A discordant choir of half-grown kittens mewed and blinked and stretched on top of the hay bales stacked along the opposite wall.
Most days, Lacey came up here to play with them, and they were already starting to scramble down the bales when she reached the storeroom built across the far end of the barn.
“Not today, guys,” she called out.
They were all winding around her ankles and batting at her shoelaces by the time she wrestled the heavy brass snap out of the hasp-and-loop closure on the door.
Scooping up a handful of wiggly kittens, she nestled them to her chest and opened the door wide—glad to have some company, even if kittens wouldn’t be much defense against the spooky shadows inside.
She tugged a dangling string to turn on the single overhead lightbulb in the room and frowned at the piles of boxes, old furniture, rusty bicycles, and old toys tumbled haphazardly into every available space.
She needed those extra points for the class scavenger hunt project. She really, truly did, after that last unexpected quiz and her paper on the History of Pioneer Women in Texas, which had been a page too short and just alittleshy on facts.
Edging into the room slowly, holding the kittens tight and keeping a wary eye on the floor for any unexpected critters, she surveyed the trunks closest to the door. The only ones, she decided with a shudder, that she dared check out.
Blowing at the thick dust on top, she slipped open the two hasps on a tall trunk with a bowed top and crumbling leather hinges.
The kittens mewed anxiously and stapled themselves to her T-shirt with razor-sharp claws as she leaned over to peer inside.
In awe, she stared at the contents of what must surely be a trunk belonging to Vicente. “Perfect!” she breathed. “This is so totally cool!”
A small voice in her head whispered a warning, but she ignored it.
Surely he wouldn’t mind if she borrowed a few things, just for a little while. After all, what could it matter?
Back on the main floor of the barn, her arms full, she grinned to herself as she headed down the aisle. The moment she saw Mia walk in the barn door, her excitement faded.
“Hi, Lacey. I saw you come out here—need any help?”
Mia’s golden skin glowed. Her black hair hung loose, gleaming under the aisle lights, and her tight black jeans and cherry-red sweater were perfect, as always.
First Mia had won over Mom, then Grandpa Jonah...and now Dante seemed to watch the princess whenever she wasn’t looking.
Sparing a glance at her own baggy Texas A&M sweatshirt and threadbare jeans, Lacey scowled and just kept walking.It isn’t fair.
Mia touched her arm as she passed. “I’m sorry we can’t be friends, Lacey. It would be so nice to have another girl here to talk to. Maybe we could write each other after I leave.”
She waslonely?
