Page 145 of Shortcake
On cue, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
Dammit.
I yanked it free from my back pocket, fully prepared to smash my finger into the ignore button as soon as I saw Conrad’s name flashing once again.
But it wasn’t Conrad.
It was a random Maple Grove number.
That was… odd. To say the least.
“I’ll be right back,” I said to my family and stepped out on the back deck to answer the mystery call. “Hello?”
“Addy!” Harper’s panicked voice pierced the quiet dusk. “Don’t hang up!”
The desperation in her voice could have cracked my chest wide open. “Sweet girl. I’d never hang up on you. You can call me anytime, you know that.”
Even though I was pretty sure Conrad would shit a brick.
“What’s going on? You start school next week, right?”
“Yeah, but that’s not why I’m calling. Addy, I need you to come meet me…”
Shit.“Harper, whatever’s going on, you need to call your dad. I can’t come bail you out anymore. Though I’m always here to talk—”
“No,listen!” she hissed, her voice a panicked whisper. “That’s what I’m saying. My dad is here and he’s the problem. He’s lost his mind! He caught me and Adam making out in Adam’s car and he threw us both in jail! He gave me one stupid phone call knowing I didn’t have anyone but him. You’re the only person I could think to call!”
“Oh my God! Are youserious? Put him on the phone, Harper!”
There was no way he would do that. Hell, when I caught Adam and Harper making out in the bookstore, he had been calmer than I had!
In the background, I heard Conrad’s barking voice. “Time’s up Harper! Back in your cell.Now.”
“Please,” she whispered. “Come bail me out. Adam’s mom already came and got him, but Dad says I’m going to have to sleep it off in he—”
The line went dead.
“Hello? Harper!?”
He disconnected us. That bastard disconnected the call.
* * *
I never inmy life made it anywhere faster than I did driving down to the Maple Grove precinct.
Screeching up to the front of the building, I didn’t even bother finding a real parking spot. I just stopped the stupid car somewhere in the roundabout and stomped inside.
I shoved open the heavy glass front doors so hard that they hit the back wall behind them with a loud thud as I stomped to the back room where I knew the holding cells were.
Hell, I’d spent a handful of nights in there myself. Old Sheriff Duly loved to toss me in for a night to sober up when I got too loud partying on the lake. Unfortunately, sound carries. And he always lived a few houses down from my apartment.
“Conrad!” I shouted. “Harper! I’m here for you, kid! Don’t worry.”
“Addy!” From somewhere to my left, I heard Harper’s voice.
But that didn’t make sense… the holding cells were in the back. All the cubicles were to the left. Again, I wasn’t proud that I knew this.
“Where are you?” I called back.
