Page 46 of Reading Between the Lines
Gnawing the crusty end of his toast, Tallus pulled up Google Maps on his phone, studying the overlay of the town and all the potential hot spots.
I had half a mind to tell Delaney her theory was wrong. If I didn’t loathe the police with every fiber of my being, I might have suggested popping into the local station and chatting with whoever had looked into the mother’s suspicions. But that wasn’t happening. At least, not yet.
“Oh my god.” Tallus dropped his phone face down on the table. “It must suck to be a teenager in this town. There is literally nowhere to hang out.”
I grunted as he stole a piece of bacon off my plate. His food was gone. The man was a Hoover vacuum when it came to meals, not something people suspected of a man his size. Tallus could eat me under the table, and if I didn’t keep up with his pace, he tended to help me finish my food without asking.
“I don’t know what to suggest,” he said, finishing the last mouthful of coffee and moving in to steal another slice of bacon. I feigned stabbing his hand with a fork, and he chuckled, retracting the limb instead.
Before I could broach the subject of heading home when the roads were salted, a group of six teens tumbled noisily through the doors. Each member of the group carried a useless backpack.
They gathered at a far booth, squishing three to a side on bench seating meant for two. Their boisterous entry turned heads.
I narrowed my eyes, taking them in as Tallus nudged my foot under the table. “Well, what do you know? Our problem solved itself. Isn’t that the guy who was in the cafeteria last night?”
“Yes.” His pale blond hair and chiseled features were a dead giveaway. “And I think that’s the girl. The one sitting with her back to us, wearing a knitted hat.”
Tallus studied her for a moment but only agreed when she spun to glance around the diner in search of the waitstaff.
“You’re right. How do you want to handle this?” he asked.
I was about to suggest another round of coffee so we could listen in on their conversation and devise a plan, but the familiar boy noticed us. At first, he blanched, seeming confused as though struggling to make the connection. Then, his face broke into what I liked to call a politician’s smile, and he waved, causing a few other teens from the table to glance in our direction.
There would be no spying on the menu today.
Still waiting for direction, Tallus said, “D? Should we talk to them?”
“Hang on.” I moved to stand, and Tallus touched my hand.
“You should let me take this. I’m more their age.”
“At some point, you’ll need to accept that you left your teens behind almost a decade ago and that thirty is around the corner.”
“Ouch. Rude. I’m a young twenty-seven. I still have several long years before the dreaded thirties.”
The waitress approached the teens with a pad of paper and pencil, ready to take orders. I jumped to my feet and rapped the table. “Come on. I have an idea.”
The group was in the midst of reeling off their drink requests when I moved in behind the scrawny middle-aged woman serving them. I towered above her, and the teens’ attention shifted to me.
The waitress turned and craned her neck to meet my eyes, clearly unsure why I was intruding on her job.
Ignoring her, I spoke to the teens. “I need information. If you agree to chat with me, I’ll buy your drinks. If you give me something useful, I’ll pay for your meals too. We got a deal?”
Blinking, wide eyes peered up from youthful pimply faces.
“You know what I love about you, D?” Tallus said from behind me. “You don’t bullshit people. Threats and bribes. Plain and simple.”
I looked among the upturned faces for some sign of intelligence. Fucking teenagers were the bane of my existence. “Are y’all deaf?”
Tallus cleared his throat. “Patience, oh great one. Don’t scare them, or we get nowhere.”
I bit the inside of my cheek.
The waitress, clearly unsure where to put herself, shifted her attention from me to the group. “I can come back.”
“Stay.” I barked.
She didn’t move.
