Bare Bones by Ali Franklin

Author:Ali Franklin [Franklin, Ali]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781520931449
Amazon: B06XVJFWVT
Goodreads: 34745261
Published: 2017-03-26T03:00:00+00:00

The tired face in the bathroom mirror looked back at Ryan. She was mentally exhausted. She’d spent the whole afternoon watching TV and scouring the internet for news about Patti Arthur’s reappearance. It was just so sudden. And it happened right when people started looking for her again, after thirty years.

Ryan had come home from the office early and eaten leftovers for dinner while she reread the stories online. The Action Texas Four website had the most comprehensive information. That made sense, as so many of the background details had been provided by Patti’s old college friend Liz Huntsman.

In the bedroom, Ryan sat and picked up a novel from the bedside table. Maybe the book would put Patti out of her mind for a while. Failing to get back into the story, she threw the book back on the table and got out of bed.

Ryan padded into the kitchen and poured some milk into a saucepan, hoping her mom’s old trick would help her feel drowsy. While it heated, she stared out her front window and thought about the Arthurs. A noise from the bedroom jerked her back to the present. It was Maddie’s ring tone. She covered the space to the bedroom in just a few seconds and answered the phone.

“Hi, Maddie.”

“Hi, Ryan. How are you?”

Ryan’s smile faded. “Are you okay? You sound tired.”

After a beat, Maddie answered. “I’m fine. Just busy here. This case is very involved.”

Ryan sat on the bed. “Are you making any progress?”

Ryan could almost hear Maddie shaking her head. “It’s still going to be a while. We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire. I can’t say any more than that, but it’s great experience for me.” The line was silent for a while. “So how have you been?”

“I’m good,” said Ryan. “Classes started today, so we’re busy in the office, but so far so good.”

“Did you ever figure out anything about that skeleton you found?”

“No, and I don’t expect we will. It may just remain an unsolved mystery.”

“That doesn’t sound like you, Ryan. You never met a mystery you didn’t want to solve.”

Ryan laughed. “I was busy looking into the other mystery—the mystery of the missing student. But that one’s been solved.” She told Maddie about Patti’s reappearance that day.

“That’s quite a coincidence,” said Maddie. “Had you made any progress in the case before she showed up?”

“No. I just talked with her parents yesterday.”

“Well,” Maddie murmured around a yawn, “now you can go back to spending time on your day job.”

Ryan started to nod, then realized Maddie couldn’t see her. “Yeah. I keep telling people I have enough to do this semester, with my job and spending time with Del Thibodeau. But I was excited to be working on another ‘case.’” She emphasized the last word so Maddie would know Ryan understood she wasn’t a “real” detective.

“I hope you’re taking some time to do things for yourself,” said Maddie.

Ryan thought about it. “I’m going to a fancy ball tomorrow with Del.” She told Maddie about the charity fundraising event she was scheduled to attend with Del the next night.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.