Kate, Lauren - Teardrop 01 - Teardrop by Kate Lauren

Author:Kate, Lauren [Kate, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2014-12-06T05:00:00+00:00

18

PALE DARKNESS

“I feel like a narc,” Eureka told Cat in the waiting room at the Lafayette police station that evening.

“It’s a precaution.” Cat held out a short tube of Pringles from the vending machine, but Eureka wasn’t hungry. “We’ll throw out a description of Ander, see if it sticks. Wouldn’t you want to know if they already had a file for him?” She rattled the can to slide out more chips and chewed contemplatively. “He did make a death threat.”

“He did not make a death threat.”

“ ‘If I leave you alone, you’ll die’? He’s not here now and you’re alive, right?”

Both girls looked at the opposite window as if it occurred to them simultaneously that Ander might be watching them. It was Thursday, dinnertime. It had taken less than five minutes after leaving Ander under the oak tree for Eureka to breathlessly share the details of their encounter with Cat over the phone. Now she regretted opening her mouth.

The station was cold and smelled like stale coffee and Styrofoam. Aside from the heavyset black woman staring flatly at them from across a table strewn with Entertainment Weeklys from three Brad Pitts ago, Eureka and Cat were the only two civilians there. Beyond the small square lobby, keyboards clicked from within cubicles. There were water stains on the drop panel ceiling; Eureka found dinosaurs and Olympic track stars in their cloudlike shapes.

The sky outside was navy blue with mottled gray clouds. If Eureka stayed out much later, Rhoda would grill her along with the flank steaks she prepared the one night a week Dad worked the dinner shift at Prejean’s. Eureka hated these dinners, when Rhoda probed into everything Eureka did not want to talk about—which was everything.

Cat licked her fingers, tossed the Pringles can in the trash. “Bottom line, you have a crush on a psycho.”

“That’s why you brought me to the police?”

Cat held up a finger like a lawyer. “Let the record reflect that the defendant does not contest the psycho allegation.”

“If being weird is a crime, we should both turn ourselves in while we’re here.”

She didn’t know why she was defending Ander. He’d lied about Brooks, admitted to spying on her, made vague threats about her being in danger. It might be enough to press charges, but it seemed wrong. What Ander had said wasn’t what was dangerous about him. What was dangerous about him was the way he made her feel … emotionally out of control.

“Please don’t chicken out now,” Cat said. “I told my new friend Bill we’d make a statement. We met at my pottery workshop last night. He already thinks I’m too artsy—I don’t want to flake and prove him right. Then he’ll never ask me out.”

“I should have known this was a ploy for sex. What happened to Rodney?”

Cat shrugged. “Eh.”

“Cat—”

“Look, you just give a basic description, they’ll run a search. If nothing turns up, we’ll scoot.”

“I’m not sure the Lafayette Police possess the most reliable criminal database.”

“Don’t say that in front of Bill.

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.