The Girl Who Walked in Shadows by R. Patricia Wayne

Author:R. Patricia Wayne [Wayne, R. Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-16T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

After Deputy Mike pulled away from the library, I waited a few extra seconds until the sound of his Jeep drifted away. Then with my Nancy Drew book in my arms, I walked through town and to Dad’s Chevron station.

As I entered the office, Jack was sitting on the rear counter next to an even bigger stack of comic books. He was opening packages of baseball cars, tossing the wrappers on the counter beside himself and stacking sticks of gum beside his cards.

“Hey, Jack,” I said.

“Marilyn!” He laughed. “Why didn’t you say hi when you stopped by yesterday?”

I jumped up on the counter by the register, facing him, and tossed my book on the back counter by all his comics. “Linda was in a hurry. I only had enough time to tell Dad something.”

It wasn’t true, but it was all I could think to say.

“I missed you,” he said. “I had no one to talk to and no one to play pinball with.”

I pointed at the cards in his hands. “Are those baseball cards?” I said, innocently acting as if I had never seen one before.

He slid off the back counter then jumped up to sit on the counter with me. He inched closer until our arms and legs touched. He handed me the stack of cards, then pointed at the top one. “That’s Catfish Hunter. I’ve been looking for that card all spring. He’s a great pitcher. He won the Cy Young last year.”

“Catfish Hunter?” I cringed as I looked him in the eye. “Is that supposed to be his name?”

“Yes.”

“It sounds like he likes to go fishing.”

Jack shook his head. “Why is it girls know nothing about baseball?”

I shrugged. “Why don’t boys know anything about Barbie?”

He laughed, and that instantly brightened my otherwise gloomy day. I managed an honest smile back.

Jack spent the next few minutes excitedly showing me all the cool cards he had found in the handful of packages he’d opened. He offered me all the sticks of gum that came with them, with a warning that the gum wasn’t any good, it only made the cards smell good. I thanked him but refused the offer.

“Peeko!” Dad called out as he joined us in the office. He stopped before us, eyed the mess on the back counter, then eyed Jack. “What’s all this?” He gestured at the pile of wrappers with his thumb.

“Right!” Jack jumped down and began clearing the back counter. “Sorry, Mr. Martin. I was just getting ready to clean that up.”

Dad patted me on the leg. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

My heart sank as I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

“Don’t be sorry. Just tell me you enjoyed yourself. Did you?”

At first, I almost told him that I felt like a failure, but then I realized that up until the Vernon house, I actually did enjoy myself. I liked sorting through all the files with Deputy Mike.

“Yes, Daddy.” I smiled. “Deputy Mike let me see anything I wanted, but he told me I couldn’t talk about it.

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