The Kiss That Counted by Karin Kallmaker

Author:Karin Kallmaker [Kallmaker, Karin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Mystery & Detective, Fiction, Women Sleuths, Lesbian, General
ISBN: 9781594931314
Google: VJUtHwAACAAJ
Amazon: 1594931313
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2008-05-27T00:00:00+00:00

She paused with her eyes closed. From the moment she'd sidestepped the guards during the transfer between facilities she had been single-minded in two things. First, that no one from her past ever find her. Second, that the names on the list she'd made in Fayette would all, without exception, be crossed off. Accomplishing the latter demanded the former. She should be halfway to Canada by now, not thinking about deals she could get in three years, five years.

Her luck in Denver had run out. Part of her wanted to rail about how unfair it was to be haunted by a past that belonged to a teenager, living at risk over the three months she hadn't spent in an adult facility, all because she'd turned eighteen before her juvenile sentence had been completed. She hadn't heard from anyone in the Gathering since she'd been sentenced to Fayette but with deadly certainty she had known that there'd be a Rochambeau in the adult facility. They would have been on the lookout for her, and they'd reclaim her to the life.

There would have probably been letters waiting from her father, who had still been sitting in Big Sandy doing his time. Mail from unfit parents to inmates in Fayette's juvie facility was withheld, but as an adult he'd have been able to get in touch with her. Mail or word-of-mouth, it didn't matter; Cassie June would never escape. No social worker had wanted to hear about her fears that after four years of focus on schoolwork, on staying out of trouble, she'd be back in the life the moment she crossed the adult prison threshold.

It wasn't fair, but she couldn't even think those words without the memory of Aunt Bitty's response when she'd told her something was unfair. The bloody nose had underscored the message: Life isn't fair. Fairness was what their marks expected and that's why marks lost their money. If she expected to be treated fairly that made her a victim just waiting to be discovered.

Was that the only choice? Thief or mark? It was the only choice in the Gathering, but she'd been out of that circle for twenty years. She was a fool, because apparently she had decided those rules no longer applied. Daria could make them apply, all over again.

Coffee, she could use some coffee. She didn't budge from the chair.

No matter how much she rubbed her eyes, the data danced on the pages, but she doggedly worked on the proposal until it was at least a decent draft. She'd hoped to put it in today's mail but maybe she'd best wait until Monday. If she was here Monday.

She was so tired she put her head down on her desk. The next thing she knew Burnett was shaking her awake.

"You really are sick, aren't you?"

"No." Jitters from the sudden awakening put a quaver in her voice. In the next moment lethargy threatened to turn her bones to liquid. "I just need lunch."

"Okay, let's go, get up, come on, get a move on.

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