The Prince of Venice Beach by Nelson Blake

Author:Nelson, Blake [NELSON, BLAKE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780316230483
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2014-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

We left the restaurant and walked down Pacific Avenue. “What did he tell you about me?” she said. She was tight lipped and walking very fast.

“He said you ran away,” I answered, over the traffic going by. “That you were upset. That you might possibly… hurt yourself.”

This made her furious. Reese walked even faster, shaking her head as she went. “So they told you about my mother.”

I hurried to keep up. “They said your mother committed suicide.”

This news seemed to bother her even more.

“Is that not true?” I asked.

“Depends on what your definition of true is. But yes, according to the police, the lawyers, the news media, and my dad’s friends, my mother killed herself.”

I had no idea how to react to this. What was she suggesting?

We walked for several moments without speaking. “How did you get involved in this?” she asked me.

“In what?”

“In looking for me?”

“I just… I know one of the local cops,” I said. “I’m a runaway myself.”

“Yeah?” she said. “From where?”

“Omaha, Nebraska.”

She turned and studied me, head to foot. “And you came all the way to California? How old were you?”

“Fourteen.”

That seemed to impress her. She slowed the pace slightly.

“So you don’t have a family?” she asked.

“No.”

“How do you live?”

I shrugged. “It’s not that hard. It’s warm. I got a place to stay. There’s food around.”

Oddly, she seemed to think about this, as if it could be a possibility for herself.

“But nobody is looking for me,” I said. “Not like they’re looking for you.”

Reese barely seemed to hear this. She seemed to have withdrawn into her own thoughts.

We walked a little longer. Then she stopped and turned to me. “Listen, Cali, I don’t know you. I don’t know what your deal is. But I want you to know one thing: My mother did not commit suicide.”

I nodded.

“My mother…” She paused for a moment, overwhelmed by emotion. “Never mind. It would take too long to explain.”

“I have time,” I said. “I have all the time in the world.”

“The point is, I cannot be found. Or I’ll be in danger too. Do you understand? When did you talk to this guy?”

“A couple days ago.”

She thought about that. “The truth is,” she said, “the people who say they want to help me are exactly the people who are going to hurt me.”

“Okay,” I said, trying to understand.

She stared down the street and shook her head. “But you don’t care about that. You work for them.”

“No! But I don’t!” I said. “I just started. I’m trying to learn the business. I don’t know anything.”

She barely heard me when I said this. She was watching the passing cars, waiting for a break in the traffic. Then her eyes locked back onto mine. “I’m gonna ask you, as a personal favor, to give me some time. To give me a head start out of here. To save my own life.”

“Of course,” I said. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

“It was nice to meet you, Cali,” she said. “You seem like an honorable person. But I’m gonna go now.

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