13 to Life by Shannon Delany Read Free Book Online Page B

Fritz!”
    “I was out power walking late,” she explained, glancing down before continuing. “I got startled and fell.”
    “Oh, Ms. Fritz.” I moved Tag into proper petting position. “What—” I tried for a synonym and failed. “What
startled
you?” She seemed embarrassed by her fall, but I hoped by talking aboutit she’d get over it. I nearly ground my teeth at the thought—it was the same theory Guidance tried on me. As if just talking about something lessened the pain.
    “Oh, Jessie, are you trying to scoop a story?” she teased. “Jessie is quite the writer,” she addressed Pietr.
    He raised his eyebrows.
    “Now, Ms. Fritz, nobody cares about that. Besides, how good can I be as often as I fumble for the right words?”
    “That’s when you
talk
. When you write, you are eloquent.”
    “Oh, my writing’s horrible, too. It’s in editing where I excel.” I grinned. I got the sense Pietr was amused by the way we bantered. “So what was it?”
    “Some animal in the woods. It growled—” She shivered.
    “Pietr, get the window,” I requested.
    “It sounded big, like a large dog. And I remembered what I’d heard about what happened in Farthington. . . .”
    I heard Pietr stop.
    “The window,” I urged. “What happened then?”
    “Well, I tripped. I must have made an awful racket falling, because this young man—a jogger, I guess—came running to help me. He picked me up and carried me to his car”—she paused, relishing the memory—“Full-leather interior,” she detailed, “and drove me straight here. Amazing vehicle—the engine snarled and purred more smoothly than Victoria’s very finest.”
    “I didn’t know you were a car fanatic, Ms. Fritz.”
    She smiled. “The driver was a handsome devil, too,” she added. “Dark hair and absolutely brilliant eyes.” She sighed. “I was lucky he was so close.”
    I turned to see what progress Pietr was making. He set Victoria down to unstick what was obviously a stubborn window. A pigeon landed on the ledge outside, twitching its feathersbefore it began to strut. It cooed, evidently looking to coax a little love from a bird yet unseen.
    “Uh—” Victoria uncurled and, as Pietr pressed once more against the window’s edge, preoccupied, she leaped after the self-involved bird. “Oh, my God! Pietr!”
    He ducked out the window just behind her.
    I dropped Tag into Ms. Fritz’s lap and raced to the window. Sticking my head out, I saw Pietr crouched on the narrow, crackled brick ledge, Victoria just a little over an arm’s length beyond. The pigeon had flown away, leaving Victoria and Pietr without a similar option. “Holy crap, Pietr,” I admonished, but quietly, so I didn’t startle either of them. “Leave the cat out there. Come back inside.”
    “I can get her,” he insisted, the purr of his accent returning as he concentrated.
    “We’ll lure her back with food.” I made the mistake of looking out the window and down. Straight below was the main awning and sidewalk. Four stories straight down. The breeze picked up again. “Come back in.”
    But instead of obeying, he leaned forward, stretched out his arm, and wiggled his fingers, inches from the nape of Victoria’s neck.
    “Pietr,” I whispered to his back.
    And as he stretched forward I heard a crunch and a crack and watched in horror as the ledge gave way and Pietr—
    —fell.
    I couldn’t watch. I must have screamed, and I tore back through Ms. Fritz’s room babbling incoherently at the nurse’s station. They called for a doctor even as I bounded down the four flights of stairs. I wouldn’t have made it in the elevator—talk about feeling caged! I was out the doors and on the sidewalk—as were gawkers, nurses, and doctors.
    Stunned and still in the full grip of horror, I couldn’t stop walking forward. I had to see what was left of the new guy at Junction High. Peering over the shoulders of the crouched doctors and nurses, my fist wedged between my teeth, I