Coming of Age by Timothy Zahn Read Free Book Online Page A

certain specially marked stores in town by charging the purchase to their hives. It didn’t seem likely that any bookseller she found would have the blue hive symbol in its window.
    What she needed, really, was a person to guide her around the problems she was running into. Someone who would be sympathetic to her ambition, perhaps a teacher from one of Barona’s introductory schools or even the university; someone who could break these unspoken rules—
    Or someone who could get around them.
    â€œHey, we’re going faster!” Jessy said. “Whee!”
    â€œYes—we have to get back before your parents start to worry about you,” Lisa told her. She didn’t add that she was suddenly in a hurry to get back herself, to start asking some careful questions. Maybe—just maybe—she had the answer.

Chapter 5
    â€œT HANK YOU VERY MUCH for your time, Mrs. Livorno,” Tirrell said, making one last note on his pad. “I appreciate your help.”
    â€œMy pleasure,” the older lady said, her thin lips pulling together in a frown that silently proclaimed her distaste for the whole business. “I hope you catch this scum, Detective—I wouldn’t want anyone to get the impression this neighborhood is easy pickings.”
    â€œNeither would I,” Tirrell agreed. “Don’t worry, we’ll get him.”
    And if we’re lucky, it’ll be before Colin Brimmer reaches puberty, the detective added to himself as he walked down the path and headed for his car. At the moment, though, he wouldn’t have placed any bets on that.
    Tonio had been faster with his part of the afternoon’s work, Tirrell saw; the preteen was seated on the curb beside their car, leaning against a red-and-white-checked “stop ahead” post and gazing skyward. At first Tirrell assumed his righthand was simply daydreaming, but a movement in the tree branches above the car caught his eye. It took another dozen steps for him to realize what was happening: Tonio was amusing himself by plucking dead leaves from one of the branches and teeking them over to another limb. “I hope you’re not fastening those permanently somehow,” he commented as he reached the car. “The city’s going to have to cut off that dead branch pretty soon, and I wouldn’t want them to take a healthy one, too.”
    â€œNo problem,” Tonio said, his eyes still on his handiwork. “You finished?”
    â€œFor the moment, yeah. Let’s get back to the office and see if we can dredge anything out of this mess.”
    â€œOkay.” Tonio stood up, and as he did so there was a sudden rustle overhead and forty or fifty brown leaves drifted down on them. “See?” the preteen said, holding his hands out as if checking for rain. “Instant autumn.”
    â€œJust get in the car,” Tirrell said, shaking his head.
    â€œAnybody recognize Macvey’s drawing?” Tonio asked as Tirrell pulled away from the curb.
    â€œNope,” Tirrell said. “Not that that’s a terrific surprise, of course. Macvey didn’t have a lot to work with, and drawing a face minus its beard is an iffy proposition at best.”
    â€œEspecially when your witness isn’t very observant.”
    Tirrell raised an eyebrow. “That comment sounded rather portentious. Is there some juicy bit of evidence you’ve been saving for my birthday or something?”
    â€œNo, I just heard it this afternoon. It seems Mr. Oliver had been hanging around that park longer than Lenna Thuma said.”
    â€œHow much longer?”
    â€œAccording to two of the boys Colin played with, they were chatting to the guy as early as the beginning of March. That’s over three months ago.”
    â€œYes, I can count.” Tirrell gnawed his lower lip. “Did you get any details?”
    â€œOnly that he always seemed friendly and they never saw him except on Saturdays. Oh,