Deadly Image by Tamelia Tumlin Read Free Book Online Page B

Burgers less than an hour later. His stomach rumbled, reminding him he’d skipped lunch.
    Ace glanced at his wrist watch. Two-fifteen. The dining room was nearly empty since the lunch crowd had cleared out.
    Good. Maybe the teenager would have time to talk.
    Ace walked up to the counter.
    “Can I help you?” A robust woman with bright red hair and a pen stuck behind her ear greeted him from behind the register. She smiled broadly.
    Ace flashed his badge. “I’m Special Agent Valdez. I’d like to speak with Tenesha if she’s here.”
    The woman – whose name tag read Louise – lost her smile. “Is she in some kind of trouble? I’m the assistant manager and I don’t put up that sort of thing on my shift.”
    “No, nothing like that. I just have some questions for her.”
    Louise stared at him for a moment as if deciding whether or not he was trouble, then she finally nodded and turned to holler over her shoulder. “Tenesha! I need you up front.”
    Moments later a slender, light-skinned African-American girl emerged from behind the shake machine carrying a wet rag in one hand. Puzzled, she looked around the nearly empty dining room. “You needed me, Miss Louise?”
    “This agent wants to talk to you.”
    Tenesha set the rag on the counter and looked at Louise questioningly.
    “Go ahead. It’s slow. You can take a short break.” Louise nodded toward Ace with a frown. “There just better not be any trouble.”
    “I assure you she’s not in any trouble.” Ace smiled at the teenager. “Are you the one who called the police station about the missing little girl?”
    “Oh, that poor child!” Louise waved her hand in the air. “Is that what this is about?” She shook her head sympathetically. “Go on, Tenesha. Talk to the detective.” She shook her head. “I do hope you find her. Such a sweet little thing.”
    “So do I.” Ace waited for Tenesha to come from behind the counter. “We’ll talk over there.” He pointed to a small table in the back.
    When Tenesha settled in the chair across from him, Ace pulled Anna’s picture from his pocket and held it out. “Is this the little girl you saw?”
    “Yes, she was in here a few days ago with her mother.”
    “You’re sure it was her mother?”
    Tenesha twisted one of her braids. “Yes. They’ve been in here several times before.”
    “Did you notice anything unusual? Maybe they said something about where they were going?”
    Tenesha shook her head. “No. That was the weird part. Usually when they come in the mother is very friendly. But this time she hardly said anything to me. I just figured she might be in a bad mood or something. She wasn’t very nice to the little girl either.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well…” Tenesha’s dark brows slashed downward. “Usually, the mother would ask her what she wanted. This time she ordered her a hamburger and the little girl kept saying she wanted chicken fingers. Her mother wouldn’t even listen. Just told her to shut up. She was edgy too. Like she was on something.”
    “Like drugs?”
    Dread anchored in Ace’s chest. Had Lexi forgotten to take her anxiety medicine? Or maybe she had taken too much? That would certainly cause her to be edgy. Maybe even disoriented.
    Tenesha shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. She just seemed odd somehow. Oh, and she didn’t hold the onion.”
    Ace lifted a brow. “Hold the onion?”
    “The little girl hates onions. She’s never ordered the child a hamburger without holding the onion. Except that time.”
    “I see.” Ace pulled out his notepad and jotted down a few notes. He reached in his pocket, pulled out a picture of Lexi and slid it across the table. “And you’re sure this is the woman who was with the little girl.”
    Tenesha bit her lip. “I’m sure. But…”
    “But?”
    “I don’t know exactly. It looks like her, but there was something different too. I can’t really explain it.”
    “Different how? In the way she looked?”
    “No, not