Finders Keepers by Catherine Palmer Read Free Book Online Page B

in stepped Phil Fox, the town’s barber, bus station attendant, and city councilman rolled into one stocky little package. He was all grins. “Looks like you already got company here!”
    “I’m pretty busy,” Zachary said.
    “This won’t take but a minute. I’ve got something real important to discuss with you.”

    “They were headed thataway,” Pearlene Fox told Elizabeth, gesturing toward the Corner Market. “I tell you what, if they were mine, I’d tan their hides for running off like that.”
    Her heart in her throat, Elizabeth raced down the side- walk and across River Street without waiting for the light to change. Boompah met her on the sidewalk as he was rolling up his awnings for the day. “That way,” he said, pointing toward the hardware store.
    Why hadn’t he stopped Nick and Montgomery? Elizabeth could have wrung these people’s necks. Didn’t they know that two children shouldn’t be roaming the streets alone? OK, so Ambleside wasn’t exactly a mecca for crime, but anything could happen.
    “That way,” Ez pointed as he was removing pies from the window of the Nifty Cafe.
    Elizabeth increased her pace. How could Montgomery’s mother have taken her eyes off the children? She’d been resting! So, who didn’t need a rest? You never turn your back on children at play.
    “Next door,” Cleo Mueller said. The pharmacist at Redee-Quick Drugs was locking up for the evening. “I saw the two of them run by when I was leaving to make a delivery to Mrs. McCann at the library. Her arthritis is acting up awful bad. I think the kids were headed upstairs,” he added, nodding toward the attorney’s office.
    Upstairs? Oh, dear God! Elizabeth breathed a prayer for help as she entered the building, climbed the stairs, and negotiated the dimly lit maze of hallways. If Nick and Montgomery went to see Zachary Chalmers, that could mean only one thing. Nick was on a mission to get himself a father. Lord, help me to be calm. Help me to be nice. Please direct my words—
    “Nikolai Andrew Hayes!” she shouted as she burst through the door. “What on earth are you doing here?”
    “She’s yelling now,” Nick observed.
    “I can see that.”
    “Montgomery, your mother is—” Elizabeth spotted Phil Fox in the extra chair beside the drafting table. He held a pen with which he’d been sketching. The two children appeared to be drawing something, too. Elizabeth set her hand on the door frame and drew in a deep breath.
    “Mr. Chalmers,” she said calmly, “I have been searching for these two children for the last half hour.”
    “They’ve been right here, safe and sound.”
    “Did it never occur to you to call me and let me know where I might find my son?”
    “Her cheeks always get red when she’s mad,” Nick informed Zachary. “But they turn pink again after she calms down.”
    “I’ve noticed that.”
    “Nick, you and Montgomery are in big trouble.” She reached for her son’s hand. “What are you doing here anyway? No, never mind—”
    “I came to ask if he would be my daddy. He’s going to think about it. He might take you on a date and kiss you.”
    “Nick!” Wishing she could sink into her shoes, Elizabeth pulled her son upright, knelt on the floor, and took his shoulders. “Nick, your behavior is inappropriate. And as for you, Miss Montgomery Easton, you know you don’t have permission to cross the street. Your mommy is very upset.”
    The little girl’s blue eyes filled with tears. “I was just trying to help Nick.”
    “Don’t be too hard on ’em,” Phil Fox put in. “They haven’t been a bit of trouble the whole time I’ve been here. Fact is, Zachary was just about to walk the two of them home when I showed up with some business.”
    “Mr. Fox is going to change the whole town,” Nick said. “And Zachary is going to help him.”
    “Change the town?” She looked at Phil. “How do you plan to do that?”
    “Oh, just some rough ideas. You know for a fact we need