Perception by Kim Harrington Read Free Book Online Page A

my Bond girl?”
    “No, thanks,” I said.
    He raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”
    “All the Bond girls end up dead.” I shoved a menu into his hands. “Pick your poison.”
    We ordered, and I gave voice to something that had been weighing on me. “I have a question,” I said. “Did you leave a note in my locker this week?”
    “Nope.”
    “And … you didn’t happen to leave flowers on my porch?”
    He chuckled. “Not my style. It’s obviously Justin Spellman.”
    “I don’t think so,” I said, fiddling with the zipper on my hoodie.
    Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Do I have another competitor to deal with?”
    I waved it off. “Nah, it’s probably just a joke.”
    Our meals came then, and I got down to the real business at hand.
    “Why isn’t everyone out there looking for Sierra?” I asked. “Amber Alert and everything?”
    “It’s not like that. She’s eighteen, so she’s an adult missing person. The protocol is different.”
    I picked up my sandwich. A clump of lettuce fell to the plate. “How so?”
    Gabriel reached for a fry. “Her mother was able to file a report. But Sierra’s not high risk because there was no confirmed abduction and no indication the disappearance was not voluntary.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “She took some items, like her laptop and her purse. She also left a note.”
    A note?! That would have been convenient information for Tracy Waldman to share. “What did it say?”
    “‘Don’t look for me.’”
    I leaned back in the booth. “Mrs. Waldman didn’t mention that.”
    Gabriel took a bite of his burger and chewed it slowly. “Well, she wants you to help find her daughter. Wouldn’t you be more inclined to look if you thought she was in danger than if you thought she didn’t want to be found?”
    “Still, I don’t like being lied to,” I said bitterly.
    “Put yourself in her shoes.”
    I had a hard time doing that, though it was probably easy for Gabriel, considering his family history.
    “What do you know about Sierra?” Gabriel asked.
    I shrugged. “I didn’t know her at all. She’d only been in our school a month. Plus, she’s a senior. You probably know more than me.”
    “Nope. The gossip mill runs on estrogen, not testosterone.”
    I rolled my eyes and took a sip of soda. “All I know is she was homeschooled for most of her life. She only came to public school this year. She didn’t seem to belong to any clique. She mostly kept to herself.”
    “Is it true that she was some kind of genius?”
    “A piano prodigy, yeah. Which doesn’t exactly clear a pathway to popularity. It also doesn’t make her the type to run away or get into trouble.”
    “Who knows?” Gabriel said. “It sounds like no one really knew her. Plus, she was so sheltered. Maybe she’s rebelling or something.”
    I shrugged. “So that’s it? Because there was a note, the police can’t do anything?”
    “Even though they’re not required to, they did do some follow-up. Her parents are divorced, so they checked into the father, made sure it wasn’t a custody thing, even though she’s legally an adult. They also went to the school and questioned some kids, though my dad said it seems like she didn’t hang with anyone. But that’s it unless something else comes up. There’s no evidence of a crime and she’s not physically or mentally impaired so … she’s officially voluntarily missing.”
    I settled back in the booth and mentally sifted through all this newfound information. It sure looked like Sierra had left of her own volition. What would make her write a note like that? Maybe her mother pressured her too much and she wanted to escape. Maybe she was sick of small-town life. Or she got herself into some kind of trouble.
    “Ready?” Gabriel asked, plopping a wad of cash down on the bill.
    “Hey, this was my treat.” I reached out to grab the bill, but he playfully slapped my hand away.
    “The treat wasn’t the food,” he said. “It was the