To Thine Own Self Be True by Judy Clemens Read Free Book Online Page A

saying. Thanks.”
    I hung up and walked out of the kitchen to the foyer, where I pulled the detective’s card from my coveralls. I could feel eyes on me—wasn’t sure whose, exactly—but didn’t look back.
    Back in the kitchen I dialed Shisler’s cell phone, and she answered before I’d heard a complete ring.
    “Stella Crown,” I said. “Got something for you.”
    “Shoot.”
    I relayed Rusty’s story, as well as his and Thunderbolt’s contact information. I cringed as I gave out his name, but knew he’d okayed it. For Wolf and Mandy.
    “Thanks, Ms. Crown,” Shisler said. “I’ll get on this right away.”
    I hung up, wondering what else I could do, but couldn’t come up with anything. I reluctantly joined the others in the living room, where Tess was taking Nick through the newest Spy Fox game on the computer we’d gotten as a hand-me-down from Zach Granger, my summertime fourteen-year-old farm helper. Nick and Lucy both looked up at my entrance.
    “News?” Lucy asked.
    “Just info to pass on to the detective.” I stood behind the couch.
    “Okay,” Lucy said. “How about doing something all of us can play, now that Stella’s off the phone?”
    I groaned.
    “Come on,” Lucy said. “It’ll get your mind off things. How about a round of good old Uno, or Dutch Blitz?”
    “Dutch Blitz?” Nick said.
    “It’s a Pennsylvania Dutch game,” Lucy said. “I’ll show you.” She grabbed a small box from the cupboard and tossed it to him.
    “‘A Vonderful Goot Game!’?” he said, reading from the cover, which displayed drawings of an Amish boy and girl.
    “Told you. P.A. Dutch. I’ve got aunts and uncles who speak like that. Anyway, there are four decks of cards. You want to be the pumps, buggies, barrels, or hand plows?”
    “If I have to play,” I said, “I’m the pumps. I’m always the pumps.”
    Lucy threw them to me and distributed the others. “Now we shuffle, deal them out, and try to be the first to get rid of our ten-pile and make the most points.”
    Nick was lost. But Lucy was a good teacher and it gave me an opportunity to watch Nick as he listened. He really was nice, as Lucy had said. And darn it, he was more than cute.
    Before we knew it, Nick and Tess were going head-to-head at the speedy game, and Lucy and I wound up throwing in the towel and letting them go at it.
    “Losers have to put the game away!” Tess announced. Lucy and I rounded up all the cards and rubber-banded them into stacks.
    “And the winners,” Lucy said, “or the youngest winner, anyway, has to go to bed.”
    “Aw, Mom…”
    My heart started pounding. If they went to bed, that meant it was getting close to my bedtime, too, and I didn’t want to sleep, not after yesterday. But if I didn’t go up, I’d be all alone with Nick. Two uncomfortable choices.
    Lucy herded Tess toward the stairs before I’d made any kind of decision. “Goodnight, you two.”
    “’Night,” Nick said.
    I waved.
    The door at the bottom of the stairs shut.
    I clasped my hands together and placed them on my ankles, since I was sitting crossed-legged on the floor. Nick looked up from where he lay on his stomach across from me, leaning on his elbows. I avoided his eyes.
    “You want to talk about your friends?” Nick asked.
    “No.”
    He was silent. “Okay, then. How about this? I’ve been here about…” He looked at the clock. “Twenty-eight hours. If you don’t want to talk about your friends, do you think maybe we could talk about something other than the weather or the farm?”
    I ran a finger over my new tattoo, buying whatever time I could. “Like what?”
    Nick was sitting up now, his back against the TV stand. He draped his hands over his bended knees and studied them.
    “Lucy and Tess are nice,” he said, unconsciously echoing Lucy’s thoughts about him.
    “They are,” I said. “They’re the best.”
    He looked up. “But you miss Howie.”
    “Of course I do. He was… Yes. I miss him.”
    The