Maiden Rock Read Online Free Page B

Maiden Rock
Book: Maiden Rock Read Online Free
Author: Mary Logue
Tags: Mystery
Pages:
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bed.
    She started to do jumping jacks. They burned off a lot of calories, which is why you could only do them for a few minutes. If anyone saw her, they would think she was crazy. She was afraid most of the men in the department already were a little leery of her. She had assumed, because they had been working with a woman for a while, that it would be easy to fit into the sheriff’s department, but she had been wrong. It didn’t help any that she was as small as a person could be and still serve in law enforcement.
    The discrimination she felt wasn’t anything she could take to the sheriff and file a complaint—it was subtle and patronizing. About once a week, one of the other deputies patted her on the head. She wanted to bite them when they did that, but she held herself in check.
    However, she had snapped at Bill when he offered her a hand up over a fence last time they were on duty together. Literally she had snapped at him, teeth showing. She was afraid she had done it because of all the deputies he was her favorite, and so it hurt the most when he was patronizing. That’s how she read his behavior.
    Bill wasn’t married and as far as she knew, he wasn’t seeing anyone. He was near thirty and although a little chunky, he
    carried his weight well. She knew he worked out, because she saw him at the gym once in a while. He kept his blond hair military-short and she’d been tempted to run a hand across it from time to time.
    Amy was afraid that the story of her snapping had made the rounds of the department. The guys had started to call her “Chihuahua.” She hated the nickname and knew that the more she showed her displeasure, the more they would use it.
    The other surprise was that much of the work was routine, bordering on boring. Lots of paperwork, lots of driving, lots of checking up on nothing. But it was a good income for this part of the country.
    She stopped her jumping jacks and was timing her pulse when the phone rang.
    Amy grabbed it, slightly out of breath. “Sheriff’s department.”
    “Hey, Amy. It’s Claire.”
    Why was Claire calling at this hour? She didn’t usually work weekends. “What’s up?”
    “Have you gotten any calls concerning any teenagers tonight?”
    She told Claire about the toilet-papering and the dancing around the car.
    “What time did the dancing happen?”
    “About ten o’clock. I sent a deputy over there, but they were gone by the time he arrived. I don’t know what he would have done. Enforced curfew, I guess.”
    “That’s all?”
    “Yeah, what’s the matter?”
    “My daughter Meg went to a party last night and hasn’t shown up yet. She was staying at a friend’s house and they’re both missing. And a boy.”
    “What do you want me to do?”
    “I need you to put everyone on the lookout for a car. A bunch of kids are out joy-riding. A Ford Taurus, 1990.” Claire gave her the license number. “Don’t make a big deal about it, but just let the squads know. They might have gone up to the cities.”
    “Yeah, I suppose. Kids do that.”
    “Call me if you hear anything,” Claire said again.
    “I will. I’m not on for much longer, but I’ll pass the info along.”
    ***
5:45 a.m.
    Claire drove home, not knowing what else to do with herself. The worry she had inside her felt as if it was worming its way through her guts. When she walked into the house, Rich shook his head.
    She walked right past him and went upstairs. On the drive home she had decided that she was going to search Meg’s room. She had never read any of Meg’s emails, never listened to her phone calls, barely looked in her room. She knew mothers weren’t supposed to go through their daughters’ things, but she had persuaded herself that this was different. Meg had brought this on herself.
    Sitting down on the edge of her daughter’s neatly dressed bed, she looked at the diary on the bedside table. Claire wondered if there was anything inside that small red book that
    would give her a
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