To Snatch a Thief Read Online Free

a sudden laugh. ‘Rose. Rosie Fitzpatrick.’ She held out a hand.
    ‘Skye Forrester.’
    ‘My boyfriend was totally annoyed when I was arrested…again.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘We’d planned a weekend; he was mega-pissed off. Guys, what can you do?’
    ‘I wouldn’t know. Don’t bother with them.’
    ‘You’re kidding me.’
    ‘Nope.’ It was the truth. She’d learned the hard way; loving people led to pain. They hurt you, left you, one way or another. With the exception of her brother, her heart was solid ice. Sure, she appreciated the wrapping – she was only human – but as far as anything deeper went… Not even the Titanic, she’d decided long ago, ploughing into her iceberg heart, would budge it an inch.
    ‘God,’ Rosie said, giving her an incredulous look. Lowering her voice, she leant in closer. ‘Don’t suppose you know where I can score round here?’
    ‘Sorry, not my scene.’
    When the office door opened everyone surged forward.
    ‘Back! Back! Everyone stand in line.’ A grim-faced guard waved a hand and they fell into a ragged queue. He tapped a finger on an e-board and started calling names.
    ‘Rosalind Fitzpatrick.’
    Skye’s new friend squeaked. ‘Gosh, that’s me. First up to bat.’ She shimmied forward and was handed a gold-edged klip which she immediately activated. ‘Twelve,’ she remarked before rushing off. ‘Twelve effing messages from my mother, not a bloody one from my bloke. God.’
    Eventually, Skye was handed her ancient wrist unit. It was like being reunited with an old friend, moulding to her body as soon as she clipped it on. ‘Display message bank. Audio.’ she said, the moment she got back to her room. ‘C’mon, c’mon.’ Impatient, Skye gave it a couple of taps with her finger just to help it along, and after two or three false starts the battered screen flickered to life. ‘ You have two new messages.’ It went on to say they were both a week old, both from her waitressing girlfriend Ashleigh. They could wait till later, she thought, she needed to call a number.
    Butterflies hatched in her stomach as she waited for the connection to be made. At last, after what seemed like an age, her brother’s angelic face filled the tiny monitor. ‘Transfer visual to wall screen,’ she ordered, and sagged onto the bed with relief.
    ‘Lex, you okay?
    He lifted a shoulder. ‘Guess so.’ The initial pleasure at seeing her faded from his enormous grey-green eyes. ‘When’re you coming to get me?’ Plaintive, as only a six year old could sound, his little eyebrows pulled together.
    She swallowed hard, pasted a bright expression on her face. ‘I’ve got things to do for a while yet, but I’m doing everything I can to get there soon. Is Mrs Abbott looking after you okay?’
    ‘Mmm-hmm. But I have to sleep with Mitch and Tommy and Mitch says he doesn’t like me much and his feet smell like dog’s poo.’
    ‘That can’t be good. Are you getting enough to eat?’
    ‘We don’t get soy burgers or fizzers. Mrs Abbott says you didn’t leave enough dollars for fizzers.’ He scrubbed a fist over the tangle of blonde curls which, like her own, refused to be tamed; Lexie always looked as if he’d just got out of bed.
    ‘Aw, I’m sorry. Are you going to school every day like you promised?’
    He nodded. ‘But some boys don’t come anymore. Timmy Barnes hasn’t come for a whole week. His mum came though and she’d been crying. I knowdest she’d been crying ‘cos her face was all red and wrinkled. She took his things away and she was crying then.’
    Something prickled at the back of her neck. ‘Lexie, you feeling okay – you don’t feel ill or anything? You still taking the Preventix I left for you?’
    Her brother’s solemn eyes, that never failed to tug at her heart, narrowed to slits as he considered the multiple questions; his lips pursed. After a few mind-numbing seconds, during which Skye’s heart stalled, he shook his head. ‘I don’t feel