Tumbledown Read Online Free

two mugs.
    “Oh God, yes, please.” Alex breathed in the rich aroma, half-convinced that that alone would be enough to prepare her for extracting a statement from Charlie’s hung over, incoherent ramblings.
    “You have a good day now,” Esther told her without a trace of irony.
    Alex raised her mug in salute and walked slowly toward the cells.
    *

    The rough granite of the diving rock was almost within touching distance. Swimming steadily, no more than five yards away from her young pupil, Sarah saw him fix his sights on the rock and set his jaw. She didn’t need to say anything to encourage him; they had been working toward this for almost three weeks now, and for a twelve-year-old, he was incredibly motivated. She watched him stretch out, putting all his energy into a final kick and then grinning as he slapped a hand on the rock.
    “Holy fucking shit sticks.” For a twelve-year-old, he also had an extremely varied and imaginative vocabulary when it came to cussing.
    “Bradley!” Well accustomed to teaching adolescents, Sarah struggled to sound outraged. She hid her laughter by diving low, only breaking the surface when she saw the rock loom large in front of her.
    “You did brilliantly,” she said, treading water as Brad climbed out. He was small for his age, and severe asthma meant that he had spent a significant portion of his childhood in the Cary Medical Center. She hoisted herself up to stand beside him and they both waved at his mother, who was waiting anxiously on the shore. Brad’s skinny chest heaved, the skin sucking in between his ribs as he tried to catch his breath.
    “Let’s have a minute, huh?” Sarah tugged his hand to make him sit down. “Then we can get back.”
    They sat together, toes dipped into the cool, clear water. Avery Lake was vast, stretching for almost thirty square miles. Here and there small boats bobbed on the water, but mostly it was an uninterrupted expanse of aquamarine that only began to taper in width as it reached the craggy hills at its southernmost edge. Sarah had spent almost a year traveling with Alex and seeing some of the most beautiful places imaginable, but she didn’t think she would ever tire of sitting on the diving rock and looking at this view.
    “Miss Sarah?” Brad’s voice was still breathy, but he appeared to be recovering well.
    “What’s up? You want to start back?”
    “No,” he said. “No, not yet. I just…” He shook his head, pretending it was nothing important, but he couldn’t seem to look her in the eye. “How did you hurt your leg?” His question was quiet, imbued with the awe of a boy young enough to think all scars were cool.
    Sarah leaned back on her hands. She no longer made any attempt to cover up the long scar where her femur had been fixed back together, or the scattered pattern of scarring across her abdomen where internal bleeding and more lately a gunshot wound had been treated. With her surname changed, anyone attempting to Google or research the finer details would be disappointed.
    “I was in a car accident a few years ago,” she said, and Brad nodded solemnly. “I, uh, it was pretty bad.” She took a deep breath, staring out at the blue-green water and waiting for the rush of grief to fade. A drunk driver had plowed into her mum’s car, killing her mum and her little sister instantly, but Brad didn’t need to know that.
    Chilly, damp fingers patted awkwardly against her own.
    “That’s really shitty,” Brad said.
    “Yeah. That’s what I thought too.”
    He scrambled up and held his hand out to her, having apparently thought of something he was sure would make her feel better. “Wanna dive in with me?”
    She laughed, forcing back the sadness as she took his hand. “Okay. On three. Ready?”

    *

    Alex’s patrol unit drew up just as Sarah’s toes touched the smooth rocks at the shore. Brad was already chasing Tilly through the shallows, and they both looked around when they heard the car engine. Tilly