fairly crowded, crowded enough that Alan wouldn’t be stupid and try anything funny.
It didn’t stop him from shouting at her, though.
“Yeah, go on. Go on and try to rescue your little boyfriend. I’ll see him hang for his crimes, see if I don’t. He was always acting so pious, and so are you. I bet this isn’t the first person he’s murdered, either. It was always convenient how you blamed someone for Raquel’s murder. I bet you and Sean set it up somehow.” Alan was babbling now, and his friends surrounded him, trying to get him off the street.
Nora’s face burned, but she refused to turn around.
“Who was Raquel?” Ricky asked.
“My friend,” Nora said. “My childhood best friend. Never mind what that Neanderthal says.”
“I’m sorry,” Ricky said. “About what he said, I mean. Also, I’m sorry about what I said. I called you a freak and I shouldn’t have.”
Nora looked down, surprised.
“I had a brother,” Ricky said. “He wasn’t my real brother. He died in the foster home we were put in. That’s when I ran away. My point is I know how it feels. Those idiots will pretend to be friends with each other but they’ll never get it, true friendship.”
Nora smiled. “It’s rarer than gold, I think.”
“Yeah,” Ricky said. “I wish every day that I could get Henry back. But I guess… I got to do what he wanted. I got to get rich and get my life together. That’s why I ran away. I ran away to become a musician.”
“Are you good at it?” Nora asked.
“Very,” Ricky said. “I’m the next Zany Motts. I’m the next Elvis.”
Nora wanted to laugh but she looked in his eyes, and saw how serious he looked.
“Thing is, the agent I went to said I’d need cash before I can kickstart my career,” Ricky said. “Plus, I look like I’m only fifteen, so everyone thinks I’m too young to sing.”
“But you’re doing it despite the odds,” Nora smiled.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “Look,I promise you I had no hand in the murder of Wallis. Please don’t take me back to the station? Please?”
“You saw something,” Nora said. “No matter how trivial it is to you, and if you were trying to extort someone, I doubt you think it’s trivial. You clearly saw something. So I have to take you to the station. It’s my duty.”
“They’ll throw me in jail and throw away the key,” Ricky said. “That’s what I’m afraid of. Cops are never nice to kids like me. They think we’re scum.”
“Sean’s not built that way,” Nora said. “He’ll help you out. Wait and see.” She bit her lip, remembering it wasn’t Sean anymore down at the station.
“I didn’t see anything, really,” Ricky said. “I just saw someone looking scared, and thought I could get some money out of them. It was a scam. I was just hustling.”
She walked in, with Ricky next to her. The station looked the same as ever - a little messy, with a coffee pot in one corner and an electric fan in another, and three desks lined up in a U-shaped formation.
But the centre desk, where Sean would have sat, was now occupied by a man with a handlebar mustache and aviator goggles covering his eyes. He took them off when she entered and gave her an appreciative look. Sitting on his desk, with his legs just barely touching the ground, was a tough looking man with a cigarette dangling from his lips and a buzz cut.
The man with the goggles smiled at her. “Welcome, Miss. I’m Detective Jason Mars from the state police. This is Officer Rudy Piscalone. We’ve been especially invited here by Mayor Almand after the town got a little… rowdy the other day. We’re Sean’s replacements.”
“Temporary replacements.” Dean Elbert said from the desk next to him.
“You want to go back to doing those files, sonny,” Detective Jason said, a thin warning in his voice. “You go do the files while I talk to this nice lady here.” He got up and came around the desk to meet her. “So. Did this little rat do
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