Read Online Back Before Dark by Tim Shoemaker - Free Book Online Page A

“Nothing.” He wished he felt nothing. That’d be better than the churning in his stomach right now. He took several deep sips on the straw, hoping the cool chocolate would settle things down.
    “Look who’s coming,” Lunk said.
    Cooper turned just as Officer Sykes, still in uniform, entered with Detective Hammer. Sykes waved and headed their way with a stack of yellow flyers in his hand. Hammer nodded and went to the ordering counter.
    “I guess you
are
going to hand out all those flyers you took,” he said. “That all you have left?”
    Cooper nodded.
    “Great job,” Sykes said. “I’ve seen them everywhere.”
    Cooper felt pretty good about that too, but Gordy was still missing, no matter how many flyers went out. “Thanks for what you did with the buses—and the bus driver. She was ready to bite our heads off.”
    Officer Sykes laughed. “She’s a loose tooth.”
    Hiro wrinkled her nose. “A what?”
    “Loose tooth. She’s got no bite.” He set his stack of flyers on the table. “Mind if I join you for a bit?” He reached for a chair from the empty table and sat on it backwards. “First, how about some introductions?”
    “Cooper MacKinnon.”
    “Gordon Digby’s cousin, right?”
    Cooper nodded. “And this is Neal Lunquist.”
    Neal waved a fry. “But my friends call me Lunk.” His eyes darted from Cooper to Hiro.
    “This is Hiroko Yakimoto. Hiro for short,” Cooper said.
    “And she
is
short,” Lunk said.
    Hiro made two tiny fists and shook them at Lunk. “But I can still take you, big guy.”
    Lunk laughed. “No argument there.” He turned to Officer Sykes. “She wants to be a cop someday. Like you.”
    “Someday?” Cooper laughed. “She wants to be one right now.”
    Sykes smiled. “Bet you’ll be a good one.”
    Hiro nodded. “That would be a smart bet.” She took a sip of water. “Can you tell us anything about the investigation?”
    He hesitated. Cooper wasn’t sure if Sykes was deciding what he
could
tell, or trying to find a way to break the news that they
had
no news.
    “We may have a lead on the van.”
    Cooper almost choked on his shake. “They found it?”
    Officer Sykes held up both hands as if to slow Cooper down. “Not yet. But we will.” He looked like he wished he hadn’t mentioned the van. “We got a lead that
may help
us find it, that’s all.”
    Hiro shot Cooper a look. Not that he knew exactly what she was trying to tell him, but he had a pretty good idea.
Let me handle this.
    “So, this
lead
,” Hiro said. “Did a witness actually see the minivan, or did somebody report a stolen van that matches the description?”
    A hint of surprise registered on Officer Sykes’ face. “Okay. Here’s what I can tell you. We haven’t found the van. Not a trace of it. But a man reported a minivan stolen from Woodfield Mall last night. He works at one of the stores, and when he walked to the lot after closing—no van.”
    “Let me guess.” Hiro leaned forward. “Silver. Sliding doors on both sides. And the plates aren’t an exact match, but are definitely in the ballpark with what Coop remembered.”
    “Could be,” Officer Sykes said. His look went from surprised to suspicious.
    “Told you she wanted to be a cop,” Coop said, hoping he could keep Sykes from clamming up. “How close are those plate numbers?”
    “Close enough,” Sykes said.
    It was clear the cop wasn’t going to give any more details. But he’d revealed enough. It
had
to be the right van. But how many hours had the police lost by not having the right plate numbers? A measly three letters and four numbers, and Cooper totally messed it up.
What an idiot.
Maybe if he had remembered the numbers accurately things would have been different.
    “Cooper,” Hiro said. “You’re not beating yourself up again about the plate number, are you?”
    Was he that easy to read?
    “Look,” Officer Sykes said. “In a pressure situation it’s almost impossible to remember numbers like that.