Read Online Black Heart by Holly Black - Free Book Online Page A

did it take the thief two weeks after stealing the camera to start blackmailing Mina? Don’t people who steal cameras usually want the camera more than what’s on it, anyway? Who bothers flipping through another person’s pictures? But then, it’s not like most kids at Wallingford can’t afford to buy a camera, and it’s weird how many rich kids steal for fun. They’ll shoplift from the convenience store down on the corner, break into each other’s rooms to grab boxes of cookies, and clumsily jimmy open doors so that they can grab iPods.
    Which, unfortunately, only widens the suspect pool, instead of shrinking it. The blackmailer could be anyone. And, more than probably, the person is joking about the five grand and the baseball field, trying to scare Mina. The remote cruelty points to a girl or a bunch of girls. Whoever she is, she probably just wants to make Mina squirm.
    If I’m right, it’s a pretty good con. Even if Mina calls their bluff, she can’t do much about it, because she won’t want the pictures to get out. But the girls probably can’t resist giggling when Mina comes into the cafeteria or teasing her in class, even if they don’t say anything about the pictures.
    I just wish I was sure Mina was telling me the truth.
    Assignments like these are what FBI agents do, right? On a grander scale but still, using the same techniques. This might be like one of the exercises that Barron is given, except that this one is mine. A little investigation for me to practice on in secret. So that when I finally join up, I’ll be better than him at something.
    A little investigation to prove to myself that I am making the right decision.
    I’m still running through ways to draw out the blackmailer when the beauty queen program is interrupted by news footage of Governor Patton. He’s on the steps of the courthouse, surrounded by microphones, railing loudly.
    “Did you know that government bodies exist staffed entirely by curse workers—curse workers with access to your confidential files? Did you know that no one requires testing of applicants to government jobs to determine who among us are potentially dangerous criminals?” he says. “We must root all workers out of our government! How can we expect our legislators to be safe when their staffers, their aides, even their constituents could be seeking to undermine policies directed at bringing these sinister predators to light, because those policies would inconvenience them.”
    Then we cut to the reporter’s serious, perfectly made-up face and are told that a senator from New York, Senator James Raeburn, has made a statement denouncing Patton’s position. When they show Senator Raeburn, he appears in front of a blue curtain, at a lectern with the state insignia on it.
    “I am deeply disappointed by the recent words and actions of Governor Patton.” He’s young for a senator, with a smile like he’s used to talking people into and out of things, but he doesn’t look slick. I want to like him. He reminds me of my dad. “Are we not taught that those who have confronted temptation and triumphed over it are more virtuous than those who have yet to face their own demons? Are not those who are born hyperbathygammic and tempted into a life of crime—tempted to use their power for their own benefit—are not those people just like us, who resist temptation and choose instead to work to shield us from their less moral kind, are they not to be celebrated rather than treated to Governor Patton’s witch hunt?”
    The newscaster tells us that more details will be forthcoming and more statements are expected from other members of government.
    I fumble for the remote and switch the channel to a game show. Jace has his laptop open and doesn’t seem to notice, for which I am grateful. I guess anything that distracts Patton from talking about my mother is a good thing, but I still hate the sight of him.
     
    Before dinner I head up to my room to drop off my