Read Online Borrowing Trouble by Stacy Finz - Free Book Online Page A

hovered around thirty degrees, nothing but clear skies.
    The guy seemed pretty psyched about his new toy.
    â€œTell your friends,” Griff said.
    He decided to hit the Bun Boy on his way home, drove to the square, and parked in front of the fast-food joint. Colin Burke was in line ahead of him.
    â€œHow’s Lucky’s house coming along?” Griff asked him. The two had ordered and stood at the take-away window, waiting for their burgers and fries to come out.
    â€œPretty good so far.” Besides making kick-ass furniture, Colin worked with a local contractor, building homes. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his down jacket. “Just hope the weather holds. I heard Lina Shepard’s back?”
    Griff nodded. “Yep.”
    â€œHow you doin’ with that?” The winter he and Lina had broken up, Colin had been his sounding board.
    â€œGood,” Griff said, and lifted his shoulders. “Water under the bridge.”
    â€œYeah, right. Is she old enough to vote yet?”
    Griffin pierced his friend with a look. “I’m staying away from her.”
    â€œLook over there.” Colin cocked his head across the square, where Rhys Shepard got into his police-mobile. “If you feel your willpower slipping, just remember that her brother’s a hell of a shot.”
    Griff had heard all the jokes before. Robbing the cradle. Jail bait. You name it. But in his mind, the age difference wasn’t all that terrible. If Lina were thirty and he thirty-eight, no one would give a damn.
    Their food came out and Colin carried his over to the Nugget Tribune . Griffin figured Colin’s wife, Harlee, was pulling a late one. Unlike Colin, Griff ate in his truck and hurried home to nothing.
    Â 
    That evening, Sloane had been on shift less than an hour when she got a call from Connie that kids had found skeletal remains on the shore of the Feather River, not far from the high school. The light was fading fast, but she assumed the call wouldn’t take long. The bones more than likely belonged to an animal that had washed up.
    She parked in the school lot, crossed the highway, and following Connie’s directions, scrambled down the embankment to a rocky beach below. Apparently, the spot was a popular hangout for kids after school. There wasn’t a lot for a teenager to do in this town. A small group had assembled at the base of the trestle bridge and waved her over. They were yelling something, but she couldn’t hear them over the sound of the rushing river.
    By the time she’d hiked to where they were standing, one of the kids had climbed up the embankment to a small turnoff where cars were parked, and turned on his headlights. Smart thinking.
    â€œIt’s right there.” A tall boy with dark hair pointed to a pile of rocks. “No one touched it so we wouldn’t contaminate the scene.”
    Sloane smiled to herself. Everyone nowadays watched CSI . “Good job.”
    She stumbled over the rocky terrain to get to the spot where the boy had directed her, and sure enough, there was a skeleton. And damned if it didn’t look human. A torso, if Sloane was to guess. But she’d need the medical examiner to make an official determination. Given the lack of light it was difficult to see much, and she needed to be careful not to disrupt the area in case it was a crime scene.
    A couple of the kids came toward her. “Stay where you are. I want to keep this area clear.”
    â€œIt’s a person, isn’t it?” the dark-haired boy asked.
    â€œLooks like,” she said, and got on her radio to ask Connie for reinforcements. They’d have to take pictures and do a grid search for the rest of the remains before carting off what they had.
    When she got off her radio she asked the boy, “Are you the one who found it?”
    â€œYes, ma’am.”
    She’d need to take his statement. A crunching noise made her look up to see a man