Read Online Poisoned Pin: A Cozy Mystery (Brenna Battle Book 2) by Laney Monday - Free Book Online Page A

got her moment to shine in front of the others.
    I said, “Perfect.”
    Then she remembered to scowl.
    We had the girls in a line, falling one after the other, when a car drove by, just a tad too fast, skidding through a puddle and spattering our newly cleaned front windows. The car door opened and a kid jumped out, holding her jacket over her head against the downpour of rain. I guess she didn’t notice the curb right in front of her. Or maybe it was her brand-new, unwashed and unshrunk judo pants that caught under her foot as she ran.
    All I know is that I sensed impending disaster and instinctively lunged forward, as though I could fly halfway across the dojo and reach through the glass and save the girl from the calamity unfolding before my eyes. She lurched at the curb, then her momentum won out over her arm-flailing efforts to regain her balance and she flew forward and slammed against the glass with a horrible smack-bam. For a second, she was frozen there, face plastered flat against the glass, eyes stuck in widened surprise and horror, palms spread on the window in an attempt to mitigate the impact. Then, like broken egg goo, she slid down the glass and crumpled into a puddle.
    Literally, right into a puddle. In her pristine, never worn, white judo gi.
    Worse than the muddy rainwater, there was a blood streak on the glass. Oh, crud. I flew out the door and to the kid. I squatted next to her and found her looking stunned, but conscious. She had an impressive nosebleed going on. Blythe ran out after me, waving her hands and trying to get the attention of the car that had dropped her off.
    I pulled the girl partway onto my lap.
    Behind me, three girls pressed against the window. I could hear their muffled voices through the glass, but I couldn’t make out their words. Sammi tentatively opened the door. “Umm … ”
    “I’m coming,” Blythe said to Sammi, and she hurried back in, leaving me with the wet, bleeding basket-case.
    “Are you okay?” I asked.
    Big blue eyes blinked up at me. “Can we pretend I’m not?”
    “What?”
    Her pale, peachy cheeks turned scarlet. “Did everyone just see me run into that glass?”
    “Uh … everyone except your mother. Was that your mom who dropped you off?” More like dumped her off.
    “Yeah, she was in a hurry,” the kid mumbled.
    “So were you,” I said, offering her a smile and trying to lighten things up.
    “I knew I was late. I didn’t want to be later. Sorry.”
    She hung her head, not bothering to pull her hood back up. It looked like she was going to cry. I’m not good with criers. That’s why I had Blythe. She should be out here, and I should be in there teaching class.
    “It’s okay,” I said. “You’re here. That’s what matters.”
    “I wish I’d never come here!”
    Great. The dam broke, and she started giving the rainstorm a run for its money.
    I gave her back a clumsy pat. “Look, I do stupid stuff all the time.”
    Her head jerked up and her look said Did you really just say that to me?
    Yes, I really just said she did something stupid. “Like that!” I said. “Like what I just said. Incredibly stupid, right?”
    The girl pushed herself up with a chubby arm. “I have to go.”
    “Go? I can’t just let you go by yourself.”
    “This is Bonney Bay. I walk around here by myself all the time.”
    “In the rain? At least wait until the rain stops.”
    “This is Western Washington State. You’re new here, right? When it rains, it doesn’t just stop.”
    Right. I had to think of something else, quick. “Your nose might be broken.”
    She paused. Yes! Apparently that got her attention.
    “Really? Do you think it’ll need surgery? Maybe they can give me one of those cute little button noses.”
    Good grief! “You have a perfectly good nose, you know, aside from all the swelling.”
    “Trust me, it’s not all the swelling.”
    I tried to think of something a good coach would say, but all that came to mind were things that Jake