Read Online Rock-a-Bye Bones by Carolyn Haines - Free Book Online Page A

in love with her.
    His head dipped low. “I tried to take care of her. I helped her with the car and gave her my cell phone when she needed to make calls about her songs.” He looked up. “I wanted to be more than that, but Pleasant had a ticket out of the poverty and the desperation all around her. She didn’t need me hanging on and dragging her down.”
    The doors of the store burst open and two large men, red-faced with alcohol and bluster, pushed in.
    â€œWell if it isn’t Candyass Frankie.” A tall blond boy with rippling muscles reached across me and picked up Frankie’s book. “So you’re reading about a madam. The whorehouse kind? That’s the only piece of ass you’ll ever get around here, Stringbean.”
    The other boy reached into the cooler and pulled out a six-pack of beer. He came to the counter. “Come have a beer with us, Frankie. We’ll show you how to grow a pair.” They looked at each other and laughed.
    â€œDon’t make the little wussy cry,” the blond said.
    Frankie rang up the beer without comment.
    The bell on the door signaled another customer—this was a flurry of activity for a store stuck in the middle of nowhere. A pretty young girl sashayed past the two young men and put a twenty on the counter.
    â€œPump one,” she said.
    â€œOh, baby, I’d like to give you my number one pump,” the blond boy said. The other slapped his back, almost choking on laughter.
    â€œWord around the high school is that your nozzle is so small I wouldn’t feel it,” the girl said with complete aplomb.
    Bada-bing! If I’d had her self-assurance in high school, it would have been a less miserable experience. She prissed out the door, her perfect sun-streaked blond curls bouncing behind her.
    The two boys went to the door to look out. In the moment of privacy, I asked Frankie, “Cheerleader?”
    He nodded. “Her boyfriend will beat the snot out of these guys, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea. They were tormenting Pleasant the last time she was in the store. She gave it right back to them.”
    I snapped a photo of each guy while they were busy guffawing and man-patting each other’s backs for the bawdy comments. Frankie might not have been the last person to see Pleasant before she vanished.
    â€œHey, pencil dick,” the beefy brunette said as he flicked a finger under Frankie’s nose, “I don’t have the money to pay for the beer. I’ll bring it back. Later.”
    Frankie picked up the six-pack and put it under the counter. “That’s against store rules.”
    â€œAnd you’re gonna take my beer?” the young man asked.
    â€œYes.” Frankie was scared but determined.
    â€œYou sure you want to try that?” The beefy boy reached into his pocket and brought out a switchblade. “I might gut you or I might slice your car tires.”
    â€œYou can’t have the beer. I’d have to pay for it and I don’t have any money.” Frankie wasn’t brave, but he was fiscally responsible. He wasn’t going into debt for beer.
    â€œWeasel face, you’d better—”
    I dialed 911 and when DeWayne answered, I spoke loudly. “Deputy Dattilo, there’s a robbery in progress at Three Bs Grocery on Highway 12. Could you send several patrol cars, please? One suspect is brandishing a knife.”
    That was all it took. The two young men hit the door, leaving the beer. Tires smoked as they churned out of the lot.
    â€œSarah Booth! Sarah Booth!” DeWayne squawked at me. “I don’t have jurisdiction in Bolivar County.”
    â€œI know,” I said. “It was a scare tactic, and it worked. But those boys are headed east on Highway 12. They may dip into Sunflower County and they need to be picked up. They were in the store the day Pleasant went missing, and they’re real macho assholes. I’d like for you or Coleman