Read Online Shades of Simon Gray by Joyce McDonald - Free Book Online

some identification,” she shouted at them through the door, hoping her shaky voice didn’t give her away.
    Both officers flipped open black wallet-size folders and flashed IDs and a badge a few feet from the peephole.
    “I’m Lieutenant Debra Santino,” the woman said. “And this is Sergeant Jerry Fowler.”
    Satisfied, Courtney eased the door open a few inches and looked up at them with one eye. “What do you want?” she asked.
    Debra Santino had short brown hair and a light dusting of freckles on her cheeks. She looked friendly enough, like somebody’s mom, dressed in gray slacks and an ice blue blouse. Sergeant Fowler was more intimidating. A dark shadow of stubble covered the lower part of his face. His eyebrows were thick, almost meeting above his crooked nose, and he had a deep cleft in his chin. He wore a navy blue suit and a tie, even though rivulets of sweat were running down the sides of his face.
    “I can’t let anyone in the house,” Courtney said. She wondered if she should mention she was home alone, that her father was at the hospital where her brother was fighting for his life. Her father had been there since the daybefore, only coming home long enough to drop her off early that morning in time for school. Almost thirty hours sitting in a waiting room at the hospital, and he actually expected her to go to school. If she hadn’t been so upset about Simon, she would have danced the whole way from the car to the door, right in front of her obviously delusional father.
    Lieutenant Santino was looking at her with large dark eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But we have a search warrant.”
    Her partner pulled a folded document from his inside coat pocket and presented it to Courtney, who stared down at it but didn’t open the door an inch farther. Her stomach felt like a blender full of ice cream on high speed. She was afraid she might be sick. They were going to search the house. And when they did, they would find the pint-size Ziploc bag containing almost an ounce of marijuana in the toe of her left black boot in her bedroom closet.
    “Is your father home?” Officer Santino asked.
    Courtney shook her head. “He’s at the hospital.”
    “What is your name?” the woman asked.
    “Courtney.”
    “Well, Courtney, I’m afraid we can’t wait for your father to come home. But you can call him and tell him we’re here, if that would make you more comfortable.”
    Courtney stared down at her socks, light gray with tiny navy blue flowers printed on them. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
    “That’s confidential,” Officer Santino said. “But I can assure you it’s police business.”
    Reluctantly, because she didn’t seem to have a choice, Courtney stepped back and opened the door.
    “Which room is Simon Gray’s?” Sergeant Fowler asked.
    The question caught Courtney by surprise. It hadn’t once occurred to her that the police might be here because of Simon. They had come for
her
, hadn’t they? “Upstairs, the second door on the right.” She tried not to sound too relieved.
    Sergeant Fowler headed up the stairs alone.
    Courtney decided the woman was staying below to keep an eye on her. Maybe they considered her a suspect, too. “You said I could call my dad.”
    “Sure, go ahead.” Lieutenant Santino smiled at Courtney, but Courtney didn’t feel the least bit reassured. She headed straight for the phone in the kitchen and dialed a number, praying her father had his cell phone turned on. When she heard him bark “Hello” at the other end, she was actually relieved. Relief was not a feeling she associated with her father’s voice.
    “Dad, the police are here. They have a search warrant and want to see Simon’s room.”
    “I’ll be right home,” he said.
    Courtney still had the phone pressed to her ear when a loud humming sound signaled she had been disconnected.
    Lieutenant Santino was peering out the front window in the living room, obviously interested in something