Page 41 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Thrown for a Loss

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“Okay,” I said to the group, after giving them all a very stern look.
Two or three, despite their bravado, looked like they were barely
holding back tears or their last meal of greasy fast food. “I know you,
Luke, and you, Curt, and Calvin and Newton, too. Who are you
others?”
“I’m Nolan Voyd,” piped up one of the kids I didn’t know. “I just
want to get in to see Armageddon XIV before it’s too late. It starts in
five minutes. Please?”
“Sure,” I said, completely agreeable. “If you tell me what went on
up here when the buzzer went off. Where were you standing?”
“Who said I was standing?” This one was too smart for his own
good. He looked around at the mall rats, suspicion screwing up his
piggy little eyes behind the thick lenses of a pair of horn-rimmed
glasses. “I just came up the escalator there, on my way to the
Cineplex. I was looking ahead at the ticket line when suddenly I
heard a bunch of coins hit the floor behind me and somebody said,
‘My money!’ or something like that. I stopped and turned around to
see if I could, uh, help pick up the loose change. But I didn’t get a
chance, because that buzzer started up right then. That made
everybody look up from the floor, including me. I guess we forgot
about the money. I don’t know why I hung around.”
He fidgeted, his eyes bugging out as he scanned the floor in front
of the escalator landing. Quite a conflict for his greedy young mind.
Stick around, pretend to be interested or a good citizen, all the while
noting the location of any nickels or dimes missed by the other
bystanders, or clam up and try to get into the theater before the last
trailer had ended. But I was wrong.
“Did you pick up any of those coins?”
It was Lieutenant Gramercy, standing next to me again and I
didn’t know she was there. It was creepy. Those new shoes made not
a sound. I suppose that’s why they’re called sneakers. And maybe
that’s why she bought them. If she had gotten new clothes, as well,
I’ll bet she wouldn’t cast a shadow.
Nolan looked at her. Her expression or her very visible badge
outweighed the track suit. He stuck his hands in his pockets and
looked like he was about to cry.

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