“Right.” Coffee first, then figure out if I was being paranoid or not.

My phone rang when I was coming back from getting their lunch.

The morning had been slow at the bowling alley. After handing off the cartons of coffee when I first arrived, the door had closed and I’d been left alone behind the bar and register. That part of the job was easy. A few large groups had come in. One was a family with three little kids. The most help they needed was laying down the gutter ball stoppers. The other group was a bunch of retired ladies, all wearing tutus and crowns. One threw glitter on me and said, “You’re now a sparkly princess.”

She thought that was cute. I didn’t think it was.

Seeing it was Channing calling now, I hit the speakerphone when I was in the truck. “What’s up?”

“What’s happening there?”

No greeting. Just the abrupt question, and hearing my brother’s no-nonsense tone, everything went on alert in me now.

I shoved down a knot forming in my stomach. “What are you talking about?”

“Dad called, said there was a big bust by you. You know anything about that?”

Relief hit me hard and I almost swooned, I was so lightheaded. He wasn’t asking about Harper, or my maybe impending police arrest. He was talking about my job job.

“Oh.” I laughed, my voice hitching. “I have no idea.” I frowned, the alarm being moved over, but an unsettling sensation taking its place. “They kept me handling the bowling lanes today.”

Silence.

I was getting sick of these damn silences.

“They didn’t let you in?”

“What?”

“Their offices. Did you go in at all?”

Okay. Now my stomach was starting to roll. It was never a good sign when it began to roll.

“No. They kept me out all day.” Dad. “What’s going on?”

Was Dad involved?

“Shit.”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Don’t worry. Stay in schoo—”

“Channing!” But he’d already hung up. I stared at the phone and growled. “I’m not in school, you asshole.”

I was being kept out of the action again. I was getting really, really, super really sick of it.

I could…

No. I couldn’t.

But …

No. No. No.

A super-duper bad idea, and I couldn’t believe I just thought the words super-duper.

So not a good idea.

But …

He did give me his phone number, so that meant he had a cell phone. And I bet he would tell me? Wouldn’t he?

Would he?

Gah. Now I didn’t know.

Dark Bren. What would she do?