“Darn kids these days,” Jude declared, diverting the man’s attention from Free before I could. “With their internet access and detail-oriented interest in the criminal justice system!”

Take one step toward them, I told the sheriff silently, keyed in to his every move. Just one step, and I’ll—

Jude bumped my hip with his own. I got a handle on myself, then bumped back.

“You’re welcome to file a request for those records with my office,” the sheriff told Bella’s mother. When she excused herself to do just that, the sheriff zeroed in on Jude, Free, and me.

Just one step, Sheriff.

Fortunately, for his sake, he decided not to take his frustrations out on my friends. “Kira,” he said pleasantly, “could I have a word?”

Jude cleared his throat to get my attention. When that didn’t work, he bumped me again. I bumped back. If the sheriff had chosen to go after Free or Jude, I might have lost it. But he hadn’t, and I didn’t need Jude to spell out what my gut was already screaming: The sheriff had targeted me for a reason, like a predator picking off the weakest member of the herd.

Girl is not weak. I didn’t push the thought away. I let the human part of my brain recede, until I could hear the part that was other loud and clear. Girl doesn’t need protection.

Girl survives.

“Stay,” I told Silver, knowing that my fellow Miscreants would realize I wasn’t just talking to the dog.

I let the sheriff lead me away from the group and ended up with my back to the wall. Maybe I should have felt cornered—maybe he was hoping I would—but there was a comfort in knowing that I couldn’t be attacked from behind.

Cady always said, if someone wanted to show you who they were—let them.

“Your adoptive mother is an incredible woman.” The sheriff put emphasis on the word adoptive, but unfortunately for him, whatever point he was trying to make was lost on me. My instincts were more focused on the way he stood, the distribution of weight between his feet.

“Given what you did for Bella today, it appears that you and Cady have that much in common.” He shifted his weight forward, toward me, into my space. “But if Gabriel Cortez is the one who put you and your friends up to that little stunt with Bella’s mother just now, then you and Cady also have something else in common, and that’s incredibly bad judgment in the opposite sex.”

The ridiculousness of the sheriff’s statement allowed me to tamp down on the desire to invade his space. Gabriel hadn’t put me up to anything, and my judgment about the opposite sex wasn’t good or bad. It was nonexistent.