In Too Deep Read Online Free PDF Page B

here, Chief?”
    The chief turned to the storeowner. The storeowner gave a curt nod.
    â€œLucas, apologize to the man,” Mr. Wilson said.
    Lucas scooped up the loose change that he had taken from his pocket and deposited on the roof of the police car. He jammed it in his pocket.
    â€œApologize now, Lucas,” Mr. Wilson said, “before I change my mind and let the chief throw the book at you.”
    â€œSorry,” Lucas muttered under his breath.
    The storeowner stared at him with disgust. “If one of your kids ever comes into my store again, he’s going to be sorry, Wilson.”
    â€œYou’d better get these boys back to your place, Larry,” Lafayette said to Wilson. Then he turned to the crowd. “Okay, folks. We’re all done here.”
    As the crowd dispersed, I heard people muttering about those kids. “Nothing but trouble,” one person said. “Just like the government to take all these delinquents and send them up to a peaceful town like this where they make nothing but trouble,” someone else added.
    The chief spoke to the other officer for a moment before starting back to his cruiser. I intercepted him.
    â€œExcuse me,” I said. “My dad said I should say hi.”
    â€œRobyn! Good Lord, you’re all grown-up. Seems to me that the last time I spotted you around town, you were all arms and legs.”
    â€œIt’s been a couple of years,” I said. I’d spent all of the previous summer in the city. The summer before that, Morgan had been away.
    â€œWell, it’s good to see you. Mac told me you were coming up here.” He fished in his pocket for a business card, pulled out a pen, and scribbled a phone number on the back of it. “Here’s where you can reach me. And that’s my cell-phone number on the back. If you need anything, anything at all, just give me a call.”
    I thanked him.
    â€œWhat was that all about?” I said, tucking his card into a pocket. “Who were those kids?”
    â€œJust a couple of Larry’s kids. Larry Wilson runs a group home for teens who have been in trouble with the law. He puts them to work, teaches them a trade, helps them get their lives back on track.”
    â€œIt sounds like not everyone appreciates what he’s doing,” I said.
    Lafayette shrugged. “This is a small town. We get a lot of summer people up here. Some of them have been coming up for generations. But the people who live here year-round don’t consider them part of the community. They feel the same way about Larry’s kids, even though they only come into town about once a week, if that. A lot of the locals see them as troublemakers.”
    â€œAre they?”
    â€œThey can be a little rough around the edges—and cocky when they first arrive at Larry’s. But Larry mostly keeps them in line. Even manages to teach them some manners. That said, I wouldn’t recommend them as appropriate company. Your dad would probably have my head if he thought I’d expose you to boys like that.”
    I wondered what Chief Lafayette would think if he met Nick.
    â€œEnjoy your summer, Robyn,” he said. “Call anytime. And check with the ranger station if you decide to do any hiking in the area. We’ve had a few incidents involving bears.”
    â€œBears?”
    â€œThere seem to be more of them around this year. From what we can tell, they’re hungry, and a few of them are acting a little bolder than we’d like. A couple of people have had bad scares. The rangers are tracking them as best they can. They can tell you what areas to avoid and what precautions to take.”
    â€œIt’s okay,” I said. “I wasn’t planning to do a lot of hiking.” Not with Morgan on crutches. And certainly not after what I had just heard.
    When I got back to the office with everyone’s lunches there was a truck out front. A man was throwing down bundles