Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 04 - Jupiter Returns Read Online Free PDF Page B

name, address, and phone number, and the name of his school. It’s just around the corner.”
    Rudy turned out to b e a shy teenage boy of around fifteen or sixteen. He had black hair that he kept attempting to get out of his eyes by throwing his head back. He was extremely skinny. His eyes were the most attractive thing about him. They were blueish-green.
    “I haven’t seen her for about two weeks. I wish someone would help her. She’s a good kid underneath all the bull shit, excuse me.”
    We had gone to his address and no one was home and then we had realized he was probably still in school. It was during the lunch hour and he was sitting on a park bench on campus alone reading a book on quantum physics.
    “You called her a kid,” I said. “She’s the same age as me.”
    “Well, yeah, but she acts like a kid. I thought you were her when you first walked up, but you’re more sophisticated.”
    “How did you get to be friends with her? How did you meet?”
    “I was in the public library downtown and she came in looking lost. She saw me and came over to ask for my help. Probably because I look like a geek, and I am a geek.”
    “What did she want help with?” Tracy asked.
    “She said she wanted to look at some newspaper articles from the past. I helped her with that.”
    “What were the newspaper articles about?”
    “They were about a kidnapping that took place in Houston over thirty years ago. There were other articles she looked up but I wanted to get back to my studying. Later, she came over and asked me how to copy these articles and I showed her
    “When she was done, she came over and asked if I wanted to go somewhere for a burger and coke, that she was buying. She seemed to be interested in me and asked me all about myself.
    “After that, I would go to her house and she would spend time with me. I don’t have a lot of friends and my dad left when I was little. My mom works two jobs so I don’t have anyone to talk to most of the time.
    “B eing the geek that I am, I don’t mind much because I spend most of my time inside books anyway.”
    A bell rang and he stood up and tucked his white dress shirt inside his black slacks. It didn’t stay. He threw his lunch bag in the garbage and gathered up his books.
    “I have to go or I’ll be late for class. I’ve never been late before.”
    “When can we talk to you again? What time do you get out of school?” I called after him.
    “I work at the Better Burger. I go to work at three.” He yelled back as he was running toward the building.
    “What a neat kid,” Tracy said , looking after him. She looked at her watch, “I guess we have about three hours to kill. I’m hungry, what about you guys?”
    W e found a small diner and sat in a booth. The waitress who came to take our order was skinny with big boobs. She had pink hair and her uniform was unbuttoned very low to show off her boobs.
    She popped her gum as she headed toward us. “You look mighty fine woman,” she said, looking at me. “You’ve done something to yourself but I can’t figure out what it is.”
    “No, I’m not Christina. I’m Judith McCain, her twin, I mean triplet sister.”
    “No kidding,” she stood looking at me , popping her gum. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
    Tracy remained silent and allowed me to question the waitress. “Could you tell us anything about her, like where she might be now?”
    She sat down next to Huck , across from Tracy and me, shoving her butt against him.
    “Move over you big hunk,” she said. “Is it true what they say about black men?”
    Huck didn’t answer , but glared at her. She shrugged and looked back at me. “I’ve known Christina since we were in the second grade. My family moved to Tulsa when my dad got a job on the oil rig working for Mr. Limick.
    “Christina and I became friends but when she hit puberty, she went kind of crazy for some reason. She stole from everyone and slept with every boy in town. My parents made me quit