Saving Allegheny Green Read Online Free PDF Page B

Conahegg had brought us, accessible only with a key. Three, the doorway through the jail. And one more entrance through the small courtroom where prisoners were arraigned.
    I knew the layout because I’d been here once before when Aunt Tessa was arrested for chunking rotten eggs at the Mayor during the Founders Day parade while in the throes of an Ung moment but that’s another story.
    It didn’t take long to walk through the facility. I checked the ladies’ room with no luck and ended up back at the front desk five minutes after I started. Conahegg and Swiggly were still deep in conversation about the evil Green family.
    I waited until Swiggly halted his soliloquy to take a breath and I jumped in.
    “Sorry to interrupt,” I apologized. “But I can’t find my sister.”
    Conahegg gave me his full attention which I found rather flattering until I belatedly realized he was simply desperate to find an excuse to get rid of Swiggly. So much for my natural charm.
    “Do you think she left the building?” Conahegg asked.
    I shrugged. With Sissy, who knew.
    He frowned. “She shouldn’t walk alone in this neighborhood.”
    Conahegg was right. The sheriff’s department hunkers in the roughest part of town, which granted, in Cloverleaf isn’t that bad, but it’s where most crimes occurred.
    Swiggly started talking again but Conahegg raised a hand. “Excuse me a minute, sir.”
    “Well…” Swiggly looked affronted. “I was talking to you first.”
    “I’m afraid something more important has come up.” Conahegg took my arm and guided me out the front door. If I hadn’t been so worried about Sissy I would have paid more attention to the strange sensations rioting through me at his touch.
    “Do you think she would take off on her own?”
    I shook my head. “It’s twelve miles home.”
    “Would she hitchhike?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Damn,” he swore.
    And then we both heard it. A distinctive moan coming from the patrol cars in the parking lot.
    A soft feminine moan.
    My stomach knotted.
    Conahegg began to run.
    We found Sissy crumpled on the ground in the fetal position.
    “Sissy,” I cried, struggling to stay my rising panic. “What happened?”
    Conahegg bent and scooped her into his arms. When he raised her up, I could see her face in the light from the street lamp. Her right eye was swollen shut and her nose was caked with dried blood. My stomach lurched and I feared I was going to be sick.
    You can’t throw up, Sissy needs you.
    “Ally?” She groaned and reached for me.
    “I’m here.” I squeezed her hand. “Right here.”
    It completely did me in to see my little sister beaten likethat. I started to shake and my head swam with empathy.
    “Where are you hurt, sweetie?”
    “He punched me in the stomach.”
    “He who?”
    “A man.”
    “Did you know him?” I asked.
    Sissy didn’t answer. I took that as a bad sign. She probably had known the guy. What a hellish night. First Rocky, then Tim, now Sissy. What was going on? Was there a full moon? Was Mercury in retrograde? Had the remaining Beatles reunited?
    “Are you sick at your stomach? Can you describe the pain? How hard did he hit you?” I hurled the questions at her, desperately needing answers.
    “Hush,” Conahegg said softly. “You’re upset, Ally.” When had he started calling me Ally and why did it feel so nice? “Hush and let me take care of this.”
    I wanted to protest. To tell him that I was the one who took care of things in our family, and by the way he had no right to call me Ally. But he didn’t even wait for me to tell him anything.
    Conahegg started up the sidewalk, Sissy slack against his strong arms. I trotted along beside him, trying to keep up, my fingers laced through Sissy’s.
    Conahegg was at fault. If he hadn’t brought us here, Sissy wouldn’t have gotten beaten.
    Immediately, I realized the unfairness of my accusations. I was thinking with my emotions. He’d simply been doing his job and if Sissy hadn’t shot