Larger Than Life Alison Kent (read out loud books .TXT) 📖

at Candy. "You shut your mouth." Another finger at his son. "You go outside. I'm not telling you again."

Oh, no. Neva wasn't going to be having any of this. She was sick of powerful men running roughshod. "No, Sheriff. You go outside. Unless you have a warrant, you have no rights here and no reason to be interfering with my employers or how I run my business."

"I'd say based on the evidence, I have every right in the world and the law on my side." Yancey pulled his handcuffs from his belt. "Nevada Case. You are under arrest—"

"Stop it!" Liberty screamed, heads swiveling her way. "Everyone just stop it! You can't arrest her. I didn't run away. I just wanted a job and she gave me one."

Holden moved closer, a buffer between the girl and the sheriff. "You left home without telling your parents where you were going, Liberty. You left everything you own behind. Don't feel that you have to defend Ms. Case."

"I'm not defending her." Liberty stared at the roll of paper towels in her hand. "I only wanted a job. And besides, I lied and told her I was eighteen. I didn't want her checking with my parents about giving me room and board. They won't let me work, and I wanted a job."

"Liberty, they're very worried about you," Holden said.

"Then tell them I'm fine."

"Actually, you'll have to tell them yourself," Neva said, hating that she had to do so. She'd known when she'd offered Liberty the temporary solution that it was just that. Temporary. The girl had needed a place to lick her wounds and get her head together, and Neva never had been able to tell a troubled young woman no. "I can't have you staying here without their permission if you're underage. It's the law, sweetie. I'm sorry."

Liberty's mouth quivered; her eyes grew wide and wet. "But I don't want to go back. I'm afraid to go back."

The sheriff blew out a long breath of impatience, at which Neva rolled her eyes and which Holden ignored. He moved to block Yancey's access to the girl, asking her softly, "Why would you be afraid, Liberty?" She shook her head, her pony-tail coming loose, and he prodded again. "Liberty? Why would you be afraid?"

"I can't tell you."

"I don't understand. Why can't you tell me?"

"Because of what happened to Jase!" Liberty dropped to her knees, the dog rising up protectively in front of her as she sobbed. "Because of what happened to Jase."

Neva started forward, her spine trembling with the fading echo of Liberty's cry. Spencer followed. Already there, Candy bent down, took the towels and glass cleaner out of the girl's hands, set both items on the nearest display case.

Holden hovered close, yet it was Yancey who took command of the room. "Spencer, take Miss Roman and the two of you wait outside. Please. Neva, you, too."

Spencer and Candy did as they were told. Neva stayed, shook her head. He was not getting rid of her now. "I'm not going anywhere. The girl needs an advocate, and I'm taking the case."

"Her family has hired me—"

One raised palm and she cut off Holden's rhetoric. "Right. To look after their best interests. I'm only interested in Liberty's."

Yancey looked from Neva to Holden and back. He held her gaze while asking Liberty, "Miss Mitchell. I need to ask you a few questions about Jase Bremmer. Do you want Ms. Case to stay or to go?"

"Please stay," Liberty whispered, nodding fiercely.

"Of course I will." Neva offered a hand, helped the girl to her feet, insisting she focus. "If there's anything I don't want you to respond to, I'll let you know. Otherwise, just answer the sheriff honestly and everything will be fine."

Liberty nodded as Yancey pulled a notebook and pen from his pocket. "Radford called us over this morning and told us that he hasn't seen Jase for a week. When was the last time you saw him?"

"Last Friday night. A week ago," she answered. "We went out."

Yancey nodded. "Did Jase drive? Did he pick you up? Or did you meet him somewhere?"

"I met him at the Dairy Mart. I had a salad." She shrugged, tilted her head to one side. "Jase had a burger. And a Coke. Except he didn't eat much of anything."

The sheriff's pen paused. "He wasn't hungry? He was in a hurry?"

She shook her head. "I think he was nervous. He said he had something he wanted to tell me." Twisting her fingers together at her waist, she cast her gaze down. "I thought he had figured out a way for us to leave Earnestine and be together."

"Then you were running away?"

She glanced nervously at Neva, who gave her the go-ahead with a brief nod. "Not really." She rubbed her hand over FM's head. "It's just that we both hated Earnestine so much and wanted to leave, but it was really just talk. We never made any actual plans."

"Okay." More notes. Another pause. The sheriff looked back up. "So, Jase was nervous. But if not about running away, do you know what it was?"

She avoided his gaze, reached down to tug on one of the dog's ears. "He'd stolen money from the printing and supply store where he worked."

Yancey glanced at Holden, who shook his head. Neva did the same. She hadn't heard anything either—surprising, since that sort of gossip traveled as fast as rumors about the Barn.

The sheriff took it all in, cleared his throat. "This robbery. Did he give you any details? When it happened? What he took?"

Liberty continued to pet and play with FM, continued to look only at the dog. "It wasn't like a robbery with a gun or anything. He didn't hold up a bank. He just took some of the money he was supposed to deposit out of the bag. I don't know when."

"I'll have to check with the store tomorrow." Yancey talked while his pen scratched over the paper. "See if they've noticed they're short."

"They should've noticed," Liberty said