AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We both went to Silver Central Middle School,” I tell her. “I was in 8th grade and he was in 6th.”
“That’s great,” Molly smiles. “That’s a great start. What else?”
“Um, his birth name is Aaron Samuel Sparrow.”
She cringes, and I know why.
“Unfortunate initials.”
“Yeah, my mom didn’t think it through.”
“Birthday?”
“I’ve got all of that right here.” I push a little envelope closer to her. “It’s everything I know about Aaron.”
“Why now?”
“I finally have money,” I admit. “Well, almost. I get my first paycheck from Shadowvale Industries in a couple of weeks, and that’s when I’d like to officially book you.”
“You didn’t want to do this sooner?”
She’s not judging me. She’s just curious. I’m okay with that. I like the way she sounds kind when she’s asking me.
“I wanted to,” I admit. “But I wasn’t really sure how to, you know?”
“I get that. It’s hard when you don’t have any resources. It’s even harder when you feel alone.” Her voice suddenly sounds soft. Gentle. I wonder if there is more to Molly than meets the eye. Did she lose someone close to her once? Maybe that’s why she’s a P.I.
“Listen,” I say. “I don’t expect this to start right now. I mostly wanted to know if you think you can help and if you can give me a price range. I want to find my brother more than anything, but I’m also working on a budget.”
“Totally fine,” she says. Molly waves her hand. “I’d love to help. I’ll start digging now. Here’s my rate. Here’s what I think it’s going to cost you. Could be less. I don’t overbill.” She writes down a series of numbers on a piece of paper and slides it my way.
When I glance at the paper, I nod. It’s not as high as I thought it would be. Maybe I really should have done this years ago.
“Yeah,” I finally say. “This is good. I’m good with this.” I look back up at her. “I’ll be back in three weeks.”
“I’ll have an update,” she grins.
15.
Ryan
“The meeting has moved from 203 to 204,” Alex says. She looks at me like she’s really focused on the location of my meeting, which is great aside from the fact that I don’t care at all. What I care about is the fact that she’s wearing the red blouse I bought her. I care about the fact that it hugs her curves. The black pencil skirt she’s paired her top with is even more perfect, somehow.
She’s everything.
