The Jealous Kind (Holland Family Saga 2)

“You carry a shank?” he asked.

“A knife? No, sir.”

“Turn your pockets out. Put everything on the desk.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did I tell you to stand up?”

“No, sir.”

My hands were shaking as I removed my belongings from my pockets. He sat on the corner of the desk and watched me. “What do you call this?” he said.

“It’s a penknife. I use it to cut string at the grocery.”

“You sack groceries?”

“I tote them outside, too. Sometimes I work at a service station.”

“That’s a good job for a boy. Pumping gasoline, fixing tires, and all that,” he said, half smiling. “That’s what you do, right?”

“Yes, sir, oil changes, too.”

“What were you doing last night?”

“Not much. I took a walk.”

“Where’bouts did you walk?”

“I can’t rightly say. I have spells.”

“What kind of spells?”

“Like down in the dumps. They pass. They run in my family.”

“Know who Loren Nichols is?”

“A guy I had trouble with up in the Heights. He came to the school with his friends yesterday.” I straightened my back and took a fresh breath. Maybe this was about Loren Nichols and his buddies, not me.

“Were they in a 1941 Ford that belongs to Loren and his brother?”

“It was a ’41 Ford. I don’t know who owns it.”

“You wouldn’t have vandalized his car, would you?”

“No, I don’t do things like that. Are my folks on their way?”

“You mean ‘no, sir’?”

“Yes, sir, that’s what I meant.”

“Loren says he saw you in the Heights last night, not far from his house. Were you in the Heights?”

“I never bothered those guys. They came after me. I don’t know what’s going on, Mr. Jenks.”

“Detective Jenks. You didn’t answer my question. Were you in the Heights or not?”

“I don’t know where I was. Did somebody cut their tires? Is that why you asked if I had a knife?”