Chapter 16

Charlie looked up from the kitchen table, shaking his head. “Decided to take a mud bath before you camehome?”

Derek looked down and saw he was covered in mud, probably from his time under the porch. “I slipped when I was trying to beat the worst of the rain to get here,” he said quickly, hoping Charlie would believe him.

“Well, go clean up before you track it through the house. And why are you coming in the back way?”

“Umm, so I wouldn’t leave mud in the front room?”

Charlie cocked an eyebrow but accepted his excuse.

Derek was halfway dressed in clean clothes when the doorbell rang. He started to call out to Charlie notto answer but it was too late. He heard a man say, “We’re sorry to bother you, sir, but we’re looking for a boy in his late teens who tried to rob the convenience store a block or so from here.”

“I haven’t seen anyone,” Charlie replied. “What did he look like?”

“Caucasian. About five-ten, black hair, dressed in jeans and a blue or black T-shirt.”