Thicker Than Water
By Natasha Deen
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About this ebook
Natasha Deen
Natasha Deen loves stories: exciting ones, scary ones and, especially, funny ones! As a kid of two countries (Guyana and Canada), she feels extra lucky because she gets a double dose of stories. Natasha is the author of many books including the Lark Ba Detective series in the Orca Echoes line, Depth of Field in the Orca Soundings line and In the Key of Nira Ghani which won the Amy Mathers Book Award and was nominated for the Red Maple, MYRCA and R. Ross Arnett Awards. She is also a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee medal. Natasha lives in Edmonton.
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Book preview
Thicker Than Water - Natasha Deen
One
Chapter One
I don’t hear the car come up the driveway. But when the doorbell rings, I just know it’s a cop on the other side. He pushes the button again, and the sound crackles through me.
Zack, honey, can you get that?
Mom calls from the kitchen.
My muscles won’t work.
Zack, now!
I jump up from the couch and stumble to the door. I nod at the officer, grateful my long hair hangs over my eyes. I don’t want him to see the fear in them. It’s a weird thing, wanting him here at the same time I wish he’d go away. Hi, Detective Tyron.
Hi, Zack. Are your folks home?
When I nod, he pushes his bulk through the doorway and stands in the hall.
Uh, my mom’s here.
I close the door, then flick my hair out of my face. Mom!
I call. A cop wants to talk to you.
Actually, buddy, it’s you I want to talk to. But you’re only seventeen, so I need your mom around.
Does he know that I know more about Ella’s disappearance than I’m admitting? Oh, yeah, sure. Come into the kitchen.
I smile back at him, but it’s not a real smile.
Mom wipes her hands on a dish towel. The question is in her eyes.
Detective Tyron.
The officer holds out his hand.
She takes it. Rabia Bernard.
I’m one of the leads on the Ella Larson case.
My mom’s face crumples. So it’s official? She really is missing?
The only thing we know for sure is that she’s been out of contact with her friends and family for twenty-four hours.
Detective Tyron pauses. And that’s unusual for her.
More than unusual,
says Mom. She and her mom are inseparable.
She wipes invisible crumbs off the table. Did she take off? Did—
Mom glances at me. Did someone hurt her?
We don’t know all the facts yet, ma’am,
he says. It’s Ella’s first year at university. Sometimes that kind of freedom goes to a kid’s head. Especially when they’re no longer in the same city as their parents. They’re traveling, partying and not checking in with Mom and Dad. Other times it could be something more serious—
Detective Tyrone spreads his hands. I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t explore every possibility.
Mom nods toward the table. Please sit down. Can I get you some coffee?
She looks my way and sighs. Zack, the hair.
I yank it back into a ponytail.
Thank you,
the detective says to Mom as he sits. That would be great. Black, please.
How is the investigation going?
We do have some leads we’re following up on. Yesterday Zack and his dad stopped by and gave me a statement.
Yes,
says Mom. She pops a pod into the coffee machine, slides a mug into the tray and pushes the Start button. They told me.
So you’re a full day into the investigation, and you don’t know anything,
I say.
Zack!
Mom smiles weakly at the detective, then glares at me.
Well, it’s true, isn’t it?
I ask. And aren’t the first twenty-four hours the most important? One of the shows I watch said the longer a case takes, the harder it is to solve.
Zack wants to be a detective when he grows up,
says my mom. He’s taking a criminology class at school. And he’s obsessed with crime shows.
She glares at me again. But his manners could use some work.
It’s fine,
Detective Tyron says. I understand how worried he must be about his friend.
He turns to look at me. Your school offers a criminology class?
Yeah,
I say. It’s pretty cool. We’re studying serial killers right now.
Mom rolls her eyes. He’s convinced his father that watching those violent crime shows is part of his homework.
"They are, I insist.
Crime Scene Hunters is all about looking for clues and paying attention to people. That’s how you find out the truth."
Mom snorts. This from the kid who thought the shadow of his bedroom lamp was a man coming into his room to kidnap him.
I was ten!
I still don’t like you filling your head with all those horrible images of dead bodies.
If I’m going to be a cop—
I stop when I realize Detective Tyron is watching me. He doesn’t need to listen to the same fight I’ve had with my mom a million times. I’m not a kid.
Detective Tyron coughs. I think it’s great that you’re thinking about getting into law enforcement. Our force is always looking for new recruits.
We’ll see,
says Mom. "So what do you know about Ella’s disappearance, Detective Tyron?"
Not as much as I’d like. Her transit pass was used to get on the subway at Yonge Street Station,
he says. We’re trying to figure out where she got off.
He frowns. But Toronto is a big city. It’s a lot of ground to cover.
What about the cameras at the station?
I