Her First Mistake by Carey Baldwin (books for 10th graders txt) 📕

Alma stumbled back.

Mia rushed toward Alma, and at that very moment, the reporter careened forward and banged her shoulder into Alma’s chest, toppling her straight into Mia’s outstretched arms.

“Are you okay?” Mia whispered, making sure Alma was on steady feet before releasing her. Then she glared at the reporter. “You pushed her.”

“I’m sorry. It was an accident—my heel slipped. But why is she stumbling around? Is she drunk—like the son?” Next, the woman jammed the mic in Mia’s face, all the while body blocking Alma, who was trying to skirt her and make an escape.

Mia’s head started to spin. Voices reverberated around her, echoing off the walls, and then, suddenly, everything went silent, as if someone had hit the mute button.

The reporter launched herself, yet again, toward Alma.

It must’ve happened fast, but for Mia, time slowed to a crawl. She wrapped her arms around the reporter and locked them tight when she struggled to get free.

They tumbled onto one of the pews, and Mia’s head thunked painfully against wood. The screech of a microphone in her ear sent shock waves through her body. Her blurred vision sharpened until, at last, the contorted, furious face beneath her came into focus.

“Get off me! Somebody help!”

The world jolted back to real time.

Mia had the leggy brunette reporter pinned beneath her on a church pew. Something had snapped inside, and Mia hadn’t been able to stop herself. “You want me to let you go?” she said between wheezy breaths. “Stay away from the Coopers.”

“I promise! Now get the hell off me!”

Trembling from the adrenaline jetting through her body, and more than a little shaken by her utter loss of control, Mia climbed off the reporter and looked up—straight into the lens of a camera.

Twelve

Mia kicked off her shoes and lay down on the living room sofa. Its old, thin cushions offered little protection from the hard surface beneath, but after battling that reporter, she didn’t have the will to walk the extra steps to her bedroom. Besides, she wanted to catch Aunt Misty as soon as she came in the door.

She’d been avoiding Mia, and they needed to talk.

If her aunt had, indeed, left that menacing note on Mia’s car, it was imperative she own up to it. When Isaiah first shined his light on that note, for a split second, Mia’s pulse had gone haywire and a thousand terrifying possibilities had flooded her mind.

Even now, a tiny voice in her head kept asking, what if it wasn’t Aunt Misty?

And not knowing for certain had forced her to play defense with Detective Samuels. Bad enough to conceal the information about Celeste’s keys—now, she was keeping two secrets from him. No matter how disappointed she was in her aunt’s behavior, she didn’t want the police breathing down her neck.

The door opened, and Aunt Misty entered the foyer that opened onto the living room. After tossing her purse onto a stand by the door, she came straight over, dropped a kiss on top of Mia’s head, pushed Mia’s feet aside and turned on the television.

Mia sat up, tugged the remote out of her aunt’s hand and hit the mute button. “We need to talk.”

Her aunt smiled. “First, can I just say I’ve had a crazy day? Aileen called in sick, and I had to take over an early meeting for her, then I had to show three houses and handle the closing documents on another. Tonight, though, is going to be all about you, starting with a special dinner. I’ve got all the fixings for your favorite German chocolate cake. I just need to know if you want me to make my famous chicken casserole, or that Salisbury steak you like so much?”

“Salisbury steak.” She’d skipped lunch to go down to the station today, and the thought of Aunt Misty’s cooking made her stomach rumble, but she didn’t intend to let her aunt distract her with all this chatter. A special dinner sounded like someone was trying to make up for something—leaving an intimidating note, for example.

“I was hoping you’d pick steak.”

Mia turned to square her gaze with Aunt Misty’s. “I need to ask you about something that happened last night.”

Her aunt’s face paled. “Something happened at the Coopers? It’s nothing bad, I hope.”

“Nothing good, that’s for sure.” She took a deep breath. Suspecting her own aunt, the only family she had left, made her uneasy. Even if Aunt Misty thought she was looking out for Mia, scaring her like that had been cruel. “Last night, while I was at the Coopers, someone put a note on my car. It’s very important that you don’t lie to me about this.”

“I don’t understand. What did the note say? Are you… Are you suggesting I left it?”

“With everything that’s going on, with a possible serial killer out there, I have to know the truth. Did you—” Her words were interrupted by a knock at the door.

Aunt Misty’s eyes widened.

Mia got to her feet. “I’ll find out who it is.”

“Be sure to check through the peephole before—”

“I open the door. I will. Contrary to popular opinion, I do exercise reasonable caution in my daily life.” She pressed her eye to the peephole, and her stomach dropped. It was far too soon for Samuels to bring news about her mother, and none of the other reasons that came to mind for his visit were positive. “It’s Detective Samuels—one of the police assigned to Celeste’s case. I had an interview with him earlier today, down at the station.”

“The police interviewed you?” The alarm in her aunt’s voice was apparent.

“I’ll explain later.” She opened the door and ushered the detective inside.

Samuels took a seat in an armchair across from the united front she’d formed with Aunt Misty on the couch. After the requisite offered and refused cup of tea, and a silence long enough for Mia to come up with a number of catastrophic scenarios in her head, Detective Samuels announced the reason for his visit.