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“What about in the summer when all the tourists come?” he said out loud.
“Still no police station.”
“Fine. Then we’ll talk to your mother.”
“No! Please, sir. It was just a dumb bet. I swear I’ll never do anything like that again.”
Granger weighed his options, decided he’d scared the boy enough, and now that he looked more closely, he could in fact see the beginnings of an “e” after the “N.”
“I’ll be watching,” he warned him. “What’s your name? And don’t bother making something up because I’m a federal agent with access to facial recognition tools you can’t even imagine.”
All part of the “scaring” process. No wonder most people were wary around him at first. Not Bliss, though, he realized. She seemed unfazed by his intimidating manner.
The boy hung his head. “Bobby Mosedale.”
Weird. Hadn’t he just met a guy named Mosedale? “Any relation to Jason?”
“He’s my uncle.” He added in a whisper, “Please don’t tell him either.”
Granger shook his head and released the boy. “Don’t be a dumbass. Stick to bets that don’t involve vandalizing other people’s property. And if I were you, I’d scrub this off before anyone else sees it. Alvin Carter’s a good man, you really want to break his heart? In fact,” he checked his phone for the time. “You go get a scrub brush and some soap. Meet me back here in ten minutes. We’ll take care of it together.”
The boy blinked at him. “But it’s snowing. I have to be home or my mom’s going to freak out.”
“Then we’ll call her and tell her what’s holding you up.”
“Forget it. I’ll be right back.” He raced off down the street, and less than three minutes later—Granger timed it—he was back with a hard-bristled brush and a bottle of Dawn dish soap. As the snow swirled around them, they scrubbed the fresh paint off the wall.
“Nerf ball, huh?” Granger grunted.
“It’s dumb, I know. It wasn’t my idea. I told you it was a bet.” The boy squirted more dish soap on the wall. “There’s nothing to do around here, so we made stupid dares.”
“Hm.” He squinted at the wall, where only a smear of color remained. Good enough for now. Snow and rain would hopefully take care of the rest. Writing “nerf ball” wasn’t a federal crime, after all. “Use your imagination and come up with dares that don’t break federal laws. Or local laws, for that matter.”
“Yes, sir. So you won’t tell anyone?” Under the kid’s anxiously pleading glance, Granger allowed himself a smile.
“You promise not to vandalize any more businesses?”
“I promise.”
“Homes?”
“Promise.”
Granger wasn’t sure if it was thanks to the boy’s basic law-abiding nature or Granger’s well-known ability to intimidate, but something had worked. “Then I won’t tell anyone.” He handed over the scrub brush. “Now get back to your mama before she sounds the alarm.”
“Thank you. And thank you for…” He waved a hand at the wall before disappearing into the snow.
Satisfied, Granger brushed the last bit of diluted paint off his gloves, then turned to find a woman blocking his way. She must have dashed out of the Blue Drake for only a short moment, because she hadn’t even put her arms into the sleeves of her puffer jacket, instead wearing it draped over her shoulders.
It was Kendra Carter. He recognized her from the photos on the website. Rich brown skin, suspicious brown eyes. He scanned her for any similarities to himself. His skin wasn’t as dark as hers, and she was much prettier. Unlike him, she was an average height for a woman.
“What’s going on out here?” she demanded.
“Nothing. It’s handled.”
“What was handled?”
“An incident. You don’t have to worry about it.” He turned to head back to the hotel.
