Keeper of the Peace (Graveyard Guardians #2) by Jennifer Malone Wright

The Springs and that was when he told her he
was leaving Summer Hollow.
    Perfect. Fucking. Timing.
    Obviously Hannah hadn’t taken it very well.
He hadn’t been dumb enough to think that she was going to be
totally on board so when that Estmond anger flashed, he took it
full force. As if that weren’t enough, he let her brother Dan kick
his ass the next day. The rumors were true, when you messed with
one of the Estmond kids, you messed with all of them.
    That was the second to last time he had
spoken to her before his return to town.
    He reached the yellow police tape and
circled the area where the body had been found. The man had a fake
ID and his prints didn’t match anything in the system, which meant
he couldn’t question any friends or family. Without any evidence
from the body, the best he could do at the moment was check around
town and see if the victim had mentioned anything to anyone.
    The mud had dried considerably since he had
been there earlier, so he walked around, looking for anything else
that might give him an idea about who either of them were. They did
have the tread prints from the killer’s shoes, which was something.
He had just hoped for something more. What he really wanted was for
this to be an open and shut case so that he could get the hell out
of Summer Hollow.
    He pulled his cell out and checked the time.
It was almost five, he could probably hit up a few of the
businesses in town before heading back home for the night.
    With a blown up version of the victim’s
photo from his fake ID in hand, he strolled into the small grocery
store. Flashbacks of the past swarmed over him immediately. It may
have just been a little market to everyone else, but for him, it
was the place that changed his life.
    He had been thirteen years old when the SPD
picked him up for shoplifting. After making a big show of putting
him into the cruiser, the officer dumped him off at the station
with Sheriff Davis.
    “Son,” Sheriff Davis sat across the desk
with a folder sitting in front of him. “Did you honestly think you
weren’t going to get caught in there?”
    David had glared back at him with the best
defiant expression he could muster. “Doesn’t matter. I had to
try.”
    The sheriff leaned back in his chair, giving
David the once over. “Says here you were trying to take a pound of
hamburger, a bag of rice and a Snickers bar.” He glanced up from
the papers on his desk to see if that got any reaction from
David.
    “Yeah, so?”
    “So, you weren’t stealing simply to steal.
Those are the things people take when they are hungry.”
    David finally turned his head away and
mumbled. “So am I arrested? Can I go now?”
    “No, you can’t go. David, you committed a
crime and there are prices to pay when you do that.”
    “So send me to juvie, I don’t care.”
    The sheriff nodded his head in
understanding. “So was that your plan, to get caught? At least they
eat three meals a day in juvie, huh?”
    David hadn’t been able to say anything,
because that was pretty much exactly what he had figured. If he had
gotten away with it, he would have a food for the next couple of
days and if he didn’t then he would go to juvenile hall.
    “Look, Son, I’m not going to arrest you, but
I’m going to make another deal with you if you are interested.”
    “What kind of deal?”
    “I need some work done around here and out
at my house. I got a shit ton of yard work that the missus and I
don’t have time to do. I will pay you a decent wage, if you’re not
opposed to working.”
    That statement was so far from what David
had expected that he had only sat there with his mouth hanging
open. The sheriff continued, “It’s summer and you have lots of free
time. If it works out, then you can work after school when the
school year comes round.”
    David still could not use his words.
    “Well?” The sheriff spread his hands wide,
waiting for an answer.
    “I don’t know if my parents will let me.
They don’t