Picture This by Norah McClintock Page B

the guys we arrested said that someone tipped them off that you were downtown. They went there looking for you. Miller took advantage of that. He shot at you.”
    Shot and missed.
    â€œHe also knew about the program you’re in at the youth center. It was in your file. And he knew you ran in the ravine every Sunday. A girl at the youth center told him.” He meant Sara.
    â€œHe must have decided to grab you when he found out that you always had your camera with you but that you never backed up your pictures. He decided he wasn’t going to take any chances. He was going to get rid of you and the camera. He must have thought that would put him in the clear. And he was right. We never would have found his wife if you hadn’t taken those pictures. He would have gotten away with it. I know how scared you must have been, Ethan, but your photos helped us catch a killer.”
    A week later, the Picture This program ended with a special showing of our projects. Mine took first prize. The Ashdales were there with Alan and Tricia. So was Officer Firelli. He congratulated me on my work. Sara was there too. She took second prize. She didn’t seem to mind that I had beaten her. She held my hand the whole time. I’d decided that you never know what’s going to happen, so you shouldn’t waste time. I’d asked her out right after Miller was arrested. She’d said yes right away. For once, things were going right for me.

Norah McClintock is the best-selling author of a number of titles in the Orca Soundings series, including Tell , Snitch , Down and Back .

The following is an excerpt from another exciting Orca Soundings novel,
    Hannah’s Touch by Laura Langston.

Chapter One
    A bee sting changed my life. One minute I was normal. The next minute I wasn’t.
    If you listen to my parents, they’ll tell you I haven’t been normal since my boyfriend, Logan, died. But they don’t get it. When he died, a part of me went with him. Plus, I could have stopped it. The accident that killed him, I mean.
    But I was normal. Until it happened.
    It was the third Sunday in September, sunny and warm. School was back in. The maple leaves on Seattle’s trees were curling like old, arthritic fingers. Fall was only a footstep away.
    I wasn’t thinking about fall that Sunday. Or school or maple leaves. For sure I wasn’t thinking about bees.
    I was at work, thinking about Logan, and I was cold. It was freezing in the drugstore. Bentley had the air conditioning cranked to high.
    â€œI swear, Bentley, it’s warmer outside than it is in here.” We’d run out of Vitamin C, so I was restocking the middle shelf beside the pharmacy. “I don’t know why you need the air conditioning on.”
    â€œIt keeps the air moving.” He was behind the counter, slapping the lid on a bottle of yellow pills. “Besides, fall doesn’t officially start until September 23.” He slid the bottle into a small white bag.
    Like that made any difference. But Bentley, who was the pharmacist, was also the boss of Bartell Drugs. As far as he was concerned, summer was sunscreen displays and air conditioning. No matter how cold it got.
    I only had to whine a few more seconds. “Take twenty,” Bentley said. “It’s quiet today.”
    I grabbed a soda from the cooler by the magazines, waved at Lila, our cashier, and wandered outside. The heat was better than any drug Bentley sold. I popped the tab on my can, took a sip, breathed in sunshine.
    â€œWell, well, just the gal I want to see.”
    It was Maude O’Connell, leaning on her turquoise walker, her uni-boob and gold chains practically resting on the top bar. An unfortunate orange and blue caftan covered her plus-size body.
    â€œMy gout pills ready yet, Hannah?” she asked.
    â€œBehind the counter and waiting, M.C.” I’d called her Mrs. O’Connell only once. She preferred M.C.
    Hanging from