The Frailty of Flesh by Sandra Ruttan

criminal investigation,” Ashlyn said.
    “Criminal investigation?” Matt practically squawked the words. “What are you talking about? You guys are finally going to do something?”
    Ashlyn stared at him for a few seconds, wondering what he meant. Finally do something?
    “Maybe we can back up a bit here, clear this up,” Tain said. “What are you talking about?”
    It was Matt’s turn to have his jaw drop open, and then he shook his head. “I-I don’t think I should talk to you.”
    Ashlyn squeezed her eyes shut for a few seconds, counted to five and tried to push all the agitation out of her voice. “Listen, all we’re trying to do is find Shannon.”
    “She’s sixteen. She can do what she wants,” Nurani said. “You can’t make her go back.”
    “Whoa. We just want to talk to her.” Tain’s voice was calm, almost hypnotically soothing.
    Nobody spoke for a moment. There was nothing but a slight breeze to break the calm. Ashlyn fought her urge to snap at the two teenagers. They had a dead boy and a missing girl. Whatever high school drama they’d stepped in the middle of, it was wasting their time.
    Nurani started to shake her head and held up her hand. “You can forget it. I won’t help you.”
    “It doesn’t matter anyway,” Matt said. “Shannon didn’t tell us where she was going. She knew we might get in trouble so she didn’t want us to know.”
    “But you did speak to her this morning,” Ashlyn said.
    Matt glanced at Nurani, who was staring at him wide-eyed. Ashlyn could just imagine the girl willing him to keep his mouth shut.
    He shook his head. “No. I talked to her last night. After she’d packed.”
    Ashlyn looked at Tain. She wondered if he was as frustrated as she was.
    If he was, he didn’t let it affect his voice. “Why was Shannon packing?”
    Matt looked at Nurani again. The girl blew out a big breath and rolled her eyes. “Why do you think?” Nurani said. “She was running away.”
    Craig finished up the last bit of paperwork from his latest case, if he could call it that. A stolen bicycle, which was generally a seasonal crime in the rest of Canada, but in the GVA winter meant rain. The occasional snowfall didn’t usually last long. Give a child a bicycle in November and the minute the downpour turned to a drizzle he would be outside if his parents let him.
    The theft was important to the boy, who’d been knocked off his bike and had it literally stolen out from under him. And it was a good thing they’d caught the little thief so that they could return the bike. They’d been able to give the young criminal the government-sanctioned frown, the only punishment considered appropriate for a kid that age in this country.
    No wonder crime was on the rise.
    “Nolan, my office. Now.”
    Zidani didn’t wait for him to follow. As soon as the sergeant was gone Luke looked up from his desk. “I take it I’m not invited?”
    “If he doesn’t order you to bend over I wouldn’t volunteer for a spanking.” Craig got up and walked down the hall to his father’s office, the one Zidani was using. A constant reminder that Sergeant Daly’s future in the Tri-Cities remained undecided, even after all this time.
    There wasn’t much Daly had taken with him when he’d been reassigned, because he never kept much personal stuff in the office, but the space seemed darker, colder, almost soulless without him.
    Zidani spat out a question the moment he saw Craig in the doorway. “You don’t like me much, do you?”
    Craig paused. It was a question with no right answer. The only “acceptable” response he could think of was a blatant lie, and Zidani would know instantly. He already knew what Craig thought of him. Some things couldn’t be denied. The only question was whether or not Craig would play the game, try to be diplomatic long enough to avoid a confrontation, maybe earn himself some credit from his temporary supervisor.
    Zidani stood and leaned back against the window ledge,