Though not quite smart enough in the end.
Instead of being angry, the girl laughed. “Mick says that makes me stealthy. No one sees me coming.”
Mason had never met anyone stealthy before. He liked the sound of it. He liked the way she said it. She didn’t have an accent like his. She wasn’t from South Carolina, or if she was, it had to be some other part he didn’t know.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
“I’m not.”
“You are. I’m looking at you.”
“My father is here. They don’t know what else to do with me.”
“Where’s your mom?”
Mason’s new tough exterior thickened another inch. “She left.”
“Left where?”
“I don’t know.”
The girl took a deep breath and let it out. “I don’t have a mom either.”
“Did she leave?”
She shook her head. “I never had one.”
Mason rolled his eyes. “Everyone has a momma.”
“Not me. I was born in a Naval laboratory.” She spilled hellacious lies as if they bored her.
He rolled his eyes. “No, you weren’t. What’s your name?”
The girl’s gaze darted down to the desk at which he sat.
“Jelly.”
He looked to where her attention had jumped and spotted a pack of grape jelly poking from beneath a sheet of paper.
“You just looked at that jelly.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did.”
She shrugged “Coincidence. What’s your name?”
He scowled. “Peanut Butter.”
She thrust out a hand. “Nice to meet you, Peanut Butter.”
Mason heard yelling from the back of the station and glanced toward the room the man in the white uniform had entered. It was the same room where they’d taken his old man. His cheeks grew hot.
Jelly turned to look, too. He didn’t want her to see his father come out of the room, so he asked the first question he could think of to draw her attention back to him.
“Who’s that man you’re with?”
“My dad.”
“What is he?”
“Huh?”
“The uniform.”
“He’s Navy.”
“Oh.” Mason nodded. He’d never met anyone in the Navy before. His grandfather on his father’s side had supposedly been in the Army.
“I’m in the Navy, too,” Jelly added, shrugging one shoulder as if it were no big deal.
“No you’re not.”
“I am. I’m a Naval bounty hunter.” She peeled back the papers on the desk to further reveal the packet of jelly and an open sleeve of dayglow orange crackers. She pulled a cracker from the cellophane and took a bite.
“It’s a secret, though. Don’t tell anyone,” she added, orange crumbs raining from her lips.
He frowned and thought about his sneakers hanging from the telephone line. “I know how to keep a secret.”
“Good. Not many people can. You must be special, too.” She took another bite and held up the cracker. “Peanut butter.”
“Why’s your dad here?”
Jelly looked right and left before leaning in to whisper her answer. Something about her conspiratorial tone and the feel of her breath under his ear made him feel googily in his stomach.
“He’s looking for a man who went AWOL. They have his partner in there,” she said.
“What’s AWOL?”
“Absent Without Leave. It means he owed the Navy time but he ran off instead. That’s what Mick and I do. We find criminals and runaways for the Navy.”
“Who’s Mick?”
“My dad.”
“You call your old man by his first name?”
Jelly nodded, and Mason realized his new self did feel some things. Right now, he felt impressed. If he called his father Perry, he’d get slapped into the next county.
He looked at the door and realized what Jelly had asked.
Had his own father been in the Navy?
“Is the man with the beard the AWOL fella?” he asked.
“No. That’s his partner.” Jelly popped the rest of the cracker in her mouth. “When Mick caught up with his man, the sailor said he’d tell Mick everything if he let him go. Said they robbed a jewelry store full of diamonds and hid a body in a swamp.”
“A body?”
She nodded. “A lady.”
Mason’s skin grew clammy.
Jelly stopped chewing. Her head cocked. “When did your mom leave?”
“Two days ago.” His tongue felt dry.
The girl swallowed and lowered her hand to rest on top of the one he had on the desk. He stared at her hand on his, tremors running through his body. He wanted to jerk away, but he couldn’t.
Something about her touch reminded him of Momma.
Jelly looked at him, biting her lip, and then suddenly threw her arms around his neck.
Shocked, he clung to her, the strange girl he didn’t know.
“It’ll be okay, Peanut Butter,” she said in his ear. “Mick fixes everything.”
As if she’d invoked him, the man in the white uniform appeared behind Jelly, looking concerned.
“What’s going on, Siofra?” he asked.
Mason released her and wiped his eyes.
Shee-fra. Is that her real name?
She sounded like some kind of superhero. Like He-Man’s lady, She-Ra.
She pointed at the room where her father had been. “The man with the beard is his father.”
She lowered her voice, but not enough so Mason couldn’t hear.
“His mother is missing.”
The officer couldn’t disguise the horror rippling across his expression. He looked at Mason with softer eyes, confirming his deepest fears.
Momma’s dead. Daddy killed her.
“His name is Peanut Butter,” added the girl.
“Mason.” Mason thrust out a hand and the Navy man shook it, his grip as strong as he imagined it would be.
“Nice to meet you, Peanut Butter Mason.”
He winked and Mason offered a tight smile.
“I see you met my daughter.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ever think about joining the Navy?”
Mason shook his head. “No.”
“Hm. Well, if you ever do, look me up.”
The officer pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to
