"What is this?" Broadrick pulled a receipt out of my passenger side visor and studied it.

I tried to grab for it but didn't want to run us off the road while driving. Also I was full of pasta noodles. "That's personal. It's my to-do list."

"Find cheating fiancé, solve Emma's murder, clear uncle's name, and rent office space." He tapped the bottom item. "That's a pretty extensive list for the back of a Bath and Body Works receipt."

I turned onto Clearwater's main street. "I keep telling you I'm a busy gal."

He flipped the receipt over, and my stomach tightened. Damn, I was hoping he wouldn't do that. "How in the hell did you spend $128.43 at Bath and Body Works?"

I squinted one eye, keeping my gaze on the road as I tried to come up with something good to say. Something appeasing.

"Technically, you spent it. Remember how I borrowed that hundred dollars, which I'm still definitely going to pay back, by the way? That's where I spent it."

"You said that money was for household stuff." Broadrick studied the receipt. "This is all candles and a room spray."

"Yeah, household stuff." Just like I said. He wanted the place to smell good. Didn't he? "Listen, yell at me about this in about an hour so you can multitask."

I pulled into Clearwater Middle School and parked in a spot closest to the gym door beside about five other cars.

"Why?" Broadrick asked, finally taking the time to check his surroundings rather than trust that I was driving us home. "Where have you taken me? Is this a kidnapping?"

"It's time to do your civic duty, babe." I shut off the car and pocketed the keys so he couldn't escape.

"Vonnie." He scanned the area outside the car, but we weren't staying outside. His surprise was in the middle school.

I tapped him on the knee. "Come on. It will be fun."

"What are you doing?" he asked as I leaned back and retrieved a small carry-on size suitcase with wheels from the backseat while getting out.

When I didn't answer him, he left the vehicle and followed me toward the gym. Sounds of children laughing-the little screaming type of laughter that makes you want to rip out an eardrum-met us before we made it to the gym door.

Wow, from the noise, there might be more than I expected in there.

Broadrick halted beside me and grabbed my arm. "I told you I wasn't going to do this."

Ah, he'd figured out our adventure. I tried not to laugh but failed.

"Broadrick, it will be fine," I promised but then patted his arm for comfort as his face whitened. "They're just children. How scary can they be?"

A light breeze ruffled his short hair, and he ran a hand through it as if gathering his strength.

I wheeled the case up to the door.

"How many kids are in a Scout troop?" he asked as we stopped outside it.

The noise reached fever pitch, and I shrugged. "I forgot to ask."

Hopefully, I brought enough fingerprint powder. Last month, while investigating Mitch's death, I agreed to lead a fingerprinting class for a group of local Scouts. The kids needed us. Only with my assistance would they be able to earn their badge. There was no room for error, and I couldn't say no. They'd be heartbroken and worse... merit badgeless.

I pulled open the gymnasium door where we'd been told to enter, and my eyes widened. There had to be at least thirty kids plus their parents in the space. Some were sitting at the long lunch tables, but others were racing friends around the room in full-out gallops.

"You're in so much trouble," Broadrick said to me as he followed me through the doorway.

At the end of the gym, a basketball hoop was half raised in the air, and two boys were jumping to see if they could catch the net. They each missed it by at least five feet but kept trying.

The furthest table from us screeched as it jerked across the floor from one racer falling into it. A parent stood up to yell, but no one stopped long enough to listen.

I walked a few feet into the loud room and waved as the heads turned in our direction. "Don't let them eat us," I whispered to Broderick.

He shook his head. "Oh no. I'm sacrificing you first."

"Ms. Vines, I'm so glad to see you," a young mother with dark brown hair and matching eyes said as she approached. "The children are exceptionally excited about your presentation tonight."

I scanned the room. "Yes, I can see."

**

Two hours later, I leaned over the cafeteria table to watch little Suze press her pinky finger to her sheet, roll it, and smile with glee when she lifted her finger from the black mess underneath.

"Great job," I lied.

None of these kids had any future as cops. Their techniques were atrocious. They obviously hadn't watched any of the YouTube videos I previewed before showing up tonight.

"No, Davey, we don't lick our fingers to get off the fingerprint powder. Use the bathroom sink," I called to the child at the table in front of us.

I grabbed the tin of fingerprint powder from in front of Suze and quickly handed it to Broadrick behind my back. "Hide this," I whispered, pointing toward the suitcase I brought it in.

Twenty containers of fingerprint powder were definitely more than I needed, but after someone dumped half a container on their table and blew it into their friend's face, I was glad for the over purchase.

Broadrick leaned in close. "I think his name is David."

"Whatever." I swooshed him away with a wave of my hand as he pocketed the powder. I was close enough. This troop had a lot of freaking kids, and apparently some of them brought younger siblings.

A smaller than average middle schooler-or one of the younger siblings-approached us. "Thank you for the prints," he said with a faint lisp. He wrapped his arms around my leg and gave me a hug.

My heart melted. "Ah, you're welcome."

Maybe these kids weren't all headed for jail. They weren't cops or PI material, but they'd make nice normal people professionals.

He stepped away, and my loving smile fell as his fingers left behind black markings of his prints on my pants.

"Oh, buddy, remember to wash your hands," I said, eyeing the damage.

He checked his hands and then held them outward toward me. "They're clean."

I brushed at the powder left on my pants, but it only smeared it into the fabric. "Yeah, now they are."

Broadrick chuckled behind me, and I refrained from telling Davey to thank his new uncle Broadrick. "Has everyone finished their fingerprint sheet?"

A chorus of "Yes!" answered my question, and a small black cloud fluffed into the air. I stepped back to miss the explosion as it returned to the tables. The janitors would not be happy about this situation.

"Great." I clapped my hands together once. That meant the horror was almost over, and we survived. "Everyone did a great job tonight."

I'd have been a kickass schoolteacher. If only I wasn't terrified of children. So many children.

I stood next to Broadrick and whispered, "As soon as we get home, remind me to take my birth control pill."

Broadrick laughed.

Suze made eye contact with him from across the room and marched in our direction. Her blonde hair flew out behind her as she made great time across the gym.

"My mother said you're hot," she announced once she made it a foot away but spoke loudly enough we would have heard her from a hundred yards. "But you probably have a poor attitude."