Jessica’s mind reeled for a split second. “Thank you Officer Hampton for tracking down Alex for me,” she smiled sweetly. She had just read Hampton’s obituary two weeks ago, surprised he hadn’t croaked years ago from a stroke.

“I should have known you were involved somehow,” Hampton scowled down at her. Amanda interrupted, “I tried explaining how your cousin is, like, out on a day pass, and how he wanders away.”

Jessica quickly dropped her arm from Alex, she wasn’t sure what role she was trying to take on, but the closeness was more than that of cousins. “Oh, yeah. He is supposed to like.. Well, thanks again. We’ll just go,” the four of them turned.

“Well, now wait just a minute,” Hampton said gruffly. “Who’s going to take care of this matter of the stolen magazine?” All eyes fell on Alex.

As they were briskly walking away, Amanda laughed, “I can’t believe you wrote a check.” Becky managed a grin, “And we’ll be fine until they learn that Rebecca Garrity is 12 years old.”