Free Kicking the Habit by Kari Lee Townsend

put the hat on. “Now what?”
    “Now
wave to Jackass so he sees you with it on.”
    “Oh-kay.” Cece did, and Ace
studied her, with a goofy half-smile looking out of place on that chiseled face
of his.
    “Now go to the
bathroom,” Candy broke into her thoughts.
    “But … I don’t have to.”
    “Duh. And we are sisters
how?” Candy wrinkled her nose. “Never mind. Just
pretend to go to the bathroom, then slip into the kitchen and give Millie her
hat back.”
    “And that is going to
help me how?” Cece said in the same tone her sister had used.
    “Simple. Jackson will
see Millie come back out and think it’s you, which will keep his ass planted in
his truck for a while. I can’t guarantee how long, so you’d better work fast.”
    Cece’s smile stretched
clear across her face. “You’re brilliant, you know that?”
    Candy shrugged. “I have
my moments.” But her eyes still showed her refusal to believe she was smart. Cece
wouldn’t stop trying until she found a way to change that. Candy interrupted
her thoughts with, “Well, go on if you’re goin’.”
    “Roger dodger.” Cece
giggled, and Candy rolled her eyes. There was a reason opposites attracted, and
at the moment Cece wouldn’t have traded her sister for anyone else in the
world.

Chapter 5
    Ten minutes
later, Cece made her way around the corner from
Millie’s Diner on Salvation Lane to the building the senator used as a campaign
office on Main Street. Once inside, she noticed most of the other rented spaces
were empty, as everyone was either at Mrs. Sloan’s house or out to lunch.
    A moment of doubt crept over her as she stood outside the office
door, yellow police tape blocking the entrance. If she stepped over the
threshold, she’d be headed in a direction where there was no turning back. But
she’d already decided the path to truth and justice would not always be an easy
one.
    Or sin free.
    The door was ajar, which meant she wouldn’t exactly be breaking
and entering—just entering. She glanced around but still didn’t see anyone, so
she plunged ahead and refused to look back.
    The police had already gone over this room with a fine-tooth comb,
so she reasoned whatever evidence they were looking for, they’d probably
already found. But she couldn’t get those politicians’ words out of her mind.
They’d said the senator had organized a secret meeting, using his connections
at some undisclosed location. And if he’d “smelled” trouble, he should have
come to them first. Cece wondered if this trouble had
anything to do with his impotence or the illegal matter the senator was
involved in.
    She had no clue what she was doing, but she couldn’t go to his
house with his wife home. And because the tip had come from politicians, she
figured the senator’s campaign office was at least someplace to start. She was
sure the Feds had covered every inch in a thorough manner, so the chances of
her finding something were slim, but still—she had to do something.
    Cece spent the next several minutes searching the room for clues. She
checked files, the closet, his desk—everywhere—hoping
to find something that seemed out of place, but found nothing. Standing in the
middle of the room, she turned around in a slow circle, checking off a mental
inventory. Filing cabinets, desks, office equipment, family pictures, nothing
out of the ordinary.
    She spotted his Bible on the floor. The senator had been a
God-fearing man. Had attended church every Sunday. Had gone to confession regularly with Father Flannigan—except the
one time, of course. Religion had played a big role in his life.
    She wondered …
    Dropping to her knees, she picked up the Bible and examined it,
then smiled. Just as she thought. A
secret compartment, the same as Father Flannigan’s. Easy to miss if you
didn’t know what you were looking for. She fiddled with the Bible, but nothing
happened. It wasn’t a secret compartment; it was just a defect. She should have
known that