Bounty Hunters At Sixteen

The mall fountain splashed beside Sterling’s sneakers as Blair held up a bright yellow jacket.

“Too much?” Blair asked.

Sterling looked at the jacket, then at her twin. Blair had curly brown hair, a round face, and a talent for choosing the loudest thing in every store.

“Only if you plan to be seen from space,” Sterling said.

Blair laughed and turned toward the mirror. Cedar Glen Shopping Mall hummed around them. Music floated from the clothing store. Shopping bags rustled. Somewhere nearby, cinnamon sugar warmed the air.

It was a normal Saturday, which meant Sterling had one job: keep Blair from spending all their money.

They had just left the school bus stop and still wore their high school sweaters. Sterling’s was neat and buttoned. Blair’s had one sleeve pushed up and a sticker stuck to the front.

“Look,” Blair said, pointing at the mirror. “This jacket makes me look like a pop star.”

“It makes you look like a traffic sign.”

Blair grinned. “So people will notice me.”

Sterling smiled, but then she noticed someone else.

A man in a blue cap stood near the store’s glass doors. He was not looking at the clothes. He was looking at the mall map, then at the exits, then at the people around him.

Sterling’s smile faded.

The man folded a paper and slipped it into his pocket. For one quick second, Sterling saw a picture on the paper. It showed his face.

“Blair,” she whispered.

“What?” Blair asked. “Did you see a better jacket?”

“No. The man by the door.”

Blair turned too quickly. The man glanced up. Sterling ducked behind a rack of sweaters, and Blair bumped into her.

“Ow,” Blair said softly.

“Sorry. Don’t stare.”

“I’m not staring.” Blair peeked between two shirts. “I’m carefully looking.”

The man moved away from the doors. He walked into the mall with his head down.

Sterling felt a small, fizzy feeling in her stomach. It was not fear. It was the feeling of finding a puzzle piece under the couch.

“Maybe we should tell mall security,” Blair said.

“Maybe we should first figure out if we are wrong.”

They followed at a distance. Sterling kept one hand on her shopping bag and watched the man’s blue cap. The crowd made it hard. A family carrying balloons passed in front of him. A little boy stopped to tie his shoe. A store worker rolled a rack of jeans across the walkway.

The blue cap vanished.

“Sterling,” Blair said, “I can’t see him.”

“Me neither.”

They hurried past a shoe store and stopped beside a tall plant. The leaves brushed Sterling’s cheek. She smelled rubber from the shoe store and warm pretzels from the food court.

Then Blair tapped her arm.

“There.”

The man stood by a bench near the fountain. He had taken off his blue cap. His dark hair was flat on one side.

Sterling looked at the paper in his hand. It was the same picture.

A small card slipped from the paper and fell to the floor.

The man did not notice.

Sterling waited until he walked toward the food court. Then she bent and picked up the card.

It had a name, a number, and a few words printed in black.

BAIL SKIPPER.

Sterling read the words twice.

Blair leaned over her shoulder. “That sounds like a real job.”

“It does.”

“Maybe it is one of those joke cards.”

“Jokes usually have balloons on them.”

Blair looked toward the food court. “Then what do we do?”

Sterling held the card carefully by its edge. Her first thought was to hand it to security. Her second thought was that the man might disappear while they searched for someone.

“We follow him,” she said.

Blair’s eyes grew wide. “Are we bounty hunters now?”

“No.”

“Then why are we following a bail skipper?”

Sterling did not have a good answer. The mall speakers chimed above them. A voice announced a sale at the department store. The crowd began moving in three directions at once.

“Because we found the card,” Sterling said. “And because he is trying not to be found.”

They followed the man into the food court.

He moved between tables with a paper cup in his hand. Sterling and Blair stayed behind a tall sign for a noodle shop. The sign smelled like fresh paint. Sterling could hear trays clattering and children laughing.

The man stopped near a trash can and looked around.

Blair whispered, “He is checking for us.”

Sterling’s fingers tightened around the card.

“Then we need a plan.”

Their first plan was to stay near him. It lasted less than a minute. A group of shoppers carrying giant shopping bags crossed between them. When the bags passed, the man was gone.

Their second plan was to split up. Blair went toward the ice cream counter while Sterling checked the tables.

That plan lasted even less time.

Sterling saw a blue cap near a pillar and rushed toward it. She reached the person wearing it and touched his sleeve.

“Excuse me,” she said. “Are you - ”

The man turned around.

He was not the person from the picture. He was older, with silver glasses and a surprised smile. He held a birthday cake in a clear box.

Sterling pulled her hand back. “I’m sorry....