Snake Skin by CJ Lyons

cutest little
outfit to wear: all pink with white ribbons, oh and these adorable
panties with lace ruffles. What?"
    His fist closed around the car keys as he
realized what he was witnessing. Guardino honestly looked as open
and friendly as her tone of voice. Burroughs doubted he could ever
be that good of an actor.
    "No, no I don't think that's a good idea.
How about if I just send you some more pictures if you want. Why
not? Because this is happening real fast, ya know what I mean? I
mean, how do I know you're not some cop or something. All this
wanting to meet, I'm just not sure about that. Anyway, I wouldn't
have any time free until after church tomorrow."
    He marveled as she dangled the bait. No fear
of entrapment here, the perv on the other end of the line was
obviously working hard to convince her. She tapped her fingers on
the Impala's roof, caught his stare and rolled her eyes.
    "Well....maybe I could bring Katie to meet
you all. But I'd have to be there the whole time, watching out for
her. Yeah, I guess that's okay. No, no, I'm not promising any more
until we check you out. And we're not going out our front door
until the money's there. You said two thousand? Yeah, that will be
all right, but you'll need to buy us breakfast too. Some place
nice, no drive-thru garbage. Okay then, see you tomorrow."
    She flipped the phone shut and her face lost
its animation once more. For a fleeting moment she looked
disoriented, as if trying to find her balance. Then she took a deep
breath. "Sorry about that. While we're here, might as well check
out Ashley's locker."
    He drove them over to Gateway. "That was
some show you put on back there. Does that happen a lot?"
    "More than you want to know. We've been
working overtime these past two weeks, did a sting this morning, in
fact."
    "You can't be sending them porn, that would
be entrapment." Not to mention against the law.
    "No, we set up a child-actor website. The
kids are fictional and fully dressed. When someone nibbles,
requesting more info on the kids' availability, we check them out
and then pose as a parent, and usually it's way too easy to go from
there."
    "So that guy," he nodded to the phone in her
purse, "and his buddies think you're going to just hand your
daughter over to them? How stupid are they?"
    "They're not stupid. Just thinking with the
wrong set of brains. They want—no, they need —to believe me
when I offer them a dream come true. Of course I make them work for
it."
    "Yeah, so I saw. And their dream come true
is?"
    "Is a four year old girl dressed up for
Sunday school." She shook her head. "Hey, we don't have time for
this. Especially since these bozos are gonna take up some of my
time tomorrow."
    They exited the car and walked toward the
yellow brick single story school. The football team was hard at
work on the practice field as were the cheerleaders. The marching
band drilled in the parking lot, a tinny rendition of Ghostbusters mixing in with the whistles of coaches. A
typical September weekend in western Pennsylvania.
    "Gateway Gators, they have a chance this
year?" she surprised him by asking as they entered the school.
    "If they can beat Latrobe. Man, those guys
looked great last season."
    A smiled crossed her lips. "The
Wildcats."
    "You talk like you're from around here."
    "Grew up in Latrobe. My mom worked at the
Rolling Rock plant until they moved it to New Jersey."
    "And your dad?"
    "Died when I was a kid." She pushed open the
door to the principal's office.
    "So coming back here is like homecoming?
Local girl makes good, that kind of thing?"
    A brief frown clouded her face. "Yeah,
people love hearing about the FBI part. Just not the rest of my
job."
    She shivered in the air conditioning. Damn,
he did admire the way that top fit her. She had to be at least in
her late thirties, but with her long dark hair and smooth,
unwrinkled face, she could pass for a decade younger.
    Guardino leaned over the receptionist's
desk. "Hello? Anyone home?"
    A harried