Page 73 of Locke 2

Immediately Jem stopped whispering and said, “Come again?”

I looked up, catching Jem’s eye. He turned completely to look at me, his gaze drifting between me and the teddy bear. I shook my head. “Nothing, I was just thinking out loud.”

“You mentioned Santy Claus, and I’m a big fan of that jolly bastard.”

“Okay.”

“Why did you say his name?”

I picked up the teddy bear and shook it. “Because he gave this to Lenny last Christmas.”

Jem’s brows pinched together. “Isn’t the kid in kindergarten?”

“Yeah.”

“He wasn’t in school last year.”

I looked over at Locke. He was listening, but he appeared bored. Jem was being annoying again. I remembered he wanted conflict, and I wasn’t about to feed him it.

“Mr Ambrose dressed as Santa last year and visited schools. He handed out these teddy bears. He literally designed them for the kids in Georgewel. I did a call out job at one of the schools last year. He was there, fitted into the costume, and he looked really legit.” I smiled fondly. “I’ve never seen a man look more like Santa in my life—”

“That’s nice,” Jem cut in dryly. “Who is this guy? Like a principal or something?”

I shook my head. “No, he’s this really nice old man. He moved here a couple years ago. Hal talks about him all the time. He’s been investing so much money into Georgewel—”

Suddenly the car pulled over to the side of the road, cutting me off mid-sentence. Locke came to a harsh stop. I jolted, relieved I had my seatbelt on. My eyes bulged out of my head now as Locke also twisted around to look at me. He’d pulled over in a dark spot, and now the two men looked extra terrifying as they studied me.

My heart picked up. “What?”

“What’s his full name?” Locke clipped out.

“Arthur Ambrose.”

Jem looked at him. “Has that name come up?”

“A lot of names came up,” Locke returned. “This town’s drawn a lot of attention lately.”

“Probably from this Ambrose cunt.”

I leaned forward, shaking my head. “No, no, no, this is a good guy. I’m just looking at this stuffy and thinkingfondlyof him. I’m not suggesting Mr Ambrose is suspicious at all because he’s not.”

“Let me guess,” Locke returned. “He rescued the town just before it went under. He donates to charity, probably has a bunch of kids’ centres open, and he’s an advocate for less fortunate children—”

“Locke, I understand what you’re implying, but you’re wrong about Ambrose.”

Locke’s eyes hardened on mine. “You’re sure of that?”

“I met him.”

“For how long?”

“He was in the class for an hour.”

“You think an hour is enough to know a man?”

My cheeks burned. “Of course not, but this is a jolly old man, Locke.”

Jem stared at Locke now, brimming with thoughts. Locke continued to stare at me, and based on that growing frown, Iwondered if he was disappointed in me. Anger cut through me because I wasn’t dumb enough to just let this old man off the hook without reason. “Look, I get it, a lot of these guys are suspicious, but he’s genuine.”

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