Read Lafferty, Mur for Free Online Page A

check the freezer and storage room for hiding villains. Keepsie watched him while her friends watched her.
    "Keepsie, do you want to sit down? I think you've had enough," Peter said.
    “M’fine,” Keepsie said.
    White Lightning walked up to Keepsie and stared at her, towering over her in what he undoubtedly thought was an intimidating fashion. "Where did you put him?"
    Keepsie kept herself calm by realizing she could look straight into his nostrils. "'Put' him? Do you think if a villain came in here that I could 'put' him somewhere? You do know that I have a useless talent, right?" This was getting kind of fun.
    The Crane put his hand on White Lightning's arm, pulling him back slightly. "Look, ma'am, we know he was here and we know you were ready to negotiate with him. All we need to know is when he left, if he took the device with him, and where he was going."
    Keepsie almost felt kindly towards him until she realized he was playing the good cop. She remembered her assumed drunkenness and frowned at him.
    "I don't know what you're talkin' about. I was drinking. That bitch Pat came by to sober me up, so I got drunk again. Anything else you think you know is pure concepture."
    "'Conjecture,'" Peter said.
    "Right. Concepture," Keepsie said.
    Dr. Timson looked at Keepsie for a long time. "Keepsie. We're not stupid.
    We have the best powers and the best minds working at the Academy. We know what kind of club you have going here. We know what happened today with Doodad. We know what happened here tonight. Do you really want to go against us?"
    Keepsie’s heartbeat quickened at the threat. Peter's arms gripped her more tightly and she caught Michelle's eyes -they were wide. What could Timson do to them?
    "I don't know nothing," Keepsie said.
    Timson pursed her lips and inhaled audibly through her nose. "And I suppose that the device is still… not available to us?"
    "Who's to say it's mine to give?" Keepsie asked.
    Timson nodded. Without another word, she turned and left, the heroes following her after another long pause.
    "Dude," Ian began, but Michelle shushed him.
    "Wait," she said.
    They waited until the heroes had climbed the stairs to the street. When it was clear the heroes had gone, they relaxed.
    Keepsie stood up and smiled at Peter. "Thanks for catching me."
    "Of course," he said, not meeting her eyes.
    "What the fuck? I mean, seriously?" Ian asked. Everyone stared at him.
    "First the dude puts an oversized BB in your pocket, then the heroes get their panties in a wad about it, then the villains get their panties in a wad -and tell us a pointless story in the middle -and then the heroes come back with more panty problems! It looks like one of our own tipped them off, and now they're threatening us and that's not cool!"
    Peter nodded. "This has gotten much bigger than we had anticipated, Keepsie. Maybe we should just give it to the Academy."
    Michelle shook her head. “Huh-uh. No way. If they'd treated us with respect, maybe. As equals, I mean. But no, we're no better than bugs in their eyes, and I don't think we should help them."
    "So do we help the villains instead?" Keepsie asked. No one answered.
    Keepsie had grown up hearing about the horrendous plots of Seismic Stan and later Clever Jack, Doodad and others. These were not nice people.
    Keepsie rubbed her face with both hands. "I need to sleep on this. Let's talk in the morning. Meet at the diner for breakfast?"
    Peter checked his watch. "It is already morning, Keepsie, it's around three o'clock. Let's shoot for brunch, OK?"
    "All right then. Get some sleep, and I'll see you guys at the diner around eleven tomorrow. And," Keepsie added, "don't tell anyone about this. It looks like we can't trust, well, people." She was loath to say "Patricia."
    On their way out, Michelle put her hand on Keepsie's arm. "What are we going to do about her?”
    Keepsie shook her head, staring at the ground. "I don't know. Fire her, I guess. Let's talk about it tomorrow, OK? My brain