Undercover Justice (27 page)

“May I read it Sir? I have a right to know if it is about me,” Jed reasoned.

Jed and Detective Cooper exchanged a look. Then much to my dismay, the detective slid the paper over to Jed.

“Thanks,” Jed said, picking it up to read.

Cringing, I scooted down in my seat. Jed noticed and gave me a funny look. The detective must have noticed because I thought I heard him chuckle under his breath.

I watched as Jed’s jaw tightened and his hand holding the paper clenched it so hard that it was starting to crumble.

“So do you know what the man meant when he said, ‘Greyson owes me’?” Detective Cooper asked me, as Jed was reading.

“Yes,” I said hesitantly.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Her,” Jed said in an angry voice. “He wants her.” Slamming the paper down, Jed continued. “You need to find this guy.”

“Trust me, we are all doing the best we can,” Detective Cooper said giving Jed a look and making a note in his notebook. “Nora, I think I have all I need for now. I would like to get back to the station and look over the reports from the other incidents. Please don’t hesitate to call me if you think of anything else,” he said indicating his card. “Can I have a moment with you, Mr. Greyson?” he asked, as I got up to leave.

“Sure. Wait for me by the secretary’s desk?” Jed asked me as he stayed behind.

I nodded and left, shutting the door behind me.

“Does the Lieutenant know about your relationship with her, Greyson?” Cooper asked.

“Not yet, but he will now,” Jed said running a hand over his face.

“You are in trouble,” Cooper drawled teasingly.

“Do I look like I’m laughing?” Jed snapped.

“You must have really pissed Vecelli off. He seems to have it out for your girlfriend.”

“Yeah. She has gotten away from him a couple times, and the last time she kicked him in the head,” Jed said proudly.

“Well, he is one nasty perp. How is the investigation coming?”

“I have a few leads that Parker and I are following up on. Things are starting to fall together,” Jed said heading for the door.

“Good luck. Sheriff Miller gave you until Monday right?”

Nodding, Jed said, “Go get this guy. I have to go back to class.”

Grinning, Cooper said, “Ah, the advantages of being older.”

“No doubt man, no doubt,” Jed said, heading down the hall towards Nora.

Chapter 20

Well that went better than I thought. Opening my gym locker, I thought about the last couple minutes. After Jed had come out, he had grabbed my hand and walked me back to the girls’ locker room so that I could change out of my gym clothes. Gym class was almost over anyway and after that we had lunch.

He had been silent the whole way to the locker room. I was waiting for him to say something and I didn’t want him to make a scene in front of anybody.

When we got outside the locker room door, he finally spoke. “I am sorry if he scared you.”

Turning to face him, I smiled. “Jed. He creeps me out, but I wasn’t scared. I knew he couldn’t do anything with all those people. Besides, I know you will come for me if he did.”

Jed reached out and brushed a lock of hair off my face. I couldn’t even keep my unruly hair tied back in a ponytail without it escaping. I was afraid of how it looked suddenly. I usually don’t care how I look for gym class, because it is just a bunch of girls.

“You can count on it,” Jed said leaning down to brush my lips with a kiss. “Now go get changed. I’ll be waiting right here for you.”

I hurried into the locker room to change. I didn’t want to keep Jed waiting long. Thankfully, I hadn’t done anything in gym to make me sweat. Running a half a lap didn’t warrant a shower, although my hair, was a mess. Taking the time to brush it out and spray on a light body fragrance, just in case, I headed back out.

Jed was leaning up against the wall when I walked out. As usual my heart skipped a beat, just knowing that this gorgeous guy was waiting for me.

“Ready?” Jed asked, slinging his arm across my shoulders. “I’m starving.”

“Me too,” I said grinning.

“You’re always starving,” he grinned back.

Smiling up at Jed, we turned the corner and almost ran into Ollie.

“Jed! There you are,” he said adjusting his backpack. “I talked to my friend! He is friends with Mark Mason. Mark told him that he thought he knew who was buying his paper.”

Holding up his hand, Jed said, “Slow down Oll. How did he know who was buying it?”

“Apparently, Mark said something about seeing his paper on somebody’s desk. He didn’t mention the name though.”

“Has your friend sold any papers?” Jed asked.

“No. He didn’t feel it was right, but could understand why Mark needed the money.”

“Good job Ollie,” Jed said, reaching out to ruffle his hair.

“Hey man! Keep your hands to yourself,” Ollie complained.

Laughing, Jed said,” Let’s get to lunch. Nora and I have something to tell you all.”

“I knew it!”

“Knew what?” I asked puzzled.

“It’s about the case, Oll,” Jed said playfully slugging him.

“Oh. Right,” Ollie laughed. “My mistake.”

“What did you mean?” I asked Ollie.

“Just that Jed really likes you,” he said, jumping out of Jed’s reach.

“She already knows that Buddy,” Jed grinned, nuzzling my neck.

“I figured as much, I just thought you had told her...”

“About that lunch,” Jed said interrupting him.

“There’s Kent and Charlotte,” I said waving to them as the three of us entered the cafeteria. We got in line and grabbed our lunch and then joined them at their table.

“Gabby told me to ask you about gym class today,” Kent told me as I sat down. “What happened?”

“She had a run in with Martin,” Jed said sitting down beside me. “He wanted to make sure she knew he was coming after her.”

“Are you ok?” Kent asked with concern. “How did he get near you?”

I explained what had happened and told them about meeting with Detective Cooper. “Jed was with me while I gave my testimony. The detective assures me that the police are doing everything they can to catch him.”

Kent turned to Jed who was calmly eating his lunch. “How can you be so calm? That jerk got with a few feet of Nora.”

Jed responded by lifting his head and glaring at Kent. You could tell that he was anything but calm. Knowing Jed, he was probably trying to concentrate on not getting upset, using his lunch as a distraction.

“Tell them about the note,” Charlotte told Kent, changing the subject.

“What note?” I asked.

“Someone left a note taped to my locker,” Kent said pulling it out. We all leaned forward to look at it. It said, ‘Need help with your English grade Barton? Come to a private meeting tomorrow night at the Country Club at 5:00. Don’t find us, we’ll find you.’ It had the open book symbol on the top of the paper.

“Wow! That was fast,” I exclaimed. “So tomorrow at five.”

“I hope we find out something from this meeting,” Charlotte said. “I feel like time is running out. I know that sounds silly.”

“No, you’re right. We need to get to the bottom of this soon,” I said, the sooner the better as far as I was concerned. I wanted Martin caught and behind bars.

“Ollie found out something,” Jed offered. “Tell them Oll.”

As Ollie told Charlotte and Kent about his friend, I picked at my lunch. I really didn’t have much of an appetite right now. I hadn’t been kidding, when I had told Jed I was starving earlier. It just didn’t taste good. In fact, I felt rather sick to my stomach. Just the thought of seeing Martin again, turned my stomach.

The lunch bell rang, signaling it was time to go to Biology. Gathering my tray, I got up and carried it over to the garbage. “What’s wrong?” Jed asked, following me over. “You didn’t say goodbye to anyone and you hardly ate anything.”

Turning, I gave Jed my best evil eye. “Why does my not eating have anything to do with it?”

Knowing how much I love food, he chuckled, “You just seem quiet and lost in though.”

“I know, I guess all the talk about Martin, made me lose my appetite.”

“That’s understandable,” Jed said wrapping his arm around my waist as we walked down the hall. “What are your plans for after school today?”

“I was planning on going right home and catching up on all my homework,” I told him honestly.

“Hi Nora! Hi Jed!” A girl walking past us called. Jed had helped her with her books and she made it a point to greet Jed whenever she saw him. She was in my math class and was very nice. I felt bad she was so unpopular.

“Hey Missy!” I called back as we walked past and Jed gave her wink.

“That’s good. I need to spend some time on the farm. I don’t want to be worrying about you out by yourself.”

“I’ll be at home all night with Kent standing watch over me,” I said resigned to the fact. It wasn’t that I didn’t want a quiet night at home; it was just that I didn’t want to be babysat by either Kent or Jed.

“It won’t be for too much longer,” Jed promised, as he walked me to my class after I had gotten my books.

“See you before you leave?” I asked him hopeful..

“You got it,” He said as we reached my classroom door.

The rest of the day went by fast. As I headed outside after school, I saw Jed leaning against the fountain waiting for me. “Kent is going to get the car,” Jed told me as I walked up to him.

“What do you mean get the car?” I demanded. “I am not an invalid. I can walk you know.”

“Just humor me,” Jed said kissing me on the forehead. “I don’t want to take any chances. Here he comes.”

Jed walked me to the curb as Kent pulled up. Turning to face Jed, I said, “Have a good night at the farm.”

He said, “I’ll talk to you later. Stay out of trouble ok.”

“Say hi to the little colt for me. Does he have a name yet?”

“Yeah,” Jed grinned, clearly in love with the little guy. “Gladius.”

“Gladius,” I said trying it on for size. “I like it. What does it mean?”

“It’s a type of short sword used by the Roman Army,” Jed replied.

“You must have a thing for swords?” I asked. “Saber? Blade? Gladius?”

“My grandfather did. It just seemed fitting to follow in his tradition.”

“He’d be proud of you Jed,” I told him, looking up into his smiling eyes.

“You guys going to stand there and talk all day?” Kent yelled out as he rolled the window down.

“I better go,” I said, opening the door. Climbing in, I waved as Jed shut the door behind me.

“Good-Bye Jed.”

“Bye,” Jed said smiling. “Later, Kent.”

Kent gave Jed a little salute, as he pulled away. “Are you going to tell Mom and Dad about Martin?”

“I don’t want them to worry. Let’s hold off for a few days, maybe by that time the police will have caught him, and I won’t have to tell them anything because he will be in jail.”

“That sounds like wishful thinking.”

I shrugged. Leaning back against the seat, I let the soft sounds of the latest country music hits settle through me. I really was looking forward to just relaxing tonight. Maybe I would take a hot bath and start a really good book.

That night, I tossed and turned. I was restless. After I had finally fallen asleep, I was startled awake with a nightmare. It was dark and I was running from Martin. I knew that safety was just around the corner, but I just couldn’t seem to get there. I opened my mouth to yell for help and no sound came out. I bolted upright just as Martin reached for me.

Drenched in sweat, I climbed out of bed and changed into a dry oversized shirt.

I had this sense of forewarning. It was almost as if I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to avoid having a confrontation with Martin. I prayed that my intuition was just the result of my dream. It kept me up most of the night thinking about it.

As I walked down the hall to class the next morning, I was struck by how normal everyone was acting. As I walked by, several people called out greetings, and two people stopped to ask me my plans for prom. I felt like my life was crazy and dangerous right now. All it seemed anyone was talking about was prom. Last week, I would have been right there alongside them. Today, I had a lot of other things on my mind that involved murder, intrigue, and danger.

I felt someone staring at me. Looking to the right, I saw a boy, probably a junior or senior leaning up against the wall near the drinking fountain. He was looking right at me almost with hate in his eyes. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place his name. Odd, I thought. I gave him a small smile and he just glared at me. Shrugging, I walked past him to class. I guess he was having a bad day.

The morning passed uneventfully. I was starting to wake up more and was looking forward to eating lunch with Jed. Charlotte and I both got to the cafeteria before anyone else, so we filled our trays and found a table.