Undercover Justice (7 page)

Aghast we stared open mouthed until the light turned green and my Dad drove away.

“That was a student?” my mother asked horrified.

“He looks too old to be a student,” my dad said. “He looks like a trouble maker; you both stay away from him.”

Looking at Kent, I was horrified to see him nodding his agreement. They both usually had a more forgiving and understanding attitude. The Jed I met today was nice, well mannered and did not at all seem like the kind of guy who was in trouble with the law. I just couldn’t believe it. I won’t believe it, until he tells me otherwise. Tomorrow, I am going to ask him face to face to explain it. I am sure he has a perfectly reasonable explanation.

I told myself, I was just giving him the benefit of the doubt. It wasn’t because I thought he was cute. It wasn’t. Really.

Pushing away from Mike, Jed grunted. “Great! Did you see the expression on their faces? Now they think I am some kind of hoodlum.”

Mike shrugged, his palms facing up. “Hey man, how was I to know they would be passing by right at the same moment you told me I couldn’t frisk a pig. I took that as a challenge.”

Wiping his hand over his face, Jed asked, “What am I going to tell Nora?”

“Nora? Who’s Nora? Wait; don’t tell me, she’s some chick you have the hots for. I thought you said you didn’t meet any. How is it that you already know the girl’s name and are worried about what she is going to think?”

“Shut up, Parker,” Jed said, pushing him back.

“You struck an officer!” Mike said, jumping up and down. “Wait until I tell Lieutenant Davis on you.”

“Oh, Puhleese,” Jed said rolling his eyes. He climbed on his bike. “Try not to hit me as you back out.”

“That was one time in the academy. A guy backs into one little bitty traffic cone and his buddy doesn’t let him forget it.”

Grinning, Jed revved the bike’s engine. “See you later,” he yelled over the noise. Backing out, he headed through town, and then followed the main highway until it made a bend towards the county’s capital city of River Junction. Turning off onto a small dirt road, he followed the curving, tree-lined road, two miles, until he came to a driveway lined with big old white pines. This farm had been his grandfather’s and his dad’s before him, and so on as far back as Jed could determine. The farm was now Jed’s. His granddad had passed away three months ago leaving it to Jed. Jed was his only grandchild. Jed’s parents had died in a plane crash when Jed was nine. He had been raised by his granddad ever since.

The farm sat on over three hundred acres. It was in an area were the price of real estate even in today’s recession was high. Jed’s granddad had constantly turned down investors. No amount of money would be enough to sell a part of his family’s history and legacy. Jed felt the same way. His granddad had worked hard, keeping the farm running and providing a stable family life for Jed.

Back in the eighties, oil and gas were discovered in the northwest corner and as a result Jed was set for life. He didn’t have to worry about money. His job as a police officer was out of a sense of wanting to do something to make a difference. The farm ran itself. The small herd of horses his granddad and Jed had kept were for breeding and selling. A live-in stable hand and a long time housekeeper kept the farm running and watched after Jed. Betty had been his grandfather’s housekeeper ever since Jed was a boy. She has practically raised him. He was glad that she was still there to come home to. It would be a very lonely life, if not for her and her husband Skip, who ran the stables.

Not many people in the area knew about the grandeur of the Greyson Farm and the grandson who had inherited it. Hosea Greyson had kept to himself, preferring horses to people. He has also lived frugally, a life habit Jed had picked up. In truth, he could buy and sell half the county if he wanted. He had no intention of ever doing so.

Pulling the bike to a stop, he set the kickstand with his steel-toed boot and swung his leg over the bike.

“I thought I’d find you here,” he said.

Walking down the porch steps toward Jed, his youngest cousin on his mother’s side said. “I wasn’t sure if you recognized me. It’s been a couple years.”

“Almost eight years to be exact,” Jed said, taking off his leather gloves.

“You already graduated from high school, so what are you doing there? I heard you went to the police academy.”

“Yep, I’ve been a deputy for almost a year now. You’re too young for high school so what are you doing there.”

Oliver Hendricks shrugged, “I’m fifteen, even if I didn’t skip ahead in school, I would still be in high school. You just didn’t know I went to Pine Hill did you?”

“I didn’t know that your mom and dad moved up here,” Jed acknowledged. “If I did, my partner would have gone in, instead of me.”

“So you’re like what… undercover?”

At Jed’s nod, Ollie exclaimed, “I figured it must be something like that. That’s so cool man.”

“Yeah, tell that to the parents of those three missing kids. I was sent in to investigate their disappearances.”

“Hey, I heard that Mark Mason was missing. He’s in our science club.”

“You know him?” Jed asked surprised.

“Kind of,” Ollie replied, “He was a loner that never hung out much. Very smart and wanted everyone to know it.”

“Do you remember if he mentioned anything the day before he disappeared?”

“No, why?”

“He was the kid we saw getting beat up in room 35.”

Ollie nodded, “I didn’t get a good look at his face, but I thought he looked familiar. I was too busy watching the two other men.”

“Did you recognize anyone else?”

“No, not really. They seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place where I have seen them before. I need to get back, Mom will be looking for me,” Ollie said standing his bike up.

“Your rode your bike here?”

“I’m not old enough for my license remember,” Ollie said with a grin.

“Come on, I’ll get the truck and you can throw your bike in the back.”

“Thanks, man.”

So far so good, dinner was going quite smoothly. I haven’t noticed the Gordon’s yet, so maybe we can finish up and sneak out before they get here.

As I finished my fresh Caesar salad and chicken tortilla soup, I set the dishes aside and sat back to wait for our main course. Feeling a nudge on my knee, I looked over at Kent, who was gesturing over to the door with his head. Following his subtle nodding, I looked over and saw the Mayor talking quietly to Judge Freeman. When the Mayor shook the Judge’s hand and left the room, I realized that this might be our only chance to question the Mayor again. Quickly excusing ourselves from the table, Kent and I hurried out the door after the Mayor. Seeing the Mayor approaching his black sedan, I called out, “Good evening Mayor Greenly, do you mind if we ask you a quick question for our class project?”

The Mayor hesitated and then turned around with a fake smile plastered on his face. “I only have a minute. I’m very busy. Please make this quick.”

“I hope you have a question,” Kent said under his breath as we hurried over.

“Um… right,” I frantically thought of a way to ask the Mayor about room 35, without seeming too obvious.

“Hello sir, I was wondering if you could tell us about the courtyard outside your private conference rooms. I noticed that it was particularly beautiful and thought to ask you if you ever used it. You are so lucky to have three rooms that look out on to it, so that you can enjoy the plants whenever you are in a meeting.”

“I am too busy at meetings to be daydreaming about plants outside,” he said in an annoyed voice.

“Oh, so your private rooms aren’t off the courtyard? Maybe I mixed those up with the public ones, when we took the tour today.”

“No, my three do face the courtyard,” he sounded like he was fast losing his patience with me.

Quickly I followed with, “Then why did you tell us today that room 35 wasn’t one of your private meeting rooms, when it is clearly off the courtyard.”

A stunned looked appeared on his face, quickly replaced by anger and annoyance.

“You must have misheard me. Good Night,” he said quickly climbing into his car and immediately pulling out his cell phone.

“Well, he looked guilty,” Kent said was we watched him pull away. “We better get back in to our table, before Mom and Dad wonder where we have been.”

As we walked through the door, a waiter handed me a sealed white envelope and said, “Miss Barton, a gentleman just handed this to me and insisted that I deliver it to you immediately.”

Curious, I wasn’t sure if I should open it now, or wait until we got back to our table. I glanced over to where the Gordon’s were just being seated. Tyler didn’t appear to be waiting to see if I opened his note. Who else could have sent it?

Following my line of sight, Kent asked, “Do you think it’s from Gordon?”

“I don’t know who else it would be from. Should I open it now?” I asked hesitantly.

“You might as well, or Mom and Dad are going to ask about it,” Kent pointed out.

Just in case it was something private and I wouldn’t want to share it with my parents, I decided to open it. Walking back into the hallway, I sat on the small bench next to the coat rack. Carefully prying open the flap, I pulled out the single sheet of paper. Opening it up, I gasp.

Someone had typed, ‘Forget about Room 35. Tell your friends. Or you’ll be sorry. Don’t go to the police.’

Showing it to Kent, I said, “Quick, let’s find that waiter.”

Jumping up, we quickly walked inside the dining room and scanned the room. “Do you see him?”

“No,” Kent said, “Let’s check the kitchen.”

When no waiter fitting that description was in the kitchen, we tried outside.

“He just disappeared. How could he just leave his job like that?”

Kent gave me a strange look. “What?” I demanded.

“He probably doesn’t work here,” Kent explained.

“Oh”

Suddenly, I felt a little scared. Up until today, my only worry had been about prom. Now it scared me to think that someone went through all the trouble to pretend to be a waiter just to scare us away from asking more questions about what we saw.

Heading back to our table, I worked at making my face seem casual. Since we had agreed not to share anything with our parents, I didn’t want them to notice anything wrong. They tend to get over protective sometimes. At least I still had an appetite. I was scared, but not
that
scared.

Chapter 6

The next morning, I carefully tucked the note back into my handbag after reading it again, and set it on the floor beside my feet while balancing the three boxes of pizza we had just picked up.

Looking at Kent, I said, “I think we should show the group.”

“I’ll be honest. I don’t know how much to trust Jed,” Kent said, as he pulled the car out of our driveway.

“He was there with me. He wasn’t involved, if anything he was just as surprised as I was.”

“I’m not implying he was involved. I just think he could be trouble. I don’t think you should get involved with him.”

“I’m not involved with him, for goodness sakes. We only just met him yesterday,” I said exasperated. “Is this because of the scene with the cop we saw?”

“All I’m saying, is that he is not someone in your usual crowd. He looks rough, and like I said before, trouble.”

“You don’t have to worry, I’m sure he wouldn’t be interested in someone like me. Besides, what makes you think I am interested in someone like him?” I said, with what I hoped was a suitable tone of uninterest.

“I
am
your twin,” Kent reminded me, in a ‘that explains everything’ tone.

Being twins, we have both found that it was impossible to hide what we were thinking from the other.

He had me there. I couldn’t deny that I was attracted to Jed. Any living breathing female would find his dark handsome good looks irresistible. Add in the mystery and aura of danger surrounding him, and it made one lethal combination.

The problem was, he was WAY out of my league. Not only in his dangerous reputation, but also in life, he looked and acted like there was nothing he wasn’t capable of, and he oozed self-confidence. I am sure he was the type who didn’t take no for an answer. When he wanted something, he didn’t stop until he got it. He was the kind of guy you would want on your side in a fight.

Many rumors were already circulating in school about him. I heard more than one person saying he was trouble. Christ commands us to treat others how we would want to be treated, no matter how much we disliked them. I felt bad that some were avoiding him because of what they had heard about him.

“He is part of our group. If we are going to talk about what happened, then it will involve Jed also,” I reminded Kent.

“That’s fine. I just don’t want you getting any ideas where he’s concerned, until we know more about him.”

I know he was just concerned because I really didn’t date much. For the most part it was nice having a brother look out for me and be protective. Other times, it was downright annoying. This was one of those times.