Undercover Justice (9 page)

“Kent came out and caught Jed trying to...um… kiss me,” I said clearing my throat.

“What!” Charlotte squealed.

Not one to kiss and tell, I shrugged and said, “Sometimes Kent can be over protective.”

“At least you have a brother who can look out for you,” Charlotte said wistfully. She was an only child whose parent weren’t home much. They were always at work, trying to make ends meet.

“That’s true,” I admitted. If I were being truthful, I would also admit that I was a tiny bit relieved that Kent had interrupted us. Even though I tried to pretend otherwise, Jed was a little intimidating.

Just then, Gabby pulled up. Relieved to have something else to focus on, I walked over to meet her. Introducing Charlotte, I said,” Do you mind if she comes with us?”

“Of course not. Hi! I’m Gabby, it’s nice to meet you,” she said sticking out her hand for Charlotte. “I think we have a class together, don’t we?”

“You’re right, we have P.E. together,” Charlotte said smiling, shaking her hand.

“Ugh!” They both said in unison.

Laughing, we all got into Gabby’s car. Sitting back, I concentrated on forgetting all about room 35, the warning note, and my growing attraction to Jedediah Greyson.

Chapter 7

We were giggling so hard at something Gabby said, that I wasn’t watching where I was walking as we entered the mall. Knocking into Charlotte, I stumbled. Catching myself, I happened to look behind us. I saw a man slowly walking towards us. He was wearing a dark baseball cap with a black windbreaker over blue jeans. Very normal, common clothing, but something about him seemed familiar. Shrugging, I turned back to my friends.

“Do you want to hit Macy’s first?” Gabby asked.

“Sure. I think it’s over to the right,” I said pointing. As expected, the mall was pretty crowded. Being the only mall with major department stores in the tri-county area, it was a big hangout for this area’s teenagers.

Making our way toward Macy’s, we paused to window shop as we went. Stopping at a kiosk that sold sunglasses, we took turns trying on the latest styles.

“Those look great on you,” I told Charlotte, as she tried on a pair of white-framed glasses. “You should get them.”

Discreetly checking the price tag, she put them back on the glass shelf. “I don’t think these are quite right. I’m going to keep looking.”

Not letting on that I saw her check the price, I quickly agreed. Sometimes I forget that not everyone is blessed with money like my family. I take for granted that I can buy almost anything I want. I guess you could say I am spoiled. I can admit it. I’m a sucker for clothes and purses and let’s not forget shoes.

I can remember being little, and Kent would come into my room, look in my walk-in closet filled with clothes and shoes, and then go look in his walk-in closet. He would stare at his almost empty closet, with only one side taken up with clothes and a few pair of shoes and just shake his head.

As my grandmother, who came from the era when leaving the house meant you were stylishly dressed, from your head to your toes, always says, ‘When you get dressed, dress to impress.’ To her it didn’t matter if you were just going to the post office. You still needed to be “put together”. What if you ran into someone you knew?

After having that ingrained in my head from the time I could dress myself, I think it had become more of a habit, than trying to impress anyone. Frankly, I don’t care if someone sees me wearing my comfy’s. Ok, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Who doesn’t want to look good?

Walking into Macy’s, we headed for the formal dress section. As we rode up the escalator, I glanced in the overhead mirror that reflected part of the shoes and purse section on the lower level.

A man was watching us from the men’s shoes department. It took me a minute to remember why he looked familiar. He was the man who followed us into the mall. Chills crept up my spine. Was he following us? Or was it just my imagination.

A few feet from the top, I looked down the escalator and into the store trying to get a better look at him. He wasn’t there. It must have been my imagination. He was probably just a shopper, looking for a pair of shoes. Something just didn’t feel right, but I didn’t have anything else to go on.

Turning back to my friends, I was just in time to hear Charlotte tell Gabby in a fake whisper, “Jed tried to kiss Nora.”

“What!” Gabby exclaimed incredibly, “Tell me everything! Jed’s the hot new guy right?”

Grinning like an idiot, I started flipping through racks of dresses. “I thought he was going to be able to see my heart pounding through my shirt.”

“Well?” Gabby said expectantly, “Why did he just try to kiss you? What happened? I need more details here.”

“Kent walked up on them,” Charlotte offered.

“Kent was not happy,” I admitted. “I thought he was going to hit Jed. Kent thinks Jed is too dangerous for me.”

“What a sweet big brother,” Charlotte said dreamily.

Gabby and I just stared at each other. Sweet? “She’s got it bad,” we said in unison.

“Ok, Ok,” Charlotte said, holding up a dress for me to look at, “I admit, I find Kent very intriguing and wouldn’t mind getting to know him better. What do you think about this one, it goes great with your eyes?”

“Definitely put that in the pile,” I said. Between Gabby and me, we were slowly gathering an armload of dresses to try on.

It was hard to find dresses that fit me right because I was so short. I like floor length dresses the best, but they are always too long. I don’t care for short formal dresses. I guess I am a romantic at heart. I picture going to an elegant gala with a horse and buggy, long beautiful gowns with matching gloves and tuxedoed handsome men. There would be many, many candles and long stemmed roses.

An image of Jed wearing a steel grey tuxedo helping me out of a beautiful white carriage pulled by high stepping bay horses popped into my head.

Shaking my head to clear it, I kept looking through the dresses. “Oh!” I gasp. Tucked behind a bunch of other dresses was the most beautiful dress I had seen so far.

It was a pale mint green made out of silk. It was strapless and had a wide band at the bodice, and then it was form fitting until it flared out at the bottom with a small train off the back. It was gorgeous. I just hoped it was my size because it was the only one like it. Quickly looking at the tag, I almost jumped up and down in my excitement. It was a size six. Perfect.

Anxious to try it on, I hurried over to Charlotte and Gabby and said,”I’m going to the fitting room, are you ready?”

“Sure, I think I have enough,” Gabby said laughing holding up a huge pile of dresses.

The green dress fit perfectly. I loved it. I couldn’t help picturing Jed’s reaction if he saw me in it. I think he would like it. Gabby found one pretty quick also. Elated at our successful shopping trip, we paid for our purchases and decided to grab smoothies in the food court.

Balancing our smoothies and our packages, we headed to the lobby in the middle of the mall to people watch. Grabbing the first available bench, we put our packages at our feet and sat back to relax.

“Oh, no. There’s Vanessa and Shelby,” Gabby said, “I hope they don’t recognize us.”

Keeping our heads down, we didn’t look at them, hoping they wouldn’t see us. No such luck.

“Nora! How are you!”? Vanessa gushed with fake enthusiasm. “Gabby! What are you here shopping for?”

Turning to Charlotte, she asked us, “Who’s this?”

“Vanessa, this is Charlotte Duncan. She’s in our social studies class and in my project group.”

“Oh,” Vanessa said rudely, turning away from Charlotte. To Shelby she said, “Nora is so lucky. She has that new hottie in her project group.”

“He’s gorgeous,” Shelby concurred.

“Just so you all know, I am claiming him,” Vanessa told us. “He is going to be my date for prom, just wait and see,” she promised.

Hot green jealousy gathered in the pit of my stomach. Stop it! I told myself. You have no claim on him. Just because he almost kissed you doesn’t mean he’s interested in you. Telling myself that didn’t help. In no way, shape, or form did I want Jed taking Vanessa to the prom.

“Good luck with that,” Charlotte said sarcastically.

Looking sharply at Charlotte, Vanessa narrowed her eyes and demanded, “Why? Do you know something I don’t?”

“No, of course not,” Charlotte said with a surprisingly straight face. “He just seems like a loner, that’s all.”

“Oh! Pooh! I don’t care what people are saying about him. He won’t be a loner for long. Once I get a hold of him, he won’t be able to resist this,” she said striking a pose and using her hands to gesture to her whole body.

Rolling my eyes, I stood up. I had had enough of Vanessa and her sidekick for today. Grabbing my bags, I turned to Gabby and Charlotte and told a small white lie, “Are you ready to get going? Don’t we have to meet the guys soon?”

“Oh right!”

“I almost forgot!”

“Wait! What guys?” Vanessa asked worriedly as we gathered up our things. She didn’t want to miss out on any potential admirers.

“No one you know,” I said over my shoulder as we quickly walked away.

“Whew! We made it. I didn’t think we would ever get away,” Gabby said laughing. Just then her cell phone chimed a merry tune. “It’s Chris,” she exclaimed, pulling it out of her purse.

“Hi Chris,” she said smiling. “That would be great, let me just check with Nora and Charlotte first. We rode here together.” Covering the phone with her hand, she pulled it away from her ear. “Chris wants to meet right now, to go see a movie and have dinner.”

“Don’t worry about it, go,” I said, pulling out my phone to call Kent. “I’m sure Kent can come pick us up.”

“Are you sure?” Gabby asked hesitantly.

“Of course, you go and have a good time with Chris. Charlotte and I will just walk around a little bit more while we wait for Kent.”

“Oh! Hi, Kent,” I said when he picked up. Explaining the situation to him, he agreed to pick us up in about twenty minutes.

“All taken care of,” I said, shutting my phone.

“Thanks, for letting me come with you,” Charlotte said, “ I had a great time. Enjoy your date.”

“Thanks, I had a good time too.”

We watched as she walked away, and then decided to browse in the music store that was just across the aisle.

Flipping through CD’s of the latest country music, I glanced up and saw the same guy in dark clothes, watching us from the store directly across from this one.

Dread washed over me. There was no denying it now; this was the third time I have seen him watching me. He must be following us, but why? Nudging Charlotte from behind the music case, I picked up a CD and pretending to show it to her.

“I think we are being followed,” I whispered. Describing the man, and where he was, I told her about the other times I had seen him. He was about ten years older than us. It was hard to make out anything else about him.

“So what do you think?” I said picking up another CD and pretending to discuss it with her.

“Let’s get out of here,” Charlotte said nervously. “Where is Kent picking us up?”

“He said to meet him at the main mall entrance. The same one we came in at.”

“Ok. That is way across the mall. I say we walk straight there without stopping.”

“Let’s go,” I said putting the CD down.

Walking quickly out of the store, we headed to the entrance. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the man drop the pretense of browsing and hurry after us.

“He’s right behind us “

“What does he want? Why won’t he leave us alone?” Charlotte said walking faster.

As we rounded the corner, heading toward the entrance doors, the mall seemed to suddenly empty out. Instead of the usual crowd, it was just the two of us. Looking out the door hoping to see Kent pulling up, a new sense of fear settled in. Kent wasn’t here yet and I couldn’t see anyone else.

What do we do now? Stay inside with the man? Or go outside and hope someone is around?

Turning around, I saw the man slowly approaching us. Heart pounding, I tugged on Charlotte’s arm until she turned around. Her lips formed a silent “O” and we started backing up.

“I’m here to deliver a warning,” The man said in a deep menacing voice. “Forget about what you saw in room 35.”

Recognition made me say. “You were one of the men. You were beating up Mark Mason!”

I realized I shouldn’t have open my mouth, when the man’s look of surprise, turned into one of fury. He started toward us menacingly.

Terror gripped my legs, making it impossible to move. Luckily Charlotte was with me, because she grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the doors yelling, “Run!”

I swung my purse at his head and took off right behind her.

“Come back here,” he yelled taking up chase.

As we ran toward the parking lot, Kent pulled up to the curb. It was just in time, because the man was gaining on us. Slamming on the breaks, he jumped out of the car yelling, “Get away from them!” Running toward us, he vaulted over the row of shrubs that stood between the car and us.