Foxe Hunt (32 page)

allow it. Forming a GSA club is protected under the Federal Equal Access Act. Under California law, AB 537, the school is legally responsible for protecting the students from harassment and discrimination. Any of my readers looking for more information on starting a GSA, should go to
GSAnetwork.org.

As for the next Skyler Foxe Mystery, Skyler will finally get to the bottom of what is going on at James Polk High. Will he patch things up with Keith? Will Scott Carson prove to be a villain?

What will happen between Alex and Rick? And what will Skyler’s mom say? We’ll have all the answers at last in the next book, OUT-FOXED. In the meantime, keep up with my writing news at the website
http://SkylerFoxeMysteries.com
where you can connect to my blog and join me on Facebook.

Cheers,

Haley Walsh

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Skyler Foxe stood for a long time in his principal’s living room, the man’s words about Keith Fletcher resonating in his brain.

Keith Fletcher. Gorgeous assistant football coach and biology teacher. Keith Fletcher, Skyler’s lover for the past few weeks and then, very briefly, a boyfriend.

Keith Fletcher, the man who apparently stashed a number of fake driver’s licenses in his apartment with different identities, alongside a gun.

And now Skyler was expected to let his emotions flip flop again—mistrust, trust, mistrust—into trust again?

For a long time, he had had his suspicions about the assistant football coach. First Skyler thought he was a homophobic jock, just trying to give Skyler a hard time in his first year as a brand new high school teacher. But then he discovered—most pleasantly indeed—that Keith was neither giving him a hard time nor was homophobic, being that he was a closeted teacher as well. They had been attracted to one another in a crazy dance of denial, and Skyler couldn’t count the times Keith had been in his bed in the last few weeks, giving him a hard time of another sort. But then the old suspicions were back and the lies had surfaced. But
now
…

Skyler lowered to the sofa, his knees unable to hold him up anymore. “Are you sure, Mr. Sherman? Are you sure that Keith is with the…FBI?”

He couldn’t believe it. All those lies were all just a cover-up to hide what Keith was really doing?

Wesley Sherman straightened his bathrobe. Skyler had quickly forgotten that he had barged into the man’s house in the early hours of a Saturday morning.

Mr. Sherman, his school principal, was a throwback to an earlier era. Pushing fifty, his hair showed no gray but was instead a mousy brown and cut in a conservative above-the-ears style.

270 Haley Walsh

He wore suits to work and appeared to be a fairly straight-laced fellow, but Skyler knew that still waters ran deep, and they ran mighty deep in Mr. Sherman. He was more savvy than most people gave him credit for. And now there was a whole new level that Skyler was beginning to appreciate.

He sat next to Skyler and leaned back with a sigh. “Yes, I’m quite sure. There is a lot going on, Mr. Foxe, that I am not at liberty to discuss with you.”

But Skyler jumped on all the things he needed to know and know now. “Is Keith Fletcher his real name?”

“As far as I know it is.”

“Is he really a teacher?”

“I was assured by the FBI that he is indeed an accredited biology teacher and football coach.”

“So…he is undercover?”

Mr. Sherman brushed back his mussed hair and folded his arms over his chest. “Yes. The FBI asked to place him. And that’s really all I can tell you. Frankly, Mr. Foxe, because of the nature of your relationship with Mr. Fletcher, I thought he would have at least told you this much already.”

Me, too
. The fear was gone. Keith was a good guy, after all. No wonder Skyler’s best friend Sidney, one of Redlands’ finest, said that his record was clean except for suspicious holes.

Holes like all the time he spent at Quantico.

All the fear might have drained away but that left only anger.

How dare he! How dare he fuck Skyler, make him care, and
use
him like this! What the hell! He couldn’t tell the guy he supposedly cared about, the guy he was schtooping almost every night, that he was undercover at the school and could Skyler please keep it under his hat or someone could get hurt? He couldn’t trust Skyler enough with that little tidbit of news?

He jumped to his feet. He didn’t know which way to turn. He made a lunge for the front door but Mr. Sherman grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down to the sofa.

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Skyler stared at the man. He had forgotten his principal was even in the room.

“Mr. Foxe, if anyone wears his heart on his sleeve it’s certainly you. I could see everything you were thinking written plainly on your face. Please calm down and think this through.”

“This is bullshit, Mr. Sherman! He lied to me. Everything he said was a lie.”

“I very much doubt that. He assured me that he would try to maintain his cover by telling as few lies as possible, especially about his background and his other life experiences. And I have to believe, that whatever personal thing he shared with you about your…relationship…was also true. He didn’t strike me as the type of man who would deceive in that manner.”

Skyler was breathing hard and he tried to listen to Mr.

Sherman’s words and absorb them, but he couldn’t help but feel hurt. Skyler hadn’t been the world’s most monogamous man. As a matter of fact, he was, by all accounts, a bit of a slut. But on meeting Keith, all that had changed. He hadn’t been with anyone else once he began, well, dating him, something he had never done before either. And he hadn’t wanted to be with anyone else.

Keith was interesting and romantic and damned good in bed.

He hated to think that any of that was a lie.

“Well that’s the thing, Mr. Sherman. I don’t know any of that, do I?” He hated that his voice trembled and he wiped hard at the moisture at his eye.

“No, I suppose not. But just know this. What he’s been doing has been very dangerous, but personally I have felt more at ease since he has come to the school. I would say that you might wish to give him a chance to explain himself at the very least. And don’t forget. He will undoubtedly be your ally when the school board convenes, as I’m sure they will.”

Oh shit! Skyler had nearly forgotten about that. And that was Keith’s fault, too! He never would have outed himself in front of the school staff and students like that. Dancing together at a school dance! That had been insane. But Keith with his blue,
272 Haley Walsh

blue eyes and his sexy beard stubble, and his gentle plea, “Dance with me, babe,” and Skyler had been putty in his hands. And now everything was a mess.

“I can see it all on your face again, Mr. Foxe. What can I do to help?”

“Have you got anything to drink?”

“I’m usually not a drinking man, but lately, there have been a few too many…events…in my life.” He rose, and Skyler suddenly felt like shit watching him retreat to his darkened dining room.

It was only a month or so ago that Skyler had found Sherman’s murdered son outside a dance club. Maybe it was the fact that his son had been gay, too, or that Skyler had found the culprits, but the staid Mr. Sherman had taken Skyler under his wing and had even vowed to stand up for him when the school board meeting convened to see what to do about Keith and Skyler’s stunt.

Had that only occurred just a few hours ago? God, so much had happened. The dance, another murderer apprehended, Skyler thinking Keith was a criminal, and now this.

He slumped on the sofa, easing himself with the fresh scent of lemon-waxed floors and shampooed upholstery. Mr.

Sherman’s house was as spic and span as the man himself. It was an orderly house but somehow hollow and had all the comfort of a model home.

Sherman returned with two glasses of something caramel-colored with ice. He handed one to Skyler and examined it himself through the cut crystal. Skyler sniffed it experimentally.

Scotch.

“Well,” said Mr. Sherman, solemn-faced as always. “As they say, bottoms up.”

Skyler choked a laugh and raised it to his lips. He drank it down too fast for the burn to catch up to it. When it finally hit his throat, he expelled a fume-filled breath.

Mr. Sherman blinked his watery eyes a few times before setting the empty glass down on his thigh. “Yes. Well.”

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Skyler sat back, letting the alcohol warm his chest. But once it had started coursing through his system, he began to feel uncomfortable. Mr. Sherman was not the chummy type and this was bordering on sociable, sharing a drink in the middle of the night with one of his teachers. It was downright surreal.

Skyler turned his head to face the man. “Thanks. I think maybe I should go.”

“Are you feeling a little calmer?”

“Yes. Yes, I am. Thanks for that. But I’m still going to have to talk to Keith about this.”

“I understand.” He rose and Skyler followed him to the door.

Mr. Sherman unlocked it and opened it for Skyler. “Be careful driving, Mr. Foxe. I hope all is well enough that we can return to some semblance of order on Monday.”

“Believe me, Mr. Sherman. I’d like that, too.”

He shook the man’s hand—Mr. Sherman in his bathrobe and Skyler in jeans and T-shirt—and walked slowly down the front pathway to the sidewalk.

Getting into his car, he watched the front door close and the porch light switch off. The living room light shut off and then another smaller one switched on upstairs.

He turned forward and stared at the steering wheel of his VW

Bug. The horizon was beginning to glow from the impending sunrise. Trees and other objects were becoming clearer in the climbing light. He glanced at the clock and the green numbers showed him it was just six o’clock. What should he do first?

Well, he supposed he should call Sidney and make sure she didn’t shoot Keith.

He quickly grabbed his phone and clicked it on. He punched in Sidney’s number and waited, tapping his hand impatiently on the steering wheel. “Come on, Sidney. Pick up!”

A click. “Skyler! Where the fuck are you? I told you to go to my apartment.”

“I know. I did. But then I had to go over to Mr. Sherman’s
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house.”

“What the hell are you doing there?”

“I wanted to warn him about Keith.”

“You do know what a phone is, right?”

“Yes, detective, I know that. But I wanted to tell him, you know, in person.”

“Well, get over here so I can lock you in. I have Mike going over to Keith’s to bring him in for questioning.”

“You don’t have to do that. Keith is okay.”

“Skyler, I am going to kill you. Were you lying to me about all that stuff?”

“No! Just call your partner back and tell him he doesn’t have to do that. Jeez, I don’t know how many people should know this but…I guess
you
should know. Mr. Sherman told me that Keith isn’t a criminal. He works for the FBI. He’s been undercover at the school all this time.”

Silence.

“Sidney? Are you there?”

“You have
got
to be shitting me.”

“No. No shit here.”

“Jesus H. Christ. Couldn’t the Feds bother to tell us this? Like we can’t keep a fucking secret? What the hell? This isn’t Mayberry.

We have real law enforcement here.”

“I know, Sidney.”

There was more cursing. He didn’t know where she picked it up but sometimes she could make a rapper blush. “So what is he investigating?” she asked when the diatribe had cooled. “At the school, no less?”

“Mr. Sherman couldn’t tell me. The man’s undercover. It’s dangerous.” But even as he said it, he began to feel a little proud of Special Agent Fletcher. So, not only an accomplished football coach and biology teacher, but G-man extraordinaire? It was exceRPt FRoM out-Foxed
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kind of exciting.

“Oh that’s nice. No one gets to know. I’ll be calling the Feds first thing Monday morning.”

“Shouldn’t you be calling Mike de Guzman right now so he doesn’t shoot Keith or something?”

“I guess so. This really pisses me off.”

“What about me? It would have been nice to know some of this a while ago so I didn’t freak out.”

Sidney sighed long and deep. “I suppose it’s make-up sex time for you, then.”

Skyler hadn’t thought of that, but now handcuffs were starting to creep into the picture. “I think I have some messages to return. Call Mike right now!”

“Yes, dear. Are you still staying at my place?”

“No need to. I’ll be at home. I think. Bye.” He clicked off and punched in Keith’s number.

He picked up immediately. “Fuck, Skyler. I’m so glad to hear from you. You
have
to let me explain.”

“You’d better come over to my place. The cops are heading over to yours.”

“The cops?” And just then Skyler heard sirens in the background. “I think I gotta go. I’ll be there in a few.” The phone went dead. Skyler hoped that meant that Keith was just turning it off.

Skyler smiled for the first time that morning and started his car. Let Keith take the heat for a change.

He was only a few blocks from home so it took no time at all to pull in front of his apartment, one of Redlands’ many old Victorian houses converted into multiple dwellings. The yard was filled with dwarf citrus trees and topiary hedges, while tall Washingtonia palm trees lined the streets, swaying their mysterious shadows above the vintage lamp posts.

Skyler’s place was up an outside stair leading to a round tower
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covered in decorative gingerbread. And sitting on the top step of his landing was Keith Fletcher.

He certainly got there in record time. Skyler smiled again upon seeing him. He really was a gorgeous hunk of male flesh.

Ice blue eyes, black mussed hair, square jaw covered in cultivated beard stubble, he was every gay man’s underwear model dream.