Undercover Justice (17 page)

Running a hand over his face, Jed got up. “Nora’s right. It’s time to work this out.”

Holding his hand out to Kent, he said, “Here man.”

Brushing away Jed’s hand, Kent struggled to his feet. He was still fuming.

“Answer a few questions for me first, Greyson,” Kent demanded.

Nodding reluctantly, Jed said, “Go ahead.”

“Number one. What happened with the police and Tony?”

“Tony was arrested for kidnapping and assault.”

“What did they say about you hijacking the truck with a gun?” Kent demanded.

“I have a permit for it,” Jed said quietly. He knew where this was going and he didn’t want to blow his cover, but figured if he ever wanted to see Nora again, he was going to have to come clean.

“That’s not what I asked!” Kent yelled.

“I didn’t get in trouble, if that’s what you mean.”

Finding that hard to believe, Kent gave him a look that said he didn’t believe him, but moved on with the questions.

“Number two.”

“Actually it’s number three,” Jed interjected.

Giving him a nod of acknowledgement, Kent continued. “Number
three
. Do you still have your gun on you? I thought I felt it when we were rolling around.”

In answer, Jed pulled his shirt up showing the black butt of his revolver tucked into his waistband.

Swallowing hard, Kent nodded.

“Number four. Do you have a record?”

Jed didn’t have to ask what Kent meant by record. “Yes,” Jed answered knowing that he was fast losing ground.

“It was for stupid stuff years ago when I was a juvie,” he qualified quickly.

“Juvie years ago? It couldn’t have been that long ago,” Kent scoffed. Then giving Jed a long look asked, “How old are you anyway?”

Here it comes thought Jed. “Twenty.”

“Twenty? Isn’t that a little old for high school?” Kent sneered.

“Yes,” Jed acknowledged.

“Then, why are you still in school? In fact, why are you at MY school? What? Did you get kicked out of your other school? Or are you a drop out coming back to school?”

Looking at the ground, Jed decided just to get it over with. Sure, he could admit to one of the things Kent suggested, but then that would practically ruin any chance he had left with Nora.

Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out his badge.

Sighing, he flipped it open and handed it to Kent.

“Neither of those. I’m undercover. I was sent in to investigate the disappearance of those local boys.”

“A cop?” Kent said with disbelief. Everything was starting to click into place. Reluctantly, he admitted to himself that it made sense. Jed just appeared at school one day. It had been obvious that Jed was older and more mature. He just didn’t realize the extent of it.

“You’re a cop,” he repeated, taking a step back. “Does Nora know?”

“No she doesn’t,” Jed said quietly, “And I need to keep it that way. The more people who know, the more chance it has of getting out,”

“Does anyone else know?” Kent asked, calming down considerably. Seeing Jed in a new light, he admitted to himself that he was relieved. He looked up to the way Jed handled himself and his confidence. In fact, now that he knew that Jed wasn’t a criminal, he felt much better about Nora hanging out with him. Not that he wanted to see her...kissing him or anything. Jed still needed to keep his hands to himself.

“Ollie does. He’s my cousin.”

Surprised, Kent said, “He never said a word.”

“He knows not to.”

“Aren’t you a little too old for Nora?” Kent demanded changing the subject.

“She’s what seventeen? That’s only three years. But yes, I probably am. I just can’t seem to stay away,” Jed admitted to Kent, taking a chance.

“Well try,” Kent said forcefully.

“I have tried,” Jed told him. “It didn’t work. I
am
going to see her. But I promise I won’t hurt her.”

“Yeah, that’s what you said the other day when I caught you trying to kiss her. In this very spot actually.”

“I still mean it. I promise to do everything in my power to keep her safe. Even if that means from me also.”

“From you also. I like the sound of that. You keep your hands to yourself and we’ll be good, you and I,” Kent said, gesturing between himself and Jed. Then narrowing his eyes, he asked, “Who else do you have to keep her safe from?”

“You caught that did you,” Jed said, and then explained the threats made to Nora and to Jed’s girl, which happened to be Nora also.

“Great! What am I going to tell my parents? How am I going to keep him from getting her?” Kent exclaimed, getting hysterical.

“Calm down,” Jed said, “I am going to help. I don’t plan on leaving her side. I have this remember,” he said patting his side.

“Oh. Right. That’s a good plan. I want you to stay with her. Promise me, that you will keep him from getting her.”

“I promise that I will do everything I can. Trust me, I will kill him if he lays even a finger on her.”

“Not literally,” Jed said quickly, seeing Kent’s worried face.

Grinning, Kent said, “I see you are going to be just as protective as me. She is so going to love that!”

“Nobody messes with my girl and gets away with it,” Jed said seriously.

“About that. Just what do you mean, your girl?”

“Jed? Jed?” Kent said to Jed’s back, as Jed turned and started walking toward the door.

“Our time’s up,” Jed said. “You worry too much Barton. I said I wouldn’t hurt her didn’t I.”

“Yeah, but what does that mean to you. Answer me. We aren’t going in there until you explain yourself.”

Sighing, Jed looked Kent straight in the eye and said, “It means, that I won’t do anything she isn’t ready for. I know she’s not the type to have a serious…physical relationship. I respect that her faith is a huge part of who she is. That’s one of the things I like about her.”

Satisfied, Kent said, “Good, but I’ll still be watching you. Just so you know.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything else. Truce?” Jed said sticking out his hand.

“Truce,” Kent said giving Jed’s hand a firm shake.

“Then let’s get in there, I want to talk to Nora and Charlotte.”

The guys walked in just as I was getting up to shut the door on them. I gave them my best evil eye and turned back to the table. They just laughed and cleaned themselves up, before sitting down. Maybe they weren’t going to mention the fact we left the truck without them.

No such luck.

“What were you two thinking when you got out of the truck?” Jed asked us looking each of us in the eye. “We told you not to get out.”

I had decided not to say a word about their fight. I was dying of curiosity, but knew we had to talk about what had happened at the mill. If I could overlook their fight, I wasn’t going to answer to Jed about my decision to get out.

I told him just that. He grinned and nodded his consent then took a bite of his chicken.

After enjoying the chicken and cleaning up the mess, we ran through all the things that had happened so far. Pulling the scrap of paper out of my pocket, I said. “Charlotte and I found this caught in the filing cabinet.”

The piece of paper was actually two stapled together in the corner. The first one had the insignia of Pine Hill high school in the corner. It looked like an official transcript from the school. Only the first three letters of the last name were visible. They were Gre. Lifting up the first sheet it looked like a log of some sort. A date, a money amount, a title and then a grade were listed in chronological order. Only the first entry had all the information intact. The others were cut off where it had been torn.

“This could be evidence that someone is graduating, using bought term papers,” I said.

“Good thinking,” Jed said, coming around the table to lean over my shoulder. “But look at that date of the first one. It’s in 1981. That mean’s this has been going on for at least thirty years.”

“Didn’t Dad graduate from Pine Hill in 81’?” Kent asked Nora.

“I think he did. Who do you think this belongs too?”

“I would bet on Mayor Greenly,” Jed said. “It fits with the letters, and with the fact that he was in the office searching for something.”

“What are we going to do now?” Charlotte asked.

“Let’s go get him,” Ollie suggested excitedly.

“We need to find out if anyone else graduated that year with a last name starting with these three letters. You can’t go around accusing people without having all the facts,” Jed said.

“We can check in my dad’s yearbook at home,” I offered.

“Good,” Jed said pulling out his phone and checking it. He must have gotten a text, because he quickly typed a reply with a big grin on his face.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You know that mare I was talking about earlier? She is about to foal. I need to get over there.”

“That’s great Jed,” I said smiling at him.

Kent took this opportunity to tell Charlotte, “If we’re going to make the movie at eight, we better get going.”

Looking at my watch, I realized that it was getting late. They weren’t going to be able to take me home first. Kent must have figured that out, because he said to Jed. “Would you mind giving Nora a ride home?”

“Of course not,” Jed agreed. “I have to take Ollie home first though.”

Picking up after ourselves, we locked the door behind us. Waving goodbye to Kent and Charlotte, I called after them, “Have fun!”

“You look awful Jed,” Ollie commented as we climbed into his truck. “You better just drop me off at the door, or my mom is going to get worried and ask questions about your face.”

“You’re probably right Oll,” Jed said grinning. “Ow. That hurts,” Looking at his lip in the rearview mirror, he said, “He got me good that time.”

Rolling my eyes, I said, “You deserved it. You’re both too old to be fighting anyway.”

“You’re never too old for a good old fashioned fight,” Jed teased.

Grinning Ollie said, “You’ll never be too old Jed, you and fighting are like this,” he held up his first two fingers so we could see that they were crossed.

“Now don’t tell her that Ollie, I wouldn’t want to scare her away,” Jed drawled looking at me.

“I don’t scare easily,” I said, putting on my seat belt.

“I see that,” Jed said seriously putting the truck into reverse and backing up. “That’s something we need to talk about.”

Looking back and forth between us, Ollie said, “Just let me out first. I don’t want to be here when you tell her about the threat.”

“What threat?” I asked.

“Great Oll, I didn’t want to scare her yet.”

“I’m not scared. What do you mean, yet?” I said slightly nervous.

“I’ll tell you after we drop off Ollie, it’s not much farther. He lives pretty close to the school.”

Jed was right. Ollie lived in a modest house just one block from Main Street in downtown Pine Hill. The house was all brick, with a large wooden front door that had a peaked overhang, supported with black pillars. It looked like a home that was very old and elegant. It had that turn of the century, stately look.

“What a charming house,” I told Ollie as he got out.

“Thanks, it used to be my aunt and uncle’s but my mom moved in after they were killed in a plane crash,” Ollie said, looking at Jed.

Jed swallowed as he thought about his parents.

“Oh! That’s too bad. I mean about the crash, not about your mom getting it.”

“I know,” Ollie said. “See you guys tomorrow.”

“Bye Oll,” Jed said quietly.

Looking chagrinned, Ollie said, “See you Jed.”

As we pulled away, I turned to Jed and said, “About that threat.”

“Can we wait a minute on that?” Jed pleaded. “I’m not quite ready to face it again.”

Puzzled by what he meant by that, I said, “Ok, but I want you to tell me everything.”

Nodding, Jed said, “I will, but first, would you like to come watch my mare give birth?”

“I would love to,” I said sincerely. I enjoyed animals. Plus it meant spending more time with Jed. I wasn’t ready to go home and have to tell my parents what had happened. Besides, Kent wasn’t going to be home for a few hours.

“Good,” Jed said reaching across the seat and taking my hand.

Holding hands with Jed, I knew that nothing had ever felt so good. I was looking forward to seeing Jed’s farm. He obviously loved horses. Maybe I would learn something else about him. Let’s face it; I still hardly knew anything about Jedediah Greyson.

Chapter 14

Squeezing my hand slightly, Jed glanced over at me before speaking.

“Are you ok? I never got a chance to really talk to you after we got you guys out of the mill. The police showed up and then after…