Undercover Justice (26 page)

“Either that, or they are looking for someone to sell a paper for this class,” Jed said thoughtfully.

As Ms. Morley started making some announcements, we all silently contemplated that someone in the classroom was involved in the conspiracy in some way.

“You may all get into your groups,” Ms. Morley told us. “Please use this time to work on your projects only.” I got the feeling she was addressing that to our group specifically.

Gathering our things, we scooted our desks together again. I handed out copies of the outline I had typed up for everyone the night before. I had trouble getting to sleep after what had happened, and Gabby was busy, so I had spent a few hours working off my troubling thoughts, by putting Ollie’s notes into typed form.

The rest of the day went smoothly until we got to gym class. It was such a beautiful day, that the gym teacher Mr. Morrison decided it was a fine day for outdoor activities. We all groaned when we heard that. In the past, whenever we have had class outside, it has been to run around the track. Gabby and Vanessa were in my gym class as were about twenty-five other girls. As we came out of the dressing room from putting on the required shorts and t-shirts, I heard Vanessa make a sneering comment to the girl next to her. “Look at those white legs. It’s a wonder Jed Greyson finds her attractive.”

“Just ignore her,” Gabby whispered to me. “She’s just mad that he likes you and not her.”

I had to admit that Vanessa had a point. Compared to her golden colored skin, mine looked down right ghostly. I wasn’t that white though, I thought. Ok, maybe I was, but it wasn’t my fault. I even went to a spray on tanning booth once. I decided to go bold and asked for the medium setting. I came out looking like a normal person instead of bright white. Nobody could tell that I was even tan.

“She probably doesn’t know what to do with a guy like that. Pretty soon, he’ll come looking for a real woman and I’ll be here waiting,” Vanessa said.

“Gag me,” Gabby said, pretending to stick her finger down her throat.

“Jed wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot pole,” she yelled to Vanessa.

“Gabby! Stop. I don’t care what she says. I know Jed likes me,” I told her giving her a little shove. I admit trying to have Christian thoughts about her is often a challenge.

“ I can’t stand her. I hope you beat her at prom.”

“Me too,” Last week the school had nominated six girls and six guys for the prom court. Vanessa and I were on it, as well as Tyler and Kent. The school would vote next Friday and the winner would be announced Saturday at the prom.

Walking outside, we followed Mr. Morrison over toward the track. It looks like we were running laps again. I actually don’t mind that. It gave me some time to clear my head and the physical exercise would serve well to work out some of the stress from all that has been going on.

As we stretched, my mind strayed to Jed. I always seemed to have Jed on my mind lately. I was preoccupied thinking about last night, when I felt Gabby grab my arm. “Let’s go Nora. Mr. Morrison blew his whistle already. You were daydreaming.”

“Thanks,” I told her. “We better start running.”

As we jogged around the track, I heard some of the girls gaining on us, who had already run a lap as we stood talking. They were murmuring and pointing to the bleachers on the other side. Looking over, I saw a man reclining against the bleacher seats, about half way up underneath the press box. As we jogged around the curve, I saw him straighten up. He looked familiar to me, in his jeans, dark shirt with a black lightweight jacket hanging open over it.

The hairs on the back of my neck started standing up again. Martin? I couldn’t be sure. It looked like he had the same build as the man from the mall. “Hold up Gabby. I need to walk a minute.”

“We haven’t even made it a lap,” Gabby said breathing heavily. “Usually it’s me who needs to stop. You can run forever.”

“Yeah, well I think I know that man on the bleachers. He’s wanted by the police. I think he has been following me.”

“You’re kidding! Nora! What had been going on?” she exclaimed coming to a standstill.

“Remember at the mall, when Charlotte and I were almost attacked by a thief.”

“Yeah. I couldn’t believe it when you told me.”

“Well, he wasn’t a purse thief. He is involved with those missing boys. We sort of stumbled into something. The police are looking for him,” I said, pulling Gabby along. We didn’t want to draw attention to ourselves by standing there.

“What should we do?” she said, walking along beside me, keeping her eye on the man.

“We are just going to walk by and see what happens. It’s not like he is going to shoot us or anything. He’s just watching us run like a sicko.”

“Ok, but I think we need to go straight to Mr. Morrison and tell him about it,” Gabby said, looking around to find our gym teacher. “There he is. He’s over there under the goal posts.”

Following her gaze, I saw Mr. Morrison standing at the other end of the track underneath the football goal post talking to a few girls from class, who were no doubt trying to get out of running.

As we approached the bleachers, the man got up and started walking down the steps towards the railing that separated the track from the grandstand. “Stay near the grass,” I whispered to Gabby as we picked up our pace. He clearly recognized me and seemed to be waiting for us. Don’t look at him, I thought to myself, as we got closer. Of course as soon as I told myself that, my eyes, with a mind of their own, looked up catching Martin’s eye.

He was just how I remembered him. Only this time he had two thin strips of special wound tape holding a gash on his forehead together. He looked dirty, and hadn’t shaved in a few days. He just gave off bad vibes that made my skin crawl.

He sneered, “How are you, Nora? How do you like this?” he said gesturing to his forehead. “It was courtesy of you.” Apparently, Jed’s flashlight packed quite a punch.

Gasping, Gabby said, “He knows your name.”

“What do you want?” I asked him cautiously.

“What do you think?” he said with a husky drawl, leering at me, his gaze traveling the length of my body. It was not hard to interpret. “Greyson owes me.”

“He’ll never let you near me,” I told him.

He laughed, “He can’t watch you all the time. There will be a time very soon that I will get past him. And I will enjoy every minute of it.”

“Over my dead body,” I said getting angry. How dare he!

“Oh, trust me, you won’t be dead. Yet. I have a score to settle with you first.” With that parting remark, he simply turned and strode down the aisle to the stairs and into the parking lot.

As soon as he left, my fake bravado slithered away and I was left standing there with my knees shaking. I really, really hoped the police would catch him soon. I didn’t want to have another confrontation with him.

“He must really hate Jed. What did Jed do to him anyway?” Gabby said shuddering. “That is one scary guy.”

“It’s a long story, but yes, he seems to have it out for Jed and me, as luck would have it. Come on, let’s go tell Mr. Morrison and see if we can go report it to the office so they can let the police know.”

“Are you going to tell Jed?” Gabby asked, as we quickly walked towards Mr. Morrison.

“I don’t know. I don’t think either Jed or Kent is going to handle it very well.”

“You’re telling me. I’ve seen how protective Kent can be. If Jed is anything like him…”

“He can be worse,” I told her.

“Good luck with that,” she said with a little laugh, her voice still a bit shaky from the adrenaline rush, over witnessing Martin at his finest.

On the way to the office, I weighed my options. Mention it to the guys, or keep it my little secret. As luck, or in my case, unluck would have it, Jed was in the school office when Gabby and I walked in.

“What are you doing here, Honey? Nice outfit by the way,” Jed grinned giving me a look that meant he liked what he saw.

“Some guy just threatened Nora out near the bleachers,” Gabby blurted out before I could elbow her in the side.

“Thanks, Gab,” I said rolling my eyes as Jed asked sharply, “What happened?”

“It was Martin. We were just coming to have the office call the police. He already left though.”

“Tell me what he said,” Jed said.

“Um… why don’t we have them call the police first.”? I said stalling. “Then we only have to tell it once.”

“Your stalling Nora,” Jed chided, but he walked over to the secretary and told her. As she was calling the police, Jed said, “I want to hear it now.”

“Sheesh, Nora, I see what you mean,” Gabby said giving Jed a curious look.

“What does that mean?” Jed said amused, looking at Gabby.

“She just said that you could be a bit protective,” Gabby said grinning.

“She’s right,” Jed said matter of factly. Turning to me he said, “Did he hurt either one of you?”

Shaking my head no, I looked up into Jed’s concerned eyes. “You know I’m going to find out sooner or later anyway.”

I knew that, but I was hoping it would be later. Nodding, I said, “I just want a moment to catch my breath. Our hearts are still racing.”

“Ok,” Jed said agreed, putting a hand on my back and gently rubbing it.

“The police will be here in five minutes,” the secretary said poking her head over the desk. “Why don’t you two go into the break room to wait.”?

“I am staying too,” Jed told her, ushering us through the door and down the hall towards the teacher’s break room. I was surprised that the secretary didn’t say anything.

As we sat down, Jed grabbed pieces of paper off the counter and handed each of us one. “I want you each to write down a description of what he was wearing, what he looked like, and also what he said. The sooner you do it, while it is still fresh in your minds, the more details you will remember.”

I had to admit that he had a good point. Taking out a pen, I started writing down everything I could remember. When I got to the part about what he said, I found that it was hard to write it out, especially with Jed hovering over my shoulder. “Do you think you can back off a few minutes? I can’t think with you so close,” I told him.

“Sure,” he said, jabbing his hands into his pants pockets. He started pacing the room while we wrote.

Just as I was finishing, the door opened and a tall man walked in. He was not in a police uniform, but had a police badge hooked to the belt loop of his dress pants. Flipping open a black wallet, he showed us his badge and handed me a card. “I’m Detective Cooper with the Pine Hill Police Department. I understand that a strange man approached you on the bleachers.”

“He wasn’t strange,” Jed said walking forward from the other side of the room. Surprise showed on the Detective’s face before he caught himself. “And you are?” he asked Jed, trying to pretend that he didn’t know him.

“Jedediah Greyson sir. We met when I reported an incident at the county park and the old mill a few days ago,” Jed said sticking out his hand.

“That’s right,” Detective Cooper said shaking Jed’s hand.

Taking a seat at the table across from Gabby and me, the detective asked, “So who wants to explain to me what happened.”

Handing him my paper, I said, “Jed thought it would be a good idea if we wrote down everything we could remember. I just finished.”

Looking at Jed, the detective grinned, “He did. Did he? Well he’s right. It was a good idea. Let me just look this over, and then I will see if I have any additional questions.”

“Here’s mine to, Sir,” Gabby said sliding it across the table.

For a few minutes there was silence as the detective read over what we had written. Finally, looking up he said, “Good job girls. From your descriptions we know who he is and what he looks like. Give me just a minute to call this in, so that I can have every available unit out looking for him.”

The detective pulled out his cell phone and called the station. When he was finished he turned to Gabby and asked. “So he didn’t say anything to you?”

“No,” she said shaking her head, “He just seemed to want to talk to Nora.”

“Ok, thank you for your statement.” Taking her name and phone number he said, “If I have any other questions I will call you. You are free to go back to class.”

Getting up, she said, “See you later Nora. Keep me posted.”

Nodding, I gave her a little smile.

“I have a few other questions for you, Miss Barton?” the detective asked.

“Please call me Nora sir,” I asked. I was nervous enough, and when he called me Miss. Barton, it made me feel even more so. I was trying to relax. Jed sitting next to me wasn’t helping either. I wasn’t looking forward to Jed finding out what Martin had said.

Thankfully, the detective didn’t seemed incline to share my testimony.

“Is that the only time you have seen this man?” he asked.

“No, he threatened me at the Mall, and then again at the old mill. The incident when you met Jed,” I told him.

“He also followed her to school this morning,” Jed interjected. “I chased him off.”

“I remember seeing that come in,” Detective Cooper said. “It would seem like you have made yourself an enemy Mr. Greyson,” he said gesturing to our testimonies.