Undercover Justice (36 page)

“Lookin’ good Oll,” Jed said, giving Ollie’s suit a once over. He was wearing a grey suit with a white dress shirt. He did look very nice.

Blushing, Ollie said, I wasn’t sure how dressy I should be, so I went with the suit.”

“It’s perfect,” I assured him. Hearing Kent’s Camaro rumbling into the parking lot, I turned to watch for them. Charlotte looked gorgeous. She was wearing a knee length dress in a rich velvety red color. She and Kent looked good together. They were both tall and good-looking. They matched each other well, unlike small, short me and big, tall Jed. Not what you would call a good-looking match.

“Hey,” Jed whispered, “A penny for your thoughts. You look so serious.”

“I was just thinking how good they look together. They are both tall and good looking,” I admitted.

Jed let out a laugh. “You mean compared to you and me.”

“It’s not funny,” I told him. I would give anything to be as tall as Charlotte. As it was, I barely stood a few inches below Jed’s shoulder.

“Yes, it is funny. You’re funny,” Jed told me. “I think you are perfect, the size you are.”

Smiling brightly, I said. “Thanks. I guess I get jealous and forget that this is the way God made me.”

“Speaking of God,” Jed began seriously, “I’ve been thinking that maybe we could talk about Jesus. I have some questions that I thought you wouldn’t mind answering.”

My heart swelled at the thought of telling Jed about Jesus and His amazing gift for us. The gift of eternal life.

“That would be great Jed,” I managed to get out. I felt like my whole face was lit up in one big smile. What more could a girl ask for than to have a wonderful guy who loved the Lord?

“Good. Now come on, let’s go have a good time,” he said, putting his arm around me. We said hello to Kent and Charlotte and made our way to the dining room.

The greeter on duty tonight knew Kent and me, so we were seated at a private table near the glowing fireplace. I am always cold and on a cooler than average night like this, I was very grateful for the added warmth, not to mention the romantic atmosphere the soft glow from the fire made.

We all decided on the buffet. The mouthwatering aroma of prime rib was all that we needed to persuade us.

I don’t think I have had this much fun in a long time, I thought, as we sat back after our first plate of food. Jed had been keeping us laughing with one story after another about his run-ins with the law, while growing up. For some reason Kent and Ollie found it especially funny.

The food was very good. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, so I was glad that we had come here.

“I think I might go get some more,” I said standing up. “Does anyone else want anything?”

Everyone stood up. “I guess, we all want some more,” Charlotte said laughing.

As we set our plates down, Ollie said he needed to use the rest room. “It’s right down the hall to the left where we came in,” I told him.

“Off the lobby?” he asked.

“Yes, just past the receptionist’s desk.”

“Thanks Nora,” he said.

“No problem,” I said sitting back down.

Ollie found the bathroom just where Nora had said it was. He got lucky that the offices where in the same hall as the restrooms. He had been counting on that. Looking around for anyone else, he quickly walked down the hall past the old mailboxes that must have belonged to former members of the club, and scanned the first door. From what Nora and Charlotte had said, the deceased president’s office had a plaque that simply said President on it.

The second door he came to was the right one. Trying the knob, he was disappointed to see that it was locked. But he had expected that. Pulling the key out of his pocket that he had swiped when the receptionist wasn’t looking, he quickly opened the door and let himself in, closing it behind him. When the group had arrived at the Club, Ollie had noticed a ring of key’s hanging on the wall, behind the receptionist’s desk. When she had turned to answer the phone as he walked out to use the bathroom, he had quickly grabbed them and put them in his pocket.

The room was dark, so he was glad that he had brought a small flashlight with him. Taking it out, he went over to the desk and looked around. It was mostly bare, except for a few photographs. Passing the light over them, he gasped in surprise. A picture of whom he assumed was the former President had been taken in front of the Country Club’s steps, with his arm around a woman. A man and a women, who had to be in their late twenties, stood next to them. The family resemblance was enough, so that Ollie knew that they must be the President’s children. It was the daughter that caught his eye. She was none other, than a young Ms. Morley. That picture must have been taken about twenty years ago, he thought. Filing that information away, he quickly turned his attention to the filing cabinets in the back of the room.

Pulling one drawer out at a time, he methodically started looking for anything that would indicate it was a list of members. In the third drawer, he got lucky. Pulling out the file, he flipped through it. There were a few lists with different dates on them. Taking out the current one, he folded it and stuck it in his pocket.

The sound of voices in the hall made him frantically search for a place to hide. Seeing that there was nowhere, and feeling like he was going to get caught, he quickly grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and scribbled a note to Jed on it. Jed would come looking for him when he didn’t appear back at the table.

He just needed somewhere to put it. Somewhere that wouldn’t be found by anyone else. The member’s mailboxes! Remembering passing them in the hall, he tried to recall if he had seen one for the Barton’s. Even though he hadn’t, he was sure that they had to have one. It would probably be somewhere near the beginning.

Just as the door opened, he hid the note in his hand and turned to face them.

“Ollie!” Ms. Morley said surprised. “What are you doing in here?”

“Umm…it was open, so I wanted to see what it looked like,” Ollie stammered. Whoever was with her was standing still outside the door, so Ollie couldn’t see who it was.

Seeing the open filing cabinet, Ms. Morley shook her head. “You were one of my favorites too,” she said, pulling a small gun out of her pocket. “Now you are going to have to come with me.”

Turning to whomever she was with, she said, “Go pull up the car. We will meet you out the front entrance. It would seem that we have a small problem to take care of.”

With her gun, she gestured for Ollie to precede her out the office door. “Don’t make a scene, or someone is going to get hurt.”

As they got closer to the mailboxes, Ollie wrapped his hand around the note and strained to find the Barton’s box. Spotting it at waist level, he decided to try for it. Pretending to stumble, he tripped forward grabbing onto the wall of mailboxes, at the same time stuffing the note in.

“Watch what you are doing!” Ms. Morley exclaimed, impatiently.

Ollie arched his head, looking around for anyone he knew, anyone he could make eye contact with. Nobody was out in the lobby. Ms. Morley just marched Ollie out the front door and down the steps to the waiting car. The windows were tinted black, so Ollie couldn’t see who was in the driver’s seat. So he was unprepared when a strong arm wrapped around his neck and held a cloth to his nose. Everything went black after that.

As we finished our dinner, I found myself looking around at everyone in the dining room. Anyone could be a member of The Order and I would never know it. We could be sitting next to the Director. Looking to my left, I narrowed my eyes at the couple sitting next to us. They were in their late forties and appeared to be professional. Or was it the man by the buffet? He had a smaller build, and appeared to be scanning the crowd looking for someone. There were so many people here that it really could be anyone.

“Anyone of these people could be the Director? We could be sitting next to the person who had those boys murdered and not even know it,” I said.

“Possibly,” Jed said. “But there are not that many men here that fit your description, Kent.”

“I know,” Kent said looking around. “I have been thinking lately about the possibility of the Director being a women.”

“I thought the only members were men,” Charlotte said.

“You know, I was under that impression also, but come to think of it, I don’t remember even being told that,” Kent said. “There was something very familiar about the Director. I have a feeling that it’s someone I know, or at least see quite a bit.”

“I think your right,” Jed said, “First instincts are usually pretty accurate.”

“I would love to get into the President’s office,” I said. At Jed’s pointed look, I qualified, “Only with you, of course.”

“Ollie was excited about the possibility of sneaking in,” Charlotte said. “That was all he talked about today at lunch.”

“That’s right,” Kent said, “He told us he had the whole plan laid out.”

“Where is Ollie, by the way?” I asked, “It seems like it’s been a while since he went to the bathroom. His food is cold.”

“He should have been back by now,” Charlotte asked, pulling out her phone to glance at the time.

“He has been gone awhile,” Jed said. “Let me go check the bathroom for him.”

Jed stood up and weaved around the other diners to the lobby. In less than a minute, he walked back into the room and shook his head at us from the doorway. Turning around, he walked back out. We all quickly pushed away from the table and went to follow him. Kent stopped to tell the waiter that something had come up and if we weren’t back, just to bill it to our parent’s account.

We caught up with Jed, as he headed back toward the bathrooms. Jed stopped and said, “Kent, Charlotte can you go check the parking lot?” As they nodded and left, he turned to me and asked, “ Can you show me where the President’s office is?”

“It’s the second door on the left,” I said, showing Jed the way. I saw the receptionist’s curious glance as we headed down the hall with long strides.

The door was slightly ajar.

Looking down the hall to make sure nobody was around, Jed said, “You stay here a minute. Let me have a quick look inside. Knock once if someone comes.”

“Just be quick ok,” I said. I didn’t want to be stuck out here in the hall making up excuses as to why I was there. I knew that wouldn’t go so well.

Jed quickly snuck inside, shutting the door behind him with a soft click. Just as he disappeared, the receptionist came around the corner.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

Chapter 26

“Um…no,” I stammered. Think. I need a reason quick. I lightly tapped the door once and then walked toward her. Seeing the old mailboxes along the hallway, I said the first thing that popped in my mind.

“I was just looking at these old mailboxes, while I wait for my friend, who’s in the bathroom,” I told her.

I walked over to the boxes and pretended I was interested in looking at each row of names. They still had the names of the families that had used them. With the age of the internet, they were no longer used. If you wanted to leave an invitation or newsletter, you either mailed it to their home address or e-mailed it. Back in the day, it was more about who had what in their box and who didn’t.

“Oh, ok,” she said, “Let me know if there is anything I can help you with.”

“Thanks, I will,” I said, relieved when she turned around and walked back to her desk.

Come on Jed, where are you? I paced the hall, impatiently looking at my watch. Five more minutes had gone by. Should I knock again? What was he doing in there? Pacing down to the end of the hallway near the lobby, I peeked around the corner. The receptionist looked up. Oops.

“Still waiting?” she asked.

“Men,” I shrugged.

She just smiled understandingly and went back to her work. Jed was going to kill me. I couldn’t wait to see his expression when I told him that he had been “in the bathroom”.

Walking back toward the door, I decided to give him a little knock and maybe peek in to see what was going on. Before I could knock, Jed opened the door and slipped through, shutting it behind him. He whispered, “I heard you come back, so I figured it was safe.”

Nodding, I asked, “Did you find anything?”

“Someone was definitely in here, searching for something. The filing cabinets are opened a crack. Other than that, nothing.”

“We need to get going,” I told Jed. “The receptionist is going to start getting suspicious, if you don’t come out of the bathroom soon.”

Jed laughed, “You told her, I’ve been in the bathroom this whole time?”

“What was I supposed to say? I already pretended to be looking at these old mailboxes. No one even remembers they are here. They aren’t used anymore,” I told him.

I saw Jed glance at them as we pasted. I guess you could call them a piece of the Pine Hill Country Club’s history.

“I thought you said nobody used them anymore,” Jed said stopping.

“I think they stopped using them before I was born,” I said.

“Well, there’s something in your box,” he said, striding over to it. Pulling out papers, he handed them to me. “I guess someone left you a message.”