Undercover Justice (37 page)

“It must be from one my friends,” I said stuffing it in my purse. “Let’s go see if Kent and Charlotte found him.”

As we walked past the receptionist, she gave Jed a grin. Jed laughed and gave her a little embarrassed wave. Heading out the door, we met them coming up the walk from the parking lot.

“We didn’t see any sign of him,” Kent said.

“We didn’t either,” I told them.

“Ok, he has to be here. He doesn’t have a car, so he couldn’t have gone far. Let’s check around the building,” Jed said. “I think I have a flashlight in my car, I’ll go get it.”

“I grabbed mine when we went out there,” Kent said holding up a small flashlight that came with the emergency car kit our parents insisted we keep in each of our cars.

“I’ll be right back,” Jed said and he took off at a jog toward where he had parked the car.

He was back in less than a minute, carrying his huge black flashlight. It struck me again as an unusual size to carry around in your car. I sure was glad to have it at the mill though.

“Let’s stay in our groups. You guys head that way,” Jed said pointing to the right, “And we will go this way. Let’s meet back here in ten minutes. If we don’t see any sign of him, we’ll check the building again.”

Jed grabbed my hand as we started around the building. The sky was very dark, with no moon shining to provide any light. He swept his light along the outside of the building and into the landscaping, as we quickly walked toward the lake.

It had cooled down since we first arrived. My dress was not very practical for the cool air. Not to mention my shoes. They were made for dinner and dancing, not walking in the lawn. Thankful that Jed was holding my hand, I managed to stay on my feet as my heel sunk into the soft grass.

“You’re not dressed for this are you? I’m sorry. I didn’t think about that first,” Jed said stopping to help me get free.

“That’s ok,” I told him. “Why don’t I go back inside and look around, while you finish up out here.”

“You have to promise me that you won’t go off on your own to a deserted hall or room. You need to stay in the lobby or the dining room. Stay where there are people. Promise?”

“I will, I promise. Maybe somebody saw him.”

“Ok, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Giving me a quick kiss, he shined the light so that I could see to get back to the path. Once I was there and on my way up the steps, he turned and kept going.

Walking back in, I decided to check our table to make sure that he hadn’t come back. He wasn’t there and our waiter told me that he had finally just billed our account. He apologized for not waiting longer, thinking that we were coming back in. I assured him that we were done, and thanked him for taking care of it. Taking the opportunity to question him about Ollie, I asked if he had seen him recently.

“Not since he was with you and your friends,” he said. “Why don’t you ask Sherri at the reception desk. She usually knows who’s coming and going.”

Thanking him, I walked over to the desk.

“Excuse me,” I said. “We can’t find our friend that we were with. I was wondering if you saw him leave?” I gave her a description of Ollie.

“Actually, I did see him leave not too long ago with someone. They walked out the door and got into a large sedan with tinted windows. The car was waiting for them at the bottom of the steps.”

My heart pounding, I asked, “Did you see who he was with? I just want to make sure he got home ok.”

“It was a woman wearing a long black coat. I didn’t really get a look at her, because I was helping another customer at the time.”

“Thank you,” I told her. Checking my phone, I saw that I had about three minutes, before everyone was supposed to be back. I walked over and sat on a bench just inside the doors so that I could watch for them. Opening my purse, I grabbed my phone to send them a message. I saw the papers I had stuffed in there and gave them a quick glance, wondering who had left me a message.

The one on top looked like a scrawled note from someone. Curious, I pulled it out. It said, ‘In office, someone coming, picture of Ms. Morley on desk, connected, have list. Ollie.’

Oh my gosh, I thought, standing up. Digging through my purse for my phone, I frantically searched for it as I ran out the door and down the steps.

I ran down the path toward the bench where everyone was supposed to meet.

“Going somewhere, babe?”

Startled, I threw my hand up to my chest. Jed flipped his light on, and stepped out from around a bush. “You scared me,” I accused.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect to see you out on the path, almost to the parking lot. You promised you would wait in the building,” Jed said quietly.

Ah, Right. I needed something to distract him. Thinking quickly, I pulled the note out of my purse. Sometimes this over protective stuff was too much. “I was coming to get you. I found a note from Ollie!” I managed to say excitedly.

“I told you I didn’t want you going off by yourself,” Jed said stubbornly. The thought of Nora being in danger again made the words come out a bit harsher than he intended.

“I forgot ok,” I said crossly. “Don’t you want to see the note?”

“What note?” Kent asked as he and Charlotte walked up.

“I found a note Ollie left for us,” I told them. “He put it in our old mailbox in the hallway. I thought it was from a friend, so I didn’t read it right away.”

“Let’s see it,” Kent said, holding out his hand.

Giving it to Kent, I stood there looking at Jed out of the corner of my eye, while Kent read the note out loud. Jed still looked mad. It’s not like I completely left. I mean come on; I was still on the lighted path.

“Ms. Morley?” Charlotte asked. “What does she have to do with this?”

“That’s not all,” I said excitedly. “The receptionist told me that she saw Ollie going out the door with a woman dressed in a long black coat. They got into a large black sedan with tinted windows and drove off. Someone else was driving.”

Jed sighed. “This isn’t good. They must have found Ollie snooping around.”

“Where would they take him?” Charlotte asked.

“I had been thinking about trying to get into The Order’s secret room, to look around,” Kent said, “But now that we know they drove off, I guess we don’t need to do that. It’s probably under surveillance away.”

“You’re probably right,” Jed said, “We don’t want them to see you in there, if they have cameras. We may still need you undercover in there.”

Kent nodded, “But where should we look now.”

“I’m going to call my friend and see what he can find out about Ms. Morley. It’s too much of a coincidence that a woman was last seen with Ollie.”

“Could she be the Director?” Kent asked, “The person I saw was petite enough to be her. It would fit.”

“Let’s see what we can find out. At this point, we can’t rule her out. It’s the best lead we have so far.”

Jed turned away to make the phone call, while Charlotte and I stood there shivering in the cool night air.

“Why don’t you two go wait in the car,” Kent suggested.

“I’m done,” Jed said turning back toward us. “He’s going to see what he can find out. Why don’t you girls go wait in the car, like Kent suggested. I am going to run in and ask the receptionist a few more questions.”

Jed reached in his pocket and fished out his keys. “Here, sit in my car. There’s a little more room.”

“Thanks,” I said reaching for the keys.

“Don’t go anywhere,” Jed said as he gave them to me.

“Don’t go anywhere,” I sassed back and immediately regretted my impulsive behavior. Not only was it rude and childish, but from the look on Jed’s face he wasn’t amused.

“Nora…” Jed said starting toward me.

“Come on Charlotte, let’s go,” I said grabbing her arm and pulling her into the parking lot before Jed could finish whatever he was starting to say. I am sure it wasn’t going to be anything I wanted to hear. He was treating me like I was a five year old. I admit, I have a knack for getting into trouble, but I wasn’t stupid. It was starting to make me mad. That’s right, I was mad.

“Slow down, Nora,” Charlotte said, stumbling along.

“Oh. Sorry,” I slowed down to a more normal pace. “Jed is making me so mad, I could scream.”

Charlotte laughed. “Now that you mention it, he didn’t look pleased with you when we walked up.”

Hitting the unlock button on the key chain, I unlocked the doors and we both climbed in. I waited until I had started the car and turned the heat on, before answering her.

“He is mad, because he told me to wait in the building, and I found the note and came running out looking for him instead. He found me by the bench and was mad that I didn’t listen,” I told her. “That I didn’t listen to him. Like I am five years old.”

Charlotte grinned. “It sounds like he has it bad.”

“What do you mean?” I said, looking over. I had to squint to see her in the dark.

“It sounds like he was worried about you. You know how Kent gets. He loves you. It sounds like Jed is reacting the same way.”

“Well, he could be a little less bullish about it,” I said, mulling over what Charlotte had said.

“True, but then he wouldn’t be the Jed you know and love.”

“I know. But I am still mad.”

“Let’s think about how Ms. Morley could be involved in this instead,” she suggested.

“Do you really think she could be the Director?” I asked, deciding a change in subject was a good idea.

“I just can’t believe that she would be ok with murder. For someone as nice and caring as she is, it seems like we would have seen some kind of sign, a sign that she disliked certain kids, because of their social status, a kid like me.”

“That’s what I think too. It can’t be her. It has to be a psycho, not a high school teacher.”

“Here come the guys,” Charlotte said, glancing in the side mirror.

I looked out my mirror and saw their reflection as they walked toward us.

“Should we get in the back?” I asked her.

“Nah, let them get in the back for a change.”

“I bet they expect us to be in the back,” I said

Curious, we watched as they got closer. They both headed for the front seats and reached for the handle. Seeing us, they looked in surprised. Charlotte and I burst out laughing, and pointed to the back seat.

They both looked longingly at the front seats, and then climbed into the backseat.

“You two look a bit smug,” Kent said as he shut the door and looked between the two of us.

“We didn’t think you guys would actually get in the back,” I told him with another laugh.

“Did you find out anything else?” Charlotte asked.

“No, she didn’t remember anything other than what she told you,” Kent said.

“What are we going to do? Should we call the police?” I asked.

“The police already know. Jed called them,” Kent said.

“They’ll let me know what they find out. In the mean time, let’s drive around town and see if we can spot a car that looks like the one Ollie got into.”

“I think I might know where Ms. Morley lives,” Charlotte offered. “We could drive by her house and check it out.”

“Really?” Jed said sitting forward interested. He had yet to hear back from Mike regarding her address and vehicle info.

“Yeah, I was visiting my friend Sarah a few weeks ago and on the way to her house, I saw Ms. Morley working in her yard. I waved and she waved back. I think I could find the house again,” she said.

“Let’s go,” Jed said,” It’s better than sitting here doing nothing.”

“I agree,” I said, “Are we taking two cars or just one?”

“Let’s all take this car,” Jed said, “It’s less noticeable than a red Camaro.”

“Ok, I’ll drive,” I said teasingly, starting to pull my buckle on.

“That’s ok,” Jed said quickly. “I’ll drive.” At the same time Kent said, “Let Jed drive.”

“Well thanks a lot,” I said opening the door to get out. Charlotte offered the front seat to Kent and got out also.

“I didn’t mean...” Jed started.

I put my hand on his chest to stop him. “It’s ok, I was just teasing anyway. I know you guys like to drive,” I said smiling.

“Thanks,” Jed smiled back relieved. “I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

“You feel bad about hurting my feelings telling me you want to drive, but you don’t care that you hurt my feelings yelling at me earlier?”

“Listen, about that,” Jed began.

“Get in the car!” Kent said, “You can work things out later. We have to look for Ollie.”

“He’s right,” I said getting in. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Jed’s eyes met mine as he started the car. I could tell that he didn’t want to leave it at that. I sort of felt bad for the way I acted a minute ago. I shouldn’t have accused him of purposefully hurting my feelings. I knew that he was probably just worried about me. I was the first to look away. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. Whoever was committing murder around town, possibly took Ollie. We needed to find him as soon as possible.