24. Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Joker
“You’re telling me kids on the team shoved that,” Davis points to the baggie on the table in front of all of us, “down your pants and told the Coach you had drugs and then they chased you through the school?”
“Yes, sir,” Lucas replies.
“And the Coach is—”
“Keith,” Ginny says at the same time I say, “the fuckwad.”
“We need to call Sammy,” Lottie says.
“And tell him what?” Ginny asks.
“Well, first, we tell him about what happened at open house a couple weeks ago,” I growl, still angry about it.
“Wait,” Davis holds up his hands, “what happened?”
“He was an ass. So, nothing new.” She rolls her eyes.
I glare at her, she glares back.
“Fine. He tried to intimidate me in front of Aubrey’s parents, and when they left, he tried to physically attack me.”
All the men at the table growl, their protector modes going on high alert.
“And you saw this?” Davis turns to Aubrey’s dad. I can’t remember his name. “I’m sorry, what was your name again?” Score one for Davis.
“Roger. My wife is Rebecca.” He nods to Davis. “I was there that night, and yes, what Ms. Mills says is true. He was a jerk, passive-aggressively threatening, and trying to get us to agree with him.”
“And you left her alone?” Davis asks, his hackles on full display.
“No!” Roger quickly responds. “We waited for him to leave before we did anything.”
“They did,” Ginny confirms. “I stayed and kept playing. He came back.”
“You have to be careful, Gin,” Davis admonishes her.
“I was in my classroom! Am I not supposed to go to work? What, I walk away from my wedding, and that’s not good enough. I need to quit my job and live with Mom and Dad the rest of their lives?”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“Do I? Because it sounds like you’re trying to blame me for someone else being a fuckface.”
“Okay, okay,” I say, trying to keep the peace. “I agree with Lottie. We need to call Sam. The cops need to be brought in here.”
“You really want to call the cops?” Ranger asks, his face showing me his doubt.
“I do. But I would like to have one of these,” I point to the baggie on the table, “to test in our lab.”
“I would also like one,” Davis adds.
“What are you going to do with it?” Trish asks him.
“I’m going to call my friend at the DEA and see what she can tell me.”
“Mary. That would be a good call, I think.” Mary helped us previously and pretty much hates her job so she doesn’t take any shit.
“I think we need to bring Mary in on everything going on. All you’re really doing is following people right now. You aren’t the law, and you don’t really have what we need to take him down,” Ranger adds, subconsciously moving away from me as he speaks.
“I can take him down,” I snarl at him.
“I know you can, but then it wouldn’t be ‘ mostly legal’ and Sammy would have a problem with it. Sometimes you have to know when to ask for help, man. That’s all. And I think you need to talk to her about the lady.”
“What lady?” Tiny asks.
I share a look with Ranger, who silently tells me that it’s time to let everyone in on my stalker behavior.
“We,” I motion between Ranger and myself, “have been following Keith for quite a few months.”
“What? Why?” Ginny asks, looking horrified.
“Because my gut told me to?” I shrug. “At first, when he started going out of town so much, I thought he was cheating on you. And if I could prove to you what a fuckstick he was, maybe you’d leave him.”
“But he wasn’t cheating?”
“Not that we could find. But there was a woman he would meet with regularly—completely platonically. He’d meet her at a restaurant down in Rock Hill. They’d be there an hour, maybe two, and he’d come back home. He’s met her in Diamond Cove a few times, as well.”
“What are they doing, then?”
“That’s just it. I don’t know.”
“Do you have a picture of the woman?”
Ranger pulls out his phone and opens his pictures, handing her the phone. “Her name is Kara Smith, but we’re pretty sure that’s a fake one,” he tells her.
Ginny stares at it, zooming in and out, scrunching up her nose and squinting her eyes. “What?” I ask her when I can’t take it any longer.
“She looks like someone Keith introduced me to once upon a time, but then also, not? I don’t know, there’s something not natural about her looks. But that woman’s name wasn’t Kara.”
“Did he explain how he knew the woman?” I take her hand, waiting for an answer.
“Yeah, she grew up in the foster home with him.”
“Keith was in foster care?” Davis asks. “Why didn’t I know that?”
“Not like he advertised it. He was in a make-shift group home, but the woman running it adopted him at some point. He still keeps in touch with a couple of his foster siblings. She was one of them.”
“Where did you meet her?” I direct her attention back to me.
“I think it was over in Rockton, at the pizza place. We were there for a date, and she came in. He introduced me and she picked up an order and left.”
“Do you remember the name she gave you?”
“Irina or Karina? Something like that. I thought it was a really pretty name. And she was stunning, her makeup was envy worthy. But her hair was a different color, too. I don’t know if it’s the same woman, but their facial structures almost match perfectly.”
I’ve been looking around the table at everyone and notice that Elle has grown still and quiet. Two traits I would never apply to her. She might also look a little green.
“Elle?” I ask her, trying to be gentle. “What is it? What do you know?”
“I think I can provide you with some information.”
Tiny, her oversized giant of a little brother—by like five minutes—glares at Elle, the pixie. Ranger, on the other hand, just looks mildly curious.
“Explain,” I command.
“I knew Keith in Diamond Cove from years ago.”
“And?”
“And I didn’t like him then. It didn’t seem important or relevant when I ran into him here, but now I think what I know about him might be.”
“None of us liked him. Continue.”
“Hey,” Ginny interrupts, “I liked him at one point.”
“Do you like him now?” I glare at her.
“Well, no.”
“Then it doesn’t matter.” I turn to Elle. “Continue.”
She blows out a breath before speaking, gathering her thoughts. “So, in my younger years, we used to go out all the time and party all night or whatever, right?”
Tiny makes a noise that I would normally laugh at, but I want to hear what she has to say.
“Oh, shut up, little brother. It’s in the past. Can’t change it now.” She turns back to me. “Anyway, I always figured he was trying to climb the social ladder or something, but I started to notice a trend.”
“Why do you think he was trying to climb the social ladder?”
She covers her face and groans. “This is going to make me sound like a stuck-up snob.”
“Don’t care.”
“We know better,” Trish, ever the mom, assures her.
“He would show up and try so hard to act like us. But he never could. His clothes were last year’s trends. His speech was a little…McDouble compared to Angus beef? I don’t know, he was just—”
“Not as expensive or trendy. Got it,” I assure her. “Go on.”
“Well, he would show up and be charming enough that one of my friends would let him tag along.”
“So, what was the trend you noticed?”
“That on certain nights, he’d bring a girl with him who would immediately get with one of the guys. He introduced her as Karina, but never as a relation. And on those nights, the majority of the group would be…more than drunk?”
“What does more than drunk mean?”
“She’s trying to say that they were higher than a fucking kite,” Ranger gets to the point.
“Thanks, asshole.” Elle smiles at him.
“No problem, Tink.” He smiles back.
“It was around this time that I was starting to pull back from the group, anyway. The studio was fully in the works, and everything with Barty had happened. I decided it wasn’t a good scene for me. I stopped keeping up with what they were doing and forgot about Keith.”
“So, Keith and this woman, who may or may not be his sister, were dealing drugs all the way back then? And he’s never been caught. How is that possible?” Davis asks, more to himself than any of us. “And now we think he’s involved somehow with this mystery woman and the drugs going around in the schools?”
“I would say after today, there’s little doubt. We still don’t know what his part is, though, and that’s the issue. Is he a small fry or a big fry?”
“And is he crinkle or steak cut?” Lucas asks, his baby smirk in place. When I roll my eyes his way, he shrugs. “What? I’m hungry!”
“I’ll go order something,” Lottie announces, standing up from the table. “I’ll check on the kids, too. I feel like they’ve been too quiet.”
No one points out that we all ate less than an hour ago. It’s like we’re on auto-pilot.
“What does everyone at ANON think?” Ranger asks. I shoot him a look. “What? You know y'all have been looking into everything.”
“We’re still trying to figure out how. And who does what. We know Kara or Karina or whatever is involved, but it’s like she’s always one step ahead and she disappears on us.”
“I’ve been thinking about that, and something Ginny said is scratching my brain.”
“Please share with the group.”
“Fucker.” He smiles at me. “I was getting to it. You know when I’d follow them, I’d wear the disguises?”
“The horrible pornstache and nerd glasses? Yeah, I remember.”
“Well, I’d wear a fake nose sometimes, too. What if she’s doing the same thing?”
“But why, if she’s got this identity that’s fresh and clean?”
“She’s hiding in plain sight. Every time we see her, she’s plain. Nothing stands out, nothing has color. Her hair is generic—”
“Like a wig.”
He nods.
“Her face is boring for lack of a better word. Her clothes? Beige. She’s hiding who she really is under the fa?ade of this regular, everyday Jane.”
I pick up my phone and text Nate and Daniel. Give them something to run with.
“While they are working on that, what are we going to do about Lucas?” Trish asks, putting her arm around the kid. “He obviously can’t go to school.”
“You can’t just pull him either,” Ginny tells her. “I think Lucas has come down with the flu. He would have to miss at least the rest of this week. And next week is fall break, so there’re no classes.”
“But I can’t go back there, Aunt Ginny. I can’t be sick for the next six months.”
“No, I agree, but this will buy you a little bit of time. Hopefully enough time for Joker and Davis to figure out what’s going on.”
“What about baseball?” Davis asks.
“Fuck baseball!” Lucas explodes. “I don’t want to play for an asshole like that. And those kids certainly aren’t my teammates. I thought they were going to kill me today!”
“Language,” Trish quietly admonishes him.
He looks at me before Trish. His eyes are red and shiny, like he’s trying to keep his emotions in check. “Sorry. I’m just so angry. He’s taking one thing that I love and destroying it. Just like he did with you, Aunt Ginny.”
I’m about to correct him, when Ginny shoots me a look that terrifies even me.
“Oh, sweetheart.” She pulls him out of Trish’s arms and into hers. “He didn’t destroy me. He just wasted a couple of years of my life. But I’m still here. And I’m okay. And you know what else? I’m stronger than ever. He didn’t destroy shit.”
“You promise?” Lucas asks, his voice breaking. This is the kid I met. A little angry, a lot emotional. And not quite able to express either.
“I promise. There isn’t anything that fucker can do to me now to destroy me.” She smiles at him.
“So what about you?” Lottie asks, coming back into the kitchen at the tail end of the heart-to-heart. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to school. There’s only three days left and then we’re off next week, too. And I fully intend to enjoy my break.”
“How are we going to protect you?” Davis asks, concern in his voice. “You’re just as important as Lucas to this family.”
“We’re all family here,” I declare, “and family protects family.” I turn to Ginny. “I think you may need to call your friends. Everybody needs to keep an eye out. Everybody needs to be vigilant, and everybody needs to stay safe.”
“You think I need to call my teacher friends?” Ginny asks me.
“They need to be aware. All of you need to stay safe, because if he can’t get to you, what’s to stop him from going after them?”
“Nothing,” she whispers. “I’ll go call them now.”
“I ordered enough food,” Lottie offers. “Tell them to come on over, get something to eat, and we can fill them in on everything.”
We watch her stand up from the table and leave the kitchen. Trish, Lottie, and Elle all share a look of worry.
“I’ll go be with her,” Elle volunteers. “You all figure out the plan.”
When Elle is gone, Davis leans over the table, his eyes blazing. “You will protect her.”
“With my life,” I swear to him.
“That’s all I needed to know.”
“Tiny, you should call your brothers. See if anyone there knows anything about what Keith was giving out. Surely they still have some contact in that social circle?” I ask.
“On it.” He sighs, like he’s happy to have something to do.
“Lottie, you call Carter. See if anyone on the team has heard anything since there was the kid there that overdosed.”
“Will do.” She smiles at me.
“Lucas, this is going to be the hardest for you. I need you to do me a favor.”
“What’s that?” he asks.
“You can’t talk to anybody. None of your friends from school, no girls. Hell, don’t even talk to another teacher unless it’s Ginny. If they text, you don’t respond. If you’re in a group chat, don’t leave the chat, but don’t reply, either. Definitely don’t talk to anyone on the team. Not a single player or coach. And whatever you do, delete nothing. We might need it later.”
“And if that fucker reaches out to you, you tell me,” Davis demands.
“And me,” I tell him.
“Okay.”
“I know it sucks, and I’m sorry, but avoiding everything is just easier right now, until you know who’s safe and who isn’t.”
“Because the last thing any of us wants is for you to get hurt,” Trish tells him.
“I understand.”
“Can we talk about how he got out of the school now?” Lottie asks.
He smiles. “I think I might be claustrophobic now. Also, Aunt Ginny is really, really strong.”
This makes us all laugh. “You’re lucky we didn’t drop you,” I tell him.
“There was padding.”
Ginny returns and reclaims her seat, and Roger speaks up. Both he and Aubrey have been quiet for the most part, listening to everything we said.
“I think I might know a way to help you.” The look on his face has me sitting up straight up in my chair. “I own Systems For Safety, the security system company. We’re the ones that installed and monitor the high school.”
“Really?” I ask. “I think we should absolutely have a conversation.”
Davis, Tiny, and Ranger all raise their hands. Trish looks around at everyone. “Yeah, I think we’re all having that conversation.”
I look at Roger and shrug my shoulder. “Welcome to the group.”
He chuckles, nodding. “We have two years’ worth of digital recordings on site. Think you could use it?”
Davis grins, and I’m right there with him. “Well kid,” he ruffles Lucas’s hair, “I think I know what we’re going to be doing while you're ‘cough-cough’ sick the next three days.”
“Oh, man,” Lucas groans. “Really?”
“Oh, yeah. You’ve got to tell me who everyone is. We’ll learn all their hidden secrets. And if Mary calls and I can go into her office, I’ll take you with me.”
“I might get to go to a DEA office?” Davis nods. “Yeah, okay, whatever.”
“I’ll also make sure the guys monitoring everything at the school keep a closer watch. They will let us know if anything happens.”
“So much easier than having to pick up the phone and call somebody to ask them to hack into it,” I tell myself, sighing in relief.
“That was you?” Roger asks, smirking. He must have heard me. The other people have broken off into their own conversations, including Ginny.
But, oh, shit. If they were monitoring that night…fuck me, they saw the show.
I clear my throat. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”
“We noticed there were about forty-five minutes missing, but no one was closely monitoring it,” he quietly tells me before winking.
Fuck me. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Someone fucking saw my girl getting off. Who gives a fuck if they saw me, but they saw my girl.
“If they ever tell anyone what they saw, I’ll hunt them down and cut them to pieces with my bare hands,” I reply just as quietly. Giving him my own wink that makes him swallow loudly.
“Understood. And no worries. It’ll go to the grave.”
“I think I like you, Roger. We’ll get along just fine.”
“Glad to hear it.”
The doorbell rings, and a few people around the table jump at the sound. Anxiety and nerves are already running rampant. This can’t be good. We need to end this shit once and for all. Without Ginny or Lucas getting hurt. Without any of us getting hurt.
“It’s the food,” Lottie calmly announces. “I’ll go get it.”
“Everything alright?” Ginny asks, turning her attention to me.
“It will be,” I assure her. “Because you’re going to stay safe. And by my side.”
“Thank you.”
She leans in for a kiss, which I quickly make not safe for brothers and best friends. Eh, they’ll deal.