Gem Stone

by Dale Mayer

  "Okay. They seemed pretty easy."

  "Driving's not hard. It's more about common sense than anything else. It's keeping an eye on everyone else and anticipating what they're going to do that's difficult." He pointed up ahead. "Like that SUV. You gotta wonder. He's slowed down enough that people are passing him."

  "Maybe that's what he wants." Mark looked around again and couldn't help adding. "There's not much traffic now as it is." Uneasiness started building in his gut. "Huh, John. Do you think we should do something? Call someone?"

  "Not yet. What would we say?" He passed the SUV. "Besides, we'll know more soon enough after this turn off up ahead. Only those heading to our little town would continue on this route. Or those that are a little too interested in us…"

  Mark tried to catch a glimpse of the driver, but couldn't identify the driver.

  Sure enough, the traffic thinned right down at the turn off.

  "I don't know about you, but this looks like a place for an ambush."

  "Huh?" John looked at him in the rear view mirror again.

  The sharp awareness in his gaze made Mark feel better. John was no one's fool. Mark searched for the SUV. "Then again, looks like he's gone."

  "Nope. He's coming up behind us."

  Sure enough, the SUV tucked right behind John's truck as the highway narrowed to a single lane.

  Now the two of them were the only ones on the road.

  "Coming up here would be the place I'd choose for an ambush." John's voice flattened out. His face thinned, sharpened. He reached for something on the dash. Mark watched as he picked up a cell phone and tossed it back to Mark.

  "Call the sheriff. Let him know what's going on. I want to keep two hands on the wheel for this."

  The battered cell phone was old. Like John. With a raised eyebrow and a bit of doubt that the thing would work, Mark clicked the talk button. Nothing.

  "It's either out of batteries or there's no service." He continued to punch numbers while trying to keep an eye on the SUV. His heart rate picked up. He punched faster. "John, it's time for you to get a new phone. This thing is archaic."

  "It takes a few tries before it turns on, but eventually it does. Everyone belted in?"

  The road twisted through the hills with miles of lonely road all around them. John slowed down as a passing lane approached, giving the SUV a chance to pass.

  "Yes, but…"

  The SUV driver waited until the last minute then swerved out and over and then back again. Mark watched with his mouth open to warn John. Suddenly John wrenched the wheel and turned the old truck in to meet the SUV's attack. The front of the SUV crashed against John's old Ford and bounced.

  "Holy." Mark watched in astonishment as the bigger, newer vehicle bounced back while the Ford barely shuddered. "Yes!" Sure, the old truck took a spine-jarring hit, but nothing like what the SUV had taken.

  "Yup. He's an idiot." John snorted with laughter.

  "How'd that happen?" Mark twisted around to look at the SUV now pulled off the side of the road. "How come we didn't get shoved off with a crash that size?"

  "He just looks big, but the newer vehicles are much lighter than old Bessie here. She's not much to look at, but she was built right." He patted the front dash affectionately. "Besides that was only a pretend SUV, some kind of new crossover thing. Looks big and mean but is a wuss under the hood and is built on a girlie frame."

  "Wow." Mark twisted around as much as he could. There was no sign of the SUV behind them on the road now.

  "Mark?" Gem sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What happened?"

  Mark grinned at her. "Black SUV tried to run into us but he got bounced off the road."

  "An SUV?" Sleep clouded her voice. Then her eyes widened. "Like the one from the rest stop?"

  "Exactly like that one." Mark grinned at her. "John fixed them good."

  ***

  Gem slumped against the corner of the back seat. When would this day be over? She, the person who had always loved unique and different, now craved normal. She wanted to jump back into the world of housework, lawn mowing and school work at John and Doris's place. More than that, she wanted to go for walks with her camera around her neck, take pictures of the sunset, the stone wall out back… Especially of Misty. She'd had it with this whole detective, 'girl in trouble' thing. She'd like to change that up to 'successful girl on top of the world looking to choose the next step in her future.'

  Whatever the hell that was. She wanted to keep up her photography, but she had to get down to the business of studying something else – like a real career.

  At least she had a chance at a future again. After the last couple of days, she was more than ready to celebrate that simple fact.

  Her mind refused to be still though, preferring to muddle through the tidbits of information she knew. This last attempt, hitting John's truck to stop the vehicle, had been just lame – like everything else these guys had done. Half assed all the way. Everything geared to incapacitate and capture, rather than to kill.

  Consider the canister the guy in the picture had been carrying. Perhaps these men had put chemicals in the stream to poison the water or to fix something they'd done earlier? And then taken samples to test afterwards. Or maybe they were there because of an accidental spill they were trying to cover up. Or were they pouring stuff on the ground and not in the water? If the EPA were involved, it must have something to do with contamination. Of land? Of water? Of air?

  Or was she letting her imagination run away? She'd shown no signs or symptoms of disease or a reaction to something unpleasant…nothing she could see at least. None of them had broken out in spots. Or gotten sick. Except Misty. Maybe they were wrong about what was making her sick?

  More questions and no answers.

  John brought the truck to a stop. With that jolt, Gem realized they were home and she looked eagerly toward the door for Doris.

  A grim looking Creepers stood on the front step. Gem groaned softly, fear spiking through her stomach, making it heave. She'd forgotten all about him and his threats.

  "Damn," she whispered.

  Reid frowned. "That's not fair. We didn't do anything."

  "Easy kids." John stepped out of the truck. "Good evening, Mr. Crompton."

  Standing with his hands fisted on his hips, Creepers' features morphed into a weird predatory look. Gem's stomach twisted, tightened.

  "I presume you have all of them in there?" Creepers asked.

  "Except for Misty. I'll be picking her up soon."

  "Good. Then I can have them all back under one roof again. Kids get into my car."

  Mark opened his mouth to protest, when he caught John's eye.

  "Soon. Yup. It'll be nice to have everyone home safe and sound. Come in and have a cup of coffee if you've got time. It's unusual to see you here on the weekends."

  "Some jobs don't go Monday to Friday – like looking after these kids." Anger laced Creepers' voice.

  "Could be that's why Doris and I don't look on this as a job then."

  John walked into the house where Doris hovered anxiously inside the door. He wrapped her in his long arms and gave her a warm hug. "Coffee ready?"

  "Will be in a second. Dinner too. Kids, get washed up and to the table," Doris said, beaming.

  With a hard glare at his guest, John corrected, "We'll wait to eat until we say good-bye to Mr. Crompton."

  "Oh, good timing then. Good-bye, it was nice to see you, Mr. Crompton." She smiled and bustled off into the kitchen, presumably to make coffee.

  Creepers frowned. "I'm not the enemy here, John."

  "Didn't say you were." John raised an eyebrow in challenge.

  "Nope, you didn't. You know this is the right thing to do."

  "I guess we'll see what the lawyers have to say about that then." John didn't budge.

  Creepers held out his hands. "Now that's not fair. The courts don't enter into this. These kids are trouble…in trouble," he hastily corrected himself, "and we have to do what's right f
or them."

  "Absolutely. Glad you see it my way. Well, I'm off to have a quick wash up. Kids, get going. Doris is waiting."

  Gem raced for the stairs, careful to keep her gaze forward. The two guys followed. As one, they all rounded the corner and stopped at the landing. Gem crouched down to listen. The boys lined up behind her.

  "It doesn't have to go this way."

  "I'm thinking it might have to be. These kids have rights. You've made it very clear that a return to juvie is another black mark against them. One they'll never be able to redeem. They didn't do nothing wrong here." John's voice hardened. "I'll be calling the sheriff after dinner."

  Gem widened her eyes at that. Wow. John was really pissed. He hadn't showed his anger to them or others in word or action, but that tone of voice said it all.

  "I also have a contract to keep these kids and I'm not looking to break it. They're good kids and they need to have someone on their side. By the way, we want Stephen back here, too. Tomorrow would be good."

  "It isn't safe. Apparently your house isn't equipped to deal with this problem." Creepers tried again with that smarmy tone of voice. "They aren't safe here."

  "You okayed it in the first place so that's your responsibility. I'll talk to those security companies and give you the figures tomorrow. Then you can upgrade to the new standard on Monday." John sounded so eminently practical, Gem could barely hold back the giggles. A warning hand on her shoulder helped.

  "Now you know that's not what I meant."

  Silence filled the stairwell. Gemma strained to hear what they were doing. "We just want to keep the kids safe."

  "Glad to hear that. Then I'm sure you'll do what you can to help the sheriff in Dayport and our local sheriff to nab these criminals."

  "From Dayport? Why'd you bring another county into this? Do you know how much bad publicity there's going to be now?"

  Gemma grinned. Oooh. Creepers didn't like that. He wanted everything local and under wraps. Not going to happen. Especially not after the scene she'd created on the street today.

  "Nope. And I'm not bothered by publicity anyway. Again, these kids did nothing wrong. Not only that, but Gem here contributed to the capture of two of the kidnappers. I'm sure you'd like to hear all the details and the latest development, but I just need to share them with both sheriffs first. We'll see where we go from there."

  "Now, let's not have this kind of news get out of hand. We need to do some damage control here." Creepers' voice was starting to sound seriously agitated. Gem wished she could see his face. Imagined he was red as a beet.

  "Why? And for that matter, why are you so interested in having the kids back at juvie? You said originally the conditions there were horribly overloaded and you were happy to move a few of the numbers out."

  Good question. Gemma risked falling by leaning over even further.

  "I'm concerned about their welfare. Want them safe."

  "I'd really hate to see anything more happen." But Creepers' tone of voice said otherwise.

  Shivers slid down her spine. The three exchanged nervous looks. That last comment by Creepers had sounded too damn close to a threat. They heard sounds of doors opening and closing.

  Then John called out. "It's okay, kids. Get washed and get down. Mr. Crompton is gone."

  "Oh." Gemma half fell as her head popped around the corner. "How'd you know we were here?"

  He grinned. "You know I was born in this house, right? Well where do you think I hid when I wanted to listen in on conversations I wasn't supposed to?"

  Gemma's grin fell off. "Was that a threat Creepers made at the end?"

  "I'm surely hoping not."

  "Could he be involved in the kidnappings?"

  John shrugged those big wide shoulders of his. "I'd like to think not, but Crompton's behavior is making me wonder."

  "Yeah, me too."

  "Dinner!" Doris's voice interrupted them.

  "We don't want to hold up dinner. Doris has had a worrying type of day. Let's not keep her waiting anymore." He motioned with his hands for them to precede him. "No one comes late to Doris's table twice."

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Mark pushed his plate back and sighed with contentment. "Great dinner." The delicious and filling shepherd's pie made Mark's stomach happy to be home.

  "Since no one has brought it up – I will. What are we doing about sleeping tonight?" Mark asked.

  Gem put her fork down, her face taking on a definite green cast. "I was trying not to think about that."

  "You kids don't need to worry," John said. "You saw the cruiser when we drove in? The sheriff is keeping a deputy outside the house tonight."

  The three kids stared at John in disbelief. Gem couldn't stay silent. "That's not reassuring. I don't trust anyone in that office. Besides, unless he's upstairs sitting in the hallway, with all our doors open so he can see us, he won't know if and when something does happen."

  "That's okay. I'll keep watch. I doubt I'll ever sleep again." Reid pushed his empty plate away and stared at the others. "

  "Me neither. This isn't over. Regardless of who was seen where or when…" Gemma put her fork down, her meal half finished.

  Mark eyed it, indecision playing over his face. "Gem, are you done?"

  She nodded.

  "Can I have what's left?"

  Eyes wide, she passed her plate over and he dove in.

  "I called the security company before I left," John said. "Doris, did they come?"

  Doris's eyes lit up, but her mouth was full. Wiping her chin, she got up and went to the small side counter where the telephone sat. She brought back a sheet of paper. "This was the quote he left. Two quotes, one for the whole house and one for just downstairs. He said what we had is fine, but old tech." She shrugged as if to say, what else is new. "The thing is, he felt that if someone wanted to get in, we'd need to get the full deal in order to stop them."

  "And that's presuming the intruders don't know how to kill the system." Reid, the techno geek, warmed to his subject. "That's pretty easy to do these days."

  Mark looked up to catch Gem's face. "What's the matter?" he said sharply. She looked like she was ready to hurl.

  She gulped. "Often the best alarm is a good watchdog. I never thought once, all through this selfish day, about Major. Where is he?"

  Doris's face broke down into tears. "He's gone."

  "Oh no." Mark glanced from John to Doris. "Did someone hurt him?"

  John played with his fork for a long moment before nodding. "They drugged him. Being old, his heart couldn't take it."

  Gemma teared up. Reid's face pinched tight. "That's not playing fair. There was no need to kill the dog."

  "They probably didn't plan on it." Gemma sniffled then tried to pull herself together. "That leads me back to what I was saying earlier. I don't think murder is on their minds. I think they're watching us. Looking for a reaction, a symptom of something. I don't know to what."

  "It all goes back to the creek." When the others turned to look at him, with questioning looks on their faces, Mark added, "What if they buried something, thinking it was deserted land, but did a piss poor job of it. Maybe they planned to return for it later? The ground is fairly soft there. Easy to dig. Or what if something leaked?"

  "There was some weird green slime there days ago. It looked like algae or something." Gem shrugged. "That's why I went there, why I saw the men the first time. I just wanted some pictures of the green stuff."

  She straightened up and gasped. "Remember what those two thugs said? Something about a guy close to home that caused the spill in the first place!" she finished triumphantly.

  Everyone stared.

  Mark quickly explained the conversation that Doris had missed, adding, "They didn't say what was spilt or why though."

  "If they caused it, they could've been trying to fix their mess, maybe they even tried to dig up whatever it was, the night Gem took pictures." Mark piped up, "Having seen her and Misty, they might have figured she'd
– we'd – been exposed to something or had damning evidence about what they were doing."

  John shook his head. "There's always a collection of natural algae in the creek. Comes and goes with the seasons. Sometimes it's worse and sometimes it's so light as to be only there for a day or two. It's normal and natural." He glanced from Gemma to Mark and back. "You probably never saw it the next time, did you?"

  Both kids shook their heads.

  "Besides, if the men were working with anything dangerous, like with chemicals, they'd probably have symptoms," said Doris, sitting wide-eyed at the table. "Or could it take years for symptoms to show up?"