She’d made good use of her preparation period over the last couple days and had all her lessons for the next two weeks laid out. The kids had loved the break she’d given them to write up scripts and perform them in class. And she had seen a renewed interest in the subject, which thrilled her to no end. Now, she just needed to get her newly-arrived chart “The Anatomy of a Castle” and some other Medieval paraphernalia pinned to the bulletin board, so that next week when they continued their discussions of works from the middle ages, the kids would have better visuals to look at. And then she could go home, slip into a pair of comfortable sweats, finish unpacking, and hopefully sleep in as late as possible tomorrow.
Outside her door the hallways had fallen quiet. Most of the kids must have headed home.
She slipped off her shoes and hefted her tub of bulletin board items, but just then there was a knock on her door and a brunette poked her head inside.
Drat, one more interruption that was going to delay her departure.
But it always paid to be friendly so Kyra smiled at her, recognizing her as one of the other teachers who had attended this morning’s staff meeting. The meeting had gone long, however, and everyone had needed to rush off for their classrooms, so Kyra hadn’t really gotten to meet anyone. It touched her that the woman had chosen to come by.
“We made it to Friday,” she offered the woman a fist-pump of greeting.
The brunette stepped more fully into the classroom. “We did. First full week down.” She stretched her hand out to Kyra. “I’m Ashley Adams. I’m sorry I haven’t had time to come meet you till now. Things have been a little hectic, and with you taking your lunches at home…” She left the sentence to trail and Kyra wasn’t sure if there was censure in her tone or just mild curiosity.
She decided to give the woman the benefit of the doubt. She balanced her tub on one hip and squeezed the woman’s hand. “I’m Kyra Radell. Nice to meet you. I only moved to the island last Monday, so I’ve been taking my lunch breaks at home to do a little unpacking. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get that done this weekend. What do you teach?”
Ashley folded her arms and pulled a face. “You mean what do I attempt to teach, right?”
Kyra wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
But if Ashley noticed it didn’t seem to faze her. She waved a hand and pressed on. “Kids these days have no respect.” She blinked and then smiled a bit sheepishly. “Sorry. It’s been a rough start to the year. I teach freshman and sophomore math. I’ve already had to send three students to the office and it’s only been a week and a half of school.” She sighed and collapsed into one of the desks, angling herself to face the bulletin board Kyra had stepped over to. “So, you’re new to the island, huh? Where did you move here from?”
Kyra pinned her old-world map of Europe to the top right corner of the bulletin board. Maybe she could work and talk and not be delayed in getting home at all. “Just across the sound. From Everett. Have you lived here all your life?”
“Born and raised. I went to school at Western in Bellingham. Other than that, my life has pretty much consisted of islands and waves and seagulls.”
There was an edge of bitterness to her tone that Kyra didn’t really understand. “Not a bad way to live, right?”
Ashley hummed a thoughtful note. “I guess. I shouldn’t complain.”
The room fell quiet for a few minutes, and Kyra felt the tension of silence between strangers. She filled it with, “How long have you worked here at Cedar Harbor High?”
“Just over fifteen years now.”
“Wow, that would put you at what? Almost forty? I never would have pegged you there. You age really well.” The words were out before Kyra thought better of them. She scrunched up her nose. “Sorry. I’m forever putting my foot in my mouth.”
Ashley chuckled. “I’ll take compliments like that anytime. And if I have had a few tucks and lifts here and there, well, that will be our little secret.” She smiled.
Kyra decided she liked the woman.
Ashley unfolded herself from the desk chair. “So I really came by to see if you wanted to join me for dinner tonight? The Harbor House has delicious steak and seafood. My treat?”
Kyra suppressed a groan. So much for just being able to hide away at home this evening and getting her new little house in order. But it would seem rude to turn the woman down. And she had to eat, right? “Sure. What time?”
Ashley looked at her watch. “What if we say five thirty?”
Kyra forced a smile. She really was grateful for the offer of friendship. She would cling to that. “Five thirty it is. I’ll meet you there. And thank you.”
Kyra pulled her car into a parking space at the Harbor House just a few minutes early.
As she slung her purse over her shoulder, a middle-aged man was getting out of the car next to hers. And from the passenger seat—
Kyra froze as Case Sheridan stepped from the car. Honestly, it just wasn’t fair that the kid was so handsome and…manly.
He blinked at her. “Uh, hello Miss Radell.” Was his face flushing? Probably hoping beyond hope that she didn’t rat him out to his father. Sure enough, the kid tossed a glance at the man who was looking between them with a speculative squint to his eyes. Probably in his early fifties, the man was balding, but his angular features were bronzed and chiseled and he had a pair of the prettiest gray-green eyes she’d seen in a long while—probably where Case got his stunning eyes from. Women Mr. Sheridan’s age would probably call him handsome.
“Case, use your manners,” the man snapped.
Kyra felt her face flush a little. Had she been staring?
“Oh.” Case cleared his throat. “Dad, this is Miss Radell. She teaches me English and PE. Miss Radell, this is my dad, Mick Sheridan. He works in insurance.”
Mr. Sheridan stepped toward her and held out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Radell. I trust my son has been on his best behavior these first few days of school?”
Kyra bit her lip. She hated her first impression to be that of a teacher tattling on her student. So she only smiled and turned a question back on him. “Case tells me you two are new to the area?”
The man nodded. “Just moved here, yes. But I’m not sure I like how you are avoiding my question, Miss Radell.” He chuckled, but glowered good-naturedly at his son.
Case’s foot kicked at the ground.
Kyra searched for a reply that would be both honest and conciliatory. She didn’t want to get the boy into too much trouble. She settled for, “To be honest, he has been late a couple times, but I’m sure settling into a new school in his senior year of high school has to be difficult. He’ll get the schedule figured out soon enough.”
Mr. Sheridan gave her a squint.
Kyra gasped as she realized the man could take her words as an insult. “Not that I’m saying your moving here was wrong. I’m certain there was no help for it.” She bounced a glance between the two.
Case was still intent on the ground beneath his feet. And Mr. Sheridan was now a bit less pinch-lipped. Still, she would do better to end this conversation sooner than later.
Ashley’s arrival was the interruption she needed. She parked across the lot and down a few spaces.
“If you’ll excuse me?” Kyra stepped toward Ashley’s car. “It truly has been a pleasure to meet you, but the person I’m meeting just arrived. Have a good evening.”
As she made her escape, she pondered on the fact that, other than exquisite eyes, Case really didn’t look much like his father. He must take after his mother’s side of the family. She wondered what had happened to the woman?
Case and Captain Danielson watched her hurry away.
The captain turned to him and spoke low. “She didn’t throw you under the bus. Do you think she knows you aren’t really who you say you are?”
With a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach, Case watched her until she disappeared through the doors of the restaurant with Ashley Adams before
he answered the question. “No. She believes us. She thinks I’m a kid who was playing at being a grown up last Saturday.”
“How do you know?”
Case gave a longsuffering sigh. “Because she no longer looks at me like a woman who is attracted to a man.”
Mick whistled sympathetically, then clapped him on the shoulder. “The things we give up for this job, huh? But come on. We need to get inside. I’m told that this place has great food in addition to being the center of a lot of the Friday night action in this small town. If someone is selling drugs on this island, this is the place to start our search.”
Case followed after him but not until he groused good-naturedly, “You owe me a raise and an extra week of vacation pay every year.”
The captain only laughed.
Just as Mick had predicted, the inside of the restaurant bustled with activity. A sign just inside the door and in front of the hostess stand read “Please wait to be seated.” Beyond the hostess stand, most of the tables in the restaurant were visible.
While they waited, Case took the opportunity to study the room. Kyra—Miss Radell, he silently corrected himself—had taken a seat at a table with Miss Adams. He didn’t have the woman for any classes, but he made a mental note that they should look into her more.
At a table further back, Mr. Hall sat with a myriad of papers spread out all around him. A thick book also sat on the table beside him. He was either grading papers or creating lesson plans. From this distance it was hard to know. What he could see, however, was the interest that registered in the man’s eyes when he lifted his gaze and took note of Kyra.
Case gritted his teeth and continued his perusal.
Across the room from Mr. Hall, Principal Vaughan sat at a table having dinner with a woman, likely his wife. The woman appeared to be at least fifteen years the man’s junior. But that could be from having some work done? He couldn’t quite tell from here. Either way it was interesting. Even more interesting was the fact that Vaughan seemed to be pleading with her about something. The man reached across the table to touch her hand, but she pulled away with a shake of her head and a few low words. Trouble on the home front? Maybe. One more thing to check into at least.
Two police officers sat at the table adjacent to the Vaughans. Case’s stomach tightened. A rookie cop had once almost given away his op and ever since then he’d been a bit leery of what officers might do, especially in a situation like this where the men knew both he and Mick were under. Their first day on the island they’d had a quiet meeting with all three of the officers on the island. In a small community like Cedar Harbor, where everyone seemed to know everyone’s business, they’d needed to keep the meeting quiet, so they’d arranged to meet after dark at the house they were renting. The officers had walked over from the precinct and come through the backyard. Hopefully, none of their neighbors were the observant nosy types who saw everything that went on in the neighborhood. So far none of their neighbors had broached the subject with them, so Case thought they’d probably gone unobserved. At any rate, today neither officer gave them more than a cursory glance, and Case gave them props for keeping their cool.
Other than the four teachers and the officers, several families sat throughout the room, but Case only saw two kids from the high school. One was Chloe Schumacher. He groaned inwardly as she smiled her sultry smile at him from across the room. He gave her a nod and what he hoped was a smile that indicated interest but not commitment. The other student was Ramon Diaz, or RD, as the kids at school called him. He was one of the boys who had been ogling Miss Radell that first day of PE class and Case was working on getting into the kid’s circle of friends. He had a feeling that Ramon was a kid to keep an eye on. Case also gave him a casual nod of greeting and Ramon returned the greeting with a hand gesture that looked like a W with his two middle fingers slightly crossed to form the center of the letter and his first finger and pinky forming the outside. Case had seen the gesture around school a few times. He made a note to mention it to Mick and to try and find out more about it at school next week. A gang sign? Out here in this small community? Maybe.
The hostess came and escorted them to a table. Mick gave the menu a cursory glance before setting it aside. Case knew he would order the BLT. The man could live on those things.
Mick leaned in to the table and kept his voice low. “So, any updates? You seen anything suspicious at the school? Heard any scuttlebutt?”
Case almost grinned at the man’s old navy term, but remembered just in time that he was supposed to be a sullen teenager. People might not be able to hear them over the music streaming from the restaurant speakers and the conversations of the other tables, but they were certainly watching them—the new people in town.
Case shook his head. “No. Haven’t had time to get close to any of the kids yet. But I have a couple of promising irons in the fire.” Deciding on the steak and garlic mashed potatoes with grilled asparagus, he set his menu aside. “I hear there’s supposed to be a party next Friday night. I’m working on getting myself an invite.”
The waitress returned and took their orders. Sure enough, Mick ordered a BLT and sweet iced tea. Case chose a Coke and asked for his steak to be medium rare.
He tried not to be distracted by the fact that he had a perfect line of sight to Kyra Radell, especially since he’d gotten an idea the moment he’d seen that Ramon was in the restaurant. He felt certain that Ramon was a kid who would know things, but it took some foundational groundwork to break into a tight-knit group of friends. And Ramon and his group were definitely tight-knit.
He waited till the waitress left, then leaned across the table to speak low to Mick. “So… I have an idea. Kid at the table at three o’clock is someone I’m trying to get in with. What do you say I throw a big teenage fit and walk out on you tonight?”
Mick’s brow’s lifted. “If you feel it will help you with your work.”
Case bit back a smile, forcing himself to instead fold his arms and look sullen. “I think it will. I’m hoping he’ll offer me a ride. But not before I finish my steak.”
Mick looked like he wished he could chuckle. “And what if he starts to leave early?”
Case groaned. “You better ask for a box and bring my meal to the house then. I’m starving.”
“Alright. What is our argument going to be about?”
Case pondered on that. Ramon was athletic. He’d seen the kid heading to soccer practice a few times. And Case didn’t think Ramon had seen too much of his “klutziness” on the tennis courts during PE. If he was going to get in with the kid, he might need to rethink his strategy in that area. “I think it should be about the fact that I want to try out for the soccer team, but you won’t let me.”
Mick nodded. “Alright. I can roll with that. A kid just sat down at Mr. Hall’s table. Do you recognize him?”
Case gave a casual glance over his shoulder. He recognized the teen, but hadn’t yet learned his full name. He turned back to Mick. “He’s in my senior English class. He goes by the name Greg, but it might be short for Gregory and I haven’t caught a last name yet. Studious type though. Always quick with the answers and generally right. Strikes me as someone who can’t handle being told that he’s wrong.”
Mick pondered, studying the teacher and boy for a moment. “Tutoring?”
Case smirked. “You mean is he tutoring Mr. Hall?”
Mick gave him a “be serious” look.
“Sorry. Kidding of course. I mean, maybe he’s there for tutoring. But my bet would be no. You got your camera on?” Each of them had a small camera on their person. The captain’s was in one of the buttons on his shirt. Case’s was in the arrowhead pendant that hung from the leather strap around his neck.
Mick gave him another glance that said, “do you really need to ask?”
That was good. They could analyze the footage more closely later. While they waited for their food, Mick gave him a play-by-play of what was happening at the table. “Greg just handed
Hall a folder. Hall is looking at some papers inside. Now he’s pulled something out of his briefcase. I can’t tell what it is. But he put it into the folder and handed it back to the kid. It’s not a paper, because the folder isn’t closing all the way.”
Case tried not to be distracted by Kyra’s low chuckle over something Ashley Adams had just said. How ironic that the first woman he’d been interested in for a long time had suddenly fallen onto the “off limits” list. He sighed.
Mick suddenly raised his voice just a notch too loud. “I’m telling you your schoolwork has to come first. So the answer is no.”
Case came back to attention just in time to see Chloe heading their way.
Greg stood from Hall’s table, and the two crashed into each other.
“Oh! I’m so sorry!” Chloe said.
But her eyes rolled when Greg scrambled to gather the contents of his folder. Chloe bent to help him, beating him to the folder. She tucked a few things inside and handed it back to him.
“Thanks,” Greg muttered and hurried into the restaurant bathroom.
Case pulled his mind from logging the details of their encounter and reminded himself to get back into character. “Dad I can keep up with the work and play soccer!”
Several heads in the restaurant turned their way, including Miss Radell.
Chloe stopped by their table. She cast an uncertain look between them, twirling one long blonde lock. “Uh, maybe this isn’t a good time?”
Case focused his best glower on Mick. “It’s fine.” He switched expressions abruptly, and offered her a forced smile. “What’s up?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I was just on my way out.” She gestured to the table she’d just left where two adults were still studying her with a bit of worry in their eyes. “My parents have finally cut me loose for the evening. But thought I’d come over to say hi.” She cast a suddenly embarrassed glance toward Mick.
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