"Oh shit." Gem stepped backwards to butt up against Mark. Reid slipped further to the left.
"Oh no, you don't. This isn't about letting you guys run off and create havoc again, is it, Barry? You think I didn't wonder about that crack on the head you got?"
The young deputy straightened, shock on his face. "What? I didn't make it up."
"Right. Of course you didn't. You were supposed to be sitting right in plain view of their house, but instead Ian found you a block away, supposedly unconscious."
Gem blinked. Blinked again. Was the sheriff accusing Barry?
She frowned. He was young and strong. He'd been around them slightly more than the others had been.
Why had they assumed he'd been innocent of kidnapping them, and that the sheriff more likely to be guilty? Because they didn't like the sheriff. He represented law enforcement that they hated. Whereas the deputy was almost their age, and that had made it easier to connect to him, to trust him.
She didn't know who to trust now, and she didn't really like the choices. She liked the young deputy. But the sheriff had been growing on her.
The gun the sheriff aimed at Barry – who stood close to them – didn't waver. Mark backed up a step. She went with him. Reid followed.
"That's impossible. I couldn't hit myself hard enough to knock myself out," Barry snapped.
"According to Ian here, you appeared to be just waking up, as if you might not have been under very long or very deep. Or as if you were faking it."
"What's the chance that's how you've been paying for all that new gear you've got?" Ian gloated, sweat dripping off his jowls.
Gem stared at the beads of sweat with a yucky sort of fascination. It wasn't even hot.
"Hey, that's money I saved up. Just because you spend it on booze doesn't mean I do, too." Barry turned to the sheriff and tried to talk reason. "Danny, you've known me for years. This is the second summer I've worked for you."
The sheriff tipped his hat further back on his head and stared from one deputy to the other.
Barry tried again. "It would make more sense that Ian's the bad guy here. He's been around long enough to know these bad guys. Me, I'm almost a kid." He nodded to his cousin. "Ian knew about the creek too." He turned his head to glance at the kids behind him. "And how could I do any of this by myself? I couldn't even begin to lift these kids and move them around."
Gem hated the building panic on the young deputy's face.
Ian snorted. "Like I could?"
Barry shrugged. "You'd get the family to do it for you. I'm barely even part of the family since Mom left Dad.
The sheriff frowned. "It's one of the reasons why I gave you this chance. You needed the job. At least, I assumed you did."
"I did need it. And still do. I don't know what made you start to look at me with suspicion, but whatever it was, you should be looking at Ian here."
"Your Uncle Jed has been picked up in Dayport. He was driving the SUV that tried to run John and these kids off the road."
Barry's astonishment turned to a wry shock. "You definitely need to be looking at Ian then. None of that side of the family even know who the hell I am, much less get involved with me. Uncle Jed can't stand me. Now Ian here, that's a different story…"
The sheriff turned to look at Ian. "I've worked with Ian for over a decade now."
"The fact that he's even trying to point a finger my way should make you look at him."
Ian blustered, "Now stop that. I didn't point any fingers. I just mentioned that your head wound didn't look like much of an injury and you've been buying lots of new toys."
The sheriff stopped and considered, his gun hand lowering.
Gem sighed with relief.
"Come to think of it, Uncle Jed didn't specifically say you. He said something about big money involved but that he wasn’t getting paid enough to go to jail for this. I assumed it was you because Ian had mentioned your close relationship with your uncle Jed a couple of days ago. And what about your money habits? You've been spending a lot."
"I buy one toy a month. That's what my budget allows," insisted Barry. "And I only get the bigger items after two months. You know what I earn. Besides I worked all through high school. I live at home in the basement. I tell everyone I pay Mom rent, but I don't. That's how I save so much now."
Gem and Mark exchanged looks. This could go bad at any moment and they needed to take their chance when they could.
Ian slipped his hand over his gun, not drawing or pointing it at anyone – but ready. Gem eyed it and nudged Mark.
"I don't think so, junior. You're just trying to defend yourself and throw suspicion on someone else," Ian said, belligerently. "Well, it's not going to be me."
The sheriff spoke slowly in that pondering way of his that drove Gem nuts. "Then again, if it isn't him…"
"How does Creepers come into this?" Gem interrupted.
The sheriff looked at her in confusion. "Who the hell is Creepers?"
"He's the guy from juvie running the pilot program for John's home."
"Mr. Crompton," Mark said helpfully.
Gem watch the young deputy straighten at the name, but the sheriff continued to talk on, oblivious to her comment.
"And why would he come into this?" The sheriff shook his head. "You kids and your imaginations."
"Oh, I don't know about that." Barry nodded toward Ian. "Crompton is Ian's uncle. Course, he's been trying to retire for a while now but can't afford to…"
Ian snorted. "Then he's your uncle too, cousin."
"Yes, but then you did jobs for him all the time. I remember Mom talking about it. He called you Fixer, because you were always breaking things then trying to fix them. Then you grew up and started doing contract jobs. And didn’t the guy in Dayport started to say a name and was cut off. He said Fi..."
"Fi...xer!" Gem snorted. "Wow, a whole family of losers. No surprise there. Really…either, or even better, both of you could be involved. I just want to know who burned down John and Doris's house?"
"Who the hell are you calling a loser?" Ian's complexion darkened as his attention shifted to the three teens. "You're the loser. Spent years in juvie giving sexual favors for candy bars no doubt. Lice. Vermin. The whole lot of you."
He brandished the gun and moved behind the sheriff, removing his gun and nudging him forward. "Move Danny." His voice changed, hardened, and a sneer wove into it. "Don't matter what you think now. I'm not going down to jail for this. I planned to leave town soon enough, anyway. I guess that means today."
"How much did Creepers get for his part in your scheme?" Gem took yet another step back.
"He didn't get nothing, because he didn't do nuttin'. At least nuttin' right." Resentment laced Ian's voice.
Gem studied the big deputy. "Was he pissed off because you were doing something wrong?"
Ian's face twisted.
"Not quite right?" Gem said, as a glimmer of understanding slipped in. "You kidnapped us, but never hurt us. Creepers had the means to force us to return to Stanton." Her earlier thoughts popped back into her mind. She added slowly, "I'm just not sure why you needed us out of the way though," she added with a puzzled frown.
Mark stared at Ian hard. "Only Creepers didn't take care of business, did he? We refused to go back. He couldn't make us once John was on our side."
"What? Creepers really was bad?" Reid barely hid his grin when Gem elbowed him. "Didn't see that one coming."
"Yeah, hilarious. Besides, it's not like he was really bad." Ian glared at him. "I offered him big money to take you guys back to juvie where he could keep an eye on you. He said you could all stay there in the medical center for a few days until we were sure you didn't develop any symptoms." He waved the gun around. "I accidentally dumped some chemicals I was hauling." A grin, so wrong, shone. "You might want to consider that we were trying to look out for you."
Gem sucked in a long breath, slipped her cell phone out of her pocket and around behind her. Then flipped it open and waited.
"What chemicals?" asked Gem. She had to keep him talking. "What about the fact that some chemicals don't show symptoms for years?"
"By then there'd be nothing left here to tie to the company...or me, anyway. So who cares? You're just a bunch of juvie losers."
Mark made as if to step forward. Gem grabbed his arm and held him back.
Ian was unbelievable.
"Who knows what's in those containers. And who cares." He snorted. "I don't. But we didn't know if you'd gone into the creek or touched the stuff. After the accident happened everything went to hell. I figured the only way out of this mess for me was to split."
"I was in the creek. What about me?"
"Yeah, but it was cleaned up by then."
As he continued to talk, she let her breath out quietly then hit the button preset for John's number. If he could hear this conversation, he'd know they were all in trouble.
Mark shifted closer to her. She smiled inside. He knew exactly what she was doing.
Ian carried on, oblivious to Gem's actions "When Creepers lost his chance to make money, he got pissed and started making threats."
"And what did you do to Creepers? Kill him?" Gem asked. She couldn't decide if she cared either way. But the answer would give her an idea of how committed the deputy would be about covering his ass.
Ian turned his glare on her again. "No one was supposed to get hurt. Creepers had an accident on the way back to the center last night. He's alive, but I doubt he'll feel up to making any threats when he gets out."
"Nice. Clean. Hands off," Reid said, admiration in his voice.
Ian puffed his chest up, "Thank you. And," he grinned evilly, "I took care of that one personally."
Barry looked puzzled, his gaze going from Gem to his cousin and back again. Gem hoped he had more sense than the rest of his family and stayed quiet.
"And what possessed you to kidnap and haul us to Dayport?" Mark asked, his voice hard.
The sheriff frowned and turned to Ian. "Now that's something I want to know too."
"I had to do something. So I fired my two idiot cousins for being screw-ups. Then Uncle Jed and I hauled you to Dayport where he was to call Creepers to haul you back to juvie as runaways. Next thing I knew the sheriff here says that you guys were in the Dayport Public Library.
"That pissed Uncle Jed off. He followed you home and tried to take you guys out all on his own. That SUV incident had nothing to do with me. Of course, he screwed up there, too." Ian snorted. "You've been a pain in the ass since I first laid eyes on you."
Gem stared at him. So that's it. She thought about it. "Were we in any danger from the stuff you spilt into the creek?"
Ian rolled his eyes. "Hell if I know. I've been storing chemicals for this company for years. Got myself a nice little retirement fund. But that last time, I'd had a little too much to drink. I hit the cement barrier and crashed my old truck." He glared at Barry. "Some of the jugs went into the creek. I got the containers back out, but a couple had cracked." He shook his head. "The company came and cleaned up the mess, but they needed to have an eye kept on the place and water samples taken every day. That's when you kids interfered."
Mark snorted. "How does that make any sense? We weren't even there when the stuff was spilled."
With the gun still waving around in his hand, and a captive audience, Ian explained, "That's the thing. It was hot out and once my contact from the chemical waste disposal company heard there were kids about, he was afraid that you'd gone into the creek to cool off."
"And you know what's funny?" Reid said, speaking up, "We were never in the creek that week. Gem never saw anyone doing anything and the couple of pictures she took showed nothing. Even Mark's swim was after the cleanup efforts."
"But then, you already know about the pictures as you probably have my flash drive, don't you?" Gem gave Ian a hard smile.
Ian glared right back at her.
Mark snorted. "So typical. Nothing to worry about right from the beginning. You guys had an accident, you fixed it. It would have been all good."
The sheriff glared. "You should've left the kids alone."
"I didn't plan on touching them?" Ian said, "But once those two idiot cousins got into the action, things went to hell...fast. I tried to fix it, but..."
"So what the hell are you doing now?" Trust Reid to put it in simple terms. "Leave us alone and go away."
"I can't do that." Ian looked around. "Things are too out of control."
Gem watched the expressions race over his face. "Why not?" she asked.
He glared at them. "I'm not stupid. I know when I'm cooked. I figured Barry might confuse the issue long enough for me to haul ass out of here. As it is now…I've got a bit of a problem here."
"Yep, you do. Too many of us to shoot. We'll all jump you at the first shot. So you might as well just hand over the gun and call it a day." Gem cheerfully smiled at him. John would be coming around the corner – if not at this moment, then soon. There was no way this guy was going anywhere. At the very minimum, he'd been storing illegal chemicals and admitted to kidnapping them out of John's house. That should mean jail time.
She couldn't help but grin at the idea of this deputy doing some serious time in prison. "You're looking at even more years behind bars if you don't put that gun down."
"Not going to happen." He retreated several steps. "All three kids. Lie down on the ground, hands behind your back."
"No." Mark stood with his arms crossed over his chest, a bored look on his face.
Barry stepped forward. "Come on, Ian. Put the gun down."
"No?" Ian screamed, his face turned red. "Do you want to get the first bullet?" He leveled the gun at Mark's chest. Mark glared at him. "No, then how about I take out the damn girl." He shifted the gun toward Gem.
She felt the color drain from her face.
"I don't want to hurt you," Ian said, "but if think you're going to screw up my plan to disappear, you've got anothe––"
A shovel came out of nowhere and smacked him hard on the side of head. His eyes rolled up and his face went funny. He collapsed to the ground with a thud. John stood over him, a heavy shovel in hand.
"Damn deputy." John glared at the sheriff and Barry. "Now what's the point of being lawmen if the kids are the ones that got to do all the work?"
The sheriff ran a hand over his face then looked down at the unconscious deputy. He picked up Ian's gun and tucked it away. Then holstered his own. "Ten years he's worked for me. Never once did I see this in him." A worried look wrinkled up his face. "And where the hell are those other chemicals he said he was storing? And who was he storing them for? Ian has a lot to answer for when he wakes up."
"I've got a hint for you, Sheriff." Gem walked toward them. "Check out the rest of his family. Someone probably works for a waste disposal company."
Mark stepped in, "Or find a new job. Cause we aren't going to be quiet about this."
"What? Now there's no call for that." The sheriff's face had gone pale then flushed red.
Gem glanced at Mark and Reid, then back at the sheriff. "You can't look me in the eye and tell me you did right by us in this case, can you?"
He flushed. Pursing his lips, he shook his head. "Not in the beginning, but I definitely did afterwards. And now I've got a mess of work to do. We've got to track down this company. And find out about those chemicals. And if some dangerous ones are stored in this town, we have to clear them out and clean up. And keep an eye on you guys in case you did come in contact with something in the creek."
Mark's face puckered. Gem almost laughed.
"Got some fun times in front of us." A determined look came over the sheriff's face. He nodded. "But we'll get to the bottom of this. And make sure everyone involved pays for their part in this mess."
"See that you do. In a couple of years we'll be voters too." Gem glared at him as another idea filtered into her mind. "On the other hand there might be something you can do to make up for your initial lapse." She tapped her foot, thinking about it.
He frowned. "Oh. Just what would that be? And you wouldn't be talking blackmail, would you?"
She snorted.
Mark puffed up at the insult. She placed a restraining hand on his arm. "No we aren't into anything illegal – thanks once again for the instinctive lack of confidence. Too bad you didn't look at those closest to you instead of at us. No, I have something in mind, but I'll have to think on it first. I'll be talking to you over the next few days, I'm sure."
The sheriff pursed his lips, studied her face with narrowed eyes, then after a long silence where Gem stared back him, he nodded. "When you're ready to discuss the matter, come on down to the station. I'll be sure to make some time."
"Will do." She smiled brightly and smirked at the suspicious look he tossed her way. The sheriff caught Mark's grin, studied it, then shook his head. He turned away to look at his old friend, handcuffed on the ground, and now starting to moan. "Barry, let's get him back to the station. We have a mess of work to do."
With a determined look, the young deputy hauled the older man, moving now, but groggily, to his feet. "Let's go, Ian."
They escorted Ian back to the car on the shoulder of the road. "Good riddance," Gem said as they watched the three law enforcement officers drive away. "Wonder if this is finally over."
"Hopefully our part in this is." John leaned on his shovel and stared at the three kids in front of him. "Too often justice isn't always served at the top level."
"No, it isn't. He didn't actually say who set fire to the house either, did he? Might have been Creepers or maybe Ian did it. Not sure that we can believe him anyway." She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. Then she remembered something else. Turning back to Mark and Reid, she grinned. "No more Creepers. At least for a while." She gave a nonchalant shrug. "Of course, there'll be a replacement."
"So now what?"
Gemma walked over to John and gave him a hug. "First things first. Thank you."
He stabbed the shovel into the ground and wrapped her tight in his arms. "You're welcome. Good thinking on that phone call."
"Had to do something. Wasn't liking the way things were going. Now we have witnesses as well." She stepped back and beamed at the males surrounding her. Life was good.
"What's the chance that our life can get back to normal now?" Gem asked hopefully. "Maybe even get Misty home too?"
"Soon. Let's get moving." John picked up his shovel. "Doris's going to be worried until we show."
The three fell into step behind him.
"So now what?" Mark linked arms with Gem.
"Yeah, things could get rather boring now, huh?" Reid looked over at them as they walked home, then hooked his arm through her other arm.
"Boring. Oh I don't know about that. I think we can always find something exciting to keep us from being bored. I'm sure the sheriff would enjoy some assistance on his other cases. Maybe keep us on as reserve deputies? Volunteer deputies even? Can't be official ones yet, though." She smirked and nudged Reid gently.
They'd all be looking for work coming up. What a perfect idea. The sheriff was already primed.
"What do you think?" Gem smiled. "Would you like to work on the right side of the law for a change? I'm thinking there could be some ends to tie up here. Like the need to find Ian's cache of hidden chemicals. Find out all the other players who were involved? And that could be just for starters."
Reid's face lit up. "If only. That would be a lot of fun, actually. Barry would go for it. What do you think? How's our leverage on the sheriff? Big enough?"
Mark chuckled. "I don't know if it's that big. Besides, working for law enforcement would give John and Doris the heebie-jeebies."
John was too far ahead to hear their conversation. Just as well.
"Maybe and maybe not. John and Doris want us to have jobs and hobbies. So what's better than working with the law as a hobby?"
"You think we could make it happen?" Reid's face lit up with hope. "Cause I'd love that."
"You know something. I think it might be possible." She looked up at Mark. "Talk to me. Yes, or no?"
"What about Misty? Can she join if she wants to?" Mark tilted an eyebrow.
"Absolutely. Family is family."
The three exchanged energized conspiratorial glances. "Let's do it!"