Gem Stone Read online

  "Sounds good. Maybe I'll try to go back to sleep."

  John nodded sagely. "You'll probably drop right off."

  Not likely but she'd do a lot to avoid upsetting this kindly man who'd become such a stable part of her life. "I'll see you in a bit then."

  "An hour at the most."

  Gem returned to her bed and crawled back in.

  "What was that all about?" Mark poked his sleepy head out of the covers.

  "John." She rolled over and propped herself up on one arm to face Mark. "He's going to grab a bite to eat with Doris, then go to the house and find us some clothes." She thought a moment. "Damn. I should have asked for an update on Misty. Maybe she can come home. If not, we should ask to go visit her."

  "The doctors said another few days. Hey, I'm starving. I could really use breakfast."

  Gem grinned. "And I just turned some down."

  "What? They could have brought it here?"

  "You were asleep, remember?" She lay back down and crossed her arms under her head. "You know, I was thinking..."

  "Uh, oh, here it comes! What's rattling around in that empty head of yours?"

  She was feeling too rested to take offense at his comment. "Everything goes back to the one location where I took the photos. I think we should take another look. There has to be something to explain what's going on."

  "With or without the meddling adults?"

  She grinned. "John's okay. Don't know about the sheriff and his slowass ways. Wonder if he found his deputy?"

  "Hope it wasn't Barry that's gone missing. He's all right." Reid sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes. "How's a body to get any sleep around here with you two gabbing?"

  "Ooops. Sorry." Gem watched Reid stumble to the bathroom. "Didn't mean to wake you."

  "Don't worry. He's just not a morning person."

  Gem refocused on thoughts about the creek. "I doubt we'll see any evidence of a spill anymore…but maybe they left something in the area around it?"

  "Yup. But when can we go? I'm sure there's going to be a hell of a lot of things that John and Doris are going to need to deal with from last night. Wonder how bad the house is?"

  "I hope we don't lose everything because of water or smoke damage."

  Reid must have stepped into the shower because they heard water running. An appealing idea, although her hair was still damp from last night's wash up.

  "We could tell them what we want to do," she said. "Maybe even take a deputy along."

  The shower stopped at the same time there was a knock on the door. Gem went to answer it, again.

  Doris held out a large plastic bag and a cardboard carryout holding three large cups of coffee. "One outfit each and some coffees to jumpstart your systems. I have to go check you out of the hotel. John's down at the fire station and will join us at the house. Try to be ready in ten minutes. There's breakfast in the lobby."

  Gem smiled brightly. She didn't care what clothes had been selected. As long as they were clean and they fit, she was good. "Thank you. This is great. We'll be downstairs in a few minutes."

  There was no time for the other two to shower, but after getting dressed, they trooped down to the lobby and found a small table laden with muffins and a Keurig Coffee Machine. What was even better was that coffee and snacks were included in the cost of their room. The three selected their coffee refills and tanked up while Doris took care of the paperwork. Not long after, she came over to join them.

  "Ready?"

  Mark handed her a Morning Blend Coffee and popped the last of his muffin in his mouth before snatching another. Reid followed suit. Gem shook her head and walked out with her coffee and a half eaten muffin in her hand. She'd love another one but wasn't going to make a pig of herself.

  "Ha. You're just sorry you didn't grab a second one yourself." Reid took a huge bite and snickered at the look on her face.

  "Here." Mark nudged her arm. "Take half of this one."

  "Really? Don't you want it?" Startled, she glanced from the muffin to his face and back again. She took it from him.

  "She could've grabbed a second one," protested Reid as he watched the two of them.

  "No, she couldn't have. We grabbed the last ones so we'll share."

  Reid rolled his eyes and broke off a decent-sized piece of his, then handed it over. "If it's too much, give it back."

  Gem grinned and helped herself.

  After they'd walked out to the truck, she caught Doris's curious look. As the guys got into the back of the truck, Gem asked her about it.

  Doris patted her arm. "I'm just happy to see that events have brought you three together. Stronger and happier."

  "Yeah, they have, at that." Gem pondered the turn of events that had brought them to this point. Despite all the negative, that was a huge positive. "Speaking of which, what about Misty? Will she be able to come home?"

  "Yeah," Mark said. "She should be with us."

  "Except our home might not be the right place to bring her at the moment," Doris said quietly. "If we're here though, then she should be able to be with us too."

  "We are going to be able to stay here – aren't we?" Panic hit Gem's stomach, making the muffins toss around like a passenger on a roller coaster. Could Creepers have had something to do with the fire – to get them back to juvie? Did anything make sense?

  "I haven't heard if we can move back in yet." Doris sighed. "I just wish I knew who was after you kids."

  "Yeah… Me too," Mark said. "Maybe the doctors are in on this mess?"

  Reid groaned. "If we start that, then we have to look at everyone."

  "That's exactly what we should be doing." Mark faced him, a puzzled look on his face. "And we need to go about this more logically."

  "How's that?"

  "We should be doing a timeline, printing off the photos and sending them to people who might be able to decipher what all this means – like the other sheriff, from Dayport. He seemed on the up and up."

  "And do what with the list?" Reid scoffed. "We already know who we've seen involved here. We've already told the sheriff and nothing much is being done here. We have to widen the circle and consider other people…"

  "Wasn't Creepers here the day you took the photos?" Mark asked.

  Gem turned to look at him – understanding slowly dawning. "Yes, he was. I had to meet with him over that stupid cheating incident. And who knows about the next day?"

  "He was, because he spoke with John that morning about Misty." For the first time, Doris popped into the conversation.

  "And he was here yesterday…and then we had a fire last night." His forehead creased. Mark added, "What's the chance he has some connection to the two men we spotted in Dayport? If there was…"

  "Hey, I could try to do some more research once I get to my computer, if the power hasn't been affected at the house," Reid said.

  "If there's power and if there are working computers left. Who knows what disappeared overnight." Gem couldn't help the bitterness coating her voice.

  Doris shot her a worried look. "Do you think people went in overnight? That someone might have taken our things?"

  Gem didn't want to alarm her, but nodded. "If someone wanted to find something, definitely. But they already got my photos and flash drive so there'd be no point."

  "Unless they wanted to make sure, and snatched her laptop too," Reid piped up.

  Mark snorted. "That's just being anal."

  Reid spun on him. "How does any of this not sound anal? Those guys were representing themselves as the government, you know. EPA only, I know, but we all gotta agree, government people breathe out their butts."

  He was right. Gemma added, "Creepers runs our home project. And has a high position back at juvie. Isn't he the director or something? Does that make him government too?"

  Reid and Mark stared at her. Reid shrugged, "So?"

  "Something to consider after his weird threat last night…about not wanting anything else bad to happen. Just sayin…" Gem shrugged.


  "He might not have lit the fire, but if he had something to do with it, the smart thing would be to have been back at juvie, where he'd have an alibi when it happened," Mark said slowly, thinking it through aloud.

  "And remember what those two thugs said back in Dayport?" Gem interrupted, "I forgot the exact words but something about 'look closer to home'? Could he have meant Creepers?"

  "Easy to hire more goons like the two we caught in Dayport," Reid said. "No shortage of them around."

  "I really don't like the way this conversation is going." Doris drove the truck around the final corner and up the long stretch of road to the house. She gasped once, then fell silent.

  Everyone fell silent.

  Charred siding, ashes, broken windows and the front left corner appeared to be completely scorched, right up to the roofing. Even from a distance, everything reeked of smoke.

  Doris parked the car and they got out. "We can go in through the back door to the kitchen."

  Gem walked around to the back of the house where everything appeared normal, untouched. She walked inside and through the house to the living room where they'd been sleeping. Their bedding still covered the floor and couches. Smoke and water damage was evident everywhere.

  Depressing.

  Still the largest portion of the house was untouched. She hoped the fire chief would let them stay. Surely, they could live in the back half of the house while the restoration people did their job?

  But that was adult business and since when did adults ever make sense? Walking back toward the kitchen, she found Doris puttering around, setting up more coffee. Gem headed upstairs to check out the damage to her room. It looked normal – except for the smell. Her laptop was still on her table and the window, still open, as she'd left it. Smoke permeated the air, but the smell was much less than on the other side of the house. Her laptop appeared untouched but it was hard to really tell.

  She booted it up. If they'd wanted to cause trouble or remove evidence, taking it would have been the easiest and most obvious way.

  Gem gave herself a moment to relax and realized she was finally home, safe and sound. After a sigh of relief she turned to her laptop. She brought up her pictures and wondered what to do with them. Who could she send the pictures to? Someone in law enforcement maybe. They could determine if the pictures held any important evidence that would point them in the right direction.

  "The young deputy maybe, and the Dayton sheriff," she said aloud.

  Finding their email addresses took several minutes and then a few more to attach the files. After she hit send she figured she needed to go down and help Doris.

  John had arrived and was in the kitchen, his head next to Doris's. Their lowered tones spoke of the seriousness of their situation.

  "What's the matter now?" Gemma hated secrets and with what she'd been through in her life, and especially these last few days, she wanted everything out in the open.

  John and Doris exchanged long looks. Then as if bolstering himself to deliver more bad news, John said, "Misty is doing better. The doctors expect to release her tomorrow. That gives us a little time to get organized here."

  "Damn." Gem plunked herself down on the closest chair, more than a little confused. "I wish she could just come home today."

  "Have to trust that it's the right thing for her. That her doctors know what's best. Now I've just finished arguing with the insurance company." At the look on her face, John nodded. "Based on the recommendation of the fire chief, we're only going to use the back of the house on both floors. That means you'll all move upstairs into the rooms above the kitchen. There're two bedrooms at the back, one for the girls and one for the guys. Stephen and Misty will be both back soon, but we're not going to have any other additions until the renovations are done."

  Doris looked anxious when she told them, "It's going to be difficult for a while. To get upstairs and down, you'll have to use the outside stairs to the balcony. They're going to wall off the front room, temporarily."

  "Staying here is our decision." John hugged his wife and took a long slug of coffee as if needing the hit. "We had to fight for that as it is. There will be a lot of disruption over the next several months while the renos happen. And they're going to start immediately – the restoration company should be here any minute with dryers and wet vacs to help mop up the mess. They're bringing ozone machines to get rid of the smoke smell so we'll have to be outside for most of the day too. At least it's a clear day."

  "Good. The sooner they start, the sooner they're finished." Gem approved. Not only that, she was delighted to hear her friends would be back and no others joining them. She liked the unit as it was. And being outside fell into their plans to return to the site…

  "Now I know you don't want to go back to juvie while this is happening––"

  She snorted. "You're right there."

  "It will be noisy," warned Doris.

  "Yes, but we'll be at home." Gem opened her mouth, to mention the creek again, then decided against it.

  "What?" prompted John.

  She made a face. Then looked at them both straight on. "The boys and I want to go back to the place where this all started. Where I took the pictures and the creek area beside it. We've been before and never found anything, but we are coming from a different understanding now. We'd like to check it out again."

  John's face hardened. Doris immediately said, "Oh I don't think that's a good idea. Surely, that's for the sheriff to do?"

  "He's got bigger things to worry on right now. And will he see what we might see?"

  "We aren't looking for trouble." Reid said as he marched into the kitchen and sat down beside Gemma. "But we have to get to the bottom of this before someone does get killed."

  "We have to be outside anyway and we won't stay long. Come with us if you like." Mark spoke from the doorway, and Reid nodded. "Or have a deputy come with us just in case we do find something… But you'd better ask for that escort, not us."

  John pursed his lips. "Let me call the sheriff." He walked out while everyone waited in silence. When he returned a few minutes later, he ran his fingers through his graying hair. "Well, he doesn't like the idea."

  "No surprise there," muttered Gem.

  "However, Deputy Barry Smithson is going to come by and walk around with you. Apparently he took a crack over the head last night and he's looking for a little blood himself."

  Gemma grinned. "Good. Then maybe he'll be on our side."

  "You can go on one condition – call us to check in every half hour. You all have your phones back, so no excuses."

  As Mark opened his mouth to protest, John held up a hand. "It's that or you're not going. I can get you doing stuff around the yard, like raking and stuff, chopping wood…"

  "That's fine." Reid pulled out his phone and synced the time with John. Mark and Gem checked theirs too. "Okay then. We'll wait for Barry out front and check back in half an hour."

  "Right."

  ***

  Danny dropped the phone on his desk. He couldn't sort through the myriad of emotions running through him.

  The Dayport Sheriff had found the SUV. And the owner.

  Danny still couldn't believe the story he'd just heard. No, the driver wasn't talking. But he'd been found with fake IDs on him. And lots of them. Including ones he recognized for the EPA.

  But it was his name that made Danny sick inside. Uncle Jed. Young Barry's Uncle Jed. And now he knew Uncle Jed was a forger. And had a long rap sheet...for arson.

  Surely it wasn't possible? He had to check this out himself. See the evidence for himself. Hear the words himself.

  Surely there was a satisfactory explanation? And more than the comment he remembered Ian telling him about the pair the other day. How Barry and his uncle were tight.

  There had to be another explanation.

  Danny smiled grimly. "You're coming with me to sort this out."

  Stepping back out of his boss's way, Ian asked, "Sort out what?"

&nb
sp; "Some information I just received." Danny still had trouble with it. The name wasn't conclusive…but it was a connection. Uncle Jed. One tenuous at best. But it was Barry's Uncle Jed.

  He had to check it out. The sick feeling in his stomach said there was something here – something that he had to get to the bottom of.

  "Any idea how many toys Barry has been buying lately?"

  ***