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- Bonds of Trust
-- Part XII
Next day…
Rex saunters into the office carrying an envelope. Bo is already
behind his desk, drinking coffee and reading through his notes
on the Turner case. Rex takes a seat in front of the desk, balancing
the envelope on his legs and waiting for Bo to acknowledge him.
Bo continues reading the notes, letting Rex squirm. He finally
takes a sip of his coffee and peers over his mug at Rex. “You
can start explaining any time.”
-
- Rex shrugs. “Not much
to explain.”
-
- Bo frowns. “How is Lauren?”
-
- “She’s good. I
gave her the key. She’s probably having the place fumigated
as we speak so she can move her stuff in later.”
-
- “She was pretty upset
last night.”
-
- Rex grins slyly. “Yeah,
but she can’t resist my charms. You know how it is.”
-
- “Cut the crap, Balsom.
Do you realize the magnitude of what you did yesterday? Not only
was Lauren upset, Nora and Matthew were really worried too.”
-
- His grin fades. “I’m
sorry about that, okay? Did Nora let you have it last night?”
-
- Bo nods. “But it wasn’t
necessarily about you.”
-
- “What was it about?”
-
- He sighs. “Old fears.
And Matthew had a meltdown because we had an argument.”
-
- “Sounds like a fun night.”
-
- Bo frowns. “No, it wasn’t.
So why don’t you tell me what was so important that you
set MY bad night in motion.”
-
- Rex gets up and goes to the
coffeepot, taking his time pouring a cup. Bo waits for him to
return to his seat. Rex takes a long sip of coffee, making Bo
wait like he had done earlier. Bo loses his patience. “Today,
Balsom!”
-
- Rex takes another sip and
sets the mug on Bo’s desk. “Okay, but let me tell the
whole story before you yell.”
-
- “Just fill me in on
the case.”
-
- Rex slouches back in his
chair. “Remember the night I stopped at your house to talk
about the case? When Matthew was at the mall?” Bo nods.
“Well, that day, Shaggy informed me that he had seen a new
person on his overnight watch.”
-
- “Who?”
-
- “I’m getting to
that. I didn’t want to tell you because I told Shaggy to
make sure this person was actively participating in the theft
before we dragged his name into it.”
-
- “Makes sense. So that’s
why you didn’t want to give me a name back then?”
-
- “Right.”
-
- “Care to now?”
-
- “Nathan Taylor.”
-
- Bo leans forward. “Stevie’s
dad?” Rex nods. “How does he fit into this? He doesn’t
work for Turner and we thought this was an inside job.”
-
- “Right, but we couldn’t
figure out how the parts were being smuggled out and where they
were going.”
- “So you have proof now?”
-
- Rex sighs. “Not exactly.
That’s what we were working on yesterday. Shaggy and I were
following Taylor and he was on the move all day. That’s
why I didn’t think to check in. Taylor doesn’t keep
a regular schedule. This was the first time we were able to tail
him. Shaggy lost him twice before, so I didn’t have proof
that he was involved. I didn’t want to tell you until I
was sure.”
-
- “And now you are?”
Rex nods. “Why?”
-
- Rex leans forward and sets
the envelope in front of Bo. “Taylor has been a regular
customer at Turner’s shop. He’s befriended all the
salesmen so it doesn’t arouse suspicion when he comes and
goes.”
-
- “So Nathan’s been
stealing from the machine shop?
-
- Why?”
-
- “That’s what we
were trying to figure out when we tailed him. Like I said, Shaggy
lost him a couple times. He’s pretty slippery. We didn’t
actually see any stolen goods, it was mixed in with what he purchased.
I think one of the salesmen enlisted Nathan’s help. Just
not sure which one yet.”
-
- "Where did he go yesterday?"
-
- "We finally ended up
at a Pawn Shop over in Angel Square. That's the missing piece
to this puzzle. Taylor seems to be the delivery guy. He moves
the parts between the machine shop and the pawn shop. It's all
in there."
-
- Bo pages through the report
Rex had given him, detailing the embezzlement from Turner’s
shop. He finally looks up at Rex. “This is good work, Balsom.”
-
- “Thanks. I’m really
sorry it points to Stevie’s dad.”
-
- Bo nods. “Me too. I’ve
known Nathan a long time. This makes no sense.”
-
- “Any idea why he would
do this?”
-
- “None.” Bo gets
up and walks to the coffee pot. He pours himself another mug
before returning to his seat. “I want you to keep a lid
on this. I’ll talk to Turner and I want to talk to John
too.”
-
- “You’re going to
get the commissioner involved?”
-
- “Yeah, because I have
an idea of how we can work this out.”
-
- “Care to share?”
-
- Bo shakes his head. “First
I'm going to find out what's going on with Nathan that he's suddenly
turned to a life of crime. For now, keep this info to yourself
and continue your surveillance with Shaggy. Do you need more
money for his services?”
-
- “I got it covered.”
-
- “Okay, I’ll take
care of the rest.”
-
- The following week…
Bo is trying to figure out what is going on with Stevie's dad
and his involvement in the theft ring. He accompanies Rex on
his stakeouts, but they don't spot Nathan again and aren't able
to figure out which salesman is helping him. Bo spends a lot
of time away from home trying to get to the bottom of the case.
Nora knows something is on Bo's mind, but he isn't ready to talk
to her about it. Matthew isn't ready to talk to his parents either
so Nora is left in the dark by both of her men.
-
- Kallie is sitting in the
library, finishing her homework when Danielle walks up to her
and tosses a copy of the school newspaper on top of Kallie’s
book. “I can’t believe the editor let you publish that
crap.”
-
- Kallie is startled as she
stares up at her friend. “What are you talking about?”
-
- Danielle sits across from
her, dumping her books on the table. “Your article. You
make it sound like every guy in school is an abusive jerk.”
-
- “It says no such thing.”
-
- “Isn’t reporting
supposed to be fair and balanced?”
-
- “Fair and balanced?
That’s a lame slogan for a news network, it’s not reality.
Why are you so upset?”
-
- Danielle shrugs. “I
just think your article is a little much.”
-
- “I don’t think
it’s enough. The statistics that I cited are accurate. Odds
are that someone in this school is being abused by their boyfriend
and we don’t even know it or some kid is going home at night
and getting hit by his parents or his mother is being beaten
by his father. It’s real, Danielle.”
-
- “Don’t you think
you’re exaggerating just a little?”
-
- “No. I think it’s
important for kids to know that when stuff like that happens,
they can report it and get help. My editor thought it was a very
valuable story.”
-
- “I don’t think
so. I think it’s a smear campaign.”
-
- “A smear campaign? What
do you mean?”
-
- Danielle gets up from the
table. “Never mind. I just wanted you to know I think your
article sucks.”
-
- She grabs her books and hurries
away from the table. Matt passes her as she’s exiting the
library. “Hi, Danielle…” She breezes past him
without responding. He watches her leave before turning to search
the tables for Kallie. He walks over to her. “What’s
up with Danielle?”
-
- Kallie is clearly upset as
well. “I don’t know.”
-
- Matt sits beside her, taking
her hand. “What did I miss?”
- Kallie shrugs. “She
just came over and started ragging on me about my article in
the paper, saying I was making stuff up and trying to make abuse
sound worse than it is. Domestic abuse is a horrible thing. How
could I make it sound worse than it is?”
-
- “Maybe there are extenuating
circumstances. You never know.”
-
- Kallie stares at him. “You
too? How can you defend that type of behavior, Matt?”
-
- “I’m not. I just
meant that maybe things happen, like when people get mad or something.”
-
- “Are you saying that
if you get mad at me when we’re having an argument –
like we’re about to right now – that you would hit
me?”
-
- “NO! Of course not.”
Matt looks around, remembering he’s in the library. He lowers
his voice. “I’m just saying that maybe sometimes it
happens when things get out of control.”
-
- Kallie gathers her books
and gets up from the table without saying a word. She quickly
leaves the library and Matt follows her. “Kallie, hold up.”
-
- She turns on him. “I
wanted to get out of the library before I say what I have to
say to you, Matthew Buchanan. There is NO justification for a
guy to hit a girl. NONE! I will not stand by and listen to you
try to make excuses. If I didn’t believe it goes both ways,
I would sock you in the gut right now!”
-
- Matt can’t help but
smile. “Easy there, Kal.”
-
- “Don’t you dare
make light of this! If you EVER tried anything like that with
me, I would dump you so fast…”
-
- He holds up his hands. “Hey,
slow down. I would never do something like that. I wasn’t
talking about us.”
-
- “Then what are you talking
about?”
-
- Matt shrugs. “Nothing.
I just think maybe there could be a situation where everything
is not as it seems, that’s all.”
-
- “You’re wrong,
Matt. There is no excuse for that behavior and I can’t believe
you would try to defend it.”
-
- He looks at his watch. “My
mom is supposed to pick me up. She’s late, as usual.”
-
- “Don’t change the
subject. I want to know where you’re coming from in this
argument.”
-
- Matt can’t look her
in the eye. “Can we just drop it, please? I don’t want
to fight with you. And for the record, I would never hit you
or any other female. As my grandpa says, ‘Buchanans don’t
act that way.’ So it’s in the genes.”
-
- Kallie is about to respond
when they hear a horn sound. Matt turns and sees Rex motioning
to him from his car. “Hold on a sec.” Matt jogs over
as Rex slides down his window. “What’s up?”
-
- “Hop in, squirt. Your
dad asked me to pick you up and get you to practice.”
-
- “Where’s my mom?
She was supposed to pick me up.”
-
- Rex shrugs. “Don’t
know. Just doing what I was told.”
-
- Matt holds up his finger.
“Give me a minute.” He walks back to Kallie. “I
gotta go. Rex is taking me to practice. Are we okay?”
-
- “I don’t think
we’re finished with this conversation, but we’re okay.”
-
- Matt grins. “So you
still want to go to the dance with me?”
-
- “Are you kidding? My
mom spent a fortune on my dress and I look GOOD in it!”
-
- Matt smiles big. “No
doubt. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He gives her a quick
kiss on the cheek, heads back over to where Rex is waiting and
climbs into the car. “How goes it?”
-
- Rex shrugs. “The usual.”
-
- “How come I haven’t
seen you lately?”
-
- “I’ve been busy.”
-
- “Doing what?”
-
- Rex avoids his question.
“How’s baseball going? Which position are you playing
this year?”
-
- “Baseball is fine. Are
you still mad about the movie with Kallie?”
-
- Rex glances at him. “No.
Why?”
-
- “You haven’t been
around the house and you still haven’t given me that video
game. Are you avoiding me?”
-
- “Of course not. In fact,
I ran into your mom when she got back from the concert and she
asked about the movie. I didn’t say anything so you can
relax. I really have been busy. Lauren moved in with me last
week.”
-
- “I heard. I hope you
hired a cleaning crew first.”
-
- Rex grins. “Actually,
Lauren took care of that herself. There are some real benefits
to having a female in the loft.”
-
- “She’s a brave
woman to take on you and your mess.”
-
- “Watch it, squirt!”
-
- Matt chuckles. “What,
you can’t take a joke anymore?”
- He turns serious again. “So
what’s the real story of your disappearance last week?”
-
- Rex squirms. “Just a
case. No big deal.”
-
- Matt shakes his head. “It
was a huge deal. Mom and Dad got into an argument that turned
into a yelling match about my dating Kallie.”
-
- Rex gives him a quizzical
look. “How did it get from my little incident to you dating?”
-
- He shrugs. “I have no
idea why it blew up.”
-
- “Sorry, squirt. Bo mentioned
the argument but he said it was more about Nora being upset about
his job. I doubt it had anything to do with you or Kallie. Are
they still mad?”
-
- “No. In fact, they’re
going to chaperone the dance this weekend.”
-
- Rex laughs. “Won’t
that be fun for you!”
-
- “Don’t remind me.”
-
- Rex glances at him. “So,
you going to Stevie’s house tonight?”
-
- “What?”
-
- “Are you still hanging
out at Stevie’s house these days?”
- “Why would you ask that?”
-
- “No reason, just curious.”
Matt begins to squirm, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Rex.
“Something wrong?”
-
- “No.”
-
- “So you’ve been
to Stevie’s house lately?”
-
- “You’re sure asking
a lot of questions.”
-
- “That’s not an
answer. Have you been over at Stevie’s?”
-
- “No.”
-
- “Why’s that?”
-
- Matt shrugs. “No reason.
Busy I guess, like you.” He points to the right. “Ballfield
is over there.”
-
- Rex pulls into the parking
lot and turns to Matt. “Are you okay?”
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