Part 2 (2/2)
”Hiya! I'm Pam Gilbert, the PTA President,” she said as she smiled at Annie and held out the ca.s.serole dish. ”I wanted to welcome you to town on behalf of all the parents.” Annie took the dish in her hands and stared at it. Homemade food? She couldn't remember the last time she had homemade food.
”Thank you, Pam. It's nice to meet you.”
”Well, I won't keep you, but if you need anything just give me a shout.” Pam gave a little finger wave and went back to her minivan.
”Blake!” Annie shook her head as she watched the minivan with the Dale Junior sticker on the back window, next to the white stick figures of a dad, mom, and two boys, peel out of the church parking lot.
”Sorry, sir. Just meeting the locals.” Annie closed the door and headed to put the ca.s.serole into the freezer.
”As I was saying, I was hoping we could meet in person on...” Annie pivoted in the small entryway when the doorbell rang. ”Was that the doorbell?”
”Yeah, sorry. Hold on for just a sec.” Annie balanced the ca.s.serole dish on her hip and the phone on her shoulder as she opened the door. She looked out and then down to a trio of white-haired ladies.
”h.e.l.lo, dear. We're the Rose sisters. I'm Lily Rae. This is my sister Daisy Mae.” The leader bobbed her head toward the thin, wiry looking sister with her silver hair pulled back into a tight bun, with a couple pencils poking out of it. Annie realized that she had seen when she had driven past the Cafe. ”And this is Violet Fae.” The small, round woman grabbed her around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug that had the ca.s.serole dish teetering and the cell phone coming close to getting lost in Violet's puffy cleavage.
”Bless your heart you are a skinny thing! Thank goodness we brought you some food. You must be starving!” Violet clucked as she looked Annie over.
”Thank you for the food. Someone named Pam just dropped off a ca.s.serole. This is all very nice of you.”
”Dang it! Pam beat us here. We'll never hear the end of it.” Daisy shook her head and s.h.i.+fted the large basket hanging at the crook of her arm.
”But I bet she didn't stay to give her a proper welcome. She had to pick the boys up from soccer practice,” Lily p.r.o.nounced. ”We won't run out on you so quickly. Come and sit for a spell and we'll get know one another.” The sisters pushed past her and into the small kitchen before Annie could stop them.
”I'm sorry,” she said as she trailed after them. ”I do not mean to be rude, but I'm on the phone.” Annie paused at the kitchen and watched as they looked around.
”That's okay, dear. Give us that ca.s.serole and we'll just put the food away. I'm sure you want to finish your call with your...boyfriend?” Lily asked as she reached for the ca.s.serole.
”I don't have a boyfriend.” Three white heads swiveled around and smiles appeared at once.
”Well, love your heart! It's lucky we stopped by then. We know plenty of men. Now don't be rude and keep that person waiting on the phone. Don't mind us!” Lily put the ca.s.serole in the fridge, turned to her sisters and started pulling out covered dishes from the basket. Annie looked down at the phone and cringed.
”Sorry about that. The welcoming committee is here.”
”I guessed that. Now about our meeting.” The doorbell went off again and her boss dropped the f word.
”I got it, dear!” one of the sisters shouted from the kitchen.
”Go ahead, Romero. But, you may want to make it quick.” Annie looked to the door to see a pretty woman her own age with a handsome man who had Fed written all over him. ”Sir, do you have anyone else in town?” she whispered, looking away from the couple.
”No, why?”
”A fed just walked in. I would bet my life on it.”
”Details.”
”Thirty, dark hair, silver eyes, six feet, no visible tats. He's with a woman in her mid to late twenties, brown hair.” Annie waited as she heard the keys of Romero's computer tapping as he ran a search.
”I think I got it. Cole Parker. He's the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Lexington Office. I heard through the cop-vine he just got engaged. If you need anything and he's nearby, you get him to help. He's the one that just took down that corruption ring out of New York and D.C. Now, before we get interrupted again. Jesus, was that the doorbell again?”
”Yes, sir.” Annie was sure she heard the whistle of steam coming out of his ears.
”Meeting, tomorrow, seven in the morning at the office. Got it.”
”Yes, sir.” The doorbell rang again and Romero hung up while rattling off a string of curse words. They really did have a lot to discuss. Annie tucked away her phone and turned to see her small house filled up and people hanging out on the porch. Who were these people and why where they here?
”Oh, good, you're off the phone. Come meet everyone!” Lily took her hand and dragged her over to the FBI agent and his fiance. ”This is Cole Parker and Paige Davies.”
”It's so nice to meet you. I heard all about you and I just had to meet you!”
”Heard about me?” She shot a glance at Cole. Maybe he knew somehow who she was. The look she got back said he didn't, but he was smart enough to figure it out.
”Yes! Marshall told me all about you and my brother. It was so funny that I had to meet the woman who didn't swoon at his feet.”
”Sorry. Paige forgets that not everyone knows her family tree. The brother to whom she is referring is Cade Davies. He's the biology teacher and football coach at the high school.”
”Oh! The guy that needs to learn self-defense. Yeah, I know who you're talking about. It's nice to meet you both.”
”Annie, come meet this young man. He's single too!” Wow, Lily was sure one for subtlety. ”This is Ahmed. He's not from here either.”
Annie looked at the hard man and cringed. Was everyone here a fed? At least the feds here were hot. Ahmed was shorter than Cole, but was built. His body showed a life dedication to training and she bet she could bounce a quarter off his...well, his everything.
”So, what do you do for a living?”
”I am the head of security for Mo,” he said in a heavily accented voice. Middle East somewhere she guessed.
”Mo?”
”The Prince of Rahmi. Well, and now also his fiancee Danielle.” He nodded to the couple now talking to Cole and Paige. ”So, Miss Lily has put you on the must need to be married list.”
”It appears so. Never really wanted to be married. My lifestyle doesn't support it.”
”Hmm. Guidance counselors have tough schedules.” He gave her a look that said he knew way more than she wanted him too. ”If you ever need help...guiding someone, let me know. We single-don't-want-to-be-married people need to stick together.” With a quick bow of his head, he turned and headed out the door. Who were these people? She needed to hook up her computer as soon as she had her meeting with her boss, get her new login to the database and run a search on the whole town.
Chapter Four.
Cade stared at the papers spread out on his desk in disbelief. He had never felt like hurting a kid, but he sure did now. What were they thinking? Drugs... drugs in Keeneston. It didn't happen. It just didn't happen. But, the evidence was right there in front of him. Not one, not two, but three of his players had tested positive for S2.
They had had an alright practice on Tuesday, and besides Bonner being an a.s.s, practice today went well too, not good, but not as horribly as Monday's. Now, though, he was going to have to get rid of three of the team's best players. The starting wide receiver was out, Bonner was out, and the only offensive lineman with any experience was also out. The team went from a five hundred team to a ”we'll be lucky to win a game or two” team. Worse, he was going to have to tell these kids that their dreams of college ball were over because he was left with no other choice but to kick them all off the team.
Cade shoved his long legs out from the desk and paced around his cla.s.sroom. What would their parents say? He knew they would all be asking to talk to him. He paused by one of the large rectangular windows and looked out into the almost empty parking lot. Corey Bonner and Lee Faust, the starting senior center who also tested positive for S2, were standing by their cars. Cade watched as Bonner shoved Faust and started waving his hands around angrily.
Faust calmly looked at Bonner and said something that made Bonner freeze. Faust was always the one you had to worry about when he was quiet. Cade watched as Bonner pulled out his cell phone and made a call. As soon as he put it away, Cade pushed up the window and leaned out.