Emma's Home (The Fairfield Series) (15 page)

“No, Brad, I’m not here to try to talk you into getting back with her. That’s not my job. My job is to work with all the students individually – I want to see what
you
need and how I can help
you
.” Brad sat, wringing his hands in his lap. He opened his mouth several times to speak but could not seem to decide what to say.

“Brad, my concern is not that you broke up with Suzy. My concern is the reason why you told her you broke up. You have always had such self-confidence. Why would you tell her you are not good enough?” Emma paused, letting her words sink in. Brad raised his eyes up to hers and she noticed that they were bloodshot and teary.

“Brad, what is going on? You can talk to me. Right now, it is you, me and the four walls here. I don’t tell anyone about what we talk about unless you are planning to harm yourself or you’re involved in something illegal.”

At that, Brad sat up quickly, stone faced he looked defiantly at her. “All due respect, Ms. Dodd, I don’t have anything I need to tell you,” he said.

Smoke. Why am I getting a whiff of smoke?

Emma thoughts were now flying furiously around her mind. Not wanting to scare him off, she knew she needed to tread carefully.

“Brad,” she said softly. “I just want you to feel as though you can talk to me. You’re smart, good-looking, great personality, athletic. You have so much going for you, but your behaviors are changing right before my eyes. I care about you.”

Brad’s defiance slipped away, and once again she saw a small boy in front of her, struggling with some secret.

“Ms. Dodd, you’re right. I haven’t been myself, but I promise I’m taking care of it. I’ve just been under a lot of stress lately.” Emma sat quietly, letting the silence bring peace between them. As a counselor, she knew the value of silence – it can allow someone to organize their thoughts until they will continue to speak.

Sure enough, Brad began to speak, confessing, “I feel bad about Suzy, but I just have so much going on. I gotta get my grades up, keep up with sports, my part time job, and just stuff that is weighing me down.” Looking down, he took a deep breath. “I’m getting it together, Ms. Dodd. I promise.”

Raising his head, he stared directly into her eyes, and Emma felt that whatever he was dealing with and hiding, he was truthful about wanting to work it out. But she still felt some fear for him. If he had been near the fire last night then he was definitely out in the park area and probably doing something he shouldn’t be doing.

“All right, Brad. You can head back to class now. Just know that I care, and you can talk to me anytime.” Emma wrote a pass for him, and they stood up. Brad started to leave then turned suddenly and gave her a big hug.

“Thank you, Ms. Dodd. I…. well, just thank you.” Emma hugged back, wanting to smile at the show of confidence, but she couldn’t help but notice….. Brad’s jacket definitely smelled of smoke. Not cigarette smoke. No, this was the distinct smell of smoke from a wood fire.

Debating who to talk to first, Emma decided to go back to the coach with her concerns. Coach Ted was definitely the best choice, if she wanted someone who could influence Brad. Heading to the gym after school, she remembered her earlier trip there in the fall. She found Ted as he came out of the locker room.

“Litl’bit – what’s up?” he said in his familiar greeting. “Need to talk again over dinner?” he joked.

Emma laughed. “I think we’ll just talk here if you don’t mind – I’d hate for people to get the wrong idea,” she joked back.

They walked into the gym, sitting down on the bleachers. Not wanting to break Brad’s confidentiality, Emma was careful in divulging too many details. She told Ted her concerns over the breakup, which was common knowledge, and the reasons he gave. She also admitted her concerns about his change in appearance, grades, and anxiety. Knowing that Ted cares a great deal about “his boys” as he likes to call them, she was surprised that he seemed agitated.

“Emma, I just think you are making more of it than there is. He hasn’t done anything wrong. Yeah, his grades are slipping some, but it’s probably just senioritis. He’s a hard worker, doesn’t miss practice, and I really don’t want you hounding him.”

“Ted, I’m not hounding him. I just want to see if I can help in some way. I thought you could help as well,” Emma replied.

“It seems that you’re more upset with him breaking up with his girlfriend and making a mountain out of a molehill,” Ted continued. “You need to realize that my boys don’t need to be babied. He’ll be fine. He’ll graduate, go on to college with a football or wrestling scholarship, and it won’t hurt lil’ Suzy to move on.”

Incensed, Emma was confused at Ted’s attitude.
What is going on? Is Ted knowingly ignoring a problem with one of “his boys”?

As much as she hated to give in, Emma knew that Ted was not only not going to help, he definitely wanted her to back off. Plastering on a fake smile, she looked up at Ted. “Coach, I’m sure you’re right. Thanks for letting me know I have nothing to worry about,” she said sweetly.

Standing up from the bleachers, Ted gave her a big grin. “That’s a girl,” he said encouragingly. “My boys’ll be fine.”

*

Emma walked back to her office, grabbed her purse, and decided to pay Jake a visit at the police station. Something was up, and she had a suspicious feeling that Ted may be in on it. Walking into the station, she greeted Sally, the police receptionist.

“Hey Emma, here to see Jake?” the older woman called. Emma looked over at the woman who kept track of everything going on with the Fairfield Police Station. She couldn’t help but grin – Sally had been in place since before computers and Emma was sure that Sally was just as knowledgeable as a computer anyway.

“Yes. Is he here?” Emma asked.

“Sorry dear, he’s out with Tom right now. I don’t know when he will be back,” Sally replied.

Just then, Mike walked through the main doors behind Emma. “Emma” he greeted. “What brings you here? Well, besides checking up on one of our finest?” he joked.

“I had something that I was suspicious of and wanted to talk to Jake, but I guess it will have to wait.”

Mike’s professionalism kicked in immediately as he went into detective mode. “Well, Emma, we work on most of the same cases. Perhaps I can help or at least hear you out.” Emma thought for a second, then realized that she really wanted to get her suspicions out in case it was time sensitive.

“Sure, that would be great,” she answered.

Mike led Emma down the hall to an office, offered her a seat and pulled out a pad of paper.

“Have you found any evidence from my fire last night?” Emma started.

Mike looked up. “Well, it’s an open investigation, so I can’t officially report on it, but you were there so you saw that the hut was completely burned. I will tell you that the fire marshal hasn’t given a report yet, but I didn’t see anything unusual from the wreckage. Why do you ask?”

Emma thought carefully how to answer. “Tom called last night to tell Jake that a park ranger had seen some kids on the back of the property near the hut earlier. Then today, one of my students smelled like smoke.”

Mike’s sharp eyes glanced from the pad of paper back up to her face. “Is that it? Just that they smelled like smoke?”

“Well, no. This student has been changing. Grades are poor, appearance unkempt, broke up with his girlfriend, looks like he hasn’t slept. And then today, he smelled like smoke.”

Mike jotted down notes, then looked back up at her. “You gonna tell me who the student is?”

Emma hesitated. “Mike, I don’t want to make things worse for this student. I’m just concerned.”

“Look Emma. What you are doing is helping in an active investigation. I’m not going to run out and arrest anyone.” Emma smiled at that. Mike continued, “What I will do is take the information you give me, do some checking on my own without sharing with anyone else at this time. If it appears it has nothing to do with this investigation, I’ll keep it between you and me. If I find that there is some evidence of being part of this investigation, I will share that with the other detectives and we will act on it. Emma, that is the same thing that Jake would be doing if he were here right now.”

At that, Emma nodded in understanding. “Okay,” she answered. “So right now, this just stays between us until you have a chance to check it out. And if nothing comes from that, you won’t let everyone know the student’s name.”

“I promise,” Mike answered.

Emma took a deep breath. “The student I am concerned about is Brad Evans, Wendy and Bill’s son,” she confessed.

“The football player?” Mike asked incredulously. “I can’t see him wanting to risk a college scholarship doing something stupid like setting a hut on fire.”

“I know it seems crazy, but I see so many changes in him, and he smelled like smoke this morning,” she reiterated. “But there is more.” At this she hesitated. “But Mike before I continue, I have to know that this information isn’t going to get out everywhere. I do not want to be responsible for the police possibly ruining innocent lives.”

Mike nodded. “Emma, I have promised – what you tell me today stays between us. I will check things out quietly just to see if there is any basis in your concerns.”

Again, Emma took a deep breath. “Okay. I also took my concerns to Coach Ted. He not only dismissed them, he told me that I needed to forget them and drop the whole thing.” Mike nodded slowly this time, keeping his eyes on her. “I mean, why wouldn’t he be concerned about one of ‘his boys’ as he likes to call them? He actually seem to be chastising me for caring!”

Mike jotted a few more notes down, then reached over and patted her hands. “Look Emma, I can tell this whole thing is upsetting you. Have you talked to anyone else about your concerns?”

“No,” she replied. “No one.”

“Here’s what I am going to do. I’m not going to mention this to anyone – not even Jake or Tom at the moment. Let me do a little checking up on things myself, just to see if I can find any evidence linking Ted or Brad to your fire. If not, we will let this drop. But Emma, if I do find some link, your testimony will be needed in this case.” Mike looked at her sharply to see if she understood.

Emma nodded in agreement. “I understand. And Mike – thank you so much. I feel so much better knowing someone else can check into them for me!”

They stood up from the table, and Mike escorted her outside.

At that moment Jake was coming up the station’s front stairs. His eyes narrowed as he saw Mike’s hand on Emma’s back.

Emma turned around, saw Jake and her smile lit up her face. “Jake, I came looking for you!”

Reaching down, Jake drew Emma into his embrace, and away from Mike.

Mike laughed at his friend’s response. “Don’t worry pal. She sure as hell didn’t smile like that for me.”

Jake looked over at Mike, gave him a head jerk and pulled Emma around to his side. “You okay, babe?” he asked Emma kissing her on the top of her head.

“Yeah, just a rough day at work,” she replied, hugging him close. “I thought I would stop in and see you. Mike kept me company though since you weren’t available,” she joked.

Jake scowled and swatted her ass, noting the tight pencil skirt cupping that gorgeous bottom.
Damn, I never had a teacher that looked like her when I was in high school.
Suddenly, Jake found himself jealous of the teens that got to view her beauty every day.

Emma squealed and hopped into her car. Rolling the car window down, she smiled just for him, as Jake leaned onto her car.

“I was going to call you in a bit,” Jake said. “Mom wanted to know if you would like to come to dinner.”

Emma’s smile grew wider. “I would love to. You know I love your mom. What time?”

“I can pick you up about six o’clock,” Jake answered.

Emma looked confused. “Honey, you don’t have to pick me up. I can just come over.”

“I don’t want you going back into your house by yourself that late at night. I’ll come pick you up,” Jake said definitively.

Emma just smiled and nodded. Jake was protective and there was no arguing with him when he was in that mode.
He will be great with children.
Emma knew it was early to be thinking about children, but for her, Jake was it. Everything she wanted. Everything she needed. Continuing to smile, she drove away, waving to Jake and Mike standing on the steps of the police station.

“M
rs. Campbell, dinner was delicious,” Emma said, as she rose to start clearing the table. Emma enjoyed having dinner with Jake and his mother. It reminded her of dinners when she was much younger and the family would sit around the table, talking about their day. Emma often found that it was the simple things that made her think of home and miss her family.

“My dear, I have told you to call me, Mary,” Jake’s mom said. Emma smiled at her, as Jake leaned down and kissed his mother’s cheek.

“We’ll take care of the cleanup since you cooked,” he said. “You head on into the living room, and I’ll have Emma get the coffee.”

Mary nodded appreciatively and prepared to rise from the table. Emma noticed how Jake discreetly assisted his mother to a standing position, making sure she was steady before moving away. After making quick work of the cleaning, they settled in with their coffees in the living room. Mary was seated in a comfortable chair that Emma noticed had sturdy arms on it that could be used to help Mary sit or rise by herself. She also noticed that the warm, inviting house had no clutter.