A Hero's Secret

fourteen

..

Papers were everywhere.

They littered the floor, the living room table, the couch—aside from where Dray sat, but they covered her lap, too—the chair, and somehow a few sheets precariously balanced on the throw pillows. Wells printed out everything from the flash drive and they organized it as best they could, but it still looked like a tornado scrapped the place.

Dray held her head in her hands, massaging her scalp through her hair. "So Sheriff Heron, Mayor Underhill, and Nash Yate, who is the new President of the Neighborhood Watch in Lockton, are all working together on something not so legal." She lifted her head. "Why?"

Wells leaned against the kitchen counter. "Power," he said without hesitation, "why else?"

She shook her head. "That's it, though? Between the possible murders, robberies, and all the other illegal things that have to be happening, how is it not about more? Like what are the specifics?"

Wells pushed off the counter and walked towards her. "Power and money, then. They're criminals, Dray. Do they really need elaborate reasonings?"

Dray groaned and fell into the cushions. Her head lolled back. "We need to go to Lockton."

"And do what?"

She snapped her head up. "Surveillance." It had been over two weeks since they last touched any of the stuff they found on Ivory's flash drive.

After the barbecue at Peter's, life flew by in the most normal way Dray had experienced since arriving in Hero. Her friendship with Peter evolved with lunches and coffee dates on patios where although they got to know each other well, he spent probably too much time convincing her to set up dinner dates with Wells.

In the end it worked and her relationship with Wells grew from something she had no idea about to something she had a little idea about. They were working on it.

Wells stared at her, his face set in a scowl, but after a moment, he spoke. "Okay, let's go."

Dray's eyes grew. "Wait, what? Really? Finally."

Her excitement was lost on Wells as he had already made his way to the bedroom. A few seconds later, he reemerged dressed entirely in black, throwing her another dark blob.

She held up the fabric and it unrolled to reveal a sweatshirt certainly too large and long for her. "Seriously?"

He grinned. "I thought you'd love to wear my sweatshirt?" He grabbed his keys and shoved his phone in his pocket.

Dray smiled to herself and threw the sweatshirt over her head. It fell long over her jeans and she had to roll up the sleeves to be able to do anything with her hands. She followed him outside where the sun was set orange and pink the cloudy skies.

Twenty minutes sped by on the back of his motorcycle and before Dray got over the anxious bubble rising into her chest, they drove into a park in the middle of Lockton. Wells more or less yanked her off the bike and they walked to the top of a hill that overlooked downtown. The park was more nature and less fun, so trees covered the area. They were prime for climbing.