Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Jeremiah was confused about the absence of a few of his teachers today. There was a mandatory meeting at nine—of course, it was only 8:10 am. That was for them to get to know each other, and then there was going to be a luncheon at 1 pm. Most of the teachers had been there all week, this being a Thursday, to ready their rooms, but no one in the three kindergarten classes nor one of the first-grade teachers had bothered to show. As far as he could remember, they were all starting out brand new in this district. He wished now that he'd pushed harder in getting to go to the interviews instead of the board doing it. He was going to be the one who had to work with them, and it should have him in on the hiring process—oh well, too late for that.

School started on Monday at 8:15 am sharp, and he wanted everyone as excited as he was. Of course, he was usually excited when the whole summer lay before him, getting ready for it to start back up.

He'd taken the principal job when there was a shooting at the school late last school year. Ms. Holt, a woman who was the guidance counselor at the school when he and his brothers were there, saw his brother Loren there, getting the kids excited for college when she'd only just told them that they'd never get to be anything, so they shouldn't try. And by that, she didn't want Loren to get them all hyped up so that she'd have to deal with them again. When that hadn't worked, she brought in a gun and killed two people. If not for his brother shifting when he did to take her down, her plans would have been to kill all ninety-four seniors who were graduating that year. But before leaving that morning, she had killed her husband. He was the nicest man, too. Mr. Gray and Teddy, a senior that year as well, were killed when she started shooting around the room.

"Mr. Tate?" Turning, he smiled at Ms. James, the fifth-grade teacher. "I think that we have an issue. Not us, but you. One of the teachers, one of the new ones, is calling the police on you."

"I'm sorry? What did I do?" She said that he'd robbed her room. "I don't understand. But I thank you for the heads up. I'll go there now. Do you happen to know her name?"

"Ms. Abigal Biggers. Or it could be Beggers. I'm not entirely sure what she was screaming at me about her things being taken." Thanking her, he asked her to stay and wait to allow the police in. Agreeing too quickly, he wondered if Mr. Biggers/Beggers had taken some of her frustrations out on her. Going into the room, he saw that she'd gathered quite the crowd. He also thought that his new teachers where there egging her on.

"You." He crossed his arms over his chest and said that he had no idea who she was. "Ms. Betty Higgins. I want to know why everything in my room is missing. I'm told that you did it a month ago. I want them all back in here and put where they were. Now. And I won't press charges against you for stealing my things."

"Those were all my things that I took home when I took over the job as principal, your boss, as a matter of fact. Now, I want you to calm down so that we can have a civil conversation without all this accusing me of stealing things that didn't belong to you in the first place. Besides, I do believe that you were given a credit card with money on it to purchase things for your room. You still have time to get them."

"I used it on myself." He asked her why she'd do that when it was specifically for her room supplies. "Well, I thought that my room was finished, so I got my hair done, also my nails and a nice relaxing day at the spa. I didn't think that I'd have to use it in my room when it was finished up the way that I liked it. Why would you do something like that to us?"

"Us?" She said that her friends had expected their rooms to be as nice as hers was. "Well then, you should have asked. I didn't steal anything. However, you did. Using that money that was to put your room in order wasn't to be spent on luxuries. I do believe that you signed a contract that stated that the money was to be used for—"

"Oh, for Christ's sake. My. Room. Was. Finished. You stole it all from me when we were expecting our rooms to be just as nice. Now? Look at it. It's going to take you forever to get this back the way that it was, and I demand that you compensate me for my time coming in here and having this conversation with you about it." He smiled and simply said no. "No? No? That's all you have to say about—thank god you're here, officer. I want this man arrested for stealing the things that were in my—"

"Hello, Jeremiah. Congratulations on your promotion. It's good to see that for you. My kids still talk about how you were their favorite teacher." Betty grabbed officer Scott and jerked him around to look at her. He had her face pressed against the floor in seconds, reading her the law about grabbing an officer of the law. "Now, we're going to go down to the station house and have a little conversation about touching an officer while on duty."

After telling her the rights that she had, the women with her started to look around the room at anything but him. Clearing his throat, he wasn't going to be putting up with their shit today either. He asked for their names and the grades that they taught so that he could check to see how they'd spent the money for their rooms. He could tell by just looking at them that they'd had the works done on them as well.

After doing research on the women who were now at the police station, he only found that Betty was the only one that they'd hired. The others, telling him that they'd been picked by Betty, said that they were all certified as teachers and had been interviewed by the school. But they'd not gotten a second interview, so Betty told them that she'd take care of it.

"We were thrilled to come here and find that the school did this for us. Now, it turns out that there is a pettiness going on that tells me that I'm not going to be working here. Too much drama." He asked the woman if she realized that she was the drama, and she waved him off.

Having them arrested, too, seemed the best course of action on his part. He told them that he was contacting someone to get them off the school property now. Instead of turning his back on the women, he reached out for anyone within walking distance of the school. Everyone said that they were too far away but Hanna. He thought that he was more afraid of her than any of the others in his family. Then dad answered that he was with Hanna—oh god—and that he was calling the police to go there too. The woman was still talking, and he didn't miss anything. It was still the same bullshit as before.

"For what? Having something done just for us when we thought that we'd be taken care of? I'm to understand that you do this every year for the teachers. That's mighty nice of you, Mr. Tate. Or is it your foundation of rich brothers—it makes me wonder, however, why you're a teacher, sorry principal, when they have all the money. Odd man out, are you? Couldn't handle having more money than everyone in the world wants? Everything they said about this town says that the Tates will take care of us. And you are a Tate, aren't you? Why are you begrudging us a little pamper time when we're going to be teaching snot-nosed kids here that don't have a bit of sense between the lot of them? Christ, I wish now that I'd gone with that private school. The pay was better anyway."

"You do realize that since I'm pressing charges against the lot of you that you'll have a criminal record. That means that you can't be a teacher anywhere I'm in charge of." She waved him off and said that they all had one already. "I see. So she just called you up and said we can go to this school and fleece it for some good times before teaching snot-nosed kids."

"Pretty much. Oh, you know that they'll take us even if we killed someone. Haven't you come to realize that teachers are hard to find? And good ones are impossible. I only went into this knowing that I wasn't going to be doing it forever. Once I got through this year—all of us, we were going to go up to better paying jobs to get into a college setting." She laughed then, her cohorts joining her in a joke he didn't get. "You'll see. Once word gets out how you took the things from our room for your own personal gain, it will get you. You'll understand the pull that a woman teacher gets over a man teacher. We'll have you tared and feathered I no time. You'll just have to learn to turn the other way when it comes to us. Oh, and by the way, you should have some temporary teachers lined up to take over when we all go on maternity leave at the same time, in four months. We'll be home just in time to have Christmas and the new year off. Isn't that wonderful?"

"Goody for you." They all three turned when Hanna and his dad came into the room. It was scary how his dad came to stand by him when Hanna was with the women. "I couldn't help but overhear that you're going to get the sympathy of the town for what Jeremiah did to you? Not going to happen, I'm afraid. He's the most respected male in the county. Not to mention, he's been working with the kids around here all his life. But as I'm sure that you've heard, when you mess with one of the Tates, you mess with all of us. Now, what is it you think is going to happen when it comes to light how you falsified city records? Or the fact that you each stole a grand of school property? Not well for you three, that's for sure. With you being out of a job too… Well, it certainly sucks to be you three." One of them asked Hanna what she was talking about. "The contract you signed when you were offered the job. And I have to admit when I was helping with the background checks on the lot of you, I can easily say that I don't remember any of your names coming up."

One of them stepped forward to cozy up to him. "Don't bother with them. They would have been kissy ass. Unless that's what you want." She looked at him, and he felt his body feel like slime had been tossed over him. He felt nasty. "Do you want someone to be a kissy ass to you, Jere?"

He didn't even bother looking around. Jeremiah felt like if he looked away, they'd be all over him. So he not only kept an eye on them but he wanted to back away. It wouldn't work. He knew that. These women were used to getting their own way with men.

"That's about enough, madam. Jeremiah, are you all right?" He nodded at officer Scott again when he came in through the door. "I don't know if you've been made aware of this or not, but these aren't the teachers that you hired. Ms. Betty is saying how she knew what sort of teachers that she wanted to hang around with, and those others wouldn't cut it. I haven't any idea what that means but there you have it."

"As a member of the board of the school board, I'm pressing charges." Dad said that he was, as well as they were trespassing and threatening his boy. When the women laughed, it was Jeremiah who laughed too. Telling them that they'd just pissed off three more members of the Tate family. "And for that, I hope you four get the maximum sentencing."

They were taken away in cuffs, and the other teaches at this end of the hall applauded. He did wonder how much grief they'd gotten before he'd been called down. It occurred to him that he was short several teachers and knew that his chances of having anyone to choose from were going to be slim to none. Not even the teachers that had been hired would be available, he thought. Not this late in the game. He said that to Hanna and his dad.

"When I left the board meeting yesterday morning, they were making calls to line up for temp teachers. They'd been informed that they'd need them in the following school term because of them notifying the board that they were all due at the end of the year. I'll make sure they're aware that it's going to have to be sooner rather than later." He thanked his dad. "Who would have thought that it's not even the school year started, and we're already having trouble. I suppose we should have expected a little. Hiring a bunch of new teachers will be hard to fill, but we'll get it done."

"Of that, I have no doubt." He finished his rounds when everyone said they were leaving. He locked the back doors and then went to each room and closed any windows that might have been left open. As he was going by his room, he went back in and looked around. So many memories. So many children crossed his path in this room. Going into the hall again, he closed the door and locked up the building. Knowing that he'd be back first thing in the morning to help out as much as he could with getting the school ready for the new year. He just hoped this wasn't the way it was going to go for the rest of his career here.

~*~

"Turner, you have a phone call." He told his boss that he was too busy right now to take it. "Well, make yourself unbusy and come here and take the phone. I have more important shit to be than your sexy-tary. Get over here. Danny, take over for Mr. Important while he takes care of business on my dime."

He hated this job. More than any other he'd had before. But he'd not been able to snag a job in his profession so he'd become a line cook in a well-established restaurant. He was literally slinging beef, as in pulled beef sammiches, not sandwiches, and making coleslaw. Larry hated working in the food industry. It was dirty and hard to smell different than what you'd been cooking all day when you were out and about.

"Larry Turner. What can I do for you? But more importantly, how the hell did you get his number?" The woman laughed and then said she liked him. "Good for you, young lady. But I have a job here and I'm not getting it done when I'm chewing the fat with you. State your business, or I'm hanging up."

"My name is Caitlynn Tate. I'm on the board of the Tri-Valley School District. I'd like, or more specifically, we would like to offer you a job as a teacher of first grade here at the elementary school." He told her that he'd been turned down for the job. "Yes, well, we've only just found out that you were called by a teacher who wanted her crew to work with her and not a bunch of people who were deadbeats. I'm not saying that it was only you that she didn't want to work with, but…well, we have a few openings here. And if it's not too late, we would like to extend you every courtesy of you getting here and setting up your room. Right now, the principal is running the show of the grades while we scramble around finding candidates."

Larry looked around the room that he'd been working in for the last two weeks when two other jobs hadn't panned out either. He thought of all the times he'd gone home, regretting going to work the next day. How it was burning him up to be in a kitchen that was an easy thousand degrees, in his opinion, all the time.

"I hate what I'm doing here, but this is a good income and I need a good income. I'm still paying for my daughter's graduation party we had last weekend. Now there is someone you should get. My daughter has a teaching degree as well, no matter how many times I told her that she needed something that paid better and wasn't as dangerous."

"I understand, Mr. Turner. However, I've been authorized to give you a month's salary just to come here and help us out for a few days. Just to see if it's something that you'd like to be a part of." That was tempting. Very much so. "Also, we will provide you with a home that is furnished to get you started, as well as enough food vouchers to keep you fed while here. Nice places, too, not all fast food. If your daughter would come too, we'd offer her the same package. It has to be worth it for just a few days of your time to see if you could fit in here, don't you think?"

"I'm tempted. Don't get me wrong. I was happy to find a job with my job skills of being a teacher. When would I have to report there? Soon, I'm thinking, as school has already started here." She told him that school had started two days ago and that they'd been looking for him and some others since then. "All right. I was more than likely going to get fired anyway after tonight. Nothing like knowing that you're canned when you've never learned the name of your coworkers."

"There will be a ticket at the airport with your name on it tomorrow morning. And if you want to bring your daughter with you, then I'll have one there for her as well. We'll gladly pay off your graduation party just for the opportunity to see if we can work this out for us all."

After making arrangements with her as to when she'd call him back tomorrow, he hung up the phone and stood there. Pulling it back to him, he called his daughter, Lexy. He knew she'd be awake, she wasn't a night owl or anything, but like him, she didn't need more than a few hours' sleep a night.

After telling her what was going on, he looked at the boss, who was standing outside his office, tapping his foot. He had never felt so liberated in his life than to get off the phone with his little girl and then tell Mr. Brush that he was quitting. That went over as well as he thought it would.

"What do you mean you're quitting? I have to open the doors in about an hour. What about the food prep that is going on?" He asked him if he was going to fire him at the end of tonight. "That has nothing to do with the state of this kitchen right now. Get back to work, and I might allow you to work one more day here just to have cooled off tempers. What are you going to do when I blackball you from ever working in fine dining again?"

"Thank you? Be thrilled that no one will hire me because I hate this job? I don't know, Mr. Brush. I hated it here, and the place is far from fine dining. You serve sandwiches, not sammiches. What adult calls it that? No one. Christ, this is just barbequed sandwiches on a nasty stiff bun you buy a day old so you can save a few bucks. I've seen the buns here. Most of them are moldy. Not to mention you telling us to cut off that part and sever it up. Get a grip, will you? It's nasty stuff, and I wouldn't be surprised if you were severing horse meat over beef."

He had the most guilty look on his face and he just knew that he'd been right all along. It was horse meat and no telling what else. Gagging just a little, he turned and looked at the ‘meat' that he'd had his hands in. Instead of running to the trash can, not that he thought that he'd make it, he threw up in the meat mixture until his belly was nothing but bile. Standing up, the man who he'd been working with tossed a towel at him, a clean one, thankfully, and the two of them headed to the door. At the last minute, he turned to the waitress station, where they were all gathered for the night, and told them that they were serving horse meat to their customers. They looked about as shocked as he'd been. Of the ten of the staff, only one stayed because he figured she was going down with the ship, so to speak, being the wife. Mr. Brush.

Drawing as much fresh air as he could when he was beyond smelling the restaurant, he stood there close to the tree and thought about this teaching job. If he could get his daughter on board to go with him, he'd be set. She was his only friend too, he knew. She came and wrapped her arms around him when he was headed to his car.

"Thanks, Daddy." He turned in her arms and held her tightly to him. "I hated my job as much as you did. How about we have some breakfast, the two of us then we'll see what we want to take with us to this new job. I've already done some research on them. The Tates are true to their words in what they have told you. They are going to cover our expenses as well as get us there. Caitlynn Tate called me right after you spoke with me."

"Good. We'll make arrangements to get going first thing in the morning. Did you give her flight information? It's going to be tight if they don't come through with the tickets. I know that I can't afford to pay for both of ours." She told him that she'd use her last check to get their tickets if they weren't there. "All right, honey. How about we do what you said. Get us a nice hot breakfast, then go home and pack."

The breakfast place they usually went to was closed, forgetting how late it was in the evening. The place only sold breakfast until five. It was just past that now. Picking up the few things that they'd need to travel with, they were completely caught off guard when an officer was standing at the door to his apartment when they arrived. He supposed that he shouldn't have been as he had messed up at the restaurant. He started to defend himself.

But the officer wasn't there to arrest them. "I'm not here about your former job. It was justified that the board of health had been called in to inspect the place by order of the Tate Foundation. They had me go out and get this for you two. It was all paid for when I got to the store. It has five hundred dollars on it, can you believe it, for you two to have a nice couple of days at the—also, nearly forgot, your bills that were for the party of the year, and it was if you ask anybody in town, has been paid in full. I might have to figure out if they need a couple of police officers up there. Nice people, the Tates. Could be a nice place to work that appreciates you like that."

After the officer left them, they both went into their respective apartments and cleaned up. Larry was going to burn his clothing, not even caring if he'd only just purchased them to do this job. It was tainted with the smell of barbeque, and he suddenly thought that he'd never want another sandwich like that for as long as he lived.

The evening was the best that he'd had in a while. He'd have a few more nights like this if he could but was counting on the bonus and paychecks that the Tate Foundation had promised him when he'd been hired as a teacher. The sign-on bonus was well more than he made in a month's time, and that was why he'd spent so much on his little girl's graduation party. Live and learn, he told himself.

He supposed he should stop calling her a little girl. She was twenty-seven years old now and hadn't been living with him since before her mother had passed on. There were times when he missed LeAnn, his wife, but not enough for him to wish that she was still around. Just having a nice talk with someone was something that he missed. Of course, LeAnn couldn't hold her end up all that well, but she didn't scream at him when he talked over her head. She died several years ago, about ten now, when Lexy was just a child.

The night was free of talking about work. Neither of them knew if they got it, nor of the ones that they quit this week. Lexy had been fired because her boss hadn't come into work on time, and several people who were waiting to work, her included, didn't get the store open on time. He couldn't believe the shit that was going on at places now. How entitled the employees and employers were nowadays. Like everyone wanted money but not to actually have to work for it.

The next morning, they headed to the airport. It wouldn't be that long of a flight, a few hours, but they'd be there soon and he just hoped that this job was as good as he remembered it being. Not so much for him but for his daughter. He was old, he told her, and he could do something that seemed less school-like. Whatever that meant, he told her.

Not only were there tickets for them, but they were in first class. On the way to the embarking, he was handed a file with his name on it, and Lexy got one as well. In it was another gift card for them to use when they got into Columbus and there would be a car to pick them up when he called them. Christ, the perks alone were making him happy that he was doing this. And being with Lexy made it all the more special.

They got off the plane with everyone else. Gathering up their luggage wasn't a problem as they had both only brought carry-ons. He had some suits that he was going to have shipped to him already packed up with his dressier shoes and ties that he was sure were going to be too hot in this city.

As they were driven out of the larger city, not taking the highway per Lexy's request, he realized that it was the big city that made it feel like he was in an oven. The views here were beautiful as well as there were sites to see all over the place that he might have to visit. The caves sounded like the best. Lexy was reading to him the description of Hocking Hills as they were enjoying the air conditioning of the large car.

"Mr. Turner, Ms. Turner, I just heard from the Tates, and they wish for me to drop you off at the school. They wanted me to assure you that nothing is going on there today, but he, Jeremiah Tate, wanted you to see where you might be wanting to teach. The rooms, I mean." He asked them if it was about the shooting last semester. "That and yesterday morning, too. No one was harmed but a few reparations but nothing more. Teachers were handcuffed and taken out by police when they were there in their rooms. I do believe that Mr. Tate will have more information on it as I've only read what was in the newspaper. There's a copy of the paper there on the seat with you."

He read about the incident and realized that the woman, Betty Higgins, was the person who had called him and canceled his job offer. He'd thought at the time that he should be making another call to the Tates, as they'd been the ones that he'd been dealing with all along, but he was too pissy to bother. Now, he wished that he had.

The school was just as beautiful as he remembered it being. Lexy was impressed with the security measures that had been put in place. While he was annoyed that he was having to show his driver's license, it was his daughter who reminded him about the shooting that took place last spring.

Larry hadn't met the younger of the Tate men. He had been called away for the foundation and hadn't made it back in time to meet up with him. If he was anything like the others that he had gotten to speak to, then he thought that they'd get along just fine. As soon as he shook hands with the other man, he knew that he was going to like him a great deal. He couldn't have been more pleased either with the room that he'd been assigned and Lexy being right across the hall from him. They were both going to be teaching the kindergarten children, and he was fine with that.

"You're not human, are you?" He started to ask him why did that matter when Jeremiah told him to call him that but he spoke before he could. "I'm not either. The whole town knows that we're wolves, but so long as their checks don't bounce, they're all right with that. So, welcome to Dresden, Larry, and Lexy. I hope we can persuade you to stick around for a while.