Chapter One

Part 3

I grabbed a few M&Ms, thanked Selma and wound my way through the desks to get to my mom’s office at the back of the station. When I was a few feet away I heard raised voices on the other side of the shuttered glass walls that surrounded her office. I paused, flabbergasted. It was completely bizarre to hear yelling in the normally serene office. (Not much happens in a sleepy town like Morrison.) Intrigued, I paused outside the window-walls to listen.

“The headmaster says the problem has just been exacerbated since Christmas break,” I heard Quincy say in his high-pitched voice. He sounded tremulous, like whatever he was talking about was a serious and somewhat scary issue. “They just had to expel five kids and they’ve officially requested our help.”

“Well, I still say the best way to flush out a drug problem in a teen population is to send someone in undercover,” my mother replied firmly. “Kids talk to kids.”

I felt my heart skip a few nasty beats. A drug problem? And if they were talking about a headmaster they had to be discussing Hereford Academy, the upscale private school at the edge of town. The place was populated by over-privileged snobs and brainiacs—the kind of people who probably did drugs just to get Mummy and Daddy’s attention. Why was I not surprised they had a drug issue that had grown into a predicament worthy of police involvement?

“Yeah, Jenna, that’s the problem,” Tad said.

“I’d prefer it if you’d address me as Chief Stratford,” my mother snapped. “Or just plain ‘Chief’ would be fine.”

I grinned. Go, Mom.

“Sorry, Chief,” Tad amended acerbically. My mother wisely chose to ignore his tone. The last thing she needed right then was a pointless altercation. “But we’ve been over this already. None of us is going to pass as a high school kid. We don’t have anyone in the precinct under thirty.”

“If you’re about to suggest yet again that we call in the State Police, save your breath,” my mother said.

“I’m sorry to say it, Chief, but it looks like we’re gonna have to,” Quincy replied, sounding like he didn’t want to contravene but felt it was his only option. “There’s no other way.”

“There has to be,” my mother insisted.

I knew my mother was being obstinate because of her out-of-control pride. When she’d been promoted to chief a lot of people had predicted she would fail—that she didn’t have enough experience to take over. The last thing she wanted to do was call for help and prove all those incendiaries right—prove that a woman couldn’t hack it as chief of police.

“We’re just going to have to find someone who can pass as a teenager and deputize them,” my mother said.

Suddenly I felt a rush of excitement crash over me. Someone who could pass as a teenager . . . . Hell. I was a teenager. Maybe I could do it. I wouldn’t mind spending a few days at Hereford finding out what it was really like. My friends and I had always speculated about what the classes were like, how the place was run, whether they had a Miss Minchin-type headmistress policing the halls. I would kill to get inside Hereford. Not to mention how cool it would be to collar one of those trust-fund babies for dealing.

But was I up to the job?

You so know you can do this, I told myself, my palms beginning to sweat and causing the M&M dye to smear all over my skin. Last summer I’d participated in the county’s Law Enforcement Intern program and had been their number-one recruit. I’d learned all about the various enforceable laws, how to question a witness, when to call for backup—all kinds of things. And then I’d aced the written Police Academy exam. Everyone said I could’ve joined the force last August if I’d wanted to. Even Tad had been impressed with my performance.

This was serendipity! I could I do this. I had to. It was exactly what I needed. An answer to my ennui. No more sedentary afternoons in front of the TV for me. I was about to become Deputy Stratford.

I popped the last few M&Ms into my mouth and thrust open the door to my mom’s office. Tad, tall and sinuous, was hovering over my mom’s desk. She and the rotund Quincy both stood the moment I walked in. My mom’s face was lined with surprise and confusion over the clear sense of purpose on my face.

“I’ll do it,” I announced, bubbling over. “Deputize me, Mom. I’m going in.”