Read Online The Pineville Heist by Lee Chambers - Free Book Online Page B

Then Tremblay slammed the cruiser into gear, pulled away from the station and zipped out on to Main Street.
    The cruiser sped down Main Street at breakneck speed, with the sirens blaring and Tremblay cursing the entire way back to the school. Arriving, the Sheriff screeched to a halt in front of the school.
    Back at the entrance to the high school, Amanda and Carl were hugging, making up, not expecting to see Tremblay's cruiser lining up beside Carl's. Their night wasn't over yet.
    Aaron flew forward in response to the sheriff's abrupt halt. Carl tucked his hands into his pockets and stepped away from Amanda, as he watched the cruiser grind to a halt.
    Dispatch crackled on the radio: “Sheriff, you still on?”
    Tremblay put the cruiser in park, cursed and grabbed the radio. “Go ahead.”
    “Mister Stevens is back.”
    “My dad?” Aaron balked, as Tremblay brought the mic up to his mouth to speak.
    Aaron leaned forward to the mesh-wall separating him from Tremblay. He clasped the tips of his fingers around the mesh and plastered his face to the metal. With desperation, he pleaded, “Please don't tell him I took his money. He'll kill me if he knew I had something to do with this.”
    “Where the hell are you?” Derek's furious tones were unmistakable, masked unsuccessfully in a cold, steely and distant business voice; Aaron knew them too well. “You said ten minutes, Tremblay. I have other things to do besides sit around waiting for you! I want to know what…”
    With a light clink, Carl tapped on Tremblay's window with the end of a lollipop as Aaron listened to his Dad drone on; hot air, as usual. “Everything all right, Sheriff?” Carl said, peering inside.

fourteen
    Amanda walked into the school with Aaron, leaving Carl and Tremblay to their discussions in the parking lot. The door clicked shut behind them and a flustered-looking Principal Parker jangled his keys as he approached the pair. “Miss Becker, I was just about to lock up. Any luck?”
    The door clicked again behind Carl as he slipped into the school, causing all three to turn in his direction. “Okay, Aaron, the Sheriff just told me. Can you show me?”
    Aaron nodded and set off down the hall with Carl beside him, Amanda behind and Principal Parker trailing at the back of the pack, still appearing puzzled and out of the loop. “What happened out there, Carl? What did you find out?”
    “It's under control, Mister Parker,” Carl said with a flippant tone, a purposeful glare in his eyes.
    “What's under control? You're not telling me anything,” Principal Parker barked, getting his back up.
    “Yeah, Carl,” Amanda chimed in, causing Carl to flick his eyes at her, hoping to silence her sharp tongue.
    The fiery embers in Amanda's eyes told Carl that this wasn't over. “Look, Amanda, you really need to leave this to us and not get any more involved,” he snapped, a final shot.
    “They're my students. Of course I'm going to get involved,” Amanda hissed at him, with no plans of letting Carl get in the last word. She'd put up with his attitude for too long. He was always dismissing her out of hand, especially in front of other people, including her students, and now herboss, Principal Parker. How dare he treat me like a second-class citizen. Not today, not again.
    Carl didn't have time to put Amanda in her place, though. He kept moving, focused on Aaron, as they arrived outside the library. Could this kid really have the evidence, sitting neatly tucked beneath a few rolls of plastic? Apparently not, if Aaron's sickly gasp was anything to go by. His face was pale as a sheet when he turned to his followers. “It's gone!”
    “What?” Carl rasped.
    Aaron pointed to the empty spot, where just a box of rags and some assorted tools remained strewn haphazardly on the ground.
    “I stashed it right here.”
    Carl frowned and pursed his lips, before curling them into a displeased grimace. “Now I suppose you're going to tell me it just vanished into