Just as the computer was coming back to life after restarting, the glass door opened and a police officer walked in. He was tall, around Nate’s height but probably had a good twenty pounds of muscle on him. He wore reflective aviator glasses and a take-no-shit expression.
Since Ranger training, Nate assessed men as soon as he met them as to what threat level they would be if, for some reason, he had to take them down. He was trained in hand-to-hand combat and it was ingrained in him to look for weaknesses to use against his opponent for leverage. Sizing someone up usually took less than a minute. This guy wasn’t so fast.
If it came down to it, Nate would definitely do some damage, but he couldn’t honestly say he would come out the victor. He wasn’t intimidated at all, just impressed.
“Hey, E!” Allison greeted the officer with familiarity and a huge smile. “You here for your copier? I got the other one working, I’ll just go get—”
The other man’s face remained as stone as the castle Nate was staying in. “Actually, I’m here on the job.”
Allison’s eyes shot straight to Kade, who had momentarily looked up from his phone.
“Mr. Swanson had his fence torn down again, and after his horse got out the last time, he put up surveillance cameras around his property.”
The cop turned his phone to face them and he played a video.
Nate continued working on the computer, but couldn’t help watching what was unfolding.
Allison’s shoulders sagged and he didn’t think he’d ever seen someone look so defeated. “Kade, what were you think—”
“It wasn’t me! I was at Tyler’s last night, Patrick di—”
“I didn’t say when the vandalism took place.” The cop returned his phone to his pocket.
Kade looked more mad than scared.
Allison looked terrified. “Is Mr. Swanson pressing charges?”
The cop was silent for a minute as he stared at Kade. “No,” he finally answered, but Nate was pretty sure it was for Allison’s benefit, not Kade’s. “He agreed to let him work at his farm after school and on weekends, and then the summer until the amount of his fence repairs is recouped.”
“The summer!” Kade exclaimed. “No way!”
Allison turned to face Kade. “This isn’t a negotiation, Kade. You will go work for Mr. Swanson and you will have a good attitude about it. You will also be writing him a letter of apology and you will go read it to him in person and thank him for his kindness and generosity.”
“You can’t tell me what to do! You’re not my mom!” With that, phone kid stormed out of the room back through the door that he’d come through and slammed it.
“Sorry. He’ll do it. I’ll make sure of it,” Allison promised the cop.
He nodded. “Let me know if you need a hand with that.”
“I will.”
The cop turned to leave, but paused and looked over his shoulder. “Have you heard from Jess?”
Allison’s lips pursed as she shook her head. “No. But she’ll call as soon as she hears.”
With a single nod, the cop turned and left.
With a few more keystrokes, Nate had not only rebooted her system, he’d also installed all of the updates and cleaned up several programs so it should run smoother and faster. He pressed enter and the tray below it popped open.
“Oh my gosh!” Allison exclaimed as she rushed around to see for herself that it was open. When she saw it was, she clasped her hands to her chest. “Thank you so much. What do I owe you?”
“Nothing.”
She shook her head as she reached for the cash drawer. “No, I insist”
“I have a twin brother.” He told her. “Teenage years are the worst. Just consider it me paying it forward.”
“Thank you.” A small, tired grin pulled at her lips. “Well, at least let me give you the glasses as a gift.”