Chapter Five

Lisa looked at her sister annoyed.

"What did Melanie do this time?" she said looking back at Stevie

"Try spying on me and convincing Phil that I was cheating on him!" replied Stevie, trying not to lose her own temper. "Thanks to her, Phil just punched a guy in the face!"

"Melanie!" exclaimed Lisa

"Well, Stevie was having secret meetings with this guy, and she wouldn't tell anyone what they were about."

"It was none of your business!" snapped Stevie getting a little hot under the collar, "It had nothing to do with you!"

"Look," sighed Stevie calming back down, "can we talk about this somewhere a little less public?!"

"That's a good Idea," said Jason sliding out of the booth and standing up. It was then that Lisa got a good look at him and her eyes lit up.

"Jason Elias Whyte!" she cried rushing to give him a bear hug, "you were in town and you didn't call me?!"

"I'm on a case," said Jason, "Which we can't talk about here!"

"Right," said Lisa, "Let's go back to Pine Hollow."

"Good," said Melanie, "Let's go."

Lisa caught Melanie by the scruff of the neck.

"They only place you're going is home!" snapped Lisa, "You've caused quite enough trouble for one day!"

Ignoring Melanie's protests, Lisa turned to the others.

"I'll meet you in the lounge at Pine Hollow as soon as I turn Melanie over to "The Warden'." She said before hauling Melanie out the door.

To say the least Eleanor Atwood was upset when she heard what her youngest daughter had done.

"Melanie Atwood!" she snapped, "you are grounded for a month. That means for the next 30 days you do not leave this house except for school. And that means no riding either!"

"But mom!" whined Melanie, "not a whole month?"

"Any back talk and it'll be longer." Warned Eleanor, "Now go to your room."

Carol, Stevie, Jason and Phil were all waiting in the lounge when Lisa arrived.

"I'm here guys, and we won't have to worry about Melanie's snooping for a while!" said Lisa, she sat down next to Jason on the couch, and looked at him expectantly.

"What is all this about?" said Phil

Stevie started to explain.

"Do you remember my uncle Matthew?" she asked. The girls and Phil nodded, "Well my cousin Ashe and I have always believed that he got railroaded into jail for a crime that he didn't commit. And Jason here is actually a licensed private investigator that we hired to help us look into the case."

"Yeah," said Jason, "and we were keeping my presence as secret as possible because, the fewer people who know who I am and why I'm here the better."

This whole time Phil was sinking farther and farther down into the couch cushions as he realized how big a mistake he had made.

Stevie looked down her nose at him.

"Do you have something to say, Phil?" she said pointedly

"Sorry Stevie." He said sheepishly, "I should've trusted you."

"you should also apologize to Jason for that sock in the jaw!" said Stevie

"Right, Sorry about that, Jason." He said.

"Forget it." said Jason

Just then the door opened and Ashe walked in. she had long blonde hair that she wore in a ponytail down her back. She also had blue eyes. Like her cousin Stevie, she was wearing jeans and a blue denim jacket.

"Hi guys," she said. She paused, "Uh did I just miss something?"

"Where do we start?" chuckled Lisa

"Yeah," agreed Stevie as she stood up to give her cousin a hug.

"Guys," Stevie said turning to the others, "you remember my cousin Ashley Lake.

There was a chorus of hellos.

"First things first." Said Stevie once the introductions were over, "Jason found your FOI request, the one you made to look at the police report on your dad's case. It had been intercepted and hidden in the back of the police file room."

"What?!" cried Ashe.

"Yeah," said Jason, "Not only that, Stevie and I are very certain that, that proves the local postmaster is mixed up in the conspiracy against your father."

"I knew something wasn't right in this town, I knew it, I knew it!" Fumed Ashe, "now that really makes me want to get a look at that report!"

"Well, it wasn't in the file room at the police station." Said Jason, "Do you have any idea where else to look?"

"Actually, I think I might," said Ashe, "Down by the river the police station has a warehouse annex that they use for their dead case files. I don't know how to get inside though. They have a fence and a couple of guards on duty there."

Jason slowly, nervously raised his hand.

"I think I can probably help with that."

TO BE CONTINUED…PLEASE REVIEW