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Chapter 596 Putting the High in High School
Jax and Opie lingered at table.
"Sack, shut the door," Jax shouted. He and Opie both laughed at Sack's panicked compliance.
"Never gets old," Opie said. "Bro, you are in deep shit with Clay. He looked pissed as hell when you mentioned getting dirt on Hale."
Jax shook his head, clearly disgusted with Clay.
"Yeah, well it's time to plan for Hale taking power when Unser retires. We need to look at police records before Hale takes over and we lose access."
"And that's what pissed off Clay. He should have been thinking about this. It exposes him and his lack of leadership. I think you're on to something about Hale and his mother's fatal traffic accident."
"It happened in the country and only Hale and his mother were involved. It was suspicious at the time, but Judge Hale hushed it up pretty quick," Jax said, "and you don't hush something up unless there's something there."
Opie thought back to that time in high school trying to recall the accident that killed Hale's mother.
"Wasn't it Hale's truck that got wrecked?" Opie asked.
"Yeah, that was what made it so strange. Why would Hale and his mother be in his truck with her driving? And there was an airbag on the driver's side, yet she was the one that was killed."
"Hale just got banged up a little," Opie said. "Everyone said how lucky he was, but now that I think about it, it doesn't make sense."
"All the focus was on Mrs. Hale's death. Her memorial. All the praise for her charity work. I mean hell, everyone loved her. Even Gemma liked her. All that outpouring of love was like a magic trick keeping the focus on her and not looking into how the driver got killed when there was an airbag and the passenger without an airbag survived."
"You have enough money and power, you can get away with shit like that," Opie said. "You think Hale was driving and it was hushed up, but if it was just an accident, why not be honest about it?"
"Protect Hale. Maybe he was high or drunk or maybe Judge Hale didn't want his kid to be known as the son that killed his mother. People especially high profile people's first reaction when something goes a little wrong is to cover it up."
"Just like us outlaws," Opie said with a laugh. "Hale's old man has power and uses it to help his kid. Mrs. Hale is dead. No use destroying his kid's future so he covers up who really killed her. We dig enough and I bet we'll find Hale was the driver."
"And not only will we own Hale; we'll own his father," Jax said.
"We shouldn't approach Hale until Unser's gone," Opie suggested.
"Agreed. All we need is proof or, just as good, the appearance that Hale was the driver. Perception is truth now."
"Hale quit dealing right after his mother's death."
"That's when he became the model citizen he is now," Jax said.
"Makes sense that he would make a dramatic change. He owed his father for saving his ass."
"The tricky part is getting Clay to let me make the approach to Hale when the time is right."
Opie got to his feet.
"You're a born diplomat. You'll make it work," Opie slapped Jax on the back as he walked out.
Jax had more problems than getting blackmail material on Hale, he had to deal with Mickey Smith. Tig was good at vetting potential club members, but when he asked him about Smith, there was something off in his answer.
All he knew was he was going to get to know Mickey when they went on their run next weekend and make his own decision on Mickey Smith.
"
Author's Note: In my Tara's Story fanfic under MVeneer, I go into more detail about high school Hale, his drug dealing, etc. I ended the story before I could kill off Mrs. Hale, but this is the way I was going to do it.