The Fight for Kidsboro by Marshal Younger Page A

guy, that Nick. Quiet, shy type. That’s always a good type of person to sell insurance to.”
    I could suddenly picture Scott and his merciless grilling of Nick, and I decided to go in for the kill. “You paid him to do it.”
    Max smiled and chuckled a little, as if the thought had never occurred to him. I expected him to deny it, but instead he offered a much more interesting idea. “Prove it,” he said.
    He had me there. I could accuse him all I wanted to, but unless Nick admitted Max’s involvement to me point-blank in front of witnesses, I had no case.
    Max took another unexpected turn. “Now, I know you didn’t mean that. You’re just fishin’, I know. But let’s pretend for a second that I did commit this tragic crime. What exactly can you do about it? Kick me out of town? I know how politics work, and banishing your most valuable citizen doesn’t look too good come election time.”
    â€œYou think you’re our most valuable citizen?”
    â€œWhere else you gonna get wood, buddy? You banish me, and you’ve got no future. You can’t build anything. And it’s not like you paid for this wood with real money. It’s pretend. Which means I can take it back. I can rip apart these houses faster than they went up. And you know, it’s real cute to see you acting like this is some kind of great democracy you’re runnin’ here, but when it comes down to it, this town is just a bunch of clubhouses in the woods. You lose me, you got nothing.” He smiled again and turned away. I watched him walk quickly over to a clubhouse and knock on the door. He had insurance to sell.

6

    FRIENDS AND FOES
    I WENT BACK TO N ICK’S house. He was packing up his things, figuring that he was going to be kicked out of town. We talked for a while, but he would never admit to being hired by anyone. He never denied it either. He had learned his lesson from our last interview and wouldn’t answer any of my questions with anything more than a “yes” or “no.” I told him I would ask the council not to banish him if he would tell me who had hired him, but he wouldn’t budge. He said he wasn’t a rat. This was, of course, evidence to me that there was someone he could be ratting on .
    But I still had no real proof.

    We held a city council meeting after school the next day. Jill, Nelson, Alice, and Scott filed in. Everyone knew why we were there—to discuss Nick’s punishment. A trial wasn’t necessary since he had confessed in front of two of us. After a short discussion, we voted unanimously that Nick had to be banished and Roberto would be cleared of all charges. Alice felt quite embarrassed by the whole thing, since this meant she had put an innocent man in jail. But she didn’t protest. She’d made a mistake and was ready to move on. I think she was still mad at me, though.
    Before everyone got to their feet after the meeting, I made an announcement. I wanted to vote on the punishment of Max Darby.
    â€œWhat?” Jill asked, speaking for the whole group.
    I cleared my throat to show them I was serious, then said, “I have reason to believe Max hired Nick to break into the houses so that he could sell insurance policies.”
    They stared at me in disbelief. Finally, Jill was able to speak. “Do you have proof?”
    â€œWell … no. But I’m pretty sure about it.”
    â€œDid he confess?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWell, we can’t banish him just because you think he did it.”
    I was losing them. “I’m asking you to trust me.”
    Alice shook her head as if I were crazy. “Sorry, Ryan. No can do. Not without a trial.”
    That’s what I wanted them to say. “What if I get him to trial? Let me tell you why I think he’s guilty, and then you tell me if you think he’ll lose in court.”
    â€œWait a minute, wait a minute,” Jill