I sighed yet again, trying to figure out if it mattered if I believed her. The important thing now was the evidence. If we ever got it back, I needed to convince Susan to spend some of the donation money on security cameras. Security cameras would have cleared this whole mess up or prevented it from happening in the first place.
“I’ll come down there,” I repeated myself, “but I don’t know if there is anything I can do to help.”
“You have to try,” she begged. “Please promise me you’ll try…”
I closed my eyes and let the promise float off my tongue: “I’ll try.”
The city jail was conveniently attached to the police station, so I made my second trip of the day there. Molly had already headed off to her car, and I thought about letting her know Evangeline had called, but I decided this was something I should do alone. I whipped into a parking space and rushed inside.
Fortunately, it was a different receptionist than the blasé woman I’d dealt with earlier in the day. This character looked like a rookie cop. He was young and had a pencil-thin moustache.
“Hi, I’m here to see Evangeline Dupree at the jail,” I announced.
Judging by the scowl on his face, he wasn’t much friendlier than his predecessor. “You want to head down that hallway, hit the intercom to be buzzed in, and then there’s a desk you can check in at.”
“Okay, thank you.” I marched down the hallway, my stomach twisting into knots, but I felt a pull, something urging me on, giving me energy. I didn’t know if it was the hand of God or if it was the sugar from the fudge I’d eaten with Molly. Maybe a combination of both.
I checked in at the table, delivering the same spiel I’d given the young cop. This one was much older and heavier, with a silvery-gray five o’clock shadow and beady brown eyes that were barely visible behind the thick lenses of his glasses.
“Are you here to bail Ms. Dupree out?” he questioned, glancing down at her paperwork. I couldn’t believe so much was still done by paper here instead of computer. And I thought we were Luddites at the library!
“Uh…” She didn’t ask me to bail her out, only to come speak with her. “I just wanted to talk to her.”
He shook his head. “Visitation hours are tomorrow from nine to noon. I can only release her now if her bail is paid.”
“How much is it?”
“Twenty thousand,” he announced.
Twenty thousand? My heart sank. Like I had that kind of cash lying around! “I guess I’ll have to come back in the morning, then.”
“You do that,” was all he said.
Why was everyone here so rude? It was almost like they were used to dealing with brazen, hardened criminals who had no respect for authority or something.
I headed home, anxious to see my handsome boy, Bond, and my baby girl, Paigie-Poo. They’d be a sight for sore eyes. And a damaged heart.
Thirteen
My phone rang at 7:23 AM. My mother. Evidently, 7:23 was the official time it became acceptable to call someone. At least if you gave birth to that someone.
“Hey, Mom…” I was too groggy to put together anything more intelligent than that. I’d had a restless, fitful night, and I was pretty sure the masked person wielding a knife and chasing me in my dreams was Evangeline. She was a little bit scary before I found out she was a thief and possibly a witch, but in the dream she was downright terrifying.
“Morning, sweetheart, I just wondered if you saw The Bryce Beach Gazette this morning?”
“Mom, I’m still in bed. I haven’t seen anything but the back of my eyelids.”
“Oh, well, you made the front page!” she gushed.
I leapt out of bed. Apparently, if I ever needed an alternative to an alarm clock, the words “You made the front page” would do rather nicely. My heart was pounding so fast, it was like I’d either chugged a gallon of coffee, or I’d sprinted around the house like the cats do when they’re momentarily possessed.
“Sweetheart, are you okay?” my mother continued when she didn’t hear any response from me. My mind was racing too fast to latch on to any specific thought. “You’re not in any kind of trouble, are you?”
“Trouble?” I repeated, the images from the nightmares that plagued me the night before popping up in my head.
“Well, the woman they arrested is your friend Evangeline, isn’t it? You turned her in?”
Thanks for reminding me, Mom.
“Yeah, uh, Molly and I found the Founders’ Bible at her house.” By this time, I had pulled up the news story on my laptop. They used a photo of the Founders’ Bible from when it was still in its case, not a photo of me. Thank you, Lord! There wasn’t a photo of Evangeline either, and for that I was also grateful. Though I supposed a person like Evangeline didn’t have a lot of photos floating around. She didn’t do social media.
I scanned the article quickly while my mother blathered on about doing the right thing and how she and my dad were proud of me. At least that was something they could agree on.
“Mom, I have to go. I’m sorry…”
“You’re sure you’re not in trouble?”
“Yes, Mom, I’m sure. Just need to get ready for work.” And to stop by jail, no biggie.
“Your nephews have a Little League game this afternoon at four. Any chance you can stop by? It would mean a lot to River and Izzy. And we could all go out for pizza afterwards!” she tried to tempt me.
“I’ll try to stop by, Mom,” I promised.
I felt guilty after I hung up that I was in such a foul mood, but ever since I’d found that Bible, I’d felt like a miserable failure. I felt betrayed, like I’d been duped, and like I should have protected the donations better than I did. I was in charge of them, after all!
And then there was Evangeline…
I was going to stop by and see her this morning during visiting hours because I said I would. I hoped she hired a lawyer…
I didn’t like the fact that my cute little red Mazda was getting so accustomed to driving to the police department. It’s still early May, I reminded myself. Summer was coming, and hopefully by the time it got here, this whole Bryce Beach Bandit incident would be behind us. The library would get our money; I could order some new books; I’d have job security—and I’d never have to play amateur sleuth again. I could “stick to librarianship,” just like Chief James suggested.
I checked in at the jail wing of the building and sat on a plastic chair—gray, like everything else in the joint—until my name was called. A tall, muscular female guard patted me down and made me put my purse and cell phone in a plastic bin. “I’ll return it when you leave,” she told me.
I nodded and followed her down a dismally gray hallway until we came to a small room with a door that had a glass window at eye level. Evangeline was sitting inside with her hands cuffed together, wearing a pair of gray sweatpants and a white shirt. She would never, ever choose to wear white. She probably hated that more than the cuffs.
The guard showed me inside, and Evangeline barely even looked up to acknowledge me. How was I going to explain why I did what I did?
“Are you feeling better?” I remembered how ill she’d been when I last saw her, and she finally turned toward me. She looked better than she had the other night at her house, but still not well. Her skin was always sallow and pale, and she always had dark circles under her eyes, but at least her nose wasn’t bright scarlet this time, and her eyes didn’t look as listless and dull. It was an improvement.
“I might feel better if I weren’t in here,” she snapped.
Her dark eyes finally met mine and were so full of pain, I winced. “I’m so sorry…”
“I didn’t do it, Sunshine.” She leaned toward me, her eyes bouncing between mine as she implored, “You have to figure out who really did it. I was framed. I had no idea that book was on my patio. I swear.”
I had a feeling she was going to say that. “Do you have any idea who could have put it there?”
She shook her head. “
No. I was so sick the last couple of days, I couldn’t even get out of bed. That’s why I didn’t answer your texts. I wasn’t ignoring you. I was so glad when you guys dropped by—I hadn’t seen or talked to anyone since the last day I was at work. I don’t even know what day that was now. I have absolutely no idea why whoever stole the Bible—and I guess the money too—is trying to frame me, of all people. And they’re claiming I’m a witch? I may be goth or emo, but I’m no witch!”
I remembered how Molly reported that Evangeline went upstairs to get her jacket just prior to the mayor’s announcement, so she was gone when the Bible was actually stolen. And then I recalled how Susan claimed she never saw Evangeline come into the room to get the jacket. Molly said Evangeline hadn’t even been wearing a jacket that night, which was pretty incriminating. Wasn’t it?
“Let me ask you something, okay?” I folded my arms over my chest to show I meant business. “I need you to be one hundred percent honest, or I can’t help you.”
“Anything. I promise.” She sucked in a deep breath, her small frame rising and falling as she inhaled and exhaled.
“First off…” I tried to figure out the best way to phrase it so I could catch her if she were lying. “Have you ever used a stamp with the library’s logo on it?”
Her brows drew together. “Stamp? What kind of stamp?”
“You tell me.” I waited for recognition to flash across her eyes and for her to deny it.
“The tech services folks who process the books after I catalog them stamp Bryce Beach Public Library on the edges of the pages,” she admitted. “But I never do it myself. I always get ink on my hands when I use one of those stupid inkpads.” A little laugh fluttered out of her mouth.
The ink on those pads was potent stuff, I could agree there. No matter how hard you scrubbed, it usually took a few days to wear off. I always got ink on myself too because I was a klutz like that. I looked down at Evangeline’s hands, which were cuffed at the wrist. “Let me see your hands.”
She bit her bottom lip and held them out, palms up at first, and then she turned them over. It had been almost a week since the heist, but the checks weren’t deposited until Tuesday, so there could still be a trace of ink on them, I supposed. But I didn’t see anything, not even a faint stain.
“Why are you asking me about stamps?”
I ignored her. “I have another question for you.”
“Okay?”
“Where were you when the glass case was shattered?” I asked point-blank, then I tuned in to watch her reaction, taking note of each tiny muscle movement around her eyes and mouth as I searched for signs she was lying.
She narrowed her eyes for a moment, then pursed her lips as if she needed to think about it. I could tell the moment it clicked because her whole face brightened, and when Evangeline’s face brightened, it was very noticeable because it was not part of her typical facial expression repertoire.
“I was standing there with Molly—you’d just gone to give the mayor the final tally of donations. I thought we would be leaving right after the announcement, but then I remembered I left my jacket upstairs. I thought I’d taken it off at dinner and hung it on the back of my chair. So I told Molly I was going upstairs to get it.”
“And?” I drilled into her with my cold, hard stare of pure business, knowing full well she wasn’t even wearing a jacket the whole night.
Her eyes stayed locked onto mine, never wavering. “So, I got upstairs to the activities room and started to look around the table where I’d sat, but then I realized it wasn’t there.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No. And it was only then that I realized I left it in the car. I was wearing a sweater over my dress, and I was hot in my car, so I left it out there.” She smirked at her memory. “So, it was a wasted trip.”
“What else do you remember seeing in the activities room?” I delved a little deeper.
Her eyes took on a faraway look as she examined her memories of the night, then she fluttered back into reality, a look of confusion twisting her features. “I didn’t think much of it at the time, or maybe I just forgot, because as soon as I got back downstairs, I saw everyone gathered around the lobby and all the broken glass. And the screams. Ouch, I can still hear the screams in my ears.”
“What did you see, Evangeline?”
“Well, when I came up to the top of the stairs to head into the activities room, Susan was rushing out. I tried to stop her to thank her for the candy she’d given me after the dinner. It really got the fish taste out of my mouth. But she brushed past me, almost knocking me down, and she didn’t even say she was sorry. I watched her for a second because it seemed like something was wrong—she was on a mission. She didn’t go down the main stairs…”
Evangeline’s eyes widened as she started to realize where my line of questioning was going.
“Where did she go?”
“She disappeared into the stacks toward the front of the building,” my friend relayed. “And I just remembered something else… She was wearing gloves, Sunshine…”
A little burst of air puffed out of my mouth when it all started to click. “Could she have gone down the front steps into the lobby?”
“Yes,” Evangeline agreed. “At the time, I thought she was wearing gloves because she was helping the caterers clean up…”
“Right, that makes sense. Could she have been in the lobby without anyone noticing her?”
“Definitely. I heard the cheer from the mayor’s announcement clear up in the activities room. Then the DJ started up ‘Celebration’ by Kool & the Gang, and she certainly had to be down the stairs by then, if that’s where she was going. I looked around the room for a few minutes before I realized I’d left my jacket in the car, then, when I got to the stairs—the main ones—that’s when I heard screams and saw everyone moving toward the lobby as I flew down the stairs to join them.” She scrubbed her hand down her face. “I should have followed Susan instead…”
“I can’t believe it!” I gasped. “It was our boss!”
“We need proof,” Evangeline rushed out. “Something to exonerate me and prove it was her.”
At that moment, the visual I snapped of the account statement in the file folder on Chief James’s desk flashed into my mind. I still couldn’t say for sure what the bank logo was or determine the name on the account, but I did have the most amazing idea of all time.
“I have an idea,” I announced, standing up.
“Wait! Tell me your plan!” Evangeline begged as I rushed toward the door. “I’m sorry I’m just now putting two and two together. I would have never suspected in a million years—"
“Sit tight. I’ll be back for you as soon as I can!” I promised, and with that, I bolted down the hall, retrieved my purse and phone from the guard, and raced to my car.
“To the library!” I exclaimed to no one in particular as I fired up my Mazda. I had work to do!
Fourteen
Molly was doing another story time with preschoolers when I arrived at work, so I couldn’t update her on my chat with Evangeline. My fingers trembled as I pulled up the email I’d received from Anna Cooper’s sister, Liz, with her resume. She indeed won a cyber hacking contest last summer. I didn’t even know there was such a thing, but it certainly served my purposes.
I dialed her number, knowing full well she would be in school. It was ten o’clock on Friday morning, after all. To my great surprise, she answered.
“Elizabeth Cooper?” my voice vibrated with nervous energy. Even though I kept coaching myself to remain calm, I was scared that the longer I waited to gather the evidence I needed, the more likely it was that the true culprit would get off scot-free.
“Who’s calling please?” the young lady asked in a polite but wary voice.
“This is Sunshine Baker, the YA Librarian at the public library. I received your resume earlier this week, and I actually have a very urgent job for you, if you’re interested.” I cleared my throat. “Aren’t you
supposed to be in school right now?”
“I’m in gym class. We’re supposed to be jogging on the track, but I’m participating in an…um…alternative activity.”
“Alternative activity?”
“Walking and talking on the phone,” she clarified.
This was a girl after my own heart, just like her sister.
“Do you think you could stop by after school to help me with a project?” I queried, crossing my fingers she would say yes. Time was of the essence.
“Yeah, I can do that. What’s the job pay? How many hours do you need me?”
Crud. I hadn’t thought that far in advance. “Um…twenty dollars an hour?” That was a lot for a high school student, wasn’t it? “Hopefully it won’t take long at all. You’re a hacker, right?”
“You want me to hack something?” She couldn’t disguise the excitement in her voice.
“Uh, I’m not going to do anything unethical with the information, I promise. I just need to see who owns an account at a bank in the Cayman Islands.”
“Oh,” she said, just that one staccato word. For a second I thought she was going to tell me no, she wasn’t interested. But then: “As long as it’s for a good cause.”
My heart fluttered with hope. “Oh, trust me, it’s for a very good cause.”
“I’ll see you at three, then,” she said matter-of-factly. And then she hung up. She was businesslike—not what I expected from a sixteen-year-old, but if she had the kind of skills I thought she did, she could be rude and have terrible hygiene, and I wouldn’t care. Though I couldn’t imagine either of those being the case based on what I knew of her family.
Dangerous Curves Boxed Set 1: 3 Cozy Christian Mysteries Page 12