02 - When Good Bras Go Bad

by Gayle Trent

The bracelet in question…. Like we were on Law & Order or something. And, speaking of Law & Order, it like to have broke my heart when Jerry Orbach died! Did you know he did the voice of the candlestick in Beauty and the Beast, too? He could just play anybody…or anything. Anyhow, back to the “bracelet in question.”

  “What does that prove?” I asked. “Several of her friends use her locker; and, besides, with somethin’ as small as a bracelet, somebody could’ve poked it through one of them vent holes in the top of the locker and that’s how it got in there.”

  “As you may know, Ms. Crumb, possession is nine-tenths of the law.” Mr. Jenkins sat back in his chair and looked smug.

  “I’ve heard people say that before, but I ain’t so sure it’s on the books anywhere. Can you show it to me?”

  He rolled his eyes. “I find that irrelevant since this is not a legal matter.”

  “It might as well be! You’re accusin’ my baby granddaughter of stealin’!”

  “Crimson is not a baby and I’m not accusing her of anything. I’m merely asking her—her—how that bracelet came to be in her locker. Do you have an explanation, Crimson?”

  I looked at Sunny who was staring down at her lap. “Well, do you?” I asked her. “Who all has your locker combination?” I looked back at Jenkins. “Let’s get them in here and see if any of them knows anything about a bracelet.”

  “No,” Sunny said, shaking her head. “I’m not gonna embarrass my friends by getting them called to the office.”

  “You mean Alicia Granger, don’t you?” I asked. “Ain’t she the one you’re protecting?”

  Sunny didn’t answer, so I turned back to Mr. Jenkins. “Are you sure it’s the same bracelet? Maybe it’s just a look-alike.”

  “We’re sure it’s the same one. Mrs. Anderson’s initials are engraved on the back.”

  I was as frustrated as a cat in a rubber mouse factory. “Sunny, please!” I took her by the arm so she’d look at me. “Tell this man—”

  “I don’t have anything more to say,” she interrupted. “I didn’t steal that bracelet, but I can’t prove it; and since it was in my locker, I’ll take the punishment for it.”

  “You’d take the punishment for something you didn’t do rather than—”

  “Very well.”

  That Mr. Jenkins cut me off right in the middle of my sentence. I thought that was rude. Especially when I was just trying to convince my grandbaby not to go down—no wait, not to take the fall, that’s it—for a crime she didn’t commit.

  “In the meantime,” Mr. Jenkins continued, “I’ll have your locker combination changed. I strongly suggest you keep the new combination to yourself.”

  “Wait,” Sunny said, “I like my locker combination. I’ve got it memorized. I don’t want it changed.”

  “Still, it seems several of your friends have your locker combination—a situation your grandmother wisely disapproves of—and I think we should remedy that.”

  Sunny glared at me. “Thanks, Mimi.”

  I sighed, running my left hand across my chin. “What’s her punishment?”

  “Three days’ suspension.”

  DIVIDER HERE

  “I don’t see why I have to stay with you,” Sunny grouched from the passenger side of the Buick. “I’m old enough to stay by myself.”

  “Not when you’re being punished, you’re not. And this ain’t my idea of a day at the beach either. There goes three days of my investigation.”

  Sunny huffed out a breath. “As if. Like, I’m sure the school will fall apart now.”

  I slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. After putting the car in park, I turned to look at her. “I know it don’t mean a whole hill of beans to you, girlie, but I’ve been bustin’ my butt at that school for you. Not for any pay, not for any thanks…for you.” I took a deep breath and dared myself to cry. “I’ve been tryin’ to prove you ain’t a crook. ‘Course, you might be, no more’n you’re sayin’ about how that bracelet got in your locker.”

  “I don’t know how that bracelet got there!”

  “This ain’t about whether or not you stole the bracelet. This is about you treatin’ me like dirt. Now, you’re gonna quit it, or I’m gonna talk to Cooper Norville to see if you can’t serve this three-day suspension at a juvenile detention center.”

  Sunny’s jaw nearly bounced off the floorboard. “You wouldn’t!”

  “Try me.” I put the car in gear, checked the rearview and pulled back onto the road. I could tell Sunny was still staring at me. She was probably trying to decide whether or not I was bluffing. I wasn’t. I was fed up with her little attitude. I love that young ‘un more than life itself, but I hadn’t been anything but good to her and she was gonna quit treating me like a mangy cur dog.

  Sunny didn’t say anything else the rest of the way home, and I didn’t either. We got out and went in the house, and I went to the back door and let Matlock in. He was tickled to see us both, especially Sunny. She started loving on him, and I sat down in the recliner and turned on the television. I could be every bit as stubborn as Sunny, and I wasn’t about to make the first move toward making up.

  I found a “Bewitched” rerun on and decided to watch that. It made me wish I was like Endora and could float around invisible by Sunny’s locker until I could catch that Alicia in the act. I just knew she was the very bird making trouble for Sunny.

  This episode of “Bewitched” was the one where Paul Lynde played a nervous driving instructor trying to teach Samantha how to drive.

  “You reckon that’s how I’ll be when I start learning to drive?” Sunny asked, talkin’ about how bad Samantha was at it.

  I shrugged.

  She sighed. “I’m sorry I’ve been a grump, Mimi. I just…I don’t know…there’s a lot goin’ on and stuff and…I’m sorry.”

  I got up and hugged her. “It’s okay, but I want you to remember one thing. Friends may come and go, but your family will stick by you no matter what.”

  She laid her head against my shoulder. “I didn’t steal Mrs. Anderson’s bracelet, Mimi.”

  “I know, angel.”

  “And I don’t think any of my friends did either. I think somebody’s been trying to get me in trouble.”

  I figured I knew who, but I thought it best to keep my mouth shut on that one. “Have you made anybody mad?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  “Jealous?”

  She snorted. “Who’d be jealous of me?”

  “Ugly girls who make bad grades.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  “Well, let’s just watch ‘Bewitched’ and not worry about this other stuff right now. We’ll get to the bottom of it.”

  DIVIDER HERE

  After Faye came and got Sunny that afternoon, I called Sunny’s friend Claire. After swearing her to secrecy, I told her about Sunny getting accused of stealing Mrs. Anderson’s bracelet. Naturally, she already knew all about it. She even knew about me storming into the principal’s office. Word travels fast in middle school.

  “I don’t think Crimson stole that bracelet, Mrs. Crumb.”

  “You think somebody set her up?”

  “I don’t know about that. I do know somebody got mad at Mrs. Anderson last week and might’ve taken the bracelet to get back at her.”

  “Who, Claire?”

  “I’d rather not say.”

  “Was it Alicia? I promise I won’t say you told me a thing.”

  “I’d really rather not say,” Claire said. “I’d better hang up and start on my homework now.”

  “Okay, honey. Thank you.”

  So maybe Sunny wasn’t intentionally set up, but she still took the blame for something she didn’t do. What real friend would stand by and let that happen?

  I read a devotion this morning about bein’ careful who you follow. It said sheep have been known to follow each other off a cliff. I’ve been givin’ that a lot of thought. I mean, what’s wrong
with these sheep? Are they blind? Suicidal? Does this happen at night when they can’t see where they’re goin’? Are they followin’ too close; and when they realize what’s happening, it’s like a pileup on the Interstate? Do the slow, out-of-shape sheep wander up the mountain and look around and wonder where everybody else went? What do they do then for a leader?

  Are young ‘uns dumb as sheep? Would Sunny follow that Al plumb off a cliff? I’d hate to think so, but look at that bunch of grown people that Jim Jones got to drink poisoned juice! If that ain’t sheep mentality, I don’t know what is. That’s why Jesus tells us—and I’m paraphrasin’ of course—“Let me be your Shepherd, and I won’t lead you off no cliff.” When we don’t have sense, He does. Hallelujah! I’m prayin’ He pitches a little wisdom in Sunny’s direction.

  DIVIDER HERE

  The next morning when Faye dropped Sunny off, I had biscuits in the oven and a cup of decaf in the microwave. I was brewing a pot of the real stuff for me. The decaf was for Sunny. That young ‘un loves coffee and bread—homemade biscuits broke up and put in a cup of coffee with milk and sugar—and I wanted to start the morning off on her good side. Especially since I figured I’d be on her bad side not long after she’d had her coffee and bread.

  She came into the kitchen as I was getting the biscuits out. “Those smell good.”

  “Your coffee’s in the microwave.”

  She flung her arms around my neck. “You’re the best!” She giggled and retrieved her coffee.

  I buttered Matlock a biscuit and put it in his bowl. He gobbled it down in a flash and looked up at me like he was starving to death. He’d already had his breakfast, mind you; he’s just a greedy pig.

  “One more,” I told him, “and that’s it.” I put peanut butter on this one hoping he’d be better satisfied. I reckoned at least it’d take him more than two seconds to choke this one down.

  I buttered myself a biscuit and sat down across from Sunny, who was crumbling her biscuit into a cup of coffee that was the color of pale oak.

  “Been thinking about that bracelet,” I said.

  Sunny hesitated in mid-crumble but then went on as if I hadn’t said anything.

  “I wonder if it has less to do with you than it does with Mrs. Anderson.” I opened my biscuit so I could eat the bottom part first. I was saving the fluffy top part for last.

  “What do you mean?” Sunny asked.

  I shrugged. “I’ve been thinking somebody set you up by taking the bracelet and puttin’ it in your locker. But what if somebody took the bracelet because they knew it meant a lot to Mrs. Anderson and the whole thing really didn’t have anything to do with you?”

  “I guess that’s possible.” She stirred her biscuit into the coffee. “She can be a total grouch.”

  “I’ve seen that myself. Do you know of anybody the old sour ball made mad recently?”

  Sunny took a bite of her coffee and bread. “This is good, Mimi.”

  “Do you need a pencil and a sheet of paper?”

  She frowned at me from overtop of her spoon.

  “To make a list of everybody Mrs. Anderson has made mad lately,” I explained. “You can put my name on there.”

  “You already know, don’t you?”

  “Know what?”

  “That Al had a run-in with Mrs. Anderson a few days ago.”

  “No, I didn’t know that.” That wasn’t a lie. I suspected, but I didn’t know. “What happened?”

  “Al was late for school, and Mrs. Anderson wouldn’t approve her excuse.”

  “Since when does the receptionist run the school?” I asked. “Ain’t it for the principal to decide what gets excused and what don’t?”

  “Yeah, and after Mrs. Anderson ran her mouth, Al asked to see the principal.”

  “And?”

  Sunny shrugged. “He was in a meeting, so Al took her note and went on to class.”

  “Anything else?”

  “What do you mean? Like, then did Al go back and steal the bracelet to get back at Mrs. Anderson?”

  “No. Like, do you know anybody else who might’ve had a reason to wanna get back at Mrs. Anderson?”

  “I don’t know. She tries to act like she’s more important than she really is, so she’s ticked a lot of people off.”

  “I don’t doubt that.” I got up to refill my coffee cup.

  “I might as well tell you this, too,” Sunny said, “because you’d probably find it out anyway.”

  I sat back down at the table. “All right.”

  “Claire was in the office that morning. She said she heard Al tell Mrs. Anderson what goes around comes around and that one day she’d get what she deserves.”

  “I’m inclined to agree with Al on that one.”

  Sunny’s little eyes bugged out at me. “What?”

  “Well, baby, the Bible plainly says you’ll reap what you sow.”

  “So you don’t think Al took the bracelet?”

  “I don’t know whether she did or not, but I’d certainly need more to go on than the fact that she got aggravated with Mrs. Anderson and told her where to get off.”

  “So you’re not automatically blaming Al?”

  “No. When have you ever known me to not be fair?”

  “Well, never, but…but it was clear you didn’t like Al.”

  “You mean that day when you two came through the lunch line?”

  Sunny nodded.

  “It wasn’t that I didn’t like her. I don’t know her. What I didn’t like was how you were acting. And since you’d never acted like that around me before, I figured it was because of her.”

  Sunny shredded her napkin. “I guess it was kinda. Al is so cool, and….”

  “And what? You didn’t want me to embarrass you?”

  “Well, it wasn’t that exactly.”

  “Then what was it? Does Al not have a grandmother? Or was it because your grandmother had on a hairnet and was workin’ in the lunchroom?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I don’t know, either, but here’s somethin’ I do know. If your friends are really your friends, they’ll like you no matter what. If they ain’t really your friends, they won’t like you no matter what.”

  “I guess.”

  “I know.” I took a sip of my coffee. “Speakin’ of friends, did you and Claire have some sorta fallin’ out?”

  “Not really.”

  “Then how come you don’t hang around her much anymore? Is it because of Al?”

  She got up and put the tiny scraps of napkin into the trash can. “That’s part of it, but Claire is still such a kid.”

  “She’s the same age as you,” I said, as Sunny put her coffee cup in the sink.

  “In a way.” She sat back down at the table. “But she wants to do a lot of kid stuff…stuff I’ve outgrown.”

  I took her hand. “I know Al is hip and runs with an older crowd and stuff, but don’t be in too big a hurry to grow up. That’s a one-way street, angel.”

  Chapter Five

  Sunny was dyin’ to go to play practice that afternoon, but since she was suspended I reckoned that meant she couldn’t go to school at all. What kind of punishment would that be if they allowed young ‘uns to miss classes but come back to enjoy the good stuff? No punishment at all in my book!

  Still, Faye got off early and swung by to pick up Sunny around four o’clock, so that gave me plenty of time to get to the school and catch the end of play practice. I planned on gettin’ a glimpse of that Al in action.

  Now before you go thinkin’ I lied to Sunny about not likin’ Al, the Bible says we’re to love others as ourselves. So it ain’t Al personally I don’t like, it’s her ways. Kinda like a loophole.

  I slipped in at the back of the auditorium. They were rehearsin’ a scene where Macbeth had killed the king and that Al (Lady Macbeth) was tellin’ Macbeth to frame the grooms. It was kindly weird to be sittin’ there listenin’ to Al tellin’ how to frame somebody when Sunny was in a whole heap of trouble
because she’d been framed herself.

  Poor ol’ Macbeth feels bad because he’s killed the king, and his wife pretty much calls him a sissy. She decides to go frame the grooms herself. I wonder if it’ll have anything to do with Mrs. Anderson’s bracelet, but I figure no, that’s already been done. Of course, I know Al ain’t Lady Macbeth, but I have to wonder just how good an actress she is. She’s the only one of the young ‘uns the drama teacher didn’t jump all over about their accents, but that ain’t all that’s botherin’ me. If she’s this convincing playin’ a part in a play, is she just pretendin’ to be Sunny’s friend? Is she usin’ Sunny for a scapegoat?

  The teacher wound everything up and said she’d see ‘em all after school the next day. As Al started down off the stage, a boy got up out of the front row to meet her. They went right into each other’s arms and started kissin’.

  “Alicia,” the drama teacher hollered, “you know that’s not allowed in school!”

  “Whatever.” Al broke away from lover boy long enough to grab her backpack off the floor in front of the stage. She handed it to him and they walked up the aisle toward me.

  “You’re doin’ a good job with the play,” I said when they got within hearing distance.

  “Thanks.” Al smiled.

  I looked at the boy. “Do you go here, too?”

  “Naw, I’m a senior.”

  “See ya,” Al said.

  As they walked past, the boy asked, “Who’s she?”

  “One of the lunch ladies.”

  I wondered if she even knew I was Sunny’s grandmother. Probably not. It still stung that Sunny had been embarrassed by me, and it worried me that Sunny thought Al was so cool. I thought about Al’s mother. What was she like? Did she know her daughter wore such sexy clothes to school and smooched high school boys right smack dab in the auditorium? Did she care? I decided to find out.

  I got up and went to the library. I sat down at an unoccupied computer and went onto the Internet, glad Sunny’d taught me how to use a search engine. I did a search for “Granger” in our town and then narrowed it down by school districts. There was only one “Granger” listed in Sunny’s school district. I printed out the directions to the house and put ‘em in my pocketbook. Then I left the school and went to get Matlock. It’s always good to have a partner along —especially a partner with some muscle—when you’re doin’ surveillance.