Hiding in Plain Sight (17 page)

“Why, now, I suppose you could.” He looked pleased. “That would be lovely. I don't know where the machine is, I'm afraid.”

“I'll find it, don't worry.” I picked up the pitcher and wandered down the hall and around the corner. There, a nurse pointed me in the right direction, and in
no time I'd refilled it with water and lots of ice and taken it back to his room.

Mr. Stanley was thankful, as always. It's nice how something that small and simple can make a difference. It got me to thinking that maybe, once he was out of here, I'd look into volunteering at the hospital. I could-n't come up every day, especially when school was back in, but it wouldn't be too much to give an hour once or twice a week.

I was on my way home, thinking about the whole volunteer thing and how I could fetch ice water and read to folks or whatever was needed, when something shifted in my head. It was one of those quick thoughts that can nearly go right by if you don't catch it and take a closer look.

I came to a dead stop right there on the sidewalk as an idea formed and took hold. The clues I'd thought didn't exist had been there all along, right under my nose — hiding in plain sight. I just hadn't realized what they were trying to tell me! When the full meaning hit me, I nearly jumped and hollered.

It was so simple! Why hadn't I realized it before?

O
ver the rest of the weekend I checked and double-checked my theory. Everything fell into place, piece by piece, and finally, early Sunday evening, I made a phone call.

“Would Officer Doucet happen to be working?” I asked nervously, hoping I could convince him to go along with my plan.

“He's out on a call right now. Can I give him a message?”

I told her my name and phone number and asked her to please tell him that it was very important. She said she would, but she sounded like someone who hears that a lot and isn't particularly influenced by it. I suppose if you work in law enforcement, your idea of important would probably be a real honest-to-goodness emergency.

It was 10:05 when he called back, and I'd nearly paced a hole in the floor. Thank goodness Mom and Dad were in the living room watching some nature show on television or they'd have thought I was going over the edge.

“You left me a message?” Officer Doucet asked.

I told him that I was certain that Mrs. Thompson was innocent and that I believed I could prove it, if he would give me a chance.

“The problem is, the truth is going to be hard to prove. I'm afraid even laying out the whole scenario won't be enough to get a confession,” I told him. Then I explained my plan and what I wanted him to do.

“I know it's asking a lot,” I said, finishing up in a rush, afraid he was going to stop me and tell me to forget it any second. “But to even have a chance to succeed, I need you there.”

There was a pause, and I could almost hear him weighing my ideas and pleas against his better judgement. Even though I'd laid it all out, I knew everything I'd told him was circumstantial.

“And, uh, you feel you need me there for…?”

“Well, maybe just to witness the confession, if there is one.” I wasn't 100 percent sure about what I was asking him myself. I guess I had an idea that he might be able to get an admission that I couldn't, what with his police training and everything. “I thought maybe you
could jump in and, you know, put some pressure on or something, help things along. Whatever you can do.”

“You seem very sure of your theory,” he said. He didn't sound convinced.

“I'm as sure as I
can
be,” I admitted. “And you
did
tell me that if I came to you with something that might help clear Mrs. Thompson, you'd listen and really consider what I had. That's all I'm asking. One shot, to help an innocent woman.”

“I don't actually start work until six tomorrow evening,” he said. “I'd have to come in early.”

I held my breath. I wanted to beg but something made me just stay quiet and wait.

“Okay, what time?”

I felt everything inside me kind of sag with relief as we made arrangements. At least I had a shot this way. Without him there, I felt my chances were practically nil.

I called Mrs. Thompson then and told her simply that I needed her to trust me and come to NUTEC the next afternoon. She agreed without asking any questions, though I could hear in her voice that she would have liked to.

Then I tried to sleep.

Monday morning found me nervous and kind of scared. Ernie seemed to think it was a superb time to
make a thorough nuisance of himself. He yowled and meowed and head-butted me and just generally went on ridiculously while I ate a fruit cup and toast. I thought maybe ignoring him was the answer to stopping his weird behaviour. I was wrong.

By the time I'd finished breakfast, gotten ready for work, and walked to NUTEC, I was a little calmer. I managed to keep myself from shaking when I walked in and took my place in the spot Janine had designated as my work area the week before.

“The plan was a success,” she whispered to me as soon as I landed in my chair.

Her remark startled me for a few seconds and I was wondering how she could possibly have heard anything about what I'd set up for the afternoon.

“With Joey,” she clarified, seeing the confused look on my face.

“Oh, what happened?” I was glad for the distraction as I shifted my mind back to her impromptu date last Friday.

“Nothing big, but we had a nice dinner and all, and I think he had a pretty good time. But mostly, I think that for the first time he noticed me as a person and not just a secretary, you know?”

I nodded, happy to know it had gone well.

“So! I wonder if he'll actually ask me out,” she said with a sigh.

“I bet he does,” I said. I wasn't just encouraging her, either. I really did think Joey liked her. “Look how he always teases and jokes with you, and how he did that program thing without you even asking him or anything. I bet he just didn't want to make a move in case you weren't interested.”

“Just like I didn't want to get too obvious with him because I didn't want to make things all awkward and weird between us.”

“Right,” I said. It was nice to see her happy.

“Well, as soon as I got home I called Jason and dumped him. Not because I'm all sure of myself that Joey is going to ask me out or anything, but because I'm not wasting any more time on losers. I think you're right — I deserve better.”

“Definitely!” I agreed, feeling proud of her.

Just then, Joey sauntered through the door, which obviously meant the end of that conversation! He stopped at Janine's desk, smiled and said hello, and chatted with the two of us for a few minutes before heading down the hall to his office. I noticed he had what I think of as a happy walk. You know how someone walks a bit lighter or something when they're happy?

Carol and the Yaegers came through the door next. Stuart and Debbie looked a bit miffed, and it wasn't hard to understand why when Carol spoke.

“You don't need to act like you don't know what I'm talking about,” she said before storming down the hall.

“That woman has got some weird ideas,” Debbie said. She turned to Stuart. “Did you ever hear anything so crazy in your life?”

“She does get some strange notions,” he agreed.

“I wonder what that was about,” I commented after they'd gone down the hall.

“With Carol, you don't want to know.” Janine shrugged. “She once had a fit because I went to use the copier while she was in the washroom. She said the machine gets used to one person and no one else should use it, or some such foolishness. Like I said, the less attention we pay to her, the better. You can't talk to her at all once she gets an idea in her head.”

I found that my attitude toward Carol was quickly getting to be like everyone else's at NUTEC. In spite of her abrasive manner, I couldn't bring myself to actually dislike her. Instead, I felt a kind of tolerant exasperation and rather pitied her.

Janine warned me then that Mondays are usually busy and, as she'd predicted, things got hectic pretty fast. Phone calls and deliveries and correspondence and filing kept the two of us hopping all morning and into the afternoon. We barely had a chance to eat lunch.

And then the door opened and Officer Doucet stepped back a little to allow Mrs. Thompson to walk in first. He walked in behind her.

It was time.

O
fficer Doucet took control quickly and efficiently, instructing everyone to assemble in the conference room. Janine was the last to arrive, having stopped briefly to switch the phone over to the answering system and put away some documents.

Once we'd all taken seats he looked slowly around the table and then announced that he had asked us to gather because of a development relating to the recent robbery. I thought that sounded terribly official.

“Miss Belgarden here asked to have an opportunity to present what she believes is new evidence, so I'm going to turn the floor over to her for the next few moments.”

I don't know exactly how I expected everyone to take that news, but there was a kind of collective murmur that seemed to fluctuate between disbelief and amusement. It didn't fill me with confidence.

I cleared my throat, which was suddenly dry and tight.

“Uh, thanks,” I said. Mrs. Thompson gave me an encouraging smile.

“This is stupid,” Carol said, looking around at the others for backup. “She's just a kid.”

“I'm going to ask you not to interrupt unnecessarily,” Officer Doucet said firmly. “Give Miss Belgarden a chance to speak.”

“I'm sure that you'd all like to see Mrs. Thompson cleared,” I said. I paused and glanced quickly at each of them. Of course, they all nodded, some slightly and some enthusiastically, but it's not like anyone had a choice.

“There were a few facts about the robbery that seemed to be insurmountable problems,” I continued. “One was that the person who gained entry to the conference room had to have a key because the window was broken from the inside. The second was that the safe had been opened and only Mrs. Thompson had the combination.

“However, neither of those ‘facts' is true.” I paused for effect. Skeptical looks met my announcement. “The person who committed the robbery entered this room from the outside.”

“What'd they do, walk through the wall?” Debbie asked. “Was the robber a ghost?” She looked disgusted. “This is a waste of our time, and I have work to do.”

“Now, now, let's give her a chance to explain,” Darla said. “I, for one, am fascinated to know how someone might have accomplished the impossible.”

“But it wasn't impossible at all. It just took a little ingenuity, the right timing, and some special circumstances. Since I wasn't working here at the time of the robbery, it was easier for me to look at everything from a different perspective than those of you who are here all the time. I was able to ask myself if there was anything that didn't quite fit. Was there anything at all that happened at the time that might be considered unusual in any way? And I found a few things.”

Mrs. Thompson was leaning forward, listening intently, her face flooded with hope. I saw Angi, seated to her left, reach over and touch her arm ever so slightly, just enough to offer a show of support.

“For one thing, the lunchroom was being redeco-rated. Every other room here is pretty plain, but suddenly someone decides to change one room.” I turned to Mrs. Thompson. “Whose idea was it to do the room over?”

“I believe it was Debbie who first mentioned that it would be nice to have that room perked up a bit.”

“Everyone was always saying how drab and unap-pealing it was to eat in there,” Debbie said quickly. “And someone, I forget if it was Marion or Darla, told
me I should come up with a colour scheme because I have a flair for decorating.”

I nodded, glad to have at least that much confirmed.

“So, the lunchroom wasn't being used and the fridge was placed in the conference room. It was really the only room it could have gone into, and the thief was counting on that.”

“In case they got hungry while they were robbing the place?” Angi offered me an inquisitive look over the top of her glasses. Her eyes were twinkling and I knew she was enjoying the whole thing, though whether or not it was because she thought I was making a fool of myself, I couldn't say.

“No, because they needed it here to help with the break-in. You see, when I looked at the pictures of this room from the morning after the theft, there was one of a big water stain on the carpet. The guilty person needed the fridge in here for two reasons. One was to make it look as though the water had leaked from the fridge. The other was to store a large block of ice.”

“Ice!” Darla laughed without mirth. “This just gets more and more ridiculous. I'd say that we've all heard enough of this nonsense.”

“I don't know why you'd find the idea of the ice ridiculous,” I said evenly, “since you're the one who put it there.”

“
I put it there?
This is
outrageous
.” She looked around the room, seeking support, her voice becoming shrill. “A kid … a
kid
, I tell you, coming in here and flinging around wild ideas and accusations.”

She turned to face me, anger turning her face red. “And it goes without saying that you don't need to show your face around here again.”

“I haven't fired her,” Mrs. Thompson said quietly. “And I
am
still in charge here.”

“This is slander,” Darla said, ignoring her. “You'd better think very hard before you continue with this laughable exhibition.”

“I believe that slander is based on lies,” I said. The room had fallen so silent it felt almost hollow. “
This
is the truth. Please, just hear me out,” I said, looking from face to face. “The water on the carpet the morning after the robbery is very important. Just before the room was locked for the night, the water was taken from the freezer in the form of a block of ice. The desk near the window was moved over to here,” I walked to the window and stood where I estimated the desk would have been placed and pointed down.