Rock Harbor Search and Rescue (11 page)

“Which means you think Mary lied about the necklace being missing?” Inetta shook her head. “It’s okay for now. I’ll take you girls at your word that you think this person is legitimately selling her own jewelry.”

“We’re pretty certain she is.” Olivia nodded.

Throwing several bills onto the table, Inetta stood and slung her purse strap over her shoulder. “Tell you what . . . if I get any leads about the necklace, I’ll let you know. And if you girls get another lead or even an idea, you let me know so I can follow up on it. Deal?”

Emily pushed to her feet. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.” Inetta glanced at her watch. “Now, I have to get back to work or Mr. Farmer will wonder what happened to me. You girls stay out of trouble and come see me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Olivia said as she grabbed her backpack from the floor.

“Thanks, Inetta. For everything.” Emily extended her hand.

Inetta smiled, then shook Emily’s hand. “Thank you. See you later.”

Emily waited until the reporter had left to take her last sip of mocha and grab her backpack. “Well, that was a dead end.”

Out on the curb, Olivia waited for Emily to situate her backpack. “Maybe you’ll find out something with the surf club.”

“Yeah.” But Emily wasn’t going to hold her breath. She marched toward the road home.

“Aw, come on, Em . . . we’ll get a lead.” Olivia followed her.

“From where?” She kicked a rock down the sidewalk. “And what’s the sheriff doing? Nothing. I haven’t seen him doing any investigating on the case at all. It’s like he’s accepted that I was the one who took Mrs. Dancer’s necklace, based on nothing more than Rachel Zinn’s lies.”

“If that’s true, then why hasn’t he arrested you?” Olivia asked.

This wasn’t going as planned. Not at all. She saw how the kids looked at her at school. Even her family was acting differently. And it wasn’t fair when she hadn’t done anything wrong. “Maybe he’s waiting on Dad and Naomi to wear me down so he can swoop in and recover the necklace and look like a hero.”

“You know he’s not doing that.” Olivia caught up and fell into step with her. “You probably just haven’t seen the work he’s doing. I’m sure he’s working on the case. Hey, he might even have a lead.”

“Then he would have told Dad or Naomi.” Emily stopped and faced her best friend. “Do you always believe the best in everyone all the time?”

Olivia laughed. “Emily O’Reilly, you’ve been my best friend for how many years? You should know the answer to that.”

Despite herself, Emily giggled. “Yeah, you do.” She reached out and hugged Olivia. “It’s one of the things I love most about you.”

Olivia squeezed her back. “Cheer up. I’ve been praying we get a lead.”

“I hope God hears you.” It seemed he hadn’t heard her pleas yet. Or he’d said no. Emily straightened and adjusted the backpack. She glanced over Olivia’s shoulder toward the Coffee Place. Thank goodness Rachel and her followers weren’t there again.

Bree opened the door of the popular coffee shop. Emily grabbed Olivia’s hand. “Come on.”

“What? We just had a snack.”

“Look.” Emily tugged her across the street and moved her to the side. People moved up and down the sidewalk, Rock Harbor residents and tourists alike.

“Oh-kay. Bree is getting coffee. She’s always getting coffee.”

Emily nodded slowly. “And who’s sitting at the table by the cashier?”

“That’s . . .” Olivia leaned closer and squinted around the busy coffee shop. “Oh. That’s Mrs. Cooper.”

“Yep. Let’s go use the ladies’ room. I don’t think we can chance missing what’s going on between them. Besides, I need to floss.”

And who knew? She just might find out something useful.

EIGHT

“Shh.” Emily led Olivia around the mass of people to the table behind where Mrs. Cooper sat.

“I wonder where Pansy is,” Olivia whispered.

“Don’t know.” Emily tilted her head toward the line.

Olivia wore a worried expression. “We’re sneaking around to spy. This is really wrong, Emily.”

“No, we’re trying to get information to clear my name. That’s not wrong.”

“How does spying on this meeting help clear your name?”

“Shh, Bree is almost to the cashier. She’s bound to see Mrs. Cooper any minute now.” She moved out of Bree’s line of sight and pulled Olivia with her.

Bree chatted with the cashier while she paid for her cappuccino, then turned. Emily had the perfect vantage point to see Bree’s face as her gaze landed on Mrs. Cooper. Emily held her breath for the five seconds it took for a range of expressions to cross Bree’s face, but mostly surprise.

On the sixth second, Bree stepped beside Mrs. Cooper’s table. “Hello, Lucy.”

Emily couldn’t see Mrs. Cooper’s face since her back was to them, but she had no problem hearing the surprise in her voice. “H-hello, Bree.”

Bree cleared her throat. “May I sit with you for a moment?”

“S-s-sure.” The hesitation in her voice tugged against Emily’s conscience. She’d all but accused the woman of stealing and pawning Mrs. Dancer’s necklace. With not a single bit of proof except that Mrs. Dancer had shown it to her.

“How is Pansy? She must have grown so much.” Bree’s cheeks had little red spots on them as she slipped into the chair.

“She’s adjusting to being back in town. Being in school. Back in the house.”

Bree gave a soft smile. “I imagine it’s difficult at times.”

Mrs. Cooper nodded. “Bree, I know what people think—that I knew what he was doing.”

“Shh.” Bree laid her hand over Mrs. Cooper’s. “You had nothing to do with any of that. We all know that.”

Mrs. Cooper’s shoulders shook like she was crying. “Sure doesn’t feel that way.” She sniffed. “The way everybody in town is treating me.” She sniffed again.

Bree handed her a napkin. “What’s going on?”

Mrs. Cooper dabbed her face with the napkin, then blew her nose. “I thought coming home would be just that, coming home. But everyone’s avoiding me. Like I knew anything about what Pete was doing. I didn’t. I promise you, Bree, I had no idea. All that money . . .”

“I know. I believe you.”

“No one will give me a job. Not even a chance.”

Emily recognized the expression on Bree’s face. It said she’d made up her mind to do something about a problem.
“It just so happens that we’re looking for a receptionist at the Kitchigami Search-and-Rescue Training Center. Would you be interested?”

Mrs. Cooper’s head came up. “Bree, you don’t have to make up a job to give me.”

“Seriously. I’ve had someone filling in, but she’s got a new job lined up in Houghton. She starts October first, so if you could start tomorrow, she’d have plenty of time to train you before she leaves. That would be perfect.”

“You don’t have to give me the job, Bree. I’m sure there are more qualified people.”

“I know you’d be good at this.” Bree smiled. “And I’d love to spend more time with you. I’ve missed you.” Her voice was soft.

Mrs. Cooper pressed her trembling lips together and inhaled. “Okay. I’ll take it. What time tomorrow?”

Bree smiled wider. “How about eight?”

Emily grabbed Olivia’s hand and led her out of the Coffee Place, making sure she kept their backs to Bree and Mrs. Cooper until they spilled out onto the street.

“Well, that wasn’t useful.” Olivia straightened her backpack as they headed to Emily’s. “I feel like we just eavesdropped with no real reason.”

“It was useful. We know Mrs. Cooper didn’t sell the necklace at the pawnshop, and she would’ve while she was there, if she’d had it.”

Olivia shook her head as they turned the corner. “We knew all that before we stepped foot inside the Coffee Place.”

“But now we know that she’s got a job, so we can call Timmy and Dave off their task of getting close to Pansy, although I do feel sorry for her, so I want Timmy to keep an eye out for her. People
can be so mean.” Emily moved a step ahead of Olivia so her best friend couldn’t see her face.

She really didn’t have a valid reason why she wanted to hear Mrs. Cooper and Bree’s conversation, but she did. Naomi
was
always telling her she was the most curious girl. Was that always a bad thing? Did it make her a bad person?

Olivia sighed. “So that’s one less suspect on our list.”

Emily nodded. “I really thought Mrs. Cooper was a good lead, but I’m glad she’s not the one who took the necklace.” Poor Pansy had enough to deal with because of her father’s theft. Emily was starting to relate to that feeling a little
too
much.

“Me too.” Olivia waited for a car to pass before they crossed the street. “But I think I’ll feel that way about anybody in Rock Harbor.”

“Yeah. Ditto.” They headed toward Emily’s house.

Olivia stepped onto the sidewalk. “Maybe the person who took the necklace isn’t from Rock Harbor.”

“Maybe.” But that meant they weren’t even on the right track in their investigation.

The afternoon carried a hint of a chilly breeze as they walked toward home. If the thief was just a tourist, Emily’s chance to find the necklace and clear her name would be gone before the first freeze of the season.

Olivia stopped and stared. “Hey, whose truck is that in the driveway?”

Emily peered past her. She didn’t recognize the pickup parked beside Grandma’s car under the tree beside the driveway. “I don’t know. Let’s find out.” She hurried the rest of the way to the front door. “Dad? Naomi?”

“In here.”

She tossed her backpack onto the bench in the entryway. Olivia did the same before following Emily into the den.

A shaggy-haired man who had freckles almost exactly like Naomi’s sat on the couch beside Grandma. A red-haired woman sat on the other side of him, her hand holding his.

“Uncle Greg came to visit.” Timmy bounced up as soon as Emily and Olivia entered.

Naomi smiled from her perch on the arm of Dad’s chair. “Emily, do you remember my brother, Greg? He was in our wedding? And, Greg, meet Emily’s best friend, Olivia Webster.” Naomi smiled at Emily and Olivia. “This is his friend, Valerie Syers. She’s been in town for a couple of weeks.”

Uncle Greg grinned. “Might be hard to remember me. The wedding seems like a long time ago.” He offered his hand to Olivia. “Not only am I Naomi’s brother, but your dad here was, and still is, one of my best friends ever. We were almost inseparable when we were your age.”

Olivia shook his hand while Dad laughed. “Yes, we were, Greg. Those were the good ole days.”

Olivia took a seat on the lounging chaise beside Timmy, but her eyes locked onto Emily’s and screamed she had something she was dying to tell Emily.

“I completely forgot you had a brother.” Emily realized how rude that sounded and clamped a hand over her mouth as she stared at Naomi.

Naomi blushed while Greg chuckled. “Let’s just say that for a while, I wasn’t the best brother in the world.”

“Not like me. I’m the best brother.” Timmy jumped up again and danced around the room, Charley nipping at his heels.

Emily laughed. “Yeah. Sure. Right.”

Greg, Dad, and Grandma all chuckled while Naomi just got redder in the face.

“Anyway, Greg’s going to be staying in Rock Harbor for a few weeks,” Dad said.

“Greg—er, Uncle Greg, will you be staying here with us?” The only other adult-sized bed was Emily’s, and the house was already a little cramped with Olivia.

Grandma smiled. “Of course not, dear. He’ll be staying with me at the bed-and-breakfast.” She patted Greg’s leg. “I’ve missed having my son around. This will give him the chance to see how enjoyable the B&B is to manage. How profitable.”

Greg’s face turned almost as red as Naomi’s. “Mom, I already told you, I’m not interested in the place. Too confining. Too stifling.”

Grandma’s face fell, then brightened again. “I think you’ve forgotten how lovely Rock Harbor is. If you stay for a little while, I bet you won’t find it confining or stifling.”

Emily glanced over at Olivia, who widened her eyes, then jerked her gaze to the woman beside Greg—Valerie, was it?—then back to Emily and then widened her eyes even more. What? She didn’t know the woman, couldn’t see what Olivia’s deal was. Valerie was beautiful. Maybe that was it. Maybe she was a famous model. Olivia wanted to be a model when she grew up, so she was always reading those fashion magazines and talking about designers and stuff. That was probably it. Emily smiled at Olivia and nodded.