Rock Harbor Search and Rescue (5 page)

“She won’t care. She’ll tell you Rachel’s lying.”

Dad shook his head. “Emily, Sheriff Kaleva is right. I wouldn’t want you questioned without me.”

“So you’re just going to take Rachel and Gretchen’s word over mine without even asking Olivia?”
Don’t cry, don’t cry
. “How about if she just tells you that I didn’t say that? It wouldn’t be you questioning her, just her telling you the truth.”

Sheriff Kaleva shook his head as he stood. “That’s the same thing, Emily.”

He motioned to the door as Dad stood as well. Together, they reached the foyer. The sheriff’s voice was lowered, but Emily could still make out what he said. “We’ll keep investigating, of course, but I’m going to be honest with you, Donovan. All the evidence is pointing to Emily.”

Her body began to shake a bit uncontrollably. Why was this happening to her? She hadn’t stolen the necklace, and she certainly had never said she was going to do that. Why did Rachel hate her so much that she’d lie? And what about Gretchen? Why would she lie about Emily? They’d been friends since kindergarten. Well, then again, so had Emily and Rachel.

“Emily.” Dad had shut the door behind the sheriff and stood facing her. “I want to talk to you, but I need to talk with Naomi first. Go ahead and wait in your room until we call you.”

Tears burned her eyes. “Dad, I promise you, I never said anything about stealing a necklace. I didn’t take it. I promise.”

“Just go to your room, Em. We’ll discuss this later.”

She ran to her room and threw herself across the bed, just
as Olivia opened the bathroom door. A cloud of steam wafted behind her. “What’s the matter?”

Emily rolled onto her back. She told her what the sheriff had said and how her dad had reacted. “He really believes I took the necklace. On purpose. And that I’m lying. Why won’t he believe me?”

“I’ll tell him and Sheriff Kaleva that you didn’t say that to me.” Olivia sat on the ottoman at the foot of Emily’s bed. “I can’t believe Gretchen said that too.”

“Me either. I thought Gretchen liked me.” She’d never even had so much as an argument with Gretchen, so why would she back up Rachel’s story? Wait a minute . . . “I bet Rachel made her lie so the sheriff would believe her story.”

“How could Rachel
make
her lie?”

“I don’t know, but Rachel can be pretty mean.”

A knock sounded on the bedroom door, then it creaked open and Naomi stuck her head inside. She wasn’t smiling. “Emily, your dad and I would like to speak to you for a moment.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Olivia reached out and grabbed Naomi’s hand. “Mrs. O’Reilly, I don’t know why Rachel and Gretchen are lying, but Emily never said she was making the copy of Mrs. Dancer’s Sapphire Beauty to steal it. She didn’t tell me she planned to take the necklace.”

Naomi smiled softly. “Thank you, Olivia. You’re a good friend.” The smile fell off her face as her stare lit on Emily. “Come on.”

Emily followed Naomi into the living room. Dad stood, not a good sign. He pointed at the couch. “Sit down.”

She sat and looked down at her hands.
Please, God, let him
listen to me
. Maybe he’d give her the benefit of the doubt. She
was
telling the truth, after all.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything you’d like to tell us?”

His stern voice brought tears to her eyes. If her own dad didn’t believe her, who would? He really thought she’d plotted and planned to steal the necklace and then had done it.

She lifted her chin and looked at him, willing him to see the truth in her face. “I didn’t take the necklace, Dad.” She let her focus shift to Naomi. “I give you my word. I’m not lying.”

Naomi’s expression softened. “You have to realize how this looks, Emily. If it was just one person’s word against yours . . . but it’s two.”

“And Olivia told you I never said I planned to steal the necklace, so it isn’t just my word against Rachel’s and Gretchen’s.”

“There’s no logical reason for them to lie, Emily.” Dad’s tone was harsher than she’d heard in a long, long time.

A lump the size of Lake Superior almost choked her. “I don’t know why they’re lying, Daddy, just that I’m telling the truth. That’s all I can say. God knows I’m not lying. And if you believe them, then you’re also calling Olivia a liar. There’s no logical reason for me to lie either, you know. What would I do with Mrs. Dancer’s necklace? I couldn’t wear it or sell it with everyone knowing it was stolen. And why would I ruin my chances to get my puppy? You know how badly I want him.”

No one said anything. It was like they all held their breath. The old grandfather clock in the dining room ticked, the sound bouncing into the living room as loud as a drum.

Dad sighed. “For the next two weeks, I want you home by five
every afternoon. You are to help Naomi with dinner and with Matthew and Timmy. Even with Olivia here.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And unless we hear something different from Sheriff Kaleva, there will be no puppy.”

Her heart broke. It didn’t matter what she said. He didn’t believe her.

And that hurt worse than not getting her puppy.

THREE

The September sun beat down on the city as its residents spilled out of the Rock Harbor Community Church. People visited as they walked slowly to their cars. Emily and Olivia walked away from Dad and Naomi, who were chatting with the pastor just outside the church’s doors. Dave and Timmy hovered behind the girls.

“What are you doing?” Emily asked her brother.

“We’re waiting on you to tell us what you want us to do and how we can help.”

As if she had any idea. Suddenly, it hit her. “Pansy.”

“Huh?” Both boys wore confused expressions.

“Pansy Cooper is back in school. The elementary school. You two see what you can find out from her. Her mom saw the necklace before Mrs. Dancer asked us to watch the booth.” They hadn’t been in church, but Emily wouldn’t want to go and have everyone stare at her either.

“Like what?” Dave asked.

She shrugged. What could they find out?

“See if you hear anything about their mom having money
problems or if they recently had some money come in.” Olivia looked at Emily. “If she stole the necklace, she’d have sold it quickly to get the money she needed.”

“Good idea.” Emily turned to the boys. “Just make friends with Pansy and see what you can find out.”

“Davy!” Bree, with one of his two-year-old siblings on each hip, called across the lot. “Come on. We’re going to your grammy’s for lunch.”

Dave nodded. “We’ll see what we can find out tomorrow.” He sprinted toward his family.

Emily, Olivia, and Timmy headed toward Dad and Naomi, who were making their way to the parking lot.

“You know, one thing’s bothering me,” Olivia whispered.

“What?” Emily stopped and grabbed Olivia’s arm to stop her, but waved her brother on.

“You copied her necklace, right?”

“Yeah. I thought it was pretty, and she’d shown it in commercials for the festival. I thought maybe I could sell mine cheaper and make some money.”
That
didn’t quite work out the way she’d planned. “Why?”

“I know hers was bigger and heavier, but you both used fused glass and similar beads, didn’t you? I mean, she didn’t have any real gems or anything, right?”

“Right. Mine was smaller and lighter, but we used the same stuff. And I hoped my lower price for the same look would help it sell quickly.” Now she’d not only lost all the money she’d made from her jewelry, but she also lost the chance to sell her biggest piece since Sheriff Kaleva had taken her knockoff as evidence.

“What was the price of yours?”

“Fifty dollars.”

“Mrs. Dancer told the sheriff that hers was over a thousand dollars.” Olivia rubbed the end of her nose. “I’m just wondering why hers is so much more, if you both used basically the same materials.”

“Because she’s Mary Dancer, I guess.” But now that she thought about it, Emily didn’t think Mrs. Dancer’s necklace was worth
that
much more than hers. “And maybe because people believe it will ward of the Windigo. You heard what she said to the police about the Windigo striking while the protection was gone. Everyone knows that Mrs. Dancer made the necklace to ward off the Windigo. She said she had the medicine man bless it.”

“Mom said it was silly to believe in that stuff. You don’t believe in the Windigo, do you?”

Emily glanced over to the car. Dad and Naomi were still chatting with some of their neighbors. “Of course not.” But when she was alone in the dark and heard something outside in the woods, the thought of the Windigo sometimes scared her. “At least, not now. But some of the old Ojibwa members here in the Kitchigami area
do
believe in the Windigo. They make charms and stuff like that to keep it away.”

“Mrs. Dancer claimed her Sapphire Beauty could do that?”

Emily nodded. “Naomi showed me the picture of the necklace, so I read the article in the
Kitchigami Journal
.”

“You know,” Olivia began, “if Mrs. Dancer’s necklace was featured in the paper, maybe someone planned to steal it all along.”

“You’re right. I didn’t even think about that. I can’t remember everything the article said. I was mostly interested in looking at the necklace.”

“We need to get a copy of that paper.”

“Right. It was about three weeks ago.”

“Emily! Olivia!” Naomi called. “Let’s go.”

As they climbed into the third-row seat of the Honda SUV, Emily’s heart held on to the hope her best friend had given her. She could almost taste the apology everyone would have to give her when she proved she had nothing to do with the missing necklace. And Rachel Zinn would have to give a special apology for lying about her.

And maybe Mrs. Dancer would give Emily back her money. That puppy would be licking her chin very soon.

Sunday dinner was always loud at the O’Reilly house. From the time they got home from church, Naomi needed Emily’s help in the kitchen making pasties, which were little beef semicircle pies that people had been eating since the Cornish miners brought them to the U.P. Olivia talked to her parents on the phone. Matthew took forever to go down for his nap, and Timmy broke two plates setting the table because he kept playing with Charley. Naomi had finally put the dog outside.

Adding to the craziness, Grandma Heinonen and her best friend, Mrs. McDonald, joined them. Grandma wasn’t their
real
grandma since she was Naomi’s mother, but Emily loved her just like she was. Most times, when Grandma and her best friend came over for meals, Emily didn’t care one way or the other, but today . . . today she sat right beside Mrs. McDonald.

Mrs. McDonald was the town’s biggest gossip. As she waved a plump hand in the air, Emily noticed her fingers held so many rings it was a wonder she could move her hand. “Hello, Emily, dear. How is school starting for you this year? Aren’t you a freshman? High school is such great fun.”

“No, ma’am. I start high school next year.” Emily wished she could look forward to it, but her stomach clenched every time she thought about moving to the other side of the school.

“Oh, you’ll love it. Such a wonderful time.” Mrs. McDonald turned and spoke to Grandma on her other side about her rosebushes.