Frustration tightened in Emily’s stomach. “But that proves I didn’t plan to steal anything, so you can stop trying to figure out what I did with the necklace and try to figure out who really stole it.”
Naomi laid a hand over Emily’s. “Honey, Mason’s been looking for the thief.”
“Yeah, but I was his main suspect, and now that there’s proof I didn’t plan to take the necklace, maybe he can believe that I’m telling the truth about everything and start investigating for real.”
“Emily!” Naomi frowned, the corners of her eyes going squinty before she looked at the sheriff. “I’m sorry, Mason.”
“No apologies needed.” The sheriff met Emily’s stare. “I understand your frustration. Trust me, I’m doing my job. We haven’t just written off everyone else just because you had motive, means, and opportunity. Despite what you see on television, we don’t stop until the truth comes out.”
Well, that made her feel better. She nodded. “Thank you, Sheriff Kaleva. I’m sorry if it sounded like I didn’t think you were doing your job. I know you’re a good sheriff. I just want to clear my name.” Emily looked at Naomi. “May I go do my homework now?”
“Sure.” Naomi smiled. “And I know you want to tell Olivia.”
Emily felt the blush darken her cheeks as she rushed down the hall to her bedroom. She busted inside and told Olivia what the sheriff had said.
“I’m glad.” Olivia sat at Emily’s desk. “And since you eliminated Malia as a suspect, you can quit your volunteer work with the surf team. You have to study for the Smackdown.”
“Yeah.” But then she wouldn’t get to see Josh every day. Or Brandon. The surf captain had been so nice to her.
“You don’t sound as relieved as I thought you would.” Olivia chewed on her pencil’s eraser. “What gives?”
Emily shrugged and leaned back against her Phantom of the Opera pillow. “I really don’t know.” She pulled the hair tie from the end of her braid and ran her fingers through her hair, unbraiding all the curls. “I won’t miss the laundry or being that close to Lake Superior, but it feels wrong to quit something after just two days.”
“Did you get to talk with Josh today or something?”
She found it interesting that her face wasn’t burning. What did that mean? “No, but Brandon helped me carry the towel bag. And he helped me with the laundry a little.”
“Brandon?” Olivia narrowed her eyes. “I thought you liked Josh.” Before Emily could reply, Olivia’s cell phone rang. She dug in her pocket for the phone. “Maybe it’s Charles.” She checked the caller ID. “It is.” She plopped onto the bed and answered the call. “Hello?”
Emily leaned her head against Olivia’s, the phone between them, and listened to the conversation.
“Hi, Olivia. It’s me. Charles. Uh, I found out more stuff about Kenneth and Valerie.”
“Oh, thank you. What’d you find out?”
“According to stuff I uncovered, Valerie is his last major modeling client. Over the past year, he’s lost some of the biggest names in the business. Toya. Maive. Even Cheynne was once one of his clients.”
“Not anymore?”
“No. Each one left without publicly stating why. The media only found out when new agents brokered contracts for them.”
“Is that unusual?”
“Not so much, but considering how some of the less popular models publicly spoke about him mishandling their money . . . I just thought you might be interested.”
“I am. Thank you, Charles. Did you find anything else? Anything that would link him to Rock Harbor?”
“Aside from his attention to his last remaining client and her upcoming photo shoot, nothing.”
Olivia moved back to the desk. Emily crossed her arms over her chest and tossed her best friend a confused look. Why didn’t she want Emily to listen anymore?”
“Did you find out anything about the other thing I asked you about?”
What other thing? Emily cocked her head. What was going on?
“I see.”
Olivia wouldn’t look at Emily. “Thanks again, Charles.”
Olivia smiled. “I’ll see you Monday. Bye.” She turned off the phone and shoved it back into her pocket.
“What was that about?” She raised her right eyebrow. Olivia hated when Emily did that because she couldn’t raise just one. “You and Charles have a secret?”
“Don’t be silly.” But Olivia blushed. Furiously.
Her best friend was keeping a secret! From her! She and Olivia hadn’t kept things from each other since . . . well, never. Emily’s heart thumped hard against her chest. Best friends didn’t keep secrets.
“It’s nothing.” Olivia met her gaze, then lifted her pencil and gnawed at the eraser again.
“If it’s nothing, why didn’t you want me to listen? What didn’t you want me to hear?” It didn’t make any sense for Olivia not to tell her everything. They always told each other everything. Well, she always told Olivia. Had her best friend been holding out? For how long? What didn’t she know about Olivia Webster?
“Oh, stop looking like an abandoned puppy, will you?” Olivia shook her head. “I just asked Charles to see if he saw anything online linking your uncle to Kenneth Lancaster. He didn’t find anything, so there was nothing to tell you.”
But she hadn’t said . . . “You thought my uncle might be involved?”
“Oh, come on, Em. You haven’t seen your uncle in how long? Since your dad married Naomi? Then out of the blue he shows up, right after the necklace went missing, and he’s with one of the suspects? If he wasn’t your uncle, you would’ve suspected him too.”
Well . . . maybe. “I wouldn’t have not told you I was checking into it, though. You weren’t going to tell me at all if Charles hadn’t called while I was here.”
“No sense in upsetting you when there’s nothing to report.”
“I wouldn’t be upset.”
“Right.” Olivia waved her hand up and down at Emily. “Like this is you not upset, right?”
“I’m upset right now because you weren’t going to tell me.” Emily stood and glared at Olivia. “Best friends don’t keep secrets, Olivia. Not if they want to stay friends.” She stormed from her room into the kitchen.
Keeping secrets like that . . .
Emily opened the fridge and pulled out the iced tea and set it on the counter. Like Naomi’s brother could be involved in stealing a necklace? No way. She snatched a plastic cup from the cabinet and filled it halfway with tea.
It was ridiculous. But that she’d kept it a secret bothered Emily even more. What else wasn’t Olivia saying?
She opened the fridge door and caught movement from the corner of her eye.
Emily shoved the tea pitcher back on the shelf and stared out the window. What had grabbed her attention? She moved closer to the window, cup of tea in her hand.
The early fall moon cast shadows across the backyard.
There! Was that something right at the edge of the woods behind the house? Had to be big, really big.
Her heart hammered. What was it?
The shadow moved again.
The Windigo! It was real, and it’d come for her. Her grip tightened on the cup. She wanted to scream for Dad and Naomi, but no sound came out when she opened her mouth. It was like something had a hold on her throat.
The motion detector light on the back porch turned on. The cup slipped from Emily’s hand and crashed to the floor as the edge of the woods was lit up. Tea sloshed across the floor.
Emily stared at the figure moving.
And then laughed at herself as she realized what it was. A wapiti.
Not a Windigo. Just a big, tall elk.
Emily and Olivia were still not talking the next morning. Last night had been the first time they’d ever gone to bed with any bad feelings between them. They sat across from each other at the breakfast table, silent.
“As soon as you finish, Emily, you need to hop in the shower and get re
ady. I’ll drop you off at practice on my way to work.” Dad slurped coffee.
“Practice?”
Dad sighed. He’d been doing that a lot toward her lately. “Practice for History Smackdown starts today. Don’t you remember?”
Her school had a two-year winning streak, and they didn’t plan to lose now. Every Saturday morning until Christmas vacation, the team would practice for a couple of hours. They’d start back again after the New Year and go every Saturday again until the big contest in March.
She looked at Olivia, who would be going home today, and suddenly wished they hadn’t wasted last night being upset with each other, even though she’d gotten a lot of studying done after she’d cleaned up the spilled tea. She nodded at her dad. “Sure. I’ll be ready.”
“Good. I’m having a big sale at the store and would like to get there as early as I can to make sure Brad has everything under control.”
Emily stood and took her dishes to the sink. She washed out her cereal bowl, then stuck it and her spoon in the dishwasher.
Olivia was right behind her and followed her to her room. “You can’t still be mad at me, Em. I told you I was sorry. Can’t you let it go?”
“I’m sorry, Liv. I guess my feelings were just hurt that you didn’t share that you’d asked Charles about Uncle Greg from the get-go.”
Olivia gave her a hug. “I should have told you right away, but I really was just trying to save your feelings.”
Emily hugged her back. “Let’s just agree never to keep secrets from each other. Ever. No matter what.”
Olivia pulled back and smiled. “Agreed.”
Emily glanced at the clock. “I’d better hurry up and take my shower. Dad will be upset if I’m late.” She grabbed a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved henley shirt. “Of course, lately, everything I do makes him upset.”
“Is something going on with him? I mean, he can’t stay this upset and it just be you. Is there something wrong between him and Naomi?”
She hadn’t even considered that, but now that Olivia had mentioned it . . . there had been many times she’d come into a room and both Naomi and Dad had stopped talking immediately. And they’d exchanged strange looks. Oh man. She couldn’t take it if they got divorced. She hadn’t heard them arguing or anything. Maybe she should ask Timmy. He was even worse about eavesdropping than she was.
“I’m not saying I hope they are, you know. I just remember when my parents were going through their rough patch, it seemed I was always in trouble with one of them for something. Remember?”
“Yeah. You were, like, permanently grounded for almost a month solid.”
“So maybe it has nothing to do with you, really.” She grinned. “I was thinking some far-fetched stuff. Like maybe I was adopted or something and Dad wanted to tell me and Mom didn’t.”
“I never did figure out why you thought that.” She tipped her head and studied her friend. “Okay, so you don’t look like either of them. That’s not unusual. I don’t look like my mom or dad either. Well, I have my mom’s hair, but that’s it, thank goodness. I would hate to look like her.”
Olivia grinned, but it was a feeble attempt. “You thought you were adopted a time or two.”
Emily didn’t want to think about Dad and Naomi having problems, but that was all she could think about the entire time it took her to shower, wash her hair, brush and floss her teeth, dress, and pull her hair back into a ponytail. She found Olivia in her bedroom, packing her suitcase. “I hate to bring up bad memories, but back when your folks were having their troubles . . . what were some of the things you remember noticing?”
Olivia sighed and sat down on the bed, a pair of socks forgotten in her hands. “Let’s see. Mom cried a lot. Not when she thought I could hear her, of course, but in the bathroom with the shower turned on.”
She hadn’t heard Naomi crying or anything. Maybe she hadn’t been paying attention. She’d start.
“And they’d argue. I could hear their raised voices, but as soon as I came into the room, it’d go quiet as church during silent prayer time.”
Emily hadn’t heard anyone arguing, but they had gone silent when she came into a room plenty of times.
“And Mom had her sister come stay with us for a long weekend. Mom and Aunt Lydia took long walks that Saturday in the Kitchigami Wilderness Preserve.”
It felt like a boulder caught in Emily’s throat. Uncle Greg, whom they hadn’t seen since the wedding, suddenly appears. What did it all mean?
“Emily! You’re going to make me late.” Dad’s voice rang out from the kitchen. He’d sure been grumpy the past several weeks.
Olivia stood and dropped the socks. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. Even if they’re having trouble, they’ll work it out. Look at how great my parents are now. Their counseling with Pastor Lukkari really brought them closer together than ever before. They’re really happy.”
“Naomi’s going to take you home as soon as your parents get back in town,” Emily said. “I promised Bree I’d help her in the lighthouse this afternoon, but I’ll call you as soon as I get home.”
Olivia waved to her. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
Emily raced into the kitchen. God, please, please don’t let Dad and Naomi get divorced. Please. I know she’s not my real mom, but she is. I love her so much, and she loves me and Timmy.
Emily rounded the corner just as Dad started to call for her again. “Let’s go.”
No one was in the kitchen besides her and Dad. “Where’s Naomi?”
“Getting Matthew dressed, I suppose. Come on, I’m already later than I’d hoped, and I still have to drop you off at the community center.”
Emily and her father rode the short drive to the community center in silence. Mr. Zinn, as the corporate sponsor of the History Smackdown team, had arranged for them to use it. Emily loved walking inside. It was the most beautiful building in all of Rock Harbor with really cool high ceilings and fun corners to explore.
“Have a good time, honey,” he said as he pulled up by the center’s front door. It was the nicest he’d been to her lately.
Just thinking about the possibility of him and Naomi having problems pushed Emily to lean over and give him a hug. Dad pulled her close to him and planted a kiss on her temple. She gave a final squeeze, then jumped out of the truck. He drove off as she took in a deep breath.
Big chandeliers greeted Emily as she entered. She couldn’t quite remember which room Mrs. Kantola, the History Smackdown sponsor, had told her they’d meet in. Was it the first door off the right hallway? That rang a bell for some reason. Emily headed in that direction.
“But, Daddy, I tried. I really did.”
Emily froze in the hallway at the sound of Rachel’s voice.
Her dad’s voice came out in a growl. “Apparently you didn’t try hard enough or you would’ve made the team.”
“The others just knew the answers better.”
“That’s not good enough. You know better. We have to be better than everyone else. No matter what.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy.” Rachel’s sobs made Emily want to cry. “I’ll do better next tryout.”
“See that you do. I don’t want to be disappointed again.”
The door on the left opened, and a tearstained Rachel rushed from the room just as Emily pushed open the door across the hall. She ducked inside before Rachel could see her.
“We were wondering if you’d forgotten us, Emily,” Mrs. Kantola said. “Please, take a seat.”
Emily slipped into a seat, but her mind was on Rachel Zinn. Dad might be a little tough on her, but he’d never come down so hard on her or Timmy.
Poor Rachel.
The attic of the old lighthouse where Bree lived would have been a little spooky except for the illumination from three bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Boxes and old furniture were packed into every corner. Emily sneezed and wiped her dusty hands on her jeans.
“Thanks for helping me today,” Bree told her. “I hate putt
ing away the summer clothes and getting out the winter ones. At least the kids are entertained.” She wore jeans and a Detroit Tigers sweatshirt. A kerchief covered her curls.
Emily spared a glance at her charges just to make sure they weren’t getting in any trouble. The twins were playing with their dolls in the corner. They pulled old baby clothes out of a trunk and were happily entertained. “It’s a cool place.”
“I’ve spent hours exploring. The original Fresnel lens for the light tower was the best find, but I also found a sea captain uniform from the 1850s. And a ball dress that I wore to a masquerade party once.” She smiled. “Look at those two.” She gestured to Samson curled in the corner with her puppy sprawled across him.
“I want him to be just like Samson.” If she got to have him. She had to figure out who took the necklace so her puppy could come home with her.
“It’s going to take a lot of hard work for both of you. That kind of training doesn’t happen overnight. It will take years.”
“I know, and I’m ready for it. What can I do to help him get started? If I get him, of course.”
“Have Timmy hide and let him go find him. Always use a scent article. He’ll get used to playing hide-and-seek and will love it if you make it into a game.”
“How old was Samson when you started training him?”
“About six months old. He was a natural at it.”
“You think my puppy has a gift like Samson?” Wow. That’d be way awesome.
Bree nodded. “I’m sure of it.” She shoved a box under the eaves, then studied Emily’s face. “Is everything all right? Are you still upset about the necklace?”
Emily shrugged. “Everyone believes I took it, especially since two girls told the sheriff they heard me say I’d planned to take it.” She shook her head. “I didn’t.”
“I know.” Bree gave her a soft smile. “Have you talked with the girls? I’m sure it’s all a misunderstanding.”
Emily sighed and handed her a box to stash. “Yeah, and one of them admitted she may have misheard, but that’s not enough to clear my name. You’ve investigated lots of mysteries. How can I find the real thief?”