Translation: it might keep her out of trouble.
She would prove them all wrong when she found out what really happened to Mrs. Dancer’s necklace.
She added the detergent and bleach, just like Coach had instructed her, then set the washing machine to the longest cycle. After loading the rolling hamper with the towels from the dryer, she moved them to the row between the lockers where she could sit down to fold. This would take some time.
The door creaked open.
“We really appreciate everything you’ve already given us,” Coach said to someone. “The team was on the verge of having to forfeit because of our lack of backup equipment.”
Emily held her breath, squeezing a towel to her chest. She couldn’t see the coach, but the sounds of two sets of footsteps bounced off the locker room walls.
“I’m just happy to be able to help.” A woman’s voice, but Emily didn’t recognize it.
“We’re grateful.”
“And I appreciate you keeping the donations anonymous. I’m sure you can understand the delicate position I’m in.”
“Of course.”
Their footsteps stopped near the coach’s office. Emily eased to standing, then crept toward the end of the row of lockers. If she could just get a glimpse . . .
“I hope you understand what your generosity means to the Gitchee Gumee Surfers,” Coach said.
Emily leaned a little farther. The light was dimmer in the locker room. Coach flipped on the light in his office, but all she could see was the silhouette of a woman.
“I’m happy knowing I can help. Besides, I don’t feel right using this money on me. I want to give back.”
So she felt guilty and wanted to use the money to help? Sounded like Emily had a new suspect—if she could just see the woman’s face.
Emily inched her way around the end of the lockers, then tiptoed to the next row.
“Those suits and bags were more than enough, but this . . . well, these additional four boards will make all the difference to the team.” Coach sounded truly grateful.
“Just go out there and win the championship. Know that while I can’t publicly show my preference, I’m rooting for the Gitchee Gumees!” The woman chuckled, but not girly giggly. More husky. “It’d be nice for someone from the mainland to win instead of the Hawaiian teams for once.”
Was it Malia? Emily rounded the last row between her and the office. If she could just get a peek . . .
“I agree, but the team mainly wants to ensure they’ll beat their archrivals, the Keweenaw Bombers from Houghton. They’ve beaten up on us for the past five competitions. The team is pumped to beat them this year.”
“I hope they do.” The woman turned, her back solid to Emily. “It’s a good boost to win. Especially after working so hard for it.”
Emily was almost sure it was Malia. She back-stepped to the bench, still holding the towel to her chest. If the woman would only turn around so she could tell for sure.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to write you a receipt for all these items? You could at least take them off your taxes,” Coach said. His chair scraped against the cracked tile floor behind his desk as he stood.
“No. I didn’t want to be a part of this to begin with, but now I have no choice. I’d rather just do what I can for the future surfing stars. It makes me feel better for selling out.” No mistaking the down tone of the woman’s voice.
Selling out? What did that mean? The whole thing sounded fishy to Emily. Like someone had gotten into something they didn’t want people to know about. Something they wanted to keep secret. Maybe even something illegal.
Like stealing a necklace and getting money for it.
“Well, we appreciate it.” Coach’s office light clicked off. “We aren’t too proud to take whatever we can get.”
“I’m happy something good can come out of all this.”
Footsteps shuffled against the floor.
Emily pressed herself against the cold metal lockers. She sucked in air and held her breath as the woman and Coach passed right in front of her.
They pushed open the door leading to the outside track. Afternoon sun spilled in from the outside, bathing them both in light.
As she’d thought, the anonymous donor was none other than Malia Spencer.
TEN
“I can’t wait to tell Olivia.” Emily talked aloud to herself as she finished folding the towels, giving Malia Spencer and Coach plenty of time to clear the area before she exited. After stacking the towels as instructed, she rushed from the locker room and rammed right into Rachel Zinn.
Slammed against the concrete wall, Rachel shoved Emily off her. Hard. “Ugh. Watch where you’re going, klutz.”
“Sorry, I didn’t see you.”
“You weren’t even looking.” Rachel shook her head and twisted her face into a frown. “You are so annoying, Emily!”
Emily blocked her path. “Rachel, I want to know again what you thought I said to Olivia.”
“You know perfectly well what you said.”
“I sure do, and it wasn’t what you told the sheriff. So either you flat-out lied or you twisted something I said.”
Rachel put her hands on her hips. “I heard you tell her that you were making a copy of Mary Dancer’s necklace so you could switch it and make a lot of money. I don’t think I heard you say that. I know I did.”
“But I didn’t.” Emily popped her hands onto her hips and tried to remember anything she’d said that could have been twisted that way.
“This trying to make everyone think I’m lying is getting old. No one believes you. Gretchen heard you too. Ask her. She’ll tell you the same thing.” Rachel tossed her blond hair over her shoulder. “Another thing . . . you aren’t fooling anyone with this volunteering thing. Everybody knows you’re doing it just to get close to Josh.” Rachel smoothed her shiny blond hair. “Everybody’s laughing at you. Even Josh.” She snatched her backpack from the floor. “Especially Josh.” She turned and marched down the corridor in the direction of the parking lot.
Emily’s face burned hotter than a fire poker left in embers overnight. Was it true? Was everybody laughing behind her back? Did they all think she was a thief? Did they think she was just volunteering to get close to a boy? Did Josh? All of a sudden, she felt really sick to her stomach. She leaned against the cold concrete wall and closed her eyes. Was she a joke to everyone?
Emily took a breath and followed Rachel. She would make her tell the truth. Wasn’t there some kind of law against false testimony or something?
The late afternoon September sun blasted against her as soon as she opened the door. Emily blinked rapidly and shielded her eyes with her hand and let them adjust from the dimness of the locker room hallway. She looked around for Rachel but didn’t see her. It was as if she’d disappeared.
What was Rachel doing near the locker room, anyway? She should have been in cheerleading practice. The coach and Malia Spencer had left ten to fifteen minutes before, so there wasn’t a logical reason for Rachel to be in the hallway.
Unless she was up to no good.
Maybe Emily should focus on figuring out what Rachel would have done with the necklace if she took it. The more she thought about it, the more Emily realized Rachel had the best motive to take the necklace and put Emily’s copy in its place, then lie to the sheriff: to get Emily in trouble. She’d been there at both booths during the window of time the necklace went missing. Rachel loved watching Emily get in trouble. But what would she have done with the necklace after switching it? She wouldn’t have chanced anyone finding it. Had she hidden it? Gotten rid of it?
The only thing that didn’t make sense was Gretchen. Unless Rachel somehow convinced her to back her up. Or made her.
Determined to figure things out, Emily hurried toward her house. She needed to talk to Olivia. Maybe the two of them could find a way to get to Gretchen—to get to the truth.
As she walked home, the gong of the fog bell out in Lake Super
ior washed over the town. The wind had picked up, and the crash of the waves was oddly soothing.
She’d barely made it inside when Olivia rushed her into the bedroom and shut the door behind them. “How was it? What did you have to do? Did you find out anything? Did you see Josh?”
Emily laughed. “Hang on. Give me a second.” She set down her backpack and pulled her hair into a ponytail. “It was boring. I washed, dried, and folded laundry.”
“Laundry? You did laundry?”
“The towels from the team’s practice in last period, I guess.” She shrugged as she sat cross-legged on her bed. “But I did overhear something interesting. From Malia Spencer.”
Olivia’s eyes grew wide. “What?”
Emily relayed the conversation she’d overheard, careful not to leave out any details. When she was done, Olivia plopped on the bed across from her. “What do you think she meant by selling out, and what didn’t she want to be a part of?”
“I don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s making money. Enough that she’s giving away plenty of it to the surf team. Wet suits, board bags, leashes, and now backup surfboards.”
Olivia wrinkled her nose. “You know, my cousin is a surfer out in California, and I hear my aunt tell my mom all the time that the stuff for surfing is expensive. I saw the catalog Aunt Nia left here one time because I actually thought about taking up surfing.”
“You’re kidding. Let’s see how much.” Emily rushed down the hall to the computer in the living room where she ran a search for surfing gear. “Wow, look at this, Olivia. Those wet suits average about seventy dollars each. One for each team member totals seven hundred. The surfboard bags run at least fifty each, so for the entire team, that’s another five hundred. Add in leashes for the whole team and that’s another two hundred.”
Olivia tapped the end of her nose with her pointer finger. “That brings the total donation up to about fourteen hundred dollars already. You said they mentioned four surfboards? Even the cheaper competition-grade ones are two hundred each, so that would be another eight hundred bucks, for a grand total of twenty-two hundred dollars. That’s over double what Mrs. Dancer’s necklace is worth.”
Emily hadn’t considered all that. It was a lot of money. She and Olivia went back to her bedroom, and she turned her CD player on.
“So you don’t think Malia had anything to do with Mrs. Dancer’s necklace.”
Olivia shook her head. “Not unless something else is missing, and I haven’t heard anything like that. The numbers just don’t add up.” She let out a sigh and leaned back against the mountain of pillows Emily collected at the headboard. “Malia might be into something she doesn’t want anyone to know about and she’s not happy about being a part of, but it’s making too much money for it to be Mrs. Dancer’s necklace.”
Suspect number two scratched off the list.
Emily couldn’t help the disappointment building in her chest. She’d thought they would have hard evidence against someone by now. Something they could take to the sheriff. As it was, Olivia’s parents would be home from their cruise on Saturday—just two days away, and then Olivia would go home.
“Hey, I really think we need to check out Valerie more.” Olivia sat up and wagged her finger. “Not like you did at the table. Boy, was your dad upset with you.”
Emily’s face burned at the memory. “Yeah, he almost grounded me for being rude. I was being a little nosy, but I was trying not to be too obvious about it. You didn’t think I was rude, did you?” It hurt so much that Dad thought she could not only steal something, but be a liar too. She needed to prove to him that she wasn’t either.
“I didn’t think you were rude. You were just making friendly conversation. Valerie never answered the question about that Mary Dancer necklace that guy bought her either.”
“Now I’ve let her know we know about the guy.”
“There wasn’t much about her on the Internet. Aside from her modeling stuff.”
Emily crossed her arms over her chest. “You looked her up online?”
“I had to find something to keep me busy while you were doing Josh’s laundry.” Olivia grinned while heat rushed to Emily’s cheeks. “I got busted by Naomi too.”
“What?” Emily bolted upright. “What did she say? What did you do?”
“It’s okay. She caught me searching for Valerie and asked me about it.” Olivia shrugged. “I told her the truth—that I want to be a model someday and Valerie was the first one I’d met in person. I wanted to know more about her.” She grinned.
“And Naomi bought that?”
“It’s all true.” Olivia nodded.
“Wow.” Probably a good thing she hadn’t been here. Naomi would’ve seen through Emily in a heartbeat.
“But I didn’t find out anything except her modeling stuff.”
“Not even some juicy gossip about her?”
“Nothing important. Other than the report that she was recently named the model for Surf’s Up.”
“Still no clue who the man with her at the festival is?”
Olivia shook her head. “I didn’t want to try to find more personal stuff with Naomi in the room.”
Emily smiled. “But Naomi isn’t here now.”
They rushed back to the computer. Images upon images loaded on the pages of articles Emily clicked on. Valerie smiling into the camera. Valerie pouting. Valerie in a bathing suit. Valerie in a wet suit. Valerie with a surfboard. Valerie with a male model.
Olivia shook her head. “See? I told you. Nothing but her modeling stuff.”
“Maybe we need to look at older stuff.” Emily selected the fifth page on the search engine’s main listing.
Another page, much like the ones before, loaded. Emily scrolled down. “Hey, these pictures look older, don’t you think?”
Olivia peered over her shoulder. “Yeah, her hair is shorter.” She leaned closer to the monitor. “And her nose is wider.”
“Are you saying she’s had a nose job?”
“Yeah, I think so. Go back even further.”
Emily did, then scrolled down that page.
“Stop!”
“You see signs of more plastic surgery?”
“Nope, I see him.”
“Who? Uncle Greg?”
“No.” Olivia took the mouse from Emily and highlighted a shot of what looked like a party. Valerie stood in the forefront, posing with another girl. “There.” She tapped the screen on a man in the background, holding something that looked like a handbag. “Him.”
Emily squinted, then sucked in air. “It’s the man Valerie was with at the festival.”
“Can you print that picture?”
“Sure, but for what?” She set the picture to print.
“I can talk with one of the guys in my computer class. He’s always telling me about some program he has that can do searches with a picture. Maybe he can find out who the guy is.” Olivia shrugged as the printer hummed. “And as a last resort, at least you’d have the man’s photo to give to Sheriff Kaleva.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be thrilled with our assistance,” Emily said sarcastically before she grabbed the paper off the printer and stared at the image.
“You never know. Or we could give it to Inetta and see if she recognizes him.”
“I’d rather not get her involved unless we have to. He seemed nice enough at the festival. I don’t want to go around accusing innocent people. I know how that feels.”
“I agree.”
Emily handed the paper to Olivia. “It’s not that clear.”
“It’s okay. You’d be surprised what this guy can do. He’s amazing. Even the teacher asks him for help when her computer messes up.”
“Speaking of teachers, I’d better get on my pre-algebra homework. I have two pages.” Emily shut down the computer.
Olivia followed her down the hall. “At least you don’t have Rachel Zinn in your class to annoy you. That girl goes out of her way to be Mr. Neese’s pet when she doesn’t
even understand basic equations.”
She’d almost forgotten. “Speaking of Rachel, I nearly ran her over this afternoon.”
“What? Why haven’t you told me?” Olivia wore the sternest expression ever. It reminded Emily of Dad when he was really mad.
Emily giggled, then proceeded to tell Olivia about the incident. She finished with, “So now that I think about it, Rachel is my prime suspect. We know for a fact she was at both mine and Mrs. Dancer’s booths, she’d take it and then put my copy in its place just to get me in trouble, and for some reason she doesn’t like me. It all fits.”
“We need to talk to Gretchen and hear her side.” Olivia sat backward on the chair in front of Emily’s desk. She tapped her painted nails against the wood back. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me as soon as you got here. Instead, you bored me with laundry details.”
“I’m sorry. My mind’s scattered.”
“But I think you’re right. Something’s off with Rachel being there this afternoon.” Olivia’s nails glimmered under the overhead light. “You really have no idea why she seems to dislike you so much?”
“I don’t know. I’ve tried to figure it out but can’t. It’s not like I missed one of her birthday parties or something as kids.”
“I know. I can’t think of anything either. And about the time she started disliking you, she started treating me oddly as well. I mean, she’s not as mean to me, but she’s not my friend anymore, you know?”
It hurt to remember how Rachel used to be. Emily shrugged. “Yeah, but only toward me and you. Me, mostly. You probably just because you’re my best friend.”
“Maybe. Have you thought maybe she acts like she does around you because you both have a crush on Josh?”
Heat burned Emily’s cheeks, but she shook her head. “She started acting like that long before we even met Josh.”
“Hmm.” Olivia tilted her head. “Well, you should probably figure that one out. It must be a big deal if she’d do something as serious as stealing a necklace to get you in trouble.”
A car door slammed outside just as Charley began barking, his toenails clicking against the kitchen floor.