Part 14 (1/2)
”Define unusual.”
Julie shrugged. ”Strange behavior. Anyone sneaking around. Weird noises.”
s.h.i.+rley shook her head. ”I'm seeing the same things you are, I suppose. Poor Susan is putting on a brave face but looks like she's about to have a nervous breakdown any minute. Kenneth is having the time of his life despite his wife's anxiety, and Liam locks himself in his room every chance he gets. I wonder what he does in there,” she mused.
Julie wasn't ready to let Liam's secret slip. He seemed like an honest enough guy in spite of his little white lie about his name. She would keep his true ident.i.ty a secret for now.
”Carrie seems sweet enough,” s.h.i.+rley continued. ”Sadie and Joyce are both nice as pie.”
”Dare I ask your thoughts on Gregory?”
s.h.i.+rley pressed her lips together. ”My mama always said if you couldn't say something kind about a body, don't say anything at all.”
”But?”
”That man is cranky,” s.h.i.+rley said. ”All the time.”
Truer words were never spoken. But s.h.i.+rley wasn't saying anything that Julie didn't already know.
”Just continue to keep an eye out for anything unusual, will you please?” Julie asked.
s.h.i.+rley nodded, her hair glinting like molten lava beneath the ceiling lights. ”You bet.”
Julie left the tearoom and went straight to her office. She had a little time before bed to look for the journal again and possibly do a little more online research to find out something about Carrie.
Or maybe I should just corner the timid blonde and question her outright. Julie shook her head as Detective Frost's earlier words floated through her suspicious mind: ”Crime will do that to you.”
Julie flipped on the light in her office and gasped. Stunned, she stared at the mess before her.
The room had been ruthlessly ransacked. Books lay scattered all over the floor. Her desk drawers were pulled out, their contents dumped to the side like trash. Even her trash can had been dumped and its contents obviously rifled through.
She s.h.i.+vered. Who could have done this? And when?
Julie refused to believe it could be one of her staff. With the exception of Hannah, they had all been here long before she had. And Julie had known Hannah for years. No, it had to be one of the guests. But who? And when could they possibly have found the time?
Thinking about it more, Julie had to admit that it had been a distracting evening. Perhaps someone did it during the drama at dinner. The ambulance could have attracted someone from the outside. Regardless of the answer, one thing was certain: She had to call the police again.
Reluctantly, Julie picked up her phone and dialed the all-too-familiar non-emergency number.
Dispatch promised to send someone right out.
Julie hung up with a sigh. Her fingers itched to clean up the mess, but that would have to wait. The police needed to see the room in all of its chaotic glory.
”Holy cow!” Hannah exclaimed behind her. ”What happened in here?”
”I can only a.s.sume someone was looking for something.” Julie brushed past Hannah and walked the short distance down the hall to the library and peered inside.
Everything in the room appeared to be in proper order.
”That's quite a deduction,” Hannah drawled.
Julie shot her an annoyed look as she headed back to her office. ”I don't know what they could possibly be after. Everyone already knows that the journal is missing.”
”Maybe whoever took it hid it in here and came back for it,” Hannah suggested.
”Why would they tear everything apart trying to find it? They would know exactly where they put it.”
”True,” Hannah said. ”Whoever did this either wanted something else or hadn't heard the book was stolen.”
Julie nodded.
s.h.i.+rley's voice drifted into the office as her footsteps drew closer. ”Right this way, officer.” She poked her head in the door. ”Julie, did you call the pol-my stars! What happened in here?”
”That's what I'm hoping the police can help me figure out.”
s.h.i.+rley stepped sideways to let the uniformed officer squeeze by. ”But are you OK, dear?”
”I'm fine, s.h.i.+rley. Thanks.”
”When did you discover the room in this state?” the officer asked. He was young-almost too young-with light brown hair and tawny eyes like a hawk's. Had it not been for those keen eyes, she might have turned him around on the spot and sent him back to his car.
Where are they getting these babies to investigate crimes?
”I came in here about fifteen minutes ago,” she replied. ”And this is what I found.”
”What were you doing at the time?”
”Preparing to finish some work before I went to bed.”
”I see.” The officer wrote something in the little notebook he held-the same kind Detective Frost carried around. ”What sort of work?”
Julie felt her patience slip a notch. This weekend had been nothing but drama from beginning to end. ”The usual stuff.”
She was waiting for him to ask her to explain that answer when an all-too-familiar voice sounded from the hall. ”If you wanted to see me again, you didn't have to go to such lengths.”
”Detective Frost.” Julie forced a polite smile to her lips. ”So nice to see you this evening. What's it been-four hours?”
Frost stepped into the office. ”Anything missing?”
”I haven't checked. I didn't want to disturb any clues or fingerprints.”
”Any idea who could have done this?” Frost scanned the room. Julie was sure he didn't miss a single detail.
”I don't think it was the same person who stole the journal.”
”Really? And what makes you so sure of that?”
Julie shrugged. ”Why would the thief do this if they already had the journal?”
”Hmmm. And there's nothing else of great importance in here?” He raised his eyebrows in that infuriating way he had.