When Good Bras Go Bad (Myrtle Crumb Series) (12 page)

“Good
.
I would’ve hated to miss somethin’
.
Hug your mama for me.”

“Hug Matlock for me.”

“Will do.”

We rang off, and I hugged Matlock
.
“That was from Sunny.”

He sighed and gave me a sad-eyed look.

“I know, honey
.
I miss her, too.”

DIVIDER HERE

The next mornin’ I sought out Wilbur Brody first thing
.
He was standin’ in the hallway watchin’ the students file in.

“How long will it be be
fore we can go in your office and talk?” I asked.

“Soon as the bell rings and I make sure there’s not any stragglers.”

“I’ll wait for you in there.”

I’ve done told you how pleasant and elegantly decorated Brody’s office is, so you know what a joy it was to wait for him in there
.
Still, it beat bein’ run over by a swarm of teenagers carryin’ Algebra books and smellin’ like acne cream and cheap cologne
.
I looked around the room and wondered if a couple doilies or a nice throw pillow might help, but I decided that’d only make it look like a Mayberry jail cell.

“What can I do for you this mornin’, Ms. Crumb?” Brody asked when he finally ambled into the office.

“You can tell me how this investigation’s goin’.”

“There’s not been anything to investigate for the past few days
.
No thefts have been reported, so that’s a plus
.
And—”

“A plus!  My granddaughter was suspended for a crime she did not commit, and you think this investigation comin’ to a standstill is a plus?”

“Well, as far as—”

“You might be willin’ to let that thief go loose and continue to terrorize this school, but I ain’t
.
I’m gonna catch me a thief.”

“And how do you propose to do that?”

“The same way I’d catch anything else—by settin’ a trap.”

And then I got up and left
.
Brody followed me plumb into the hall askin’ me what I was aimin’ to do and tellin’ me
not to go off half-cocked, but I didn’t pay him no never mind
.
I had a plan to hatch.

DIVIDER HERE

I still hadn’t come up with anything by the time I walked into the auditorium that afternoon
.
Sunny’d asked me at lunchtime if I’d stay and watch play practice with her and then take her home
.
I said I would
.
She’d probably done told Faye that’s what we were doin’, and I sure didn’t want Sunny hitchin’ a ride with anybody else
.
Heaven forbid that greasy-lookin’ boyfriend of Alicia Granger’s drivin’ my Sunny home.

I sat down near the back of the auditorium
.
Within a few minutes Sunny breezed in, spotted me and hurried over to where I was sittin’.

“Hi, Mimi
.
Thanks for stayin’
.
I’m gonna go sit closer to the middle front so I’ll have a better view of the stage, okay?”

“That’s fine.”

She smiled
.
“See you in a bit.”

At least now I knew why she’d been so all-fired anxious about me not bein’ at school yesterday
.
She’d probably planned this out night before last and then had to ride the bus home yesterday afternoon
be
cause I wasn’t here
.
She knew if she stayed yesterday and Faye found out she wasn’t with me, Faye’d ground her ‘til she was thirty.

The drama teacher clapped her hands
.
“Okay, people, today we’re concentrating on the banquet scene in Act I, Scene VII
.
Prop handlers, you need to move quickly.”

A group of kids rushed around the stage setting up a table
.
Some placed fake food around while others dealt plates like playin’ cards
.
All of a sudden, everything stopped
.
The bustle of dishes was replaced by whispers and worried glances at the drama teacher.

“What’s the problem?” the teacher asked, heading for the stage.

“One of the goblets is missing,” said a tall, cute girl wearing her brown hair in a ponytail.

“It was here this morning,” the teacher said
.
“I double-checked to make sure we had everything.”  She sized up the table, and I could tell she was recountin
g
the glasses
.
Then she looked out over the auditorium as if she was expectin
g
one of us—parents, grandparents, boyfriends, girlfriends, and staff members—to have her old cup
.
Maybe she thought one of us was gonna raise it up in a toast to the play or to her fine directorial abilities.

You know what, though?  That woman must have eyes keener than a blue jay with a magnifyin’ glass beca
use she spotted that goblet
.
And you know where it was?  Stickin’ just inside Alicia Granger’s open backpack.

“What have we here?” the teacher asked, lookin
g
down her skinny nose at Alicia
.
“Would you care to explain how that goblet got into your backpack, Alicia?”

Alicia leapt off the stage and stormed over to her backpack
.
“Did anybody see who put this in here?”  She held the goblet up like she was the Statue of Liberty and it was her torch.

She spun back toward the stage, goblet still aloft
.
I had to hand it to her—the girl had a real flair for drama.

“I didn’t do this, Ms. Tyler
.
Somebody else had to have done it while my back was turned.”

Alicia faced her audience until her eyes landed on a viable scapegoat
.
Sunny.

“It must’ve been Crimson,” Alicia said, pointing at my innocent little granddaughter
.
“She was suspended last week for stealing Mrs. Anderson’s bracelet.”

I was so stunned I couldn’t do a thing but sit there with my mouth hangin
g
open.

“Then why is the goblet in your backpack?” Ms. Tyler asked.

“Obviously,” Alicia said, “it was a prank
.
Right, Crim?”

Sunny’d been sittin
g
there as slack jawed as I was, but that snapped her out of it and she jumped up out of her seat
.
“I didn’t do it!”

“Oh, come on, Crim
.
We all know you did.”  Alicia took the goblet and handed it to Ms. Tyler
.
“Give me a sec, would you?  Let me talk to her.”

Ms. Tyler took the goblet and set it on the table
.
“Make it quick.”

Alicia motioned for Sunny to come out into the hall with her
.
I went right behind them.

“Sorry to put you on the spot, Crim, but somebody’s tryin’ to frame me.”

“Not me!” Sunny cried
.
“You know I’d never do somethin’ like that.”

“I know.”  Alicia had the gall to smile
.
“But I had to get myself off the hook some way
.
If Ms. Tyler thought I stole a prop, I’d get kicked out of the play for sure.”

“But now she thinks I stole it
.
Everyone does.”

Alicia scoffed
.
“As a
joke
.
It’s no big deal
.
I doubt anybody really thinks you’d steal a ninety-nine-cent cup.”  She glanced over her shoulder
.
“Gotta run.”

As she got about halfway to the stage, she hollered, “Everything’s okay!  She promised she wouldn’t do it anymore!”

Sunny closed her eyes, and two tears trickled out from under her eyelashes
.
I grabbed her and hugged her, but she pushed me away and shook her head.

“Not here,” she said
.
“I don’t wanna cry here.”

She sure cried goin
g
home in the car, though, and I did, too
.

“How could she do me that way?” Sunny asked
.
“I was good to her
.
I even covered for her when I thought maybe she took Mrs. Anderson’s bracelet out of spite.”  She sniffled
.
“She’s been in so much trouble, and there wasn’t any proof.”

I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut for once
.
I had plenty to say, but I’d say it later…probably to Matlock.

“How could she be so mean to me, Mimi?  I’d never do to her what she did to me
.
She embarrassed me and called me a thief in front of all those people.”

“I know, baby
.
And I know how hurt you are
.
When somebody you care about betrays you, it’s the worst feelin’ in the world.”  I had to stop at an intersection, so I turned and brushed the hair off her face
.
“It’s like when a good bra goes bad
.
First it lets you down, and then that
underwire
pokes you right in the heart.”

She got tickled
.
“You say some of the weirdest things.”

“I know
.
But I got you to smile.”

The driver behind me blowed his horn
.
It made me so mad
I started to give him the finger but I didn’t bec
ause I’m a good Christian woman and I was tryin’ to set an example for Sunny.

Chapter
Eight

             
We rode a good four miles before Sunny said a word
.
I respected that and kept my own mouth shut
.
Finally, she took a tissue from the pack I keep in the glove compartment and wiped her eyes
.

             
“How could she do that, Mimi?  How could Al stab
me
in the back that way?”

             
“I don’t know,” I said
.
“But I do know it hurts like the devil.”

             
“Yeah, it does.
Ain’t you gonna say ‘I told you so’?”

             
“Huh-uh.”  I took her hand
.
“You wanna go home with me until your mama gets off work?”

             
“No
.
If you don’t mind, I’d rather go on home.”

             
“All right
.
But you call me if you need me.”

             
I dropped her off at her and Faye’s house and sat there in the driveway until I made sure she got in okay
.
Watchin’ her little bowed head and slumping shoulders made me feel the jab of sharp underwire in my own heart.

             
My heart did get a lift, though, when I got home
.
There was Lenny in the front yard rakin’ maple leaves for all he was worth
.
He’d done filled one trash bag and was workin’ on another.

             
“Hey, Ms. Crumb,” he said when I got out of the car
.
“I saw your leaves were tryin’ to take over the yard, so I decided to clean ‘em up a little bit.”

             
“Well, I sure do appreciate it!  What do I owe you?”

             
“Nothin’.”

             
“Oh, now, you’ve worked too hard for it to be for nothin’
.
Tell me what I owe you.”

             
“Not a thing
.
You didn’t hire me to rake your leaves
.
I’m just tryin’ to be a good neighbor.”  He grinned
.
“And make up for causin’ Granny to fuss at you.”

             
I laughed
.
“It ain’t like I’ve never been fussed at
.
Tell you what
.
You come in when you’re done and I’ll have you some cookies fresh from the oven.”

             
“I’m nearly done
.
You think you can whip up a batch of cookies that quick?”