“You’re sure about that, Sergeant? This is very important.”
“I got it right from the horse’s mouth. The Bullocks admitted it. So this case is closed.”
Nancy wished her case were closed as well. She thanked Sergeant Parker and hung up.
So it looked as if the near-accident had nothing to do with Nancy’s investigation. But the Kelly-Janine connection still bothered her. And why was Mr. Garrison asking questions about the Sedgewicks? She needed answers fast and was determined to get them.
• • •
The next morning Nancy drove out to Pineview early and waited for Jonathan Morse to arrive at his classroom. The old teacher smiled when he saw her.
“Why do we keep meeting like this, my dear?” he quipped.
“I have a few questions I’d like to ask, if you have some time to talk. Can we speak in your classroom?” Nancy asked.
“Certainly.”
He smiled as he opened his classroom door. Nancy followed him inside. The room was a mess, as usual. The teacher kept his students doing so many different things that he never had time to clean.
“Mr. Morse, you know about Mrs. Sedgewick’s brooches being stolen, don’t you?”
“Everyone at Pineview knows about that.”
“You’re a sculptor. How hard would it be for someone to make copies of those brooches? Copies so well made that only an expert could tell the difference?”
The teacher frowned and took a deep breath. Nancy looked at him, puzzled.
“I’m a little embarrassed,” he explained.
“Embarrassed?”
“I’m supposed to be an art expert. But I know almost nothing about lapidary.”
“That’s the art of cutting gemstones, right?”
“Very good, my dear. Now, I’d only be guessing, but I would say an expert could easily fashion fake brooches. But I don’t know how long it might take him. I’m sure it’s very precise and difficult work.”
Nancy nodded. “That’s what I thought.”
“You don’t really think someone here at Pineview stole those brooches, do you?” Mr. Morse asked.
“Yes, I do. And I don’t think Mrs. Sedgewick had anything to do with it. But I’ve still got to prove that and find out just who the thief is.”
“Can you do that?”
“Not yet. But I won’t give up without a fight.”
“A detective after my own heart,” said the old man. “You make me wish I were fifty years younger. I’d take you out to dinner.”
Nancy laughed. “Mr. Morse, you don’t have to be fifty years younger to take me to dinner.”
“I’ll remember that.”
Nancy thanked the teacher for his help and left the room. She walked to the end of the hall and bent down to get a drink from the water fountain. That was when she noticed her right hand. “Yuck!” she murmured.
Nancy’s hand had traces of a green, greasy substance on it. She must have picked it up in Mr. Morse’s room, she decided. She rinsed off her hand under the stream of water, but she couldn’t help wondering what the green substance was.
First things first, Nancy reminded herself. It was time for another visit with Russell Garrison. This one wouldn’t be just small talk, either.
• • •
Garrison’s secretary wasn’t at her desk, so Nancy walked right through the open door to his private office. She found the headmaster reading a stack of folders.
“May I speak with you, Mr. Garrison?”
The headmaster looked up, surprised. “Ms. Drew. I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. To tell you the truth I’m rather busy.”
“This will take just a few minutes.”
Garrison sighed. “Very well. But only a few minutes.”
Garrison was barely trying to hide his annoyance. Nancy guessed her next question would annoy him even more.
“All I want to know, Mr. Garrison, is why you keep trying to link Ellen Sedgewick with the jewel theft. Isn’t she one of your most generous donors?”
Garrison dropped the folder he was holding and gave Nancy a bewildered look. “What makes you think I’m accusing Mrs. Sedgewick of anything?”
“Mr. Garrison, I know you questioned Kelly Lewis about the Sedgewicks yesterday and caused her to miss the bus to an important soccer game. She blamed Janine, and now the team is being forced to side with either Kelly or Janine.”
