When Good Bras Go Bad (Myrtle Crumb Series) (14 page)

             
“I think it just might work…dependin
g
on what that necklace looks like
.
Is it cheap costume jewelry or upscale?”

             
“Upscale!  Of course, I’ll let you see what you think before you get involved.”

             
“Good idea,” Bettie said, as if she hadn’t just insulted me.

             
“I’ll bring it by in the morning,” I said, as if I
hadn’t just been
insulted
.
I had to be nice
.
I needed Bettie’s help to pull off this caper.

DIVIDER HERE

             
I left early for the school Friday mornin
g
so I could go by Bettie’s house with the necklace. When I took it out of my pocketbook, Bettie said, “That’s a nice black velvet box it’s in.”  She acted surprised I’d have somethin
g
that came in a nice black velvet box.

             
“It’s a nice necklace, too,” I said, opening the lid to the box
.
“I’ll be awfully upset if
anything
happens to it.”

             
“Just remember, this whole thing was your idea.”

             
“I know it.”

             
She took the necklace out of the box and held it up to the light
.
It had teardrop-shaped green stones that looked like emeralds
.
The teardrops were smallish except for the big one in the middle.

             
“It is a pretty thing,” Bettie said
.
“Looks like an antique.”

             
“You think we—or rather,
Brandon
—can pull this off?”

             
“Don’t worry about
Brandon
.
He’s a fine little actor
.
You said that yourself.”  She thought a minute
.
“We could say an old friend gave me this necklace before she died.”

             
“Hey!” I didn’t like the sound of that at all.

             
“But that’s perfect, Myrtle.”

             
“Not to me, it ain’t.”
             
“Hear me out
.
We can make this more plausible by makin
g
it the truth by omission.”

             
I frowned at her.

             
“We’re old friends, right?” she asked.

             
I gave her a begrudging nod.

             
“And you’re not dead, so you gave this to me before you died.”

             
“Yeah, but I want it back.”

             
“I know,” Bettie said, “but nobody else has to know that
.
I can tell
Brandon
I thought the necklace would add a little authenticity to the play since it’s so old.”

             
I had to concede she was makin
g
sense.

             
“And,” she continued, “I’ll tell
Brandon
to make sure everybody’s real careful with the necklace because I’ll need to put it back in my safe deposit box as soon as the play is over.”

             
“You’ve told many a lie in your day, ain’t you, Bettie?”

             
She grinned
.
“Maybe one or two.”

DIVIDER HERE

             
We had spaghetti and French bread in the cafeteria, so I was so busy come lunchtime I could hardly look up
.
Some lunchrooms don’t make good spaghetti
.
Faye always took her lunch on spaghetti days
.
But the spaghetti is pretty good at this school
.

             
Anyhow, I was spoonin
g
out spaghetti sauce as fast as I could go when Sunny’s class came through the line
.
I knew it was Sunny’s class because her friend Claire spoke to me.

             
“Hi, Ms. Crumb.”

             
“Hi,
honey
.
How’re you?”

             
“Fine
.
How’s Sunny?”

             
I looked up at her
.
“You mean over what happened yesterday?”  I glanced around to see where Alicia was
.
She was several people away, and I doubted she could hear me
.
“She’s upset over it, of course, but—”

             
“No, that’s not what I mean
.
Why ain’t she at school?”

             
I scanned the crowd again, this time lookin
g
for Sunny
.
“What do you mean?”

             
“Sunny didn’t come to school today
.
My math teacher told me her mom called and said she was sick.”

             
“Why didn’t Faye call me?  I would’ve stayed with her.” 

             
Of course, Claire couldn’t answer that, and I didn’t expect her to
.
It was one of them questions you ask out loud when you just don’t know what’s goin
g
on.

Chapter
Nine

             
I went straight to Faye’s and Sunny’s when I got done in the cafeteria.

             
“You gonna tell Mom?” Sunny asked as soon as she opened the door.

             
So Faye didn’t know
.
I figured as much
.
If the young ‘un had really been sick, Faye’d have
either stayed home her own self or called and had me come stay
.
She wouldn’t have left Sunny home by herself if she was sick
.
She apparently didn’t know she’d left Sunny home by herself period.

             
I sighed as I brushed past Sunny and took a seat in the living room
.
“I won’t tell her if you promise to do it yourself.”

             
“But Mimi, she’ll—”

             
“She’ll find out when report cards come out
.
It’ll be harder to explain then than it will be now.”

             
Biting a fingernail, Sunny sat down on the edge of the couch
.
“I didn’t think of that.”

             
“Why didn’t you go to school today?”

             
She started on another nail
.
“I didn’t feel good.”

             
“Where does it hurt?”

             
“My feelings, okay?  My feelings were hurt!  Can’t they hurt worse than a bellyache?”

             
I got up, moved over to the couch and hugged her
.
“Yeah
.
Feelings can hurt a whole lot worse than a bellyache
.
If it’s any consolation, several of your friends asked about you.”

             
“Which ones?”

             
“Claire first
.
She’s how I knew you weren’t in school.”

             
Sunny drew back from me
.
“What’d she say?”

             
“Just asked how you were
.
Said her math teacher told her your mom called and said you were sick today.”

             
She nodded
.
“How mad do you think Mom’s gonna be?”

             
“I don’t know
.
Does she know how upset you were yesterday?”

             
“Yeah.”

             
“She might not be too mad then.”  Sunny looked hopeful so I held up my hand
.
“Don’t get too excited
.
She ain’t gonna be a bit happy with what you’ve done, especially in light of the trouble you’ve been findin’ yourself in lately.”

             
“I know.”

             
“But I’ll stay and we’ll fix supper, and maybe I can help you smooth things over a little.”

             
She threw her arms around my neck and nearly knocked me off the couch
.
“Thanks, Mimi!  You’re the best.”  She hopped off the couch and headed for the kitchen.

             
“Not so fast,” I said
.
“Don’t you wanna know who else asked about you?”

             
“Oh, yeah.”  She came and sat back down beside me
.
“Who?”

             
“Al.”

             
She narrowed her eyes
.
“What’d she say?”

             
“She asked if I knew what was wrong that you didn’t come to school today
.
I told her I didn’t.”

             
“She say anything else?”

             
“Said she was sorry about what
happened yesterday
.
She said she thought you might’ve really put the goblet in her backpack as a joke.”

             
“But I didn’t!”

             
“I know.”

             
“And even after I told her I didn’t, she told everybody at play practice that I did!  She let them believe I stole it!”

             
“I know, baby.”

             
“How could she do that to me?”

             
I shook my head
.
“I don’t know
.
People trample over each other all the time in order to get their own way.”

             
“I’d never do her that way
.
Now everybody thinks I’m a thief.”

             
I started to point out they probably thought that after she got herself suspended, but I didn’t wanna make matters worse
.
Instead, I said, “I’m workin’ on a plan to expose the real thief, and then your name ought to be cleared.”

             
“What’ve you got in mind?”

             
“I don’t wanna say until I’ve got all my ducks in a row.”

             
“Don’t you trust me?”

             
“Of course.”  It was all the other little yay-hoos she’d probably tell that I didn’t trust
.
“I just don’t have everything worked out yet.”

             
That part was true
.
Brandon Easton was to give the necklace to the drama teacher
on
Monday morning
.
I planned to get with Wilbur Brody so we could decide what to do next
.
I’m sure a stakeout will be necessary, but I figure we’ll need some help with that
.
I don’t cotton to the idea of hidin’ in the auditorium all day
.
And if I got caught, it would look really weird… maybe even like I was a pervert or something.

             
By the time Faye got home, me and Sunny had a nice supper on the table: biscuits, pork chops, creamed corn and mashed potatoes.

             
“Yum,” Faye said, as she came in and pitched her jacket onto the back of the couch
.
And, no, I didn’t raise her that way but she’s grown now and I’ll be danged i
f
I’m gonna go a
round pickin’ up after her
.
So even though my fingers itched to
hang up that jacket, I didn’t do it.

             
“What smells so good?” she asked.

             
“Pork chops,” Sunny said, “and stuff
.
Come on
.
Me and Mimi have done got everything on the table.”