Sleight of Hand by Kerstin Koepl

Author:Kerstin Koepl [Koepl, Kerstin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-05T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter XI

Framed

When Sheila and the girls arrived home, they found Amy, Rebecca, Meg, and Traci sitting around the kitchen table, eating popsicles from the freezer. They were surprised enough about that, but they were even more surprised when they heard that the reason why was because of the fire in the Rochas’ trailer.

“It burned everything,” Meg explained dismally. “The only thing we could save was the truck, and that was all because of Amy.”

Amy felt a slight blush come into her cheeks at the mention of her rather ungraceful rescue of the pickup.

“Surely everything you owned wasn’t in that trailer?” Sheila asked.

“Well, no,” Meg admitted. “The doves were outside and the props and equipment for the magic show are in the van, so obviously all that is fine, and then we have a house in Oregon where we stay when we’re not on tour and we have a lot of stuff there, but we still lost quite a bit.”

“What caused the fire?” Sheila asked.

“They haven’t figured it out yet,” Amy told her. “The sheriff is still out there, looking around, and he called in a fire inspector, who’s not there yet; at least he wasn’t when we left. That’s where Mr. and Mrs. Rocha are, too.”

“What if someone set the fire on purpose?” Melissa asked.

“Why would anyone do that?” Traci replied. “We’ve never hurt anybody.”

“There is one person who might have a grudge against your parents, anyway,” Melissa said. “And he lives right over in Fremont.”

She quickly told the others about the discovery that Alexander Gordon lived in Fremont. They were a bit skeptical that it was the same person, but they all agreed that it was a lead worth checking up on.

“So now we have two main suspects,” Melissa said. “Alexander Gordon and Eva White.”

Amy shook her head. “I really think we can cross Eva off the suspect list. The person who called the paper was a man and he probably lives in Fremont. That’s two strikes against Eva being the culprit.”

“That’s true,” Melissa admitted with a little reluctance, “but it doesn’t rule her out entirely. She could be working with Alexander Gordon or whoever else. What’s the deal anyway, Amy? Why are you so convinced that Eva is innocent?”

“Because we don’t have any proof that she’s not,” Amy replied.

“Innocent until proven guilty.” Traci nodded her approval. “That’s a good idea for a detective.”

“So let’s see what we can find out about this Alexander Gordon in Fremont,” Amy went on. “Let’s find out if he’s the same person. If he is, it doesn’t prove he’s guilty, either, but it is a strange coincidence and he might be able to tell us something about it all. Did you write down his phone number?”

“We sure did.” Lauren placed a sticky note on the table with the number written on it.

“Okay, so let’s call him and see if we can learn anything,” Amy said.

Melissa volunteered to make the call. While she and Amy were working out what would be best for her to say, Jill fed the kitten again.

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