Thursday morning, June 8 at 11:32 am
Toni was determined to stay out of Cam’s way though she was really curious about any response to the composite. When she watched the eleven o’clock news last night, the anchorman mentioned there was a robbery at the Niles Foundation and that a staff member had been assaulted. Toni wondered what the person had stolen.
To curb her curiosity, she busied herself with her brand new venture, designing jewelry. Unlike her siblings, Toni was a bit more entrepreneurial. She just couldn’t hang at a nine-to-five job. She started selling her art as prints and soon moved into creating everything from greeting cards to handcrafted bags. With some business pointers and web design help from her childhood friend, Angel Cade, she’d launched her online business a year ago. Angel had arrived earlier to help Toni take photos of the latest additions for her store.
Toni turned from her kitchen table, which often served as her workspace more than her eating space. She watched Angel pack her DSLR camera.
Angel grinned, “I uploaded the images to Dropbox for you. You should be able to size them in Photoshop in a few minutes.”
Toni clapped her hands. “I can’t wait. I’ve been working on these bracelets and necklaces for three months. I’ve had some good feedback from my Instagram followers on the earlier pieces.”
“I saw. You’re going to be sold out once you upload these images to your Etsy store.”
“I hope so! I enjoyed working with the various stones. This was a different experience than painting. I needed a change.”
Angel nodded. “There’s healing and peace that comes from being creative.”
Toni watched as Angel waddled over to the couch. “You know, between you and Jo, I feel surrounded by pregnant women.”
Angel laughed. “Well I’m due in a few weeks so that will soon change. I can’t wait to deliver this baby.”
“I guess I’ll have my hands full with babysitting requests.”
“Good training for when you have your own child one day.”
“Sure would be nice to find a husband first.” Though Toni hadn’t been dating, she still longed for a family.
Angel walked over and hugged Toni. “God knows your desires. In fact, He may have already placed the man for you in your life. That’s kind of how it turned out for Wes and me. We knew each other when we were kids. Who knew we would later get married and have a baby boy on the way?”
Toni smiled as Cam’s face flashed in her mind.
“Somebody or something is on your mind,” Angel commented.
Toni shook her head. “No.”
“You know, as I was taking photos this morning, I was thinking these would make great pieces for a wedding party. You should ask Lenora Freeman about placing these in her bridal shop.”
Toni tilted her head. “I hadn’t thought about that. I need to make you my marketing person too.”
“You’re doing just fine. I’ve seen your Instagram following. I got to go. Wes wants to get lunch today before we head to our appointment with our obstetrician.”
Toni hugged her friend again. “I’m so happy for you two.”
After Angel left, Toni decided to do what she’d been dying to do for two days. She settled onto the couch and grabbed her phone.
Cam answered after the third ring, “Hello?”
His voice warmed her. “Hey Cam, it’s Toni.”
Cam cleared his throat. “Hey, Toni. Let me guess. You’re calling about an update.”
Toni suddenly felt like she shouldn’t have called. “Is this a bad time?”
“No, no. I just hate to disappoint you. There’s been no real leads yet.” Cam paused. “I was able to get a handle on Paul Lambert’s whereabouts Tuesday evening though.”
“You were?” Toni took a deep breath.
“He has an alibi.” Cam grew quiet.
She swallowed. For some reason, Toni felt like Cam was leaving something out. “Okay. I’ll let you go. It’s not like you don’t have a ton of cases in front of you.”
“Wait, Toni. There is something I found out. I’m not sure if you want to know.”
“Is it about Paul?”
“Yeah. Paul has a fiancée. I didn’t know if you knew.”
Fiancee.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m just wondering if this woman knows what she’s getting into.”
“Well, maybe he’s changed. You didn’t back down from filing charges.”
“He got off easy as far as I’m concerned.”
Toni realize she sounded bitter. It wasn’t her intentions to go there, but Paul could easily go off his meds again and cause damage during a manic episode.
“Cam, I don’t want to take up any more of your time. I do hope you find out who attacked Jade. I hope I haven’t interfered in your investigation.”
“Not at all. You did your job. The composite will jar someone’s mind. Don’t worry about it anymore.”
“Thanks, Cam.” Toni hung up the phone.
She knew Cam was trying to comfort her, but unlike the other night, she was still troubled. Paul had moved on with his life. Despite her growth in other parts of her life like her business and her work with the police, she was still alone. She simply couldn’t bring herself to trust another man.
She’d never experienced that kind of rage from someone else before and didn’t want to again.
Toni got up from the couch and picked up her iPad off the kitchen table. When her mind went in a negative direction, she tried to busy herself with work. She swiped through the photos Angel had uploaded. After fiddling with one of the photos, she uploaded a sneak peek post of her new collection to her Instagram account.
She remembered Jade mentioning being a social media manager. What was the name of the organization?
The Niles Foundation.
She switched over to Safari and searched for the organization on Google. After she selected the search results, she watched as a pretty coral themed website loaded. Toni surfed through the website noting that the foundation was named after a woman named Juliette Niles. The founder was a young woman who appeared to be close to her own age.
Toni didn’t see any mention of Jade on the website’s staff page, but saw the Instagram icon. When she pulled up the profile page, Toni assumed the photos were from the same place where Jade was attacked.
As she scrolled down the feed, there was a pattern of photos that consisted of scrumptious food and well-dressed people. Her eyes stopped on one photo that was about six weeks old. It was a picture of the founder Olivia Niles. But what really caught Toni’s eye was the man next to her.
It was Paul Lambert.
“No way!” Toni blew out a breath.
The more she stared at Paul and the woman in his life, the more it dawned on Toni.
If Jade worked for Olivia Niles, perhaps she knew Paul.
Cam had mentioned Paul had an alibi, but he didn’t provide any further information.
Toni prayed the direction her mind was taking her wasn’t going to lead down a path she would soon regret.