Kristi looked up at Robert, speechless. He snatched the papers out of her hands and jammed them back in his briefcase, then began stuffing the other things on the floor in there as well.
“I don’t have time for this,” he muttered, visibly shaken.
“Why…” she whispered.
He reached around her to retrieve an autographed picture of Joshua Conrad, but Kristi beat him to it. She stepped on the corner of the picture, pinning it to the ground.
“Watch out!” he said. “That picture is worth some money. You’re going to damage it!”
“That picture is of my dad,” she said. “But of course, you know that already.”
Robert clenched his jaw and spoke through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, I know who you are. So I’m a fan of your father’s. Big deal. Now give me the picture.”
Slowly, Kristi moved her foot, and Robert bent and picked up the photograph. Dusting it off, he placed it in a manila folder and slid it into a side pocket of his case. Then, his features softened a bit.
“Look, I’m sorry. I must seem like a real fanatic. Truth is, I didn’t know how it would look if one of my students knew how crazy I was about her dad. He’s the best. I’ve followed his career for years, and I was devastated when…well, you know.”
Kristi was surprised and touched by his sudden confession.
“I know. A lot of people were devastated. And you don’t have to worry that I’ll think you’re strange. I know how great my dad is. I love it when I meet people who appreciate his talent.”
Robert looked at her with…what was that look? She couldn’t quite read him.
Finally, he said, “Did you really have a question about chord progressions?”
Kristi had forgotten all about her reason for stopping him! “Uh…yes. But now I can’t remember what it was.”
Robert chuckled. “Well, when you remember it, let me know. I’ll be glad to help you any way I can.”
Kristi nodded, and the man turned and walked through the door. She sure hoped Elizabeth was ready for him.
Elizabeth heard voices in the hall. Where is Bailey? Why isn’t she answering?
The voices were coming closer. Oh no! Is that Robert? And…Lori!
She snapped the phone shut and scooted into the narrow space behind the desk. Sucking her stomach in, she squeezed down and folded her long legs into the cubby beneath. Good thing this desk has a solid front. She heard the door open, and tried not to breathe. Please God. Don’t let them catch me. How in the world do I end up in these messes?
The door clicked, and footsteps crossed the room.
“Finally. We can talk,” Robert Kranfield said.
“What took you so long?” Lori asked. “I was getting worried.”
“You wouldn’t believe it. That Conrad girl stopped me on the way into the building. I ended up dropping my briefcase, and…well, let’s just say it was awkward.”
Lori chuckled. “So now she knows you’re a fan of her father’s.”
“To say the least. She saw all the articles, the autographed picture, everything.”
“Well…not everything,” Lori said.
Silence. Elizabeth could hear her heart pounding in her chest, and felt certain they could hear it too.
Finally, Robert said, “Yeah, not everything. But now she has every reason to suspect me.”
“Don’t be silly,” said Lori. “Just because you admire her father doesn’t mean you’re a thief.”
“Oh, doesn’t it?” Robert asked, and Elizabeth detected sarcasm in his voice.
Lori gave a heavy sigh. “Look. You did what you felt you had to do. If that little brat doesn’t appreciate her own father’s greatness. If she’s just going to sell his guitar off to the highest bidder, then why shouldn’t we have it? We’ll obviously appreciate it more than she does.”
Elizabeth fought to keep from gasping. Did she just hear what she thought she heard?
“I don’t know,” said Robert. “I’m starting to have second thoughts. Maybe I should just return the guitar. I could slip it back into her trunk tonight…”
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Lori’s sweet voice turned harsh. “There’s no way I’m going to let you give it back! They can still trace it to you, you know. Just because you return it doesn’t make you any less guilty of stealing it.”
“Why do you care?” Robert said loudly. “I thought you just wanted to hang it on the wall with your collection. The only reason I let you talk me into this is because you promised to let me play it whenever I wanted. It doesn’t mean anything to you. This whole thing was your idea, and I’m the one who’s going to get caught!”
She heard someone stand and take a few steps, and knew by the clicking of heels on the tile that it was Lori. “Calm down,” she said. “Nobody’s going to get caught, and nobody’s going to return anything. Of course, if you’re not sure you want to keep the guitar, we could always sell it. That thing is worth a fortune, you know.”
Lori heard the sound of a chair scraping on the floor, then Robert’s heavy footsteps.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you. You have no appreciation for the value of that guitar. It is worth more than just the money. Some of the most beautiful music of our time—of any time—was written and played on that guitar. It needs to be appreciated for its artistic value, not its monetary value.”
“If you don’t sell it, it will haunt you for the rest of your life. You’ll always be wondering when they’re going to find you out.”
“Exactly. This whole thing was a bad idea. That’s why I think we should return it. I think she already suspects me, anyway. She and that nosy little friend of hers.”
The room grew quiet. Elizabeth drew in her breath and bit her knuckles. Please, God, don’t let them find me.
“What little friend?” asked Lori in a low voice.
“Tall, skinny, pretty blond girl. I think her name is…Elizabeth.”
Oh God, what will I say to them if they find me? Please get me out of this mess!
“She was up here,” Lori said.
“Who was up here? Elizabeth? Why would she be up here—there aren’t any classes scheduled on this floor until after lunch,” Robert told her.
“I don’t know why she was here. She said she was looking for the bathroom, and I showed her where it was. That’s the last I saw of her.”
Elizabeth heard footsteps, then the door opening. “There’s no one in the hallway. You check the bathroom, and I’ll look around the other classrooms. I’ve already caught the little snoop eavesdropping on me once today.”
Snoop? Well, at least I’m not a thief, mister.
It sounded like they left the room. Then, things grew quiet. Elizabeth knew she was better off staying where she was. If she tried to leave now, they’d surely catch her. Please help me out of here, Lord!
She heard voices outside the door. “There’s no one in the bathroom,” said Lori.
“She’s probably already gone. Let’s get out of here. We’ll talk about this more later.”
Elizabeth heard their retreating footsteps. Then she faintly heard the ding of the elevator doors opening. After what seemed to be a sufficient amount of time, she scooted the desk forward and squeezed out of her hiding place. She had to find Kristi and Bailey.
Out of breath, Bailey slowed down when she saw Kristi outside the building. She had run all the way from the main building. It wasn’t far, but the combination of speed and panic caused her heart to thump loudly.
“Where is she? Where’s Elizabeth?” she asked between breaths.
“I don’t know. She never came out.”
“What! What do you mean, she never came out?”
“She went in about twenty minutes ago, and she—” Kristi stopped talking when Lori and Robert pushed open the door to the building. The two adults slowed down when they saw the girls, but said nothing. Kristi and Bailey remained quiet until the other two were out of sight.
“Did you get the phone call? Did you hear what they said?” asked Kristi.
“No! I forgot that I was listening for your ringtone instead of mine. I was on stage performing. By the time I realized what was happening and got to the phone, it stopped ringing. I didn’t want to call the number back and risk Elizabeth getting caught.”
“Yeah, that wouldn’t have been good to have her cell phone ringing if she was trying to hide. Let’s go look for her,” said Kristi.
They entered the building and took the elevator to the third floor, which seemed deserted. In urgent whispers, they began calling, “Elizabeth! Elizabeth, where are you?”
Kristi led them to their classroom. “Look! This desk was flat against the wall. Now it’s at an angle—she must have been hiding here.”
Bailey’s eyes grew wide. “Elizabeth!” she called out, this time in a loud voice. “Elizabeth, are you here?”
They looked under the desk, and when they were convinced their friend was nowhere in the room, they went back into the hall.
“Elizabeth!” they called over and over.
A door behind them opened. “I’m right here,” came a familiar voice.
“Elizabeth,” both girls cried, running toward their friend. “What happened? Where were you?”
Elizabeth laughed. “Just now, I was in the bathroom. But before that, I was in here. Hiding.” She looked at Bailey, then at Kristi. “You’re never going to believe what I heard.”
“Tell us!” Bailey insisted.
Looking around, Elizabeth said, “Not here. You never know who might be listening. Let’s go back to the room.”
By the time Elizabeth reported what she’d heard, it was lunchtime. The girls tried calling the police, but they only got put on hold. Then, when they finally spoke to a real person, that person seemed unsympathetic.
“You want to give a follow-up report?” asked the man who seemed to have a mouthful of something.
“Yes. We know who stole the guitar.”
“How old are you?” asked the man.
“I’m fourteen.”
“Where are your parents?”
“In another state. Look, could I please just give the report?”
“Miss, are you a runaway?”
“No, sir! I’m at a music camp, and I just want to give a follow-up report about my friend’s stolen guitar.”
Kristi held out her hand. “Let me try,” she whispered.
Elizabeth handed her the phone.
“Hello,” Kristi said. “I’m the person whose guitar was stolen.”
“And how old are you?”
“I’m seventeen.”
“Look, the penalty for playing pranks on police officers is pretty stiff. I suggest you girls run along and find something constructive to do with your time.”
“But sir—”
“We’ve got real crimes to solve here. Kidnappings and murders and such. If you have a petty theft report, you’ll have to come down to the station. Or you can do it online.”
“It’s not petty theft! That guitar is worth—”
Kristi held the phone out and looked at it. “I don’t believe it. He hung up on me!”
“Hmmmm…must have been his lunchtime.” Bailey looked at her watch. “I think we should just skip lunch. We need to find out where Robert is staying, and snoop around his room.”
Elizabeth wrinkled her brow. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Bales. If Robert and Lori suspect us, they’ll be watching for us to do something out of the ordinary. I think we need to just slow down a bit. We’ll go to lunch, and then come back here for our conference call. Kate said she’d call at one o’clock, and she was going to get in touch with the others.”
“I’m with Bailey. I want to get to the bottom of this. I can’t believe that creep admitted to stealing my dad’s guitar! But you’re right, Elizabeth. We don’t want to do anything to jeopardize our investigation,” said Kristi.
Elizabeth placed a hand Kristi’s shoulder. “Let’s all take a few deep breaths and calm down. My grandpa always reminds me that God knew about our troubles long before we did. And He already knows the way out of them.”
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Standing on her tiptoes, Elizabeth peered out the peephole. It was Mary-Lynn. She opened the door.
Mary-Lynn rushed into the room and announced, “I just had the best morning! I met two different agents, and they each spent more than five minutes talking to me! One of them even gave me his card!”
“Wow, Mary-Lynn! That’s great,” the other three congratulated her.
“So, what have you all been up to?”
The three girls looked at each other, then back at the redhead.
“Oh, nothing much,” they told her.
Bailey picked at her food and listened to Mary-Lynn chatter about her connections with various talent agents, and how she had an appointment with another one right after lunch.
Elizabeth knew what she was thinking without asking. Bailey wants to be discovered too. But she’s gotten too involved in finding this guitar to pay much attention to her reason for coming to the conference.
“I’ll be right back,” Elizabeth said abruptly. She scooted her chair back, stood tall, and marched right over to Rick Forrest’s table. The man smiled when he saw her.
“Why Elizabeth! Hello. Are you having a nice time?”
“Yes, sir,” she answered, smiling at the others at the table. One by one, he introduced Elizabeth to them.
“What can I do for you?” he asked.
She squatted down next to him and said, “I hate to ask you this, Mr. Forrest, but my friend Bailey has been busy…helping a friend, and she hasn’t gotten to meet with any of the agents. Do you know if any of them still have appointments available?”
Mr. Forrest pushed back his chair. “Helping a friend, huh? Well, that shows she has character. I was just about to leave anyway. Why don’t you introduce me to her.”
Elizabeth stood with him. “Really? Oh, she’ll be thrilled. Thank you so much.”
She led the way through the maze of tables to her friend and tried to ignore Mary-Lynn’s jaw, which was hanging open.
“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Mr. Rick Forrest. He sat next to me on the plane. Mr. Forrest, this is Bailey, Kristi, and Mary-Lynn.”
Kristi and Bailey offered short greetings, but Mary-Lynn stood to her feet.
“Oh Mr. Forrest! It is so nice to finally meet you. I have wanted to meet you for so long. I actually have some things I’d like to give you. Here, let me get them—it’ll only take a minute.”
Digging through her bag, she pulled out a demo CD and a black-and-white glossy photo of herself.
Mr. Forrest smiled. “Why don’t you mail those to my secretary?” Then, focusing on Bailey, he said, “Are you enjoying the conference?”
Surprised, Bailey smiled her million-dollar smile and nodded. “Yes, sir!”
“That’s good. Are you performing in the talent show?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. I’ll be watching for you. I have to run now, but ladies, it was a pleasure meeting you.” With a wink at Elizabeth, he turned and walked away.
As the four girls turned to watch him leave, they didn’t notice Lori approach from the opposite direction.