The doors to the hall were closed and the outer foyer was deserted. Maggie glanced around, looking for Johnny, but he was nowhere to be found, either.
She finished her latte and tossed the cup in a trash can, then decided to make a run to the ladies’ room while she had a few minutes.
She slipped into one of the stalls, hung her tote bag on the hook and had to smile. She’d been in here before, the other day when she’d been too afraid to confront Sarah. She had dashed to the safety of the bathroom stall like a helpless ninny, but never again, she vowed. She was fed up with being afraid. She would never hide from confrontation again.
Before she could exit the stall, the outer bathroom door opened with a bang. Two women entered and stopped at the bathroom mirror to talk. Some protective instinct convinced Maggie to wait inside the stall as the women chatted in front of the mirror.
So maybe she was still working out some of those helpless ninny issues, Maggie thought, shaking her head. Baby steps, after all.
“So, what happened?” the first one said, her voice low.
“Oh, my God, you won’t believe it,” the other one said, her inflection classic Valley Girl. She sounded about twelve years old. “One of their contest entries was tainted.”
“That’s terrible,” the first woman said. “How?”
“Johnny said that someone broke into the storage room last night and tampered with the MacLaren entries. It wasn’t discovered until this morning during the semifinal round of judging, about an hour ago. A couple of the judges tasted the MacLaren ale and a few minutes later, they lost their breakfasts. The head judge sampled it and declared it was ruined.”
“But how’d anybody get into the storage room?”
Huddled behind the stall door, Maggie wanted to know the same thing. Who would do it? Why? And how?
And despite her lofty thoughts from a moment ago about facing confrontation, there was no way she was leaving her hiding place until she heard the whole story.
“I’m not sure,” Valley Girl said. “They either found a key or just broke in. Johnny’s mortified.”
“Poor guy, it’s not his fault,” the first woman said. “Wow, so someone deliberately sabotaged the MacLarens. I wouldn’t want to piss them off. Do they know who it is?”
“You have to ask?” Valley Girl said, her voice dripping sarcasm. “Who else could it be?”
There was a pause, and then the first woman whispered, “Oh, come on. You can’t be serious.”
“Connor is absolutely certain that she did it,” Valley Girl said, her voice hushed but confident. “And look at the evidence. It happened during the dance last night. She arrived really late. And then later on, I saw her talking to Ted Blake. And it wasn’t the first time, either. I’ve seen them together before. Connor saw them, too. They were very tight and cozy, if you know what I mean.”
“Ted Blake?” the first woman whispered. “He hates the MacLarens. Do you think the two of them planned it together?”
Maggie’s heart sank. She knew they were referring to her. And it was true that she’d talked to Ted Blake a few times, but she hadn’t known what a rat he was until Connor told her. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, almost certain she knew who “Valley Girl” was.