The Stranger(66)
The difference was startling.
The coffee shop was an old-school greasy spoon, complete with a waitress who kept her pencil in her hair bun. They both ordered coffees. Just coffees. This wasn’t the type of place that served macchiatos or lattes.
Tripp placed his hands on the sticky table. “You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“My wife called you.”
“How do you know this?”
“I checked the phone records.”
“You checked . . .” Tripp’s eyebrows jumped up a bit at that. “Are you serious?”
“Why did she call you?”
“Why do you think?” Tripp countered.
“Was it about this whole stolen-money thing?”
“Of course it was about this stolen-money thing. What else would it be?”
Tripp waited for a reply. Adam didn’t give him one.
“So what did she say to you?”
The waitress came by, dropping the coffees with a thud that caused some to splash onto the saucer.
“She said that she needed more time. I told her I’d stalled long enough.”
“Meaning?”
“The other board members were growing impatient. Some wanted to confront her more aggressively. A few wanted to go to the police right away on a more official basis.”
“So how long has this been going on?” Adam asked.
“What, the investigation?”
“Yes.”
Tripp put some sugar in his coffee. “A month or so.”
“A month?”
“Yes.”
“How come you never said anything to me?”
“I almost did. Draft night at the American Legion Hall. When you went nuts on Bob, I thought that maybe you already knew.”
“I had no idea.”
“Yeah, I get that now.”
“You could have said something to me, Tripp.”
“I could have,” he agreed. “Except for one thing.”
“What?”
“Corinne asked me not to.”
Adam stayed perfectly still. Then he said: “I just want to make sure I understand.”
“Let me see if I can help, then. Corinne knew that we were looking at her for the theft, and she made it clear that we shouldn’t tell you,” Tripp said. “You understand just fine.”
Adam just sat back.
“So what did Corinne say that morning when you called?”
“She asked me for more time.”
“Did you give it to her?”
“No. I told her time was up. I had tried to hold the board back long enough.”
“When you say the board—”
“All of them. But mostly Bob, Cal, and Len.”
“How did Corinne respond?”
“She asked—no, I think a better word might be begged—she begged for another week. She said she had a way to prove she was completely innocent, but she needed more time.”
“Did you believe her?”
“Truth?”
“Preferably.”
“No, not anymore.”
“What did you think?”
“I thought she was trying to find a way to pay it back. She knew we didn’t want to press charges. We just wanted it to be made whole. So yeah, I figured that she was contacting relatives or friends or something to raise the money.”
“Why wouldn’t she come to me?”
Tripp didn’t reply. He just sipped his coffee.
“Tripp?”
“I can’t answer that.”
“This makes no sense.”
Tripp just kept sipping his coffee.
“How long have you known my wife, Tripp?”
“You know the answer. We both grew up in Cedarfield. She was two years behind me—the same year as my Becky.”
“Then you know. She wouldn’t do this.”
Tripp stared into his coffee. “I thought that for a long time.”
“So what changed your mind?”
“Come on, Adam. You used to be a prosecutor. I don’t think Corinne started out to steal. You know how it is. When you hear about the sweet old lady stealing from the church tithing or, heck, the sports board member embezzling, it isn’t like they set out to do it. You come in with the best of intentions, right? But it creeps up on you.”
“Not Corinne.”
“Not anybody. That’s what we always think. We’re always shocked, aren’t we?”
Adam could see that Tripp was about to start into some philosophical spiel. For a moment, Adam debated stopping him, but maybe he should let go. Maybe the more Tripp talked, the more Adam would learn.
“But, let’s say, for example, you stay up late at night to schedule the lacrosse practice. You’re working really hard and maybe you’re in a diner, like this, so you order a coffee, just like the ones we have in our hands, and maybe you forgot your wallet in the car and figure, what the hell, the organization should pay for it anyway. A legitimate expense, am I right?”