What Janie Saw(61)
“I go to her whenever I need supplies, or have a question. We get along fine. I gave her one of my paintings.”
He noticed the painting then. An acrylic of a lion, standing still, chin raised and mouth open. Behind him was the pride. They all faced the main lion.
“Georgia has all the answers,” Janie supplied, as if she sensed what Rafe was thinking. “Everyone comes to her. One day I was waiting my turn to ask her a question, and I decided she needed a painting.”
“You painted it from your imagination.”
“No, I used Terrance the Terrible at the zoo as a model, and then just painted him fat, skinny, squatty, regal, young, old.”
Rafe was amazed. “One lion over and over.”
“From different angles, at different times of the day.”
“Amazing.”
Even more amazing than her talent was the lady herself. Rafe forced himself to look away from her because all he could think was about the last line in that art book.
...whomever I tell will be in as much danger as me.
The kid had been right.
The brownies had been left in Patricia’s office, on a paper plate covered with a paper towel. Georgia insisted that she hadn’t brought in brownies yesterday, and that whenever she did bake brownies, she never added nuts.
But they’d been left on a plate from the teacher’s workroom. A note with the word ENJOY had been left beside them. The letters didn’t resemble Gloria’s handwriting.
However, even though everyone, including Nathan, believed Gloria innocent, he continued to ask her question after question.
Finally standing up, Rafe excused himself and walked to the end of the hall, away from the noise. He pulled out his phone and dialed.
“I was expecting your call,” Justin answered without a hello. He wasted no time. “So, who discovered Patty’s body and exactly when?”
“The division secretary found her this morning. She got here about six and noticed her boss’s car in the parking lot. After she did her morning routine, she went down and knocked on Patricia’s door. When she got no response, she got curious, unlocked Mrs. Reynolds’s office door and found her.”
“This case is taking on a life of its own,” Justin muttered. “A couple of kids Derek hung out with have suddenly had a change of lifestyle.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’ve either left town or gone home to live with their parents. And they’re the same ones Janie picked out as Derek’s friends. I’ve kept track of them. Right now his old crowd, well, it’s a different kind of scared. They’re itchy.”
Rafe could tell by Justin’s voice how disturbed he was.
“It’s as if,” Justin said, “the carpet is being rolled up, and some kids had the brains to get off the carpet while others got trapped inside. We need to figure out who’s controlling the carpet.”
It was a pretty decent analogy, even if it wouldn’t stand up in court.
“Then why isn’t Nathan willing to let me assist? He’s always been one to appreciate help.”