Page 39 of Steal My Heart

“But it wasn’t us,” they said in unison, loudly enough for Hilliard to hear clearly. He turned away and headed back toward the carnival, mulling over the information. It was possible the boys were lying, but they truly seemed upset and affronted. Unless they were great actors, he doubted it was them, which was a disappointment. It made sense for them to be the thieves. They might have known where the valuables were kept. And Frank… would he steal from his mother? Hilliard doubted it, especially with the way he went to find the boys. It seemed to Hilliard that Frank had thought it might have been them, and he wouldn’t have done that if he were guilty.

Hilliard used the crowd as cover, heading along with the flow of people back toward the carnival. He found Brian and hisgrandmother sitting on a bench near the entrance to the area. “Did you find out anything?” Brian asked.

“I think I did.” He sat down. “After I casually mentioned the alleged thief’s innocence, Frank called the boys right away, and they met up, but I don’t think any of them did it. Frank was afraid the boys had done it. And I think the boys were afraid their father had done it. They turned nearly completely white when he asked them about it.”

“No one in that family talks to one another,” Beverly said. “Frank is one of those fathers who yells and makes demands, so everyone either stays away from him as best they can, or they say yes and then do what they want when his back is turned.”

Hilliard leaned forward so he could see both of them. “Can you imagine thinking that someone else in your family committed a burglary, then covered it up, and not talking about it? You continue like that for years and just let it go.”

Brian shrugged. “Why not? They had the thief in jail and they could all just carry on. It wasn’t like they had to give it a thought anymore. I was paying the price for it, and they went on with their miserable, useless lives.” The anger in Brian’s eyes was strong and deep.

“Maybe we should go,” Hilliard offered. “I should have given more thought to how all of this would make you feel.” Dammit. To him this was about unraveling a mystery and solving a puzzle. Yes, he cared about Brian and wanted him to be vindicated, but he was still a step removed from what had happened. That wasn’t the case for Brian. This was his life, and he had lived with being accused of something he hadn’t done for years now.

“No,” he snapped. “I’m fine.” He sighed through his nose, his eyes softening a little, but the anger was still there, and Hilliard resolved to see this all the way through.

Beverly took Brian’s arm and leaned closer to him. “Remember that in order to help, you need to keep your mindclear and think. This isn’t going to be solved by emotion and old hurt, but by reason and figuring out the facts.” She got Brian to look away from Frank, who had taken up his place at the baseball team booth once more.

“Okay, so what do we know?” Brian asked, glancing over at Frank once more before turning his attention to Hilliard.

“First, we know that whoever did this knew Violet would be out of the house. They had to know the window of opportunity. Also, it had to be someone who was close enough to Violet to know where she kept her valuables, because the room wasn’t ransacked. The thieves took small items of value and knew where they were. That led me to think it was the boys or Frank, but I’m not so sure anymore.” Hilliard lowered his gaze.

Beverly cleared her throat. “We know that whoever it was broke into Brian’s truck and the house to plant evidence.”

Hilliard nodded. “And on that note, they knew that Brian had been out of town and that his grandfather had passed away.” He paused a few minutes to think. “I know this is a small town, but that’s a lot of details to know in order to be able to pull all this off.”

Brian nodded too. “I agree, and it doesn’t seem like kids to me. I mean sure, maybe Violet’s grandkids knew where she kept stuff, but I don’t see the boys as being plugged deeply into the town gossip mill.” He sighed once more, his shoulders slumping. “Maybe we’ll never be able to figure this out. It’s been a long time since it happened.”

“True, but not for the thief. After all, as soon as they got word that we might be able to prove your innocence, they planted more evidence to lead everyone back to you.” There were still so many things Hilliard didn’t understand, but the picture was coming into focus. He just needed a few more pieces. “Sometimes I wish I were Sherlock Holmes or something.”

Beverly laughed. “Please. He had to figure out the mystery before the end of the book, and almost every time, there were obscure facts that most people don’t know involved in solving the mystery. This is real life, and as much as we’d all like to have things ordered and wrapped up in a neat bow, it doesn’t always happen. But I agree—we are still missing information. I’m just not sure where to get it.”

Brian sat back on the bench, and Hilliard did the same. “Maybe we need to talk to Violet again. She wants answers as much as we do,” Brian offered.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Beverly said. “There are some questions I’d like to ask her myself, grandmother to grandmother.” She leaned forward slightly and got herself to her feet. “Let’s go have some fun for a while. We’ve done what we can for tonight.”

Hilliard knew she was right. Brian nodded and pointed. “There’s that game I used to play, with all the candy.”

Beverly shook her head. “You don’t need candy, and you can buy all you want yourself.”

“True, but what if I really want to win one of those giant stuffed pandas?” Brian countered.

“We don’t need any of that stuff,” Beverly said with a smile. “You two go on and have fun. I see Ruth over by the popcorn booth. I’m going to say hello.” She shooed them off. “Go on.” She smiled, and Brian didn’t waste any time, leading Hilliard toward the games area. He seemed like a kid again. Hilliard laughed and went right along with him.

“What do you want to play?” Brian asked.

Hilliard grinned. “How about the target game over there?”

Brian scoffed. “That’s so rigged.”

“Really?” Hilliard asked with a wink as he headed over to the booth where some luckless kids were shooting cork guns at paper cup targets.

“You get three shots for two bucks,” the guy in the booth said with a smile. Hilliard handed over two bills and looked at the gun. He watched the kids, sighted the gun, and then shot and hit the first cup. He took his second shot and then the third, hitting all three times. Then he turned to the operator of the booth, shaking his head before asking the kids for the guns. He took a look and then handed them back.

“All the sights are off. They were probably made that way, so the guns shoot low. So raise them up and aim high.” He smiled as the kids began knocking the cups off the top shelf, where the operator had placed the higher-value prize cups, figuring no one would hit them. Hilliard collected his Nintendo Switch top prize, and so did the kids. “I suggest you close your booth and clean up this game. I can have the sheriff here pretty quickly, and he isn’t going to look kindly on game rigging.” He set down the cork gun and stepped back as the operator swore under his breath and went through the process of closing up.

“Thanks, mister,” one of the kids said, carrying a huge Pikachu that he could barely see over the top of.

“You’re welcome.” Hilliard smiled as the kids walked away, hopefully to find their shocked parents. “Sorry about that.”

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