Page 27 of Be A Detective, They Said. It’ll Be Fun, They Said

Marty wrinkled her nose, pulling her jacket tighter around her. “This feels weirdly compulsive, Wanda. Another conspiracy theory, maybe? Is someone stealing the school supplies and using them to make pipe bombs?”

My stomach turned. I gripped the doorframe to steady myself. I needed to get some lunch before I passed out. “Neerie’s into so many conspiracies, who knows. Nina, take pictures of her Word docs, would you, please?”

My phone rang then, an incoming call from Nerrie’s ex-husband. “Wanda Jefferson.”

His deep voice resonated in my ear. “Mrs. Jefferson? Thad Lincoln calling. Naida tells me you wanted to speak with me?”

I clicked the speaker button on my phone. “You’re on speaker, Mr. Lincoln. My associates, Marty Flaherty and Nina Statleon, are here with me, and yes, we did ask Naida to have you contact us. Are you aware of the situation?”

There was a small pause, and a raspy sigh followed. “She said Neerie is missing.”

He sounded worried, despite their differences. We couldn’t see him, so we couldn’t gauge his body language and facial expressions, but his worry rang true.

“She is,” I confirmed. “Do you have any idea where she might go? Anything that could be helpful in locating her?”

He cleared his throat. “I don’t. Despite some of the things she’s been up to lately, she would never leave Tamlin for this long without keeping in touch.”

“Define what you mean when you say, what she’s been up to, Mr. Lincoln,” Marty requested.

“I’m sure you know what I mean. Neerie was into all sorts of conspiracy theories. She spent a great deal of time devoted to finding answers. Too much time, but it was always after Tamlin was in bed. I’m incredibly worried she got into something dangerous…”

I wanted to see if he’d fess up to her telling him something was going on at the school. “Any particular theories you can think of?”

“I can,” he said smoothly. “One in particular about the school. She didn’t say what she thought was going on, and that’s probably because I dismissed it, something I deeply regret now. I called her paranoid and it upset her, and she hung up on me.”

We all looked at each other with a nod. “She didn’t say anything at all about what she meant by something happening at the school?”I confirmed.

He sighed and it was a sigh filled with frustration. “Listen, Mrs. Jefferson, Neerie had fallen down a deep hole I couldn’t drag her from. It became a real problem for us. I’m not defending my action of calling her paranoid, but I wasn’t sure what else to believe. When your wife…er, ex-wife tells you she thinks the power lines by our house are sending messages to the Illuminati, you begin to worry.”

So this conspiracy thing had been going on during their marriage. “The Illuminati?”

“The Illuminati,” Thad confirmed. “Yes. The Illuminati. I tried to get her help. I even tried an intervention, but she refused to participate.”

“Did you look into what she said about the school stuff?” Nina asked.

“I didn’t, because I’m away on business and have been for three weeks. But I am worried about Tamlin. I realize biologically she’s not mine, but I raised her from her toddler days. I love her. Hindsight tells me I was like a bull in a China shop.”

His regret after those texts they’d shared was very clear. With a sigh, I didn’t know what else to ask. “Thank you for calling us back, Mr. Lincoln. We appreciate it. If there’s anything else you can help us with, or anything you remember, please call or text.”

“I absolutely…” His deep voice trailed off then.

“Mr. Lincoln? Are you still there?” Nothing but silence greeted me, my phone indicating we’d lost the call. I growled my frustration. “He’s gone.”

“That was a big nothing burger anyway,” Nina groused. “So he knew she was nuts. Who didn’t?”

Marty swatted Nina’s arm. “Stop calling her crazy. I’ll remind you one more time—Bigfoot.”

“Bullshit. She didn’t find him, we damn well did.”

“Ahhh,” Marty cooed. “But she believed.”

“Regardless of Bigfoot and the Illuminati at school, Thad didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t know, and I need a breather. I’m going to go find out if Agnew or Cooper knows about any of this. I don’t know how janitorial supplies fits into this, but it’s a thread we can’t ignore. Just like all those whiteboards in her basement. I’ll be right back.”

I turned and walked down the hall, hoping to find Agnew somewhere close by. I headed to the boiler room to see if he was in there.

I hoped Neerie hadn’t been hassling him the way she did everyone else. He was a lovely man who only wanted to do his job and go home to his cats each night. I wasn’t even sure if he was here on a weekend.

Though, he was known to go the extra mile and come in on a Saturday. After the bake sale Friday afternoon, he likely had plenty of cleanup on his hands. Cooper did the same, taking his lead from Agnew, even though it wasn’t necessary. Still, the school paid them overtime, and that made it worth it for Cooper, who was going to college.

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