Camp Club Girls: Elizabeth

by Brumbaugh Green, Renae;

  “Well, with his hair color, he’s definitely a suspect,” whispered Bailey.

  “Hey!” said Mary-Lynn defensively. “Just because a person has red hair doesn’t make him or her a thief!”

  Robert shifted in his chair, but didn’t look up.

  “Shhhhh!” said Bailey, not sure how much to say to Mary-Lynn.

  “It’s okay,” said Kristi. “I told her everything. She rode to the conference center on the airport shuttle and didn’t even arrive until after the…incident. She has an alibi.”

  “A what?” asked Mary-Lynn. “I don’t have anything of the sort!”

  “An alibi is simply proof that you couldn’t have committed a crime. You weren’t even here yet when Kristi’s guitar was stolen, and you have witnesses—the other people on the shuttle. That’s your alibi,” whispered Elizabeth.

  “Oh,” said Mary-Lynn, settling back in her seat. “In that case, then yes. I have an alibi.”

  Suddenly, they heard a phone ring, and Robert reached into his pocket. Flipping open the tiny device, he said, “Yeah?”

  The girls concentrated on their food, trying to listen over the crowd to his conversation.

  “Yeah…yeah…yeah,” he said.

  Elizabeth watched him out of the corner of her eye, and noticed him glance at their table. Then he said, “I can’t talk here. Too crowded. I’ll have to call you back.” He clicked the phone shut, picked up his tray, and walked past them, leaving his newspaper on the table.

  When he was out of earshot, Bailey said, “Whoa. That was strange. Why couldn’t he talk in front of us?”

  “Probably because it’s crowded and noisy, and he couldn’t hear,” Kristi said.

  “Or maybe because he didn’t want us to hear what he had to say,” Bailey retorted. “Let’s follow him.” She pushed back her chair and began loading her tray.

  “No, wait. We can’t all go. That would be too obvious,” said Elizabeth. “I’ll tell you what. Kate’s supposed to call in a few minutes and let us know if she got the list. I’ll go. It won’t look as suspicious if it’s just one of us, and I’m talking on the phone.”

  Hesitantly, Bailey sat back in her chair. “Okay. But tell us every detail.”

  Elizabeth started to load her tray, but Kristi said, “We’ll take care of that. You go.”

  Nodding, Elizabeth followed Robert, who was already leaving the dining hall. She walked quickly, moving around tables and chairs. But when she pushed open the double doors, she didn’t see Robert.

  She scanned the area. She saw a couple of people talking on a bench and a teenage girl leaning against a tree, studying some sheet music.

  But no Robert. Where had he disappeared to so quickly?

  Then she thought she heard his voice coming from around the corner of the building. She couldn’t make out the words, so she followed the sound, staying close to the brick wall. As she approached the corner, she leaned flat against the wall and listened.

  “Yeah, the Conrad girl is here. And she’s in my class. Can you believe that?”

  Silence.

  “Yeah, the whole staff is talking about that stolen guitar.”

  Silence.

  “Yeah. Trust me. I know how much it’s worth.”

  More silence.

  “Okay…okay. I’ll do what I can.”

  The sudden click of the cell phone caught Elizabeth off guard, and Robert came barreling around the corner, nearly bumping into her.

  “Oh, excuse me,” Elizabeth said. “I’m so sorry, Mr.…uh…Mr.…Robert.”

  “You should be careful, lurking around corners like that. Someone might think you were eavesdropping,” the young man told her.

  “Oh, no sir! I…um…I just couldn’t hear very well in the dining hall, and I’m expecting a phone call. See?” She held up her cell phone. As if on cue, it started to ring.

  Elizabeth flipped it open and answered, “Hello?”

  Robert glared at her and walked away.

  “Hi. It’s Kate. I got the list this morning, and I’m working on it. Tell Kristi thanks for getting it to me so fast.”

  “Kate! Perfect timing. You’ll never believe what just happened,” Elizabeth told her.

  “Really? Tell me,” Kate said.

  Elizabeth decided to hold off the conversation until she was in her room. No sense taking a chance on someone overhearing her.

  “I—I’ll have to tell you later. Can’t talk now. But I’m glad you got the list. I need you to add someone to it, by the way. A fellow named—” she looked around, making sure no one could hear. Then she whispered, “Robert Kranfield.”

  “Say that again. I couldn’t hear you,” Kate told her.

  In a slightly louder whisper, she said, “Robert Kranfield. K-r-a-n-f-i-e-l-d.”

  “Okay, got it,” Kate replied. “Why are we adding him? Oh, never mind. You already said you can’t talk. I’ll see what I can find. When can we have another group call?”

  Elizabeth dug in her pocket and pulled out the conference schedule. “How about one thirty this afternoon? We have a break after lunch. Can you get in touch with the others?”

  “You bet. Talk to you then,” Kate said, and the two girls hung up.

  Bailey, Kristi, and Mary-Lynn were just exiting the building when Elizabeth approached the doors.

  “So? What happened? Did you hear anything?” Bailey asked.

  Glancing at her watch, Elizabeth told them, “Let’s talk while we’re walking. We don’t want to be late to our classes.”

  “There’s nothing suspicious about a group of girls being late to anything,” Mary-Lynn said with a laugh.

  “Maybe under normal circumstances,” said Elizabeth. “But I don’t want to give Mr. Robert Kranfield any reason to suspect a thing.” She eyed Mary-Lynn, still not sure if she should trust the girl completely. She seemed to have loose lips.

  One of the agents walked by, and Mary-Lynn’s attention was drawn away from the conversation. “Oh, there is Roxanne Hargrove! I want to meet her. I’ll catch you all later!” And the girl was gone.

  Elizabeth chuckled. Mary-Lynn seemed harmless. And shallow. But she was sweet, in her own way.

  “Well, what are you waiting for? Tell us what’s going on!” Bailey insisted.

  Elizabeth looked at Kristi. “I was able to hear part of his phone conversation,” she said in a low voice. “And your name came up.”

  Kristi frowned. “Go on,” she said.

  “He was talking about your guitar and how much it is worth.” The girls walked in silence for a moment, trying to process the information.

  Finally, Bailey said, “Well, it’s no big secret her guitar was stolen. The security people probably told the conference staff what happened, don’t you think?”

  “Probably so. But why would Robert talk about it? And who was he talking to?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Maybe we should add his name to the research list,” Bailey said.

  “Done. I already spoke with Kate,” Elizabeth replied.

  Kristi remained quiet. Finally, she said, “Now I feel weird about going to his class. What if he stole my guitar?”

  Elizabeth and Bailey looked at each other, then at Kristi. “No matter what happens, act normal. Don’t act strange around him. Don’t give him any reason to believe he is a suspect. That could ruin the whole investigation,” Bailey told her.

  Kristi let out a heavy sigh. “I’m a musician, not an actress. But I’ll do my best.”

  The girls entered the building where the classes were held. “I’m on the third floor. Meet me right here as soon as class is over,” Bailey told the other two, and she was off.

  “Do you think you can do this?” Elizabeth asked Kristi.

  Kristi took a deep breath. “I don’t really have a choice, do I? If I don’t show up for class, Robert will wonder why. I’ll just—I’ll just keep my eyes on my notepad, and take notes like crazy.”

  Elizabeth smiled. “Just write a song like you always do, and he won’t
suspect a thing.”

  Elizabeth nearly walked past the door to their classroom, and had to backtrack when Kristi stopped.

  “Where were you going?” Kristi asked her.

  “Nowhere,” Elizabeth said with a laugh. “All these doors look alike to me, and I’m always getting lost or going in the wrong doors.” They entered and found seats. A few other students were waiting, but there was no sign of Robert.

  After a few more students were seated, a well-dressed young woman walked to the front of the room.

  “Hi. I’m Lori. Robert will be a few minutes late. I’m a friend of his, and he asked me to get you started.”

  The Plan

  Kristi threw Elizabeth a confused glance. She pulled out her notepad and began scrawling as the woman spoke of chord progressions.

  Elizabeth unfolded her conference brochure and scanned the faculty pictures. This woman wasn’t there.

  “What do you think this means?” Kristi wrote on her notepad.

  Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders.

  “Where could he be?” Kristi wrote again.

  Again Elizabeth shrugged. She had no idea.

  Kristi thought a moment and then wrote, “What should we do?”

  Finally, Elizabeth took out her own notepad and pencil, keeping her eyes on the teacher as if she were fascinated by the woman’s words. “I guess we just stay here and try to act normal. We’ll investigate later. At least we’ll know how late he is.”

  Kristi nodded, and they both tried to concentrate on Lori’s words. The woman demonstrated several chord progressions for them, and explained how each one reflected a different mood. But Elizabeth was distracted by her long, bloodred fingernails, which clicked as she played the keyboard.

  If she were a serious keyboard player, she’d cut her nails, Elizabeth thought.

  After nearly twenty minutes, the classroom door opened, and Robert entered. Lori acknowledged him, and he took over the lecture.

  “Thank you, Lori,” he told the woman as she left the room. He slipped her a small piece of paper as she passed him.

  “I see you were discussing chord progressions. Do we have any keyboard players in the room?” he asked.

  He’s acting like nothing has happened! But I’m not fooled. I want to know why he was talking about Kristi’s guitar. Who was he talking to? Elizabeth tried not to glare at the man as she lifted her hand, along with a few others who played the keyboard.

  “Great. There are several of you. How about you—Elizabeth, isn’t it? Would you like to come up and play some chord progressions for us?”

  The nerve of that man! Elizabeth thought. Still, she painted on a tentative smile and nodded. “Certainly, Mr. Kranfield.”

  “Please, call me Robert,” he said as Elizabeth took her seat at the bench. He began calling out chord progressions to her, as if to test her skill. Fortunately, chords were easy for her, and she played with ease.

  “Very nice,” he said, but she thought she heard a slight edge in his voice. She heard little of what he said during the remainder of the class, and when he dismissed them, she breathed a sigh of relief.

  “That was strange,” whispered Kristi as they headed for the classroom door. As they exited, they heard a phone ring, and looked back to see Robert answer his cell. Elizabeth led Kristi into the hall, where they waited while the other students exited. Then, pressing her back against the wall, she leaned toward the open door, straining to hear Robert’s words.

  “Yeah…yeah, I got it.…No, can’t talk now. Too many people around. Meet me in my classroom in one hour. No, there’s not another class in here until late this afternoon, so we should be safe.…Okay, see you then.”

  The girls heard Robert click his phone shut, and they hurried toward the exit. When they were outside the building, Kristi said, “This is getting too weird. Surely you don’t really think he’s the one, do you? He’s on staff here, at a music conference for a bunch of kids. They must have thought he was trustworthy.”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “You never know. If he doesn’t have a previous record of theft, the conference directors probably wouldn’t suspect him of anything. He’s a songwriter. They were probably just looking to find qualified musicians to fill their teaching needs.”

  “And what about this Lori person? Do you think she’s in on it?”

  Elizabeth shrugged. “No telling. I did see Robert slip her a paper as she was leaving.”

  “Yeah, I saw that too.”

  In the middle of their conversation, Bailey arrived. “You guys are really missing out. My choreography class is so much fun! Would you like me to show you what—” she stopped when she saw the expression on Kristi’s face. “What did I miss? Tell me everything.”

  “Robert was late to class. The woman who covered for him isn’t listed on staff here. Then, after class, we overheard another of his phone conversations. He didn’t say much, but he’s meeting someone in his classroom in an hour,” Elizabeth filled her in.

  “Wow. We’ve got to figure out a way to listen in on that conversation,” said Bailey.

  “What do you think we should do?” asked Kristi. “Sneak in and hide?”

  “There really aren’t any hiding places in that room. The desks are too small, and the podium at the front is too skinny. Hiding is out of the question,” said Elizabeth.

  “I think there might have been a large desk in the back corner…” said Kristi. “But I’m not sure.”

  “What about a window?” asked Bailey. “We could go in ahead of time and open a window, and then we could stand outside and listen.”

  “Good idea, if the classroom were on the ground floor,” said Kristi, looking at the building behind them. “I doubt we’ll be able to hear a conversation three stories up, though.”

  The girls studied the building, trying to figure out a solution.

  “Bales, remember at camp when we left the cell phone in Mr. Anzer’s office?” asked Elizabeth.

  “Oh yeah! Kate called your cell phone and then planted her cell phone under Mr. Anzer’s desk. We could hear every word!” Bailey exclaimed.

  Kristi looked at them, wide-eyed. “That’s pretty sneaky. Did it work?”

  Elizabeth and Bailey looked at each other.

  “It worked perfectly,” said Elizabeth. “Unfortunately, we ended up hearing the wrong conversation.”

  “Beth, I think it will work for us. After all, you have a class in there, so if Robert happens to find your phone, you can just say you left it,” Bailey said.

  Elizabeth pulled out her cell phone. “Bailey, where is your phone?” she asked.

  “I left it in the room, but I can go back and get it,” Bailey answered. “No, I have my phone. Here, Elizabeth, let me see yours. I’ll program my number into it,” Kristi said.

  About that time, Robert exited the building. “Shouldn’t you ladies be getting to your next classes or something?” he asked.

  Elizabeth glanced at her watch. We’ve got fifteen more minutes. What’s his hurry? Is he trying to get rid of us?

  “Uh, yes…sir. We’re on our way,” said Kristi.

  The man watched them until they disappeared around the curve.

  “Whoa. What was that about?” asked Bailey. “Why was he in such a hurry for us to leave?”

  “I don’t know,” said Elizabeth. “But we’re going to find out. Bailey, what is your next class?”

  “I was thinking of attending the stage performance class. They’re supposed to teach us how to play to a crowd,” she said.

  Elizabeth laughed. “I don’t think you need much help there, Bailey. Where is that class?”

  “It’s in the main conference room, where we had the welcome last night. That room has the biggest stage.”

  “Do you think you can sneak out of it, maybe go to the bathroom or something, at ten forty-five?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Sure. I think we’re supposed to take turns on the stage, so I’ll see if I can go first. Then I’ll probably be done by ten
forty-five,” Bailey said.

  “Okay, you take Kristi’s phone since we don’t have time to go back to the room. Kristi, where are you headed?”

  Kristi looked at her schedule. “Let’s see.…I think I’ll go to the keyboarding class. I’m great on the guitar, but my piano skills lack a bit.”

  Elizabeth nodded. “I know what you mean. Only I’m the opposite. I can play the keyboard, but my guitar skills need work. But can you slip out at around…ten thirtyish?”

  “Sure. What do you need me to do?” Kristi asked.

  “I need you to meet me right here,” Elizabeth said.

  “Who would like to perform first?” the instructor, Mrs. Crenshaw, asked. Bailey was the first to lift her hand.

  “You there,” the woman called on her. “What is your name?”

  Bailey stood and smiled her million-dollar smile. “My name is Bailey Chang,” she said.

  “Well Bailey, why don’t you come on up here. Did you bring a song to perform for us today?”

  “You bet,” said Bailey, pulling the accompaniment CD from her backpack. She handed it to Mrs. Crenshaw and walked onto the stage with confidence.

  “Hold on,” Mrs. Crenshaw told her. “That was a pretty good entrance, but the audience wasn’t ready for you yet. I’m going to teach you how to enter like a rock star! You want to wait until the audience is leaning forward, looking for you. Then, you make a grand entrance at the last possible second! Why don’t you come back down here and try that again.”

  Bailey did as she was told, waiting while her teacher placed the CD in the player. “Bailey, I want you to wait until after the music has started. The audience will hear the music, but they will see an empty stage. They’ll start looking for you, and that’s when you need to begin your entrance. You should arrive at the microphone just as you are to begin singing.”

  The music began, and Bailey walked onto the stage. She arrived at the microphone a good four measures before she started singing.

  Mrs. Crenshaw stopped the CD. “That was better, Bailey. But you were still too early. Figure out how much time it will take you to get to the microphone, and give yourself just that much time. You want to arrive center stage just as you open your mouth to sing.”