Alibi High

“Oh my God!” Charlotte yelled, coming to a scree t ching halt. “Shut up already!”

She sounded like one of my kids.

“Yes, I took the computers,” she hissed at me. Her blond locks stuck to her sweat-dampened cheeks. “I had to. I didn't have another choice. I owed this damn place so much money, I didn't have another choice. But I was about to win it all back tonight and then I would've donated it to Prism to buy new computers, except you interrupted the run I was about to have.”

“You looked like you were losing.”

“It was about to turn around!” she hissed again spat at me . “I was on the verge! But you ruined it.”

I didn't think I'd ruined anything. Her words sounded exactly like the words of someone with a gambling problem. I wanted to feel bad for her, but I was too angry with her at that moment .

“I'm taking the computers back,” I said. “I've already arranged it with Al.”

The blood drained from her face. “What? No.”

“Yes. My friend is setting it up now.”

“You can't,” she said, her demeanor quickly morphing from anger to fear. “You can't. I don't have the money to pay him.”

“ That's not my problem I don't care ,” I said. “And when I report you as the one who stole the computers, I think that's going to just be one of your be pretty low on your totem pole of problems.”

Her mouth quivered and she looked like she was going to cry. “You can't, Daisy. Loo k. L k , l et's make a deal. Anything I win, it's yours. If you don't say anything.”

“I don't want your money.”

“What do you want then? Tell me.”

“Just the truth,” I said. “Which I think I have. And the computers back at Prism. Where they belong.”

“But I don't have anything to pay Al with!” she said, stomping her foot. “I'm broke. I can't pay what I owe!”

She seemed so desperate. Normally, I had sympathy for someone expressing desperation. I thought back to Olga and her quest to find out what had happened to her brother, Olaf. I thought about Delilah and her desire to save her flound ering campground. I'd taken pity and showed empathy to both of them.  But I couldn't find any of those feelings for Charlotte. It didn't seem as if she'd taken her job seriously, calling out sick and playing on her computer while she was there. She'd used her position at school to steal the computers. And then she'd purposely tried to steer suspicion toward other members of the school community. she was just making it all worse for herself. There was nothing sympathetic in any of that.

“ That isn't my problem I'm sorry ,” I told her , not really feeling sorry at all . “ I'm sorry. You can talk to the police about it.”

Her face started to glow turned red again. Then she shoved me to the side and ran past me. I stood there for a moment, watching her try to maneuver through the people. I didn't know where she was headed. Maybe to hide. Or to try and strike a deal with Al. Whe re ver she thought she was going, I didn't want her to get there.

So I took off after her.

She turned and saw me trailing her, trying to move quicker through the throngs of gamblers and watchers. She'd jog a few steps, then look back to see where I was at.

Which wasn't too far behind.

She found an opening in the crowd, close to the edge of the rows of slot machines and took off. I found the same opening and chased after her.

I could see that we were going to reach the end of the floor and she'd be able to disappear outside or down another corridor at the end of the hallway. I didn't doubt that I could prove to the police that she was responsible for the theft, but I didn't want her to escape. I didn't want her to get out of that casino.

As she neared the last row of machines, I recognized a familiar face at the slot machine on the very corner.

Brenda, her pursed strapped diagonal over her body, her eyes wide, tapp ing ed hard at the screen on the slot machine in front of her, oblivious to the chaos that was coming her way.

“Brenda!” I yelled. “Stop her!”

Charlotte turned, her legs moving as fast as they could carry her.

Brenda looked up, saw me, then moved her eyes to Charlotte, running in front of me.

Then she stuck her leg out.

Charlotte tumbled over Brenda's outstretched leg, sprawling onto the floor of the casino. I reached her and tumbled down on top of her, determined to not let her go.

But I didn't have anything to worry about, because instead of struggling beneath me, she was just lay there, sobbing.

I looked up at Brenda. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” she said, smiling, turning back to her machine. “I'm almost done.”

As people began to gather around us, I recognized a pair of large shoes very close to my head.

I looked up.

Jake looked stared down at me.

“I was going to ask to borrow your ATM card,” he said, lifting an eyebrow. “But looks like you're busy.”

I didn't believe in obscene gestures, but if I did, I absolutely, without a doubt, would've shown my handsome , grinning husband my middle finger.

THIRTY NINE

“There 's are a ton of people out there, Mom,” Emily said, snapping her head back from the curtain. “I mean, a ton. Including my friends.”

“I know,” I said, smiling. “The turnout is pretty good.”

It was a week later and we were backstage at the First Annual Prism Talent Show To Raise Money For New Computers.

“I didn't know if people would come,” she said, fiddling with her hair. “And I told my friends not to come.”

“They probably wanted to see you embarrass yourself,” I told her.

“Mom,” she said, rolling her eyes. “And I still don't get why this whole thing wasn't just canceled anyway since you found the computers.”

The casino security arrived shortly after I'd landed on Charlotte Nordhoff. I'd explained to them the situation without mentioning Al. They'd in turn called the police, who eventually came and took Charlotte into custody after she'd admitted to the theft. They'd talked to Al, who very quickly told them that he'd called his friend Johnny Witt to tell him that some computers had showed up in one of his storage trailers and they looked liked they belonged to a school that had lost them and he knew that Johnny knew someone at that school so he wanted to do the right thing. It seemed flimsy at best and I wasn't sure if it would hold up, depending on what Charlotte had to say, but it had worked in the moment.

So the computers had been returned to Prism, much to everyone's excitement. The one person who hadn't been able to share in the excitement was Mrs. Bingledorf. The board had gotten wind of her interviewing elsewhere and immediately terminated her contract, handing control of the school over to Mr , . Watson, the assistant principal director , a man who had nearly thirty years of experience in education and w ho seemed happy to take over the task.

And he'd Mr. Watson asked me to keep on with the talent show, telling me that whatever money we raised would go toward purchasing more computers and upgrading the lab.

With all of the pressure off, I told him I'd be thrilled to.

So Emily and I were waiting backstage to do our lip - synch routine to “Footloose.” The show seemed to have been mostly a success so far, with the participants having fun and the crowd applauding loudly. I think it was didn't know for sure, but I thought it was because it was far easier to have a good time when we all knew that the fate of the school's technology was no longer resting on the success of the fundraiser.

“And we get to go get my new iPhone tomorrow, I get my phone back immediately after we get off stage, right?” Emily asked, again messing with her hair. “Because you promised.”