No, not likely.
Whatever it is, I’m not sure I want to hear about it.
_____
My legs feel like jello as I follow Julie to her office on the first floor. It’s not really an office. It’s just a spare room that they let the president of the PTA use for work, but she likes to call it her office, and I’m not going to argue with her. Sometimes I do think Julie ought to go back to practicing law.
The office consists of a small conference table, and Julie sits on one side of the table. She gestures at a chair on the other side. “Sit down,” she says.
“No ‘please’？”
My attempt at humor is met with silence. I slide into the chair, not a moment too soon because I feel like I can barely stand up. I’m getting upset over nothing though. Julie isn’t serving me with a lawsuit—that doesn’t make sense. She probably just wants my help with something for the PTA.
Julie leans forward in her seat and folds her hands together. The purple circles she had under her eyes yesterday are gone. She has the best makeup. “I want to talk to you about the silent auction.”
My shoulders sag in relief. I knew it had to be PTA related. And the auction went amazing. She probably wants to start planning for the spring. “Yes?”
She pauses, her face a mask. “I was looking at the app you used to record the bids and accept money into the PTA fund. And I noticed that there was a second account recorded. That a percentage of the money was being filtered into an account that wasn’t related to the school.”
Any relief I had been feeling a moment ago has vanished. “What… what do you mean?”
Her eyes become slits. “I mean, somebody created another bank account that’s been stealing money from the silent auction that was supposed to have been going to the PTA.”
I clasp a hand over my mouth. “Oh my God. Who would do something like that?”
“You. You did it.”
I feel dizzy. I can’t believe this is happening. It’s like some sort of a horrible dream. “Do you think I’ve been stealing money from the PTA?”
Her lips are a straight line. “Yes. I do.”
“Julie, I would never do that.” My words are coming out in a jumbled rush. “You know you can trust me. I would never steal from the PTA. Why would I do something like that? Elliot and I have plenty of money. And I get all that advertising money from my show. It’s crazy!”
“You’re always talking about how Elliot is getting angry at you over your spending,” she reminds me. “How you want to buy this or that for your show, but you can’t afford it. Maybe you decided to skim a little off the top. I don’t know. All I know is that money is missing, and you’re the only one who had access to do it.”
“But—” Something suddenly occurs to me. “Maria! She and I were working on the silent auction together! She also had access to the account.”
Julie lets out a loud huff. “It wasn’t Maria.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it wasn’t.”
I nearly asked her how she could be so sure, but then it hits me. Everything suddenly makes sense. “Maria is the one who told you to look at the account, didn’t she?”
She’s silent for a moment. “I received an anonymous text message telling me to look into it.”
My whole body goes cold. My anonymous tormentor has struck again. But now it seems like they have upped the ante once again. My head is spinning.
All I know is my gut is telling me Maria Cooper has something to do with this.
“Look,” I say, “Maria set me up. She created this false account, then she ‘discovered’ it. And now it looks like I’ve been stealing money! But you have to know, I would never do something like that.”
“April…”
“Maria is evil!” I spit out. “She… she’s been tormenting me for months by sending me threatening text messages.”
For the first time since I sat down with her, Julie seems slightly rattled. She’s finally taking me seriously. “She has? How do you know?”
“I just do.”
She frowns. “What sort of text messages? Can I see?”
I hesitate. “I… I deleted them.”
“You deleted them? Why would you do that?”
I open my mouth, but I realize I don’t have a great answer to that question. I can’t tell her that I deleted them because whoever is texting me is reminding me about things that I would rather they not know. Things that could destroy my career and my marriage if it got out there.
“Look,” I say, “you saw that Facebook post saying I had a stomach bug. I didn’t make that post! Maria made it to torture me!”
“Hmm,” Julie says. But I can tell I’ve lost her. I wish I hadn’t deleted all those text messages. But at the same time, I could never show them to Julie.
There’s a lump in my throat. “You’ve known me for years! You really believe her over me?”
Just like the other night when I came by with the pie, I’m holding my breath. Hoping our friendship holds more weight than Maria’s claims.
“Listen, April.” A deep groove forms between her eyebrows. “I’m not going to turn this matter over to the police, but I expect you to return the money. If you don’t, well, then it will be a police matter.”
“Return the money! But I don’t have any money to return!”
“That’s not my problem.” She holds up her hands. “I’ll give you five business days to give me a check. Then I’m going to the principal, and we’ll be contacting the police. And obviously, you are no longer a part of the PTA. I’ll be disabling all your access.”
I don’t want to cry in front of Julie, but if I don’t get out of here quickly, it’s going to happen. It’s an unstoppable force.
“Julie,” I gulp. “This is a huge mistake. Believe me…”
“I’m sorry.” She gets to her feet. “The only reason I haven’t gone straight to the police is that we’re neighbors and I don’t want a scandal. But I expect to get that money back.”
Then she leaves the room without looking at me again. I’m surprised she left me alone in here. After all, I might steal everything that isn’t nailed down.
I thought I would start crying as soon as she left, but now that she’s gone, the tears aren’t coming. The truth is, I’m not sad. I’m pissed off. Even though Julie denied it, I know Maria is behind this.
And I am going to confront her.
Chapter 27
Helena’s looks busy, and I almost lose my nerve.
It’s the middle of the morning, but apparently, it’s peak shopping hours. At least half a dozen women are inside the small store, browsing the overpriced clothing and handbags. I remember how excited I was when Maria mentioned getting a discount to shop here. Back then, that was the most important thing to me.
I’ve got to get to the bottom of this. Maria has it out for me, and I don’t understand why. Does it have something to do with Sean? Obviously, she doesn’t like me being around her husband. But this seems rather extreme. And I was getting those text messages before I even met Sean Cooper. Did she just see me on my front lawn when she moved in and think to herself, “Hey, I’d like to ruin this woman’s life!”