"Bernie!" Sheriff Cooper exclaimed. Bernie's short stocky frame was trembling as he walked to the table where the sheriff, Annie, Beth, Katie and Trisha were seated. His nearly black eyes were bloodshot and tears stained his tanned face. almost all the students in the cafeteria were gaping at him. Sheriff Cooper immediately got up when Bernie reached the table and threw an arm around him and said, "Let's go to Miss Leighton's office, shall we?" Bernie nodded, wiping a tear from his eye.
After Sheriff Cooper and Bernie left, Annie and her friends glanced warily at each other. "Poor man." Trisha said sadly. "What if he did take the money though?" Katie asked in a quiet voice. "That would be horrible." Beth said with wide eyes. "I think we should wait until we hear from Sheriff Cooper before we speculate anymore." Annie said wisely.
Annie and her friends were distracted the rest of the day worrying bout Bernie. They didn't want to believe he had stolen the school's money.
The girls' English teacher Anna Blum was a tall, thin, severe looking woman with short cropped black hair, that she wore in a neat bun at the back of her neck. She was unhappy with Annie for daydreaming instead of reading her chapter on diagramming sentences, that the class had been assigned to do. Annie turned a brilliant red and apologized profusely. She didn't know at what point she had been distracted from her book and took to staring out the window, sucking on the end of her pencil.
Annie, Beth, Katie and Trisha had history 4th hour. Class had barely begun, and nearly everyone was whispering, but their teacher T.F. Dutton, a heavy set man in a three piece suit, pursed his lips, raised his gray bushy eyebrows and pointed a ruler in Katie and Trisha's direction. The rest of the class fell silent at his gesture, but Trisha and Katie, so entangled in their conversation over "poor Bernie" didn't notice.
Luckily, Mr. Dutton just told them sternly to be quiet, instead of giving them detention. Both girls were still embarrassed and said a sincere, "I'm sorry."
As soon as the dismissal bell rang the girls hurried to their common room where they had an hour of study hall. No teacher oversaw the hour of study. But Ruthie poked her head in at fifteen minute intervals. She carried with her a list of everyone who was supposed to be there. She knew all the students on her list by sight.
Annie, Beth, Trisha and Katie took seats on large pillows in front of the fireplace because all the sofas and chairs were occupied. "I hope we hear from Sheriff Cooper about Bernie today sometime." Katie almost groaned in her soft southern drawl. "Me too." Beth said, "I just can't get him out of my mind." "Me either." Katie agreed. "I just can't believe he did it" Trisha said, opening her history book.
In a few minutes, the girls settled down to their studying. Ruthie poked her head in fifteen minutes later, checked her list against who was there, nodded to herself satisfied, spied Annie and her friends and waved at them and then was gone. Annie thought the hour had gone very quickly, she hadn't been able to finish her book report for English.
But when the bell rang she gave a shrug and a frown in her lit book's direction and picked up her pillow, Beth, Katie and Trisha did likewise, and then they put them back into the cubicle where they belonged. Suddenly, Annie gave a huge sigh and hurried to the exit, her friends following.
"Sheriff Cooper! We're really glad to see you!" Annie squealed. "What about Bernie?" She asked in an anxious voice. The room had been emptied quickly when the bell rang, so the sheriff, Annie, Beth, Trisha and Katie could talk freely. Annie thought the sheriff had planned his timely entrance.
YOU ARE READING
Book 1-Annie Adams and the Mystery Club Detectives
Mystery / ThrillerAnnie Adams was orphaned at two years old. Her mother's last wish was that Annie be placed in the care of her mother's sister and her husband. Annie was very happy with them on their farm in Hopskinville Tennessee. But at age thirteen Annie learn...
