Hiding in Plain Sight by Valerie Sherrard Page A

said, waving her hand dramatically, “how one person can be so creative. I believe I might be a genius of some sort.”
    â€œAll that and beauty too,” Stuart said dryly. This earned him an elbow in the side from his wife, but then she laughed and patted the seat beside her for Angi to join them.
    â€œI suppose,” Angi slid into the seat, “you’re all dying to know what brilliant design I’ve come up with this time.”
    â€œNot really.” This came from Joey, who was opening a container of yoghurt. “But you’re going to force it on us, so we might as well get it over with.”
    â€œThose two will kill each other one of these days,” Janine hissed into my ear.
    â€œHa! You’d just love that, wouldn’t you?” Angi said with a toss of her head. “Like I’m going to talk about it in front of a thieving scoundrel such as yourself.”
    I could hardly believe my ears! She’d just out-and-out called Joey a thief, right in front of everybody. I snuck a furtive peek at him to see how he was reacting, but he seemed remarkably undisturbed.
    â€œYou, Angi dear, wouldn’t know what to do with a unique idea if it smacked you in the forehead,” he tossed back, plunging his spoon into the yoghurt. “We couldn’t possibly expect you to recognize originality in others.”
    This remark earned him a grape, which Angi hurled at him from her seat. He caught it easily and popped it into his mouth with a smile.
    â€œSurely we haven’t sunk to the puerile level of having food fights.” Darla stood in the doorway, arms folded and one eyebrow raised. In spite of her serious tone and stance, there was a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth, and I could tell she was just barely keeping her-self from laughing.
    â€œFood fights?” Angi echoed innocently, getting ready to lob another grape even as she spoke. “Of course not.”
    Another grape flew through the air, but too high, and Joey had to half-stand to catch it. He popped it into his yoghurt dish and stirred.
    While Angi and Joey continued the playful combat throughout lunch, I heard Janine let out a barely audible but obviously longing sigh.

CHAPTER TEN
    I spent the rest of the day working on the bills while Janine managed to look busy without actually (as far as I could see) accomplishing anything. She kept up a steady stream of chatter between talking on the phone and telling me bits of gossip about the various staff members. Unfortunately, none of it was likely to be helpful in my investigation, unless the fact that Carol wore dreadful colour combinations or that James smoked cigarillos on the sly somehow figured into the solution.
    James hadn’t joined us in the lunchroom, and I wondered if he’d kept working and eaten at his desk, or maybe gone out somewhere to eat, or what the story was, but I didn’t want to ask any more questions than I already had. It was true that Janine seemed only too happy to have something to talk about, but too much curiosity was bound to strike her as odd at some point.
    By quitting time I’d learned nothing that seemed the least bit helpful. If anything, the bits of information I’d gathered throughout the day were likely to confuse me. It was pretty discouraging.
    It’s only the first day, I reminded myself, but that did little to cheer me. Mrs. Thompson was supposed to go back to work in two weeks, and it was vital that her name be cleared before then.
    I’d promised Betts and her mom that I’d stop by on my way home each day, but somehow I wasn’t all that eager to admit that I hadn’t made the slightest progress. It was probably for that reason I popped into the hospital to see Mr. Stanley first.
    He was propped up, with the top of his bed raised, and his dinner was there on a tray but it was almost untouched.
    â€œAren’t you hungry?” I asked as I plunked down in the visitor’s