Taken by Virginia Rose Richter Page A

on the floor next to Phillip. “These are really nice,” she said. “Did you pick them out by yourself?”
    “Yes,” he said.
    “May I pick them up?” she asked.
    “Yes.”
    Jessie examined each toy while Phillip glowed with pride. “You have a farm started here,” she said. “Do you have any money left?”
    “Yes.”
    The doorbell rang. “Wait a minute, Phillip. I’ll be back.” She ran to the door.
    A woman stood there. She was tall with brown hair and wore dark glasses. “Hi. I’ve come to look at your sale. I called last night.”
    “Right,” said Jessie. “Meet me at the garage door. I’ll go through the house and open it.” She ran through the kitchen and pressed the door opener.
    Inside the garage, the woman first went to the larger sizes of clothes. After a few minutes she began to sort through the newborn stuff.
    Well, thought Jessie, maybe she has several kids. She studied the woman so she could write up her notes. She wore a heavy brown winter coat. And a matching scarf and gloves. When she took off her gloves, Jessie could see her hands. There were no marks or scars.
    “How old is your baby?” Jessie asked.
    The shopper ignored her, picked up the stack of newborn clothes she had chosen and carried them to the little table where the change box sat. “I’ll take these. How much do I owe you?”
    Jessie added up the price stickers. “That will be $22.30,” said Jessie.
    The woman removed her dark glasses and slipped them onto the top of her head. She pulled her billfold from her handbag and looked up.
    Jessie froze. I’ve seen those sleepy gray eyes before. Why doesn’t she recognize me? Oh, because my braid is tucked in my hat? Jessie picked up the clothes and turned her back to the woman while she put the little garments into a bag. Her hands shook. I need to follow her.
    A loud scream came from the house. Phillip! thought Jessie. She ran through the kitchen door and into the living room. Her mother was already there.
    “I thought you were with him,” said her mom.”
    “What happened?” asked Jessie.
    “He cut his hand on one of his new toys. Can you believe it?” She held a tissue over the palm of his hand. “Come on, Phillip. Let’s go put something on this.” He was still crying as his mother carried him upstairs.
    Jessie ran out the front door to the garage. No one was there. Next to the cash box lay a twenty-dollar bill and a five. Great! I didn’t even see what she was driving.
    She took a tissue from her pocket and carefully placed the twenty-five dollars in a bag. Just in case there are fingerprints.

Chapter Fifteen
    “Okay, Jessie,” said her father. “Let’s go over this again.” They were in the living room on the sofa. “One of your suspects has a mark on her hand. Think back. Can you remember which hand showed the mark in the hospital?”
    Jessie tried to visualize the nurse reaching for the baby. “It was her left hand. The mark was also on the left hand at the grocery store.”
    “This is important. Are you sure?” asked her dad.
    “Yes,” said Jessie.
    “Did you see the grocery store person’s eyes?”
    “No. She had on dark glasses and never took them off.”
    “So the first time you saw the sleepy gray eyes was in the garage today with the woman who bought infant clothes.”
    “Yes. She took off her glasses and looked right at me,” Jessie said.
    “Did she seem to recognize you? You know—from the hospital.”
    “No. Not at all,” said Jessie. “But I still had my coat and hat on and my braid was tucked into my hat.”
    “Why was that?” asked her dad.
    “Because when I got home from school, Phillip wanted to show me his new toys right away. So I didn’t take them off and then the doorbell rang,” said Jessie. “It was the shopper so I ran to the garage and opened the door.”
    “This is pretty odd,” said her father. “But I think it’s more likely to have two sleepy-eyed women around town than two women with scars on their