Mandie froze. Had Mr. Barnes forgotten something and come back? Mandie dropped to a crouch, dragging Robin down with her. Snowball, tail high, sauntered out of the aisle and turned the corner. At least he headed away from the front door, which opened with a light jingle of the bell over it.
Footsteps clapped against the wooden floors, then zip; someone rolled a window's shade down. Again and again, the footsteps moved. Zip, more and more shades were drawn, snuffing the sunlight into a duskiness.
Mandie's heart beat fast. Why had Mr. Barnes come back for? Did he plan to do something he wanted no one to see? Mandie had a mental image of him taking that letter addressed to Anna from his desk and burning it, but surely he would have had time to do so without all this sneaking around in his own store. The footsteps approached closer. Wordlessly, Robin and Mandie hurried to the other side of the aisle and around the corner to avoid being detected.
"Funny." A man's voice muttered. Then the window Robin and Mandie had entered slid shut, and the shade zipped down. Robin peeked around the bookcase then ducked away. His eyes were wide as he shook his head. He mouthed what looked like not him.
Mandie felt a shiver run down her spine. Not Mr. Barnes…then who? And whatever was he doing in here? Mandie gripped Robin's hand tighter so he wouldn't have any idea of darting out and confronting the person. They needed to sneak out and find a way to alert the law.
The footsteps faded to the back of the store, where Mr. Barnes's office was. Robin tugged at Mandie to follow, and she did for a few paces. The office light was on, the door slightly ajar enough for them to see a shadow pass. A chair being scraped back and the sound of drawers sliding open attested that whoever was in there was on a search. Robin tried to inch closer, but Mandie wouldn't let him, she gestured with her head to the front door. Robin kept his gaze trained on the office door as Mandie dragged him away. In the duskiness, she had to lean close to the knob to see the bolt. If they could slip out without being heard, perhaps the authorities could nab the intruder in time, but to muffle the sound of the door being unlocked, she'd have to let go of Robin.
One glance at him with his focus at the office told her not to risk it. Better to have Robin safe than to catch a crook.
Robin tugged on her and pointed at Snowball who stood five feet away, staring at them with tail high in greeting.
Neither one of them could pick him up easily with one hand. Robin pointed at his chest and nodded toward the door as if to say, he'd grab him and come right back. With an uneasy look toward the office, where the sounds of a search still ensued, Mandie let Robin go. He darted forward and scooped up the cat, while Mandie turned back to the door to ease the lock back.
That's when the office door flew open, and light spilled into the sales floor.
"Not so fast." A man, wearing a hat low on his forehead, snatched Robin by the arm. "Missy, stay put, and no one gets hurt."
Mandie froze as Robin tried to squirm free of the man's grip to no avail. "Ease away from that door and get over here." The man dragged Robin into the office, not even sparing Mandie a look to see if she obeyed him.
She stopped at the office doorway as the man reached with his free hand to drag the chair away from the desk. He stood sideways to Mandie so that she was tempted to try hitting him over the head with something. She cast a glance about the room, which was in disarray. Papers were strewn on the floor and desk, a cash box and a few book volumes perched precariously on paper folders. Besides the books, which were closer to Robin and the man than her, she saw nothing she could use as a weapon. Dear God, help us!
The man jerked his head toward Robin. "Get over here, missy, real slow."
Mandie did as she was told. Maybe if she could get her hands on one of those books, she could strike the man enough to make him let go of Robin. Once she slid next to the safe, the man shoved Robin into her. "Someone will find you by tomorrow." He backed out of the room, taking the chair with him, then shut the door.
Mandie let out a breath. "Are you all right, Robin?"
"Sure." He was kneeling down, gathering up papers. "At least we have a good excuse for looking all this over."
Mandie tried the office door, but as she expected, the knob turned but the door didn't budge. The man must have propped the chair against it so they would be locked in. "Have you ever seen that man before?"
"No," Robin seemed unruffled. "Come help me. I can't make heads or tails out of some of this."
It couldn't be too nosy to at least organize the papers, now that they'd been flung about with such disarray. Mandie knelt and started to stack the paperwork together. What could that man have been after and had he found it, or had they interrupted him so that he got scared and left? She was glad that locking them in was all he had done to them. Thank you, God.
It took at least an hour to set the room in some kind of order. Mandie had tried not to be overly curious but from her cursory glances, everything she saw was paperwork for the business. The letter addressed to Anna was gone. Had Mr. Barnes gotten rid of it, or had the man stolen it for some reason? The cash box on the desk was untouched. The man could have taken it with him if a mere burglary was his intention.
"I wonder if Mr. Barnes rushing off ties into this break in," Mandie mused aloud.
"How so?"
Mandie shrugged. "I don't know; it seems too coincidental to be unrelated somehow." Whether the man had contrived some message to Mr. Barnes to send him away for his own purposes, or perhaps Mr. Barnes had staged the whole thing—but for what purpose?
"I'm hungry." Robin sat with his back to the wall. "Maybe we should try to bust the door open again."
"It's no use. It's not budged once. If only there was a window or something, we could have broken out. It's possible Mr. Barnes will come back today. I certainly hope so." Mandie had had her fair share of being cooped up places for hours.
"Anna's going to be real mad at me."
Mandie figured her parents might be disappointed too, but they'd probably be more relieved she was all right. That didn't stop Mandie from being upset at herself. She should have never entertained Robin's antics. She knew better. Joe had been right—sometimes she did need a rein on her impetuosity. If only Joe was here now.