The bookstore had a Closed sign in the window, despite the time being only four o'clock. Mandie peered inside the door's window, whose blind was the only one not drawn. "Joe! There's someone sneaking around in the office again! The light's on."
"Are you sure?" Joe squeezed his face next to Mandie's to see.
The light cut off, and a man's figure, holding a briefcase, glided out of the office and headed toward the back of the store.
Joe nudged Mandie away from the door. "Go get help. I'll stay."
Mandie took a few steps backward, torn between going and leaving Joe behind.
Without looking to see if Mandie had left, Joe suddenly took off around the side of the bookstore. Mandie ran after him, turning the corner in time to see the man with the briefcase exiting the back door.
"Hold it!" Joe shouted.
The man broke into a run. Joe took a flying leap and tackled him by the legs. The briefcase flew out of the man's hand. He kicked at Joe and rolled to break free.
Mandie ran up and snatched the briefcase right when the man staggered back to his feet. He snatched at the briefcase, but Mandie darted beyond his reach.
After bounding back to his feet, Joe grasped the man's outstretched arm and twisted it behind the man's back.
The man's hat slipped off and Mandie gasped. "Mr. Barnes?"
"Yes, you menace. What's the meaning of this?" Mr. Barnes's chest heaved as he glared at Mandie but his eyes were wide with fear, or pain as Joe still had his arm twisted behind him.
"We thought you were the intruder." Joe released him and stepped around to stand beside Mandie. "Are you going somewhere?"
Mr. Barnes flushed. "That's none of your business." He plucked up his hat and slapped it against his thigh. "My briefcase, please."
Mandie handed it back to him. "We're sorry, Mr. Barnes for the mistake, but it's important we talk to you."
"Some other time." Mr. Barnes half turned to go, but Joe stepped forward, and he froze as if he expected to be tackled again.
"Please, Mr. Barnes, give us a few minutes."
"Not now, here." There was a tremor to his voice, and his face had a pale pallor.
Mandie almost felt sorry for him. "You're afraid, aren't you?"
He darted a look around. "No, leave me alone."
"Maybe we could help." Mandie inched forward. "Is it something connected with Robin and Anna?"
Mr. Barnes made eye contact with Mandie, and something in her eyes seemed to disarm him. His shoulders slumped. "Come inside, if you must. I don't want anyone to see us."
He led them into a reading corner of the store and flicked on the overhead electric lights.
Mr. Barnes sank into the armchair across from Mandie's and Joe's. He bowed his head and stared at his interlocking fingers on the book table between them. "I received a threatening note yesterday in the mail. It told me to stay away from my store a few days and keep quiet or else there would be consequences."
"That's what made you run out of here yesterday," Mandie said.
"Yes, I was going to bring it to the authorities, but then I second-guessed myself and hurried back to the store. After what happened here, I decided to do as the note said. I can't afford consequences."
"Do you have the note with you?" Joe asked.
"No, it instructed me to destroy it, so I did." Mr. Barnes chuckled. "Believe it or don't."
As much as Mandie hadn't liked Mr. Barnes, she couldn't see what he had to gain by making up this story. "I believe you."
Mr. Barnes frowned as if he wished she didn't. "I withheld that letter you saw to protect Anna and Robin. Mr. Stevens had put it in my trust in case anything ever happened to him. What could it be but to explain what he'd done with that money he'd stolen from his parents? Their grief was bad enough without learning their father had been a thief."
"He didn't steal that money," Mandie said. "We're trying to prove that."
"He never denied it, although his parents wrote him repeatedly." Mr. Barnes shrugged. "Who else could have taken it? Some days I thought I would open the letter and find out where the money was, so I could return it to the grandparents. If I convinced them Anna had nothing to do with their son's choice, they would realize what a splendid granddaughter they had and want to build a relationship with her as well as Robin. But it wasn't my place to read it. After I heard they were in town, I wrote them at the hotel. I figured if I told them of the letter and gave them the option to see it first, they would believe Anna's ignorance of the missing moneys' whereabouts. I never heard from them. And that intruder yesterday must've taken the letter because I can't find it anywhere."
"If you told only the Stevenses about the letter…might they have hired that man to take it?" Mandie asked.
"Why go to all that trouble?" Mr. Barnes shook his head. "I would have given it to them if they'd asked. At any rate, I plan to wash my hands of this whole affair. A few days away will do me good."
Mandie's eyes widened. "You're just leaving?"
Mr. Barnes nodded. "No law against a vacation. You can tell Anna what I've told you or not, as you will. Everything I've done on her and Robin's behalf seems to go wrong anyhow."
He stood. "Now, if we're done here, goodbye. I have more packing to do."