The Mandie Collection by Lois Gladys Leppard Page A

school,” Mrs. Taft began with a loud sigh. She paused.
    Sheriff Jones silently waited for her to continue.
    “This is so distressing,” she said, waving her lace handkerchief before her face. “First of all, Miss Hope has completely disappeared from the school. Miss Prudence has forbidden me to enlist the aid of law enforcement in an effort to find her. However, I made the decision to come anyhow.”
    “That was the right thing to do, Mrs. Taft,” Sheriff Jones replied. “And please rest assured no one here will let Miss Prudence know you have consulted us. Now, what would you like us to do?”
    Mandie noticed that he didn’t seem surprised to hear about the disappearance of Miss Hope. So he must have known already.
    “Why, I would like you to find Miss Hope, of course,” Mrs. Taft replied. “You have better ways of doing things like that than I do. And I am just overwhelmed with it all. No one seems to have seen her.”
    “Yes, yes, of course, ma’am. However, there is one problem,” he said.
    Mrs. Taft quickly looked at him and asked, “And what is that?”
    The sheriff shifted in his chair, crossed his legs, and looked directly at Mrs. Taft as he asked, “Just what do we do if we find her?”
    “Why, bring her back to the school and to her sister,” Mrs. Taft replied.
    “Now, Mrs. Taft, Miss Hope is not an underage juvenile who can be ordered around. Suppose Miss Hope does not want to come back to the school?” he replied.
    Mandie and her friends looked at each other and smiled as they listened.
    “In that case you need to tell Miss Prudence you have found her,” Mrs. Taft said. “They are sisters, you know. And then maybe Miss Prudence can settle whatever the problem is without taking up other people’s time.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Sheriff Jones said, taking a pad of paper and a pencil out of the desk drawer. “Now, would you please tell me any details that you may know about this.”
    “I don’t know much except that Miss Prudence told me Miss Hope did not go to bed that night, which, I believe, was Saturday night of last week, and that her bed had not been slept in the next morning and she was nowhere to be found. She didn’t even take her clothes with her,” Mrs. Taft told him.
    “Did Miss Prudence know what kind of clothes she was wearing that night?” the sheriff asked, scribbling on the pad before him.
    “If she did, she didn’t tell me,” Mrs. Taft said. “That’s all I know about this.”
    Mandie coughed to get her grandmother’s attention, and when Mrs. Taft looked at her, she began making signals with her hands and mouthing words.
    “What is it, Amanda?” Mrs. Taft finally asked.
    “Grandmother, remember your maid Annie thought she saw Miss Hope that night she disappeared.”
    Mrs. Taft turned back to the sheriff and explained, “Yes, my maid Annie was out strolling with her man friend, and they were walking past the church that night. It was dark, but she believes she saw Miss Hope hurrying around the corner of the church. No one else seems to have seen Miss Hope.”
    Sheriff Jones was quickly making notes on the pad. Then he looked up and asked, “Would it be permissible with you if we talk to Annie? There is a chance she might have noticed something that would give us a clue.”
    “I suppose so, but please don’t go to my house to talk to her until we have returned home,” Mrs. Taft said. “We will be back home sometime before six o’clock, because that is when our supper will be waiting.” She stood up.
    The senator and the sheriff quickly stood up. Mandie and her friends followed them out into the hall.
    “I will be back in touch with you, Mrs. Taft, as soon as my men can come up with some information,” Sheriff Jones told her. “Thank you for stopping by. Rest assured we will not let Miss Prudence know you have been here.”
    “I thank you, Sheriff Jones,” Mrs. Taft answered as she and Senator Morton started toward the main door.
    Mandie and her