Christmas at Timberwoods - Fern Michaels [42]
Eric beat the angry shop owners to Dolph Richards’s office by mere moments.
“Here it comes!” He breathed raggedly as he regained his stance. “They’re stampeding. Word must have leaked out somehow. Mike says the customers are leaving as fast as they arrive. Get ready!” he gasped as the door was thrust open.
Heather followed Harold into Richards’s office. Lex also inched his way past the angry shop owners. Richards remained seated, his movie-star smile fixed on his face. “For heaven’s sake, what is this?”
“You aren’t sugarcoating this one, Richards. We heard,” shouted an angry shop owner. “What’s going on?”
“That is what I’m asking you. Why the commotion? Why are you all so angry?”
“Angry?” shouted the owner of the crystal shop. “The mall is almost empty. As fast as they come in, they leave. Word is out there’s a bomb somewhere!”
“Use your head.” Harold smiled. “If there was a credible threat, don’t you think you would have been told? Don’t you think we would have evacuated the mall?”
“Enough with the rhetorical questions. If there’s no bomb, get on the PA system and say so. Now!” bellowed the owner of the leather goods shop.
“Detective Summers, why don’t you explain the circumstances?” Harold said jovially, oblivious to Richards’s scowl.
Eric cleared his throat and spoke quietly. “We did receive a bomb threat yesterday. We get them regularly, as you know. This particular threat said the bomb would go off in seventy-two hours. The seventy-two hours will be up Friday morning. We doubled the security as soon as we received the threat. We haven’t found anything so far, but I can’t speak for tomorrow or Friday. When the mall closes tonight, the dogs and the bomb squad will arrive. By Friday morning everything should be A-okay. There isn’t anything else I can tell you. You say the customers are leaving the mall. Did you stop to think that your own actions could have something to do with it? My officers told me you were clustered in the mall discussing this among yourselves. What do you expect?”
“You only have yourselves to blame,” Richards said loftily, ending Summers’s speech. “Go back to your stores and show a little confidence in our security. An announcement will be made in a few moments. And for God’s sake, smile when you leave here.”
The group of owners dispersed, muttering among themselves. Several mouthed sincere apologies while others looked doubtful. Richards followed them out, reassuring some and dismissing the concerns of others with soothing phrases.
“You think that went well, Harold?” Eric sounded exhausted. “I didn’t.”
The other man’s answer was sidetracked by an incoming call. He looked at the blinking buttons. “Line Four. That’s mine. What, you didn’t know our CEO listens in?” He kept his voice low as he spoke to the caller, saying “no comment” more than once, until he replaced the receiver and turned back to Summers.
“Who was that?”
“Someone from the media. And no, it didn’t go too well, to answer your other question,” Harold said nervously. “That was only a few of the owners from the smaller shops. What happens later when they all get together? How did this leak out in the first place?”
“Don’t ask me. You know this sort of thing always gets out no matter how you try to hide it. A cop is a cop, and looks and acts like one in or out of uniform. It only takes one mom or dad or grandparent to tell the family to stay out of Timberwoods Mall and why. Harold, I still say we should close and explain it from the beginning, lay the whole thing before the merchants. I’m talking about Angela’s vision.”
Dolph Richards burst back into his office, his face mottled with self-righteous anger. “You dumb, stupid bastard! You almost blew the whistle!”
Eric swung around and shot Richards a piercing look. “I’m sick and tired of you, Richards. I’m doing what I have to do the best way I know how, and so is Baumgarten. If you cross my path once