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The only place large enough to hold an e on less than twenty-four hours’ notice was the high school gy with people Mimi smoothed down the fabric of her dark skirt She had on the sa Maybe it would bring her luck Or one stellar But it was her ave her a boost of confidence Although, despite the fact she’d unintentionally lost a few pounds in the last month, the waistband bit into her flesh

She sat in a fold-out chair, facing the packed bleachers and tried not to squirm as Bruce and Larry and the rest of the city council took their places alongside her At Bruce’s insistence, she’d called the ns had been placed all over town, but once the Bunco Babes and the Gray Fla on, they’d activated their respective phone chains and everyone as anyone in town had shown up They’d even had to place speakers outside the gyet inside could hear as going on

Gus Pappas made some adjustaze for a few seconds longer than she expected in a look that could only be described as sy she didn’t?

She yrabbed a piece of paper fros, deterht, he’d basically accused her of inco, as amatters into her own hands would nip whatever nastiness Bruce had planned in the bud

“GoodIn case you don’t know me by now, I’ out here today I know some of you have already been to church and soet to, so I’ll make this brief”

She read fro Bay had one of theInto Summer festivals in the history of this town Most of the local businesses saw a huge profit, especially the food trucks and the booths sponsored by local restaurants The concert last night was attended by more people than we could count, but we do know that we sold over a thousand tickets, twice the number we expected Unfortunately, eren’t prepared for such a large crowd and, sometime shortly before ten pm in a rare moment when the ticket booth was not properly supervised, someone snuck into the booth and stole twenty-thousand dollars”

The crowd gasped Everyone began to talk at once

Miain She tapped on thethe crowd’s attention “The one into a special bank account to help fund the following year’s festival In the past, when there’s been a surplus, the ood of the coround equipment at Seashell Park Recently, however, the festival has actually lost money Despite the theft of this twenty-thousand dollars, I’one into the black We don’t have exact nuhborhood of alenerous support of the citizens of this wonderful city I’m so proud to represent”

There was a light scattering of polite applause

“I pro I can to help in the apprehension of the person or persons responsible for this theft But I ask for your patience in this matter, as well We must allow the police to do their job, which means we all need to cooperate and be patient as ait the outcoation As always, I’ll be available to answer any of your questions, about this or any other concerns you ht have Thank you”

Mie breath There That wasn’t so bad She watched as Bruce scampered his way up to the podium

“Good , everyone,” Bruce said with a smarmy smile on his face “First, let’s take a moment to all bow our heads in prayer” The crowd looked confused, but they went along with him Oh, brother Mimi had seen Bruce do this a couple of tiainst one another He probably felt like it gave hie over her

“Heavenly Father!” Bruce bellowed into the ence to ht choices here today…” He droned on and on, notmuch of any sense really

Mi Bay police force had stayed up all night, co what had happened to the ht doze off, she heard Bruce say her naht up in her chair

“I hate to be the first one to throw stones”—did everything have a Biblical connotation in Bruce’s h police security last night! And whose fault was that? Well, there’s only one person in charge of the festival The town h to have served as yourlike this ever happened duringhim a sheet of paper