“Yeah,” Barney said reluctantly.
“So just tell me how this could have been set up without anybody noticing.”
“You seen this exhibit thing?”
“I have. A bunch of different animals with interactive features, scattered around so the little kids can walk through them. The kids poke or pull something on one of the animals, and something else moves or flashes or makes noise. The outer shells are some kind of plastic, I think-and there aren’t a lot of places where kids could stick a finger. So whoever tampered with one of them would have to have deliberately gotten inside one of them to get at the wiring. Or maybe the problem was somewhere else?”
Barney sat back when the waitress put his new drink in front of him. “Okay, sounds like typical residential-type voltage. You push the doohickey and it completes the circuit and the whatsis lights up or tweets or whatever. That too technical for you?”
“I’m with you so far. Simple circuit, with a switch of some sort.”
“And I’d put money on it that there’s a subpanel for the exhibit, running off the main feed. It wouldn’t have been worth the effort to run new lines. You see anything like that?”
“Yes, there was something in the same room as the exhibit, I think, and Arabella said the exhibit had its own circuit. But shouldn’t the breaker have tripped when Joe got shocked? It did the first time, with Jason.”
“Should have, if there was an overload, but obviously, it didn’t.”
I nodded again. I appreciated his information, but I wasn’t getting the answers I needed. What had gone wrong?
“There any water around the exhibit? A fountain? Or somebody spilled something?” Barney asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“Speaking of water, I’ve got to visit the head.” He stood up and made his way through the sparse crowd toward the restrooms.
Shelby looked at me. “Lady, what are you doing?”
“Trying to understand what happened. Trying to help Arabella. Heck, I don’t know. You know, if I hadn’t been there when Jason got zapped, I would have seen the article in the paper and thought, oh dear, how sad, and then forgotten about it. But I was there, so I know there were two separate events, and if somebody has a grudge against the museum or Arabella, it bothers me.”
“And so it should. But what are you going to do, even if you figure out how this could have happened? Don’t you think the police are doing the same thing?”
“I certainly hope so! This is just for my own peace of mind. Plus I’ll rest easier if I know that the Society is safe.”
“You think Barney thinks you’re crazy?”
I had to smile at that. “Maybe.”
Barney returned and sat down again. “Okay. So, no standing water. The critter wasn’t made of metal, so it’s not a conductor. That leaves the switch. If the switch wasn’t grounded right, and if there was some other metal conductor that the guy was in contact with… Was there?”
I tried to reconstruct what I’d seen. “I think-and this is only a guess-that Willy-” When Barney looked blank, I added, “That’s a weasel who’s sort of a friend of the hedgehog who’s the star of the show. The weasel is the one who zapped Jason. As I recall, Willy is standing behind a gate to greet visitors, and I’d guess the gate is metal, and is probably bolted to something below the floor. I remember wondering if it was meant to keep the smaller children from climbing on the animals, and this was their solution. They can reach Willy’s hand and his nose, I gather, but that’s about it.”
“Huh. I don’t suppose you know much about the building’s construction?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Old factory, brick exterior. But it’s easy enough to see-when they refitted it for a museum, they left a lot of the structure exposed, and you can see the old ductwork and girders from the first floor.”
“Ah,” Barney responded. “So let’s say the switch was the problem, and our guy was leaning over the railing to do whatever he was doing, and the railing was bolted to a metal girder for stability… that might just do it.”
“So if someone knew that the gate was metal and it was secured to a metal girder, then all they would have to do is mess around with the switch on Willy?”
“That’s about it.”
It sounded far too easy.
“What’s he do, this Willy guy? I mean, what’s the interactive part?” Barney asked.
“I think he shakes hands, or maybe hands out something. When I was there, Arabella wanted to show me Harriet first, and after that we were kind of distracted, so I never actually saw it working.”
Shelby spoke up. “I could make a good guess-I’ve given the books to plenty of my friends’ kids. Willy’s kind of a jerk, right?”
“So I gather, although apparently he has some redeeming qualities. He’s just misunderstood.”
Barney looked confused, but Shelby nodded. “Exactly,” she said. “So he’s going to be kind of smarmy, right? He wants people to like him, but he goes about it all wrong. Does he talk?”
“I don’t know-not that I heard.”
“Ladies, that stuff doesn’t matter,” Barney said. “As long as there’s a button to push, to make the model do whatever the heck it does, it completes the circuit.”
Obviously he was right. “So what does it take to change the switch and make it dangerous?”
“A screwdriver and a basic understanding of wiring. You could do it in a coupla minutes.”
That didn’t help at all. I checked my watch-it was getting late. “Thanks, Barney. I guess that answers my question. Given the way things were set up, sounds like almost anyone with some basic knowledge plus access to the exhibit could have rigged Willy to shock someone.”
Barney shrugged. “Like I said, it’s a simple switch, so any electrician would know how to do it quick.”
I wasn’t sure if I’d made any progress, but I had all the information I could handle at the moment. “I appreciate your help, Barney. Let me know when you want to stop by and do some research into our baseball records and I’ll set it up for you. And if I have any more questions about the Society’s wiring, may I contact you?”
“Yeah, sure-as long as you keep me in mind when you get the money together to do something about it.”
“I’ll do that, I promise.” I doubted we’d find funding before Barney retired, but I owed him that much. I stood up. “I’ve got to catch my train. Shelby, are you leaving, too?”
“I am. Barney, good to see you again.”
Barney stood out of courtesy but said, “I think I’ll hang around for a while. Nice to meet you, Nell-and I’ll be coming around soon to check out your records!”
CHAPTER 16
The next morning I was editing the agenda for the Executive Committee meeting when I looked up to see Marty Terwilliger slouched against the door frame.
“You busy?” she asked.
“I’m always busy these days, but I can make time for you. Do you need something?”
Marty came in and sat down with a thunk that had me worrying about the chair. “We need to talk about the Executive Committee meeting.”
That was something I’d been putting off. Since I’d only held this job for a couple of months, I wasn’t exactly settled into a routine yet. The Society’s full board met quarterly, and the last one had been a doozy; most board members had gone away stunned and baffled. The Executive Committee was a subset of the board, made up of the core members who actually got things done, including Marty, and I had scheduled a committee meeting for tonight. Marty was right: we needed to talk about progress or lack thereof; I hadn’t even finished my reports. It was going to be another busy day.