“I can teach you,” Ruby said again. “All you need is big needles and bulky yarn and you can make a scarf. I promise.”
Susan looked skeptical.
“I didn’t know you could knit,” I said.
Ruby grinned. “Hey, just because I’m a pierced, rainbow-haired artist doesn’t mean I don’t have traditional skills, too. I can knit, sew and make my own ketchup. My grandmother taught me.” The eyebrows went up again. “My grandfather taught me a few things, too, but I don’t usually talk about those.”
Ruby’s grandfather, Idris Blackthorne, had been the town bootlegger. I could only imagine what skills he’d taught his favorite grandchild. “Probably a road best not traveled,” I said lightly.
“Are you working tomorrow morning?” Ruby said to Susan. “We could go to the yarn store. What color were you thinking of?”
Susan made a face. “I’m not certain but I did think gray would go with his eyes.”
I put a hand on Ruby’s arm. “I’m going to go give Abigail a break,” I said. “Everything’s okay here?”
Ruby nodded. “It is. Thank you.”
“I’ll keep going,” I said quietly.
Ruby nodded again and turned back to Susan. As I headed for the circulation desk, she was pulling out her phone to show Susan a scarf that might work for Eric.
The thief wasn’t Susan. But the knot in my stomach hadn’t completely untied itself. I still had two more people to talk to.
Owen and Hercules were waiting in the kitchen when I got home. Over a bowl of chicken stew with dumplings for me and a little plain shredded chicken breast for them, I explained about the missing items at the artists’ store.
I talked to the cats all the time. They were good listeners, especially if chicken or sardine crackers were involved. They didn’t interrupt for the most part unless it was to try to mooch (unsuccessfully) part of a dumpling, and there were times when they wordlessly seemed to take part in the conversation. I didn’t generally share that last part with people.
When I was down to the last couple of bites of my dumpling, I leaned back in my chair and curled one leg underneath me. Owen was peering at his dish as though he was trying to figure out whether there could be one last morsel of chicken hidden behind it. Hercules had started his face-washing routine, spending more time than usual on the left side of his furry black-and-white mug.
“I need to talk to Rebecca,” I said, ticking things off on my fingers. “And I have no idea how to bring up the thefts at the store.”
Owen gave up nosing around his bowl and walked over to sit in front of the back door. He looked back over his shoulder at me and then meowed loudly.
Meanwhile, Hercules took one last pass at his face before moving across the kitchen to sit by the cupboards and stare at the one where I kept the tea.
“You two are not at all subtle,” I said.
They exchanged a look and Owen meowed again.
“Okay, I’m going,” I said. I scooped up the last bit of dumpling, then got up and headed for the living room and the telephone. I sat on the footstool and pulled the phone down beside me. As I was punching in Rebecca’s number, I looked over to see Hercules watching me, head poked around the living room doorway.
Rebecca agreed to come for tea in the morning to hear all about the new books for the Reading Buddies program. She had served on the library board for years and had a soft spot for the literacy project.
Hercules followed me around while I threw in a load of laundry and did the dishes. I told him about the rest of my day and he made little murping noises that at least made it seem as though he was interested.
Later I curled up in the big chair in the bedroom and called Marcus. This was the longest we’d been apart since we’d become a couple, and I missed him like crazy. Owen stretched out across my lap while Hercules sprawled on his back on the floor, moving his paws in the air as though he were doing a halfhearted yoga routine.
If Marcus had been in town, I would have pushed Maggie to talk to him about the thefts. Not only was he a detective with the Mayville Heights Police Department, but he also knew Susan, Rebecca and Nic. The two of us had met when I’d gotten caught up in one of his cases and it had taken a long time for us to work through our differences. Marcus was the kind of person who looked at the facts and I tended to pay more attention to feelings. It had taken a case involving his sister, Hannah, for each of us to be able to see things from the other’s perspective.
But Marcus was out of town at a hockey skills clinic. There wasn’t anything he could do so I didn’t say anything. If I couldn’t figure out who had taken the missing items from the co-op store, I would nudge Mags to get him involved when he got back. So I talked about Reading Buddies and how good Maggie’s pizza had been, and when I hung up, Owen’s narrowed golden eyes were fixed on my face.
“Don’t give me that look,” I said, scratching behind his left ear. “I didn’t tell Marcus because there’s nothing he can do.”
Owen continued to stare at me. I leaned forward and stared pointedly back at him. “Was there anything you did today that maybe you’d just as soon not share with me?” I said. To my amusement, Owen suddenly became very engrossed in his feet.
Rebecca arrived for tea about nine thirty the next morning. She was tiny, barely five foot three in her sock feet, with blue eyes and silver hair in a pixie cut that showed off her gorgeous cheekbones. Abigail was working for me in return for a shift I’d taken for her the week before so I didn’t have to be at the library until noon.
Copies of the new books we’d received were on the table. After she’d hugged me and talked to Owen and Hercules, Rebecca sat at the table to look at the books while I made the tea.
“Wonderful choices,” she said. She held up one of the picture books. “I especially like this one with the dancing cows.”
I smiled. “We all agreed on that one. Even Susan’s twins gave it a resounding yes.”
Rebecca smiled back at me. “It’s always good to get the approval of your target audience.”
I set a cup of tea in front of her. “Thank you, dear,” she said. She took a sip and nodded her approval. “I’m glad you called me. I wanted to talk to you about Reading Buddies. Everett and I would like to throw an end-of-school party for the children next month. I’m sorry, I know it’s short notice.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I said, smiling across the table at her.
I’d put a plate of cut-up fruit on the table because I knew Rebecca had been instructed by her doctor to restrain her sweet tooth a little. “Well, that’s easy,” she said, reaching for some apple slices. “You say ‘yes.’”
“Okay. Yes.” I gave her arm a squeeze and she beamed at me.
I was touched by the generous offer, which I suspected had originated with Rebecca. Everett was just as kindhearted as his wife, but Rebecca had an extra soft spot when it came to anything involving kids.
She leaned down for a moment to speak to Hercules, and I realized I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t ask her about the missing items from the co-op store because I was certain she’d had nothing to do with the thefts. It made no sense. Looking at Rebecca smiling down at Hercules, I found it hard to imagine her looking furtive while she browsed in the shop and stuffed a couple of placemats in her tote bag. There had to be some other explanation for what had happened.
“Do you think Eddie would agree to come to the party?” Rebecca asked. “He’s so good with children.”
“I think he probably would,” I said, getting up to refill my cup. Now that he didn’t have all of Rebecca’s attention, Hercules had started nosing around the canvas bag next to her chair.
“Leave that alone,” I said quietly to him.
Hercules immediately sat down, the picture of innocence, but when I turned back to the counter, from the corner of my eye I saw him nudge the bag with his nose once more. I swung around again. “Cut that out!” I said sharply.