“Of course,” I said. I studied her face for a moment. “Michelle, do you think that wine collection had anything to do with Ronan Quinn’s death?”
She shrugged. “Right now everything’s a possibility. And we’re looking into the fraud as a separate case.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” I said. “Whoever took advantage of Edison Hall like that is despicable.”
She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her black jacket. “You’d be surprised how many scams there are that target seniors. I don’t mean small potatoes, either. These are sophisticated cons.”
I nodded, remembering what I’d read the night before about faking the bottles of wine and how those fakes had fooled more than one expert.
“I’d like to put together an information session for people,” Michelle said. “Just to go over some of the more popular cons out there. Do you think Rose and Alfred Peterson would be willing to get involved?”
“Yes,” I said slowly. I wasn’t sure exactly what to say next.
Michelle smiled as though she could read my mind. Or maybe it was my face that was giving me away.
“You’re thinking I’m crazy,” she said.
I shifted from one foot to the other. “No,” I said. “Not crazy. Just . . .” I hesitated. “Okay, yes. Crazy. But just a little.”
Michelle smiled. “You know what they’re like, Rose, Nick’s mom, Alfred Peterson. Do you really think they’re going to listen to me telling them about the Big Bad Wolf?”
“No,” I said.
“But they will listen to their friends, people their own age.” She rolled her eyes. “And I’m sure Mr. Peterson has come across a scam or two during his travels down the information superhighway.”
I laughed. “I’m guessing Nick told you that Mr. P. is a licensed private investigator now.”
“I already knew,” Michelle said with a smile. “He did tell me that Stella hired them to look into Mr. Quinn’s death.” She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, glanced at it and put it back again. “Rose called me yesterday and told me about Teresa Reynard seeing Quinn at the house the morning he died. It gives us more of a window around when he was killed.”
“Do you think he was there to meet someone about the wine collection?”
She opened her mouth, but I spoke again before she could. “I know, you can’t answer that.”
“I have to get going, Sarah,” she said. “Be careful and if you find anything at the house call me or even Nick.”
“I will,” I said. I hugged her and headed for the back door. Elvis was waiting, not very patiently. He made a huffy noise as I unlocked the door, stalking through the workroom, the tip of his tail flicking back and forth.
Mac’s feet were sticking out of the storage space under the stairs. Elvis meowed at him and then poked his head in the opening next to him.
“Sarah, are you there?” Mac’s muffled voice asked.
“I’m here,” I said. “What are you looking for?”
“That little box of glass doorknobs.”
“Top shelf on the right at the back out in the garage.”
Elvis pulled his head back and shook himself. A couple of dust bunnies floated to the floor. He batted at one with his paw before stopping to wash one side of his face.
Mac backed out of the slanted storage space and stood up, brushing dust off the front of his long-sleeved blue T-shirt. Another dust bunny, cousin probably to the ones that had been clinging to Elvis’s fur, was on his shoulder. I leaned over and brushed it away. “I think I should get Avery to run the vacuum in there,” I said.
“Good idea,” Mac said. “I think the dust bunnies may be amassing an army so they can try to take over the building.”
“Michelle was here and the police have released the Hall house. Do you think we could get out there today?”
He smoothed a hand over his hair. “I don’t see why not. But don’t you and Liz have that lunch thing with the former bank manager?”
I held up the garment bag that I was carrying. “We do, but not until one o’clock.”
Mac pushed a box back into the storage area with one foot. “Do you want me to call Rose and see if she can come with us?”
“Please,” I said. “Charlotte and Avery should be able to handle things here for the morning. I’m just going to put this stuff in my office.” I started up the stairs.
I thought about Liam’s suggestion to make a move on Mac as I hung up the garment bag. It was a really bad idea. He was more than my employee, he was my right hand and my friend. I wasn’t willing to do anything to mess that up.
“It would make more sense to get involved with Nick,” I said.
Elvis stopped washing his chest and looked at me, green eyes narrowed almost as though he’d understood my words and wanted to know if I was kidding or serious.
“I don’t mean I would,” I said. “If Nick and I were going out, both Charlotte and Gram would be picking out baby names.” The image of Nick holding a baby popped into my mind.
The mental picture was so funny I laughed out loud. I’d actually seen it happen a few weeks previous when Nick and I went to meet Jess at her shop before Thursday night jam. One of the paramedics he’d worked with when he was an EMT was in the shop and somehow, before he knew what was happening, Nick was holding her little girl. The eight-month-old had looked befuddled and Nick had looked terrified, holding her out as if she were a bag of snakes.
My cell phone rang then. It was Jess. Elvis was settled in my desk chair having another bath. The cat had a bit of a fetish about being clean, even for a cat. I dropped onto the love seat.
“Hi,” Jess said. “Are you going to be at the shop all morning? I have a new bootie design I want to show you.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m going out to the Hall house.”
“Drat!” Jess was the only person I’d ever met who could say that and not sound silly.
“Was that all you wanted?” I asked.
There was silence for a moment and then she said, “So it was weird, me having dinner with Liam last night?”
“No . . . Maybe.” I let out a breath. “It’s just that Liam is my brother. And you and I have always talked about the guys we were dating.”
“We were dating?” Jess said. I could hear an edge of laughter in her voice.
“We,” I repeated. “Although mostly you lately.”
Jess did laugh then. “I’m not dating Liam, but would you be okay if I wanted to?”
I couldn’t say no and I realized that I didn’t really want to. “Yes, I would be okay.”
“Then if it happens you’ll be the first to know.”
“Just maybe with a little less detail than usual,” I said.
Jess laughed again. “I promise.”
We said good-bye, and I grabbed my stainless steel travel mug and laced up my work boots. Then I pulled on my old paint-spattered sweatshirt.
“You’re in charge,” I told Elvis.
“Mrrr,” he said without looking up from the knot he was working out of his tail.
Charlotte had arrived when I got downstairs and Avery was bringing out the vacuum cleaner.
“Hey, Sarah, you want me to make a list of what’s under there?” she asked, pointing at the storage space with the end of the vacuum cleaner.
“Yes,” I said. “There’s a list taped to the wall just inside the door on the left, but it’s really out of date.”
Avery smiled. “Okay. I got this.” She looked at my coffee mug. “I could make you a smoothie some morning, you know, for a change.”
Avery was trying to get Liz to eat healthier. Liz, whose blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol were amazingly low for a woman her age, was quite happy with the way she’d been eating. “If the good Lord had wanted me to eat tofu, he would have made it less disgusting,” she liked to say.
On the other hand, some of Avery’s stir-fries and drink concoctions looked pretty good.