She was on her way out of the room when she thought of the white eyelet dress. She looked back at the mass on the floor, but the dress was not among the casualties.
Good for you, Candice. The woman must have been on her way into the shop when Steffie saw her leaving Sips, the takeout-only beverage bar two doors away that specialized in fresh juice drinks.
She returned to the front of the shop, where Gus Franklin was busy lifting fingerprints from the counter tops.
“I called Hal’s cell a couple of times, but he didn’t pick up,” Gus told her.
“The band’s pretty loud. He probably didn’t hear the phone. He’ll probably check his phone before long and he’ll give you a call.”
“Probably.” He nodded. “I’ll get your prints as soon as I finish here.”
“Fine. Whenever you’re ready.” Vanessa sighed and went to Grady, who was still seated patiently near the front door. “I’m sorry,” she said softly.
“Sorry for what?”
“Well, you know…” She gestured in the direction of Kelly’s Point Road and the general direction of the parking lot where fifteen minutes earlier they’d been hot and heavy and well on their way to what should have been an unforgettable night.
He reached out and took her hand and slowly ran his thumb across her knuckles. “You have nothing to apologize for. Your shop has been broken into, vandalized, and it looks like you’ve been robbed of some valuable merchandise. You do not owe me an apology, Ness. I’m just sorry this happened to you. I know how upset you must be.”
She was on the verge of tears when Sue’s phone rang. The officer unhooked the phone from her belt and looked at the caller ID.
“Oh,” she said. “It’s the chief.”
“Do not tell him about this.” Vanessa spun around. “Sue, don’t tell him. He’ll feel obligated to come back here and he’ll miss his honeymoon.”
“But if he asks me what’s going on…”
“Tell him it’s just another quiet Saturday night. Please. His honeymoon will be over before it starts.” Seeing that Sue was still hesitant, Vanessa added, “I will take full responsibility for this.”
“I can’t lie to him,” Sue told her. “He’s my boss. If he asks, I have to tell him.”
“Only if he asks.”
“Dixon.” Sue answered the call. “Oh, hi, Chief. Yeah, I had a great time. Sorry I couldn’t have stayed longer. I hear the band kicked ass. I hope someone reminded Hal where he is to bring the leftover cake.” She met Vanessa’s eyes and shrugged her shoulders. “Oh, sure, I’ll take care of that. Not a problem. Are you still at the airport? Is your flight on time? Good… yes, will do. Have a great time, Chief. And congratulations to you and to Mia…”
Sue ended the call. “He didn’t ask,” she told Vanessa. “He just wanted someone to run past his house and make sure his back door was locked.”
“Thank you for not volunteering…” She waved her hand around the shop.
“Yeah, well, I hope I can count on you to give me a good reference when he finds out we were here when he called.” Sue shook her head and walked outside.
Gus motioned Vanessa over to the counter he’d just finished dusting. “I thought the glass would be stripped of prints but I found quite a few smudges and a few good prints, one a partial palm print. I’ll run them through the records when I get back to the station. Meanwhile, I’ll get your prints now.”
One by one, he dipped her fingers in ink, then pressed each onto a card.
“Will this wash off?” she asked.
“Sure,” Gus told her. “Eventually.”
Not sure if he was kidding or not, she went into the powder room and proceeded to scrub at the ink. When she was satisfied she’d gotten off all she was going to get that night, she came back out to the shop floor. Carl was near the cash register, pulling on a pair of thin rubber gloves.
“Vanessa, I need to ask you to prepare a list of what you think is missing,” he told her as he squatted down.
“I have no idea how much the sales were from today. I’ll have to call Cathy Williams and ask her.” She looked over the counter and saw he was picking up a pile of receipts. “Those would help. May I see them?”
He tossed her a pair of gloves and she slipped them on.
“I’m going to want her to stop by tomorrow so I can take her prints as well. She might be able to help you figure out what was sold as opposed to what was taken.” Gus glanced up from his work on the contents of the jewelry case.
“Cathy was only here for a few hours. Nan Silvestri was here most of the day, and several days this week. She’s away until tomorrow night, though.”
“We’ll catch up with her.” Gus picked carefully through the broken glass. “You think you could tell what jewelry might be missing?”
“Not without knowing what was sold today. It’s mostly costume, not fine jewelry. The best pieces I have are silver with some semiprecious stones. Nothing real expensive, certainly nothing rare. No gold. No platinum. No precious gems.” She looked over each receipt, touching them only on the edges to lift them or turn them over. Even wearing the gloves, she felt as if she were doing something she shouldn’t be doing. “Do you need to know everything that’s missing tonight?”
“No.” Gus shook his head. “But the sooner you can get it together, the better.”
Vanessa stripped off the gloves.
“Vanessa, have you noticed any strange activity lately? Customers who acted peculiar? Anyone hanging around the store?”
She shook her head. “No, no one strange. Gus, if you don’t need me anymore, then I think I’d like to leave now.”
“Go on home. We’ll call you if anything comes up,” Gus told her without looking up from his work.
Grady was still leaning against the doorjamb. She walked over and said, “We can go.”
“Do you want me to run down and get the car and come back for you?”
“No.” She took his hand. “I want to stay with you.”
He nodded and they walked out of the shop and across the street. The town was pin-drop quiet, the only sounds the tap-tap of her heels on the pavement. There was a fine silver mist rolling in off the Bay that made her skin feel damp. She wanted to go home and take a very hot shower and she wanted to take him with her. She was tired and worn out and dispirited and she felt sick. Bling was everything to her, and someone had trashed it. She’d have to close for God only knew how long and she probably was out hundreds of dollars’ worth of her carefully selected merchandise. The day that had begun so perfectly had turned out to be perfectly awful.
They went through the dark area off Charles Street and passed under the streetlights that marked the end of the municipal building’s lot. Across the road was the lot where Grady had left the car. Before her, the walk through the unlit lot appeared endless. Their shadows, cast by the lights from the municipal building, grew longer and longer as they walked farther and farther into the lot. Finally, they were at the car and Vanessa let out a breath she hadn’t been aware she’d been holding. She’d never been afraid of the dark, but tonight, on the heels of the break-in at Bling, she felt spooked.
At first, Vanessa thought the loud crunching she heard was the sound of the oyster shells in the lot crushing beneath their feet. But something sharp stabbed through the sole of her shoe and she cried out.
“What?” Grady caught her arm as she stumbled.
“Something went right through the bottom of my shoe.” She stopped and stood on one foot. She removed the shoe, and when she touched the side of her foot, she felt something wet and thick. “I think my foot is bleeding. I must have stepped on a piece of broken glass.”
Grady started toward the car for a flashlight, but after he’d taken two steps closer, he began to curse softly.