Well, the only thing he could do was try to raise them, and he was determined to do just that. If he could have gotten his hands around Gene Medford’s neck, he’d have choked him for what he’d done to this woman. Grady was almost sorry that one of Gene’s fellow inmates had gotten to him first.
“Grady?” Vanessa tugged on his hand.
“Oh, sorry. I guess I just wandered for a minute.”
“I said, it looks like half the town had the same idea we did.”
“It’s really crowded.” He could see through the side windows. “I think we’re going to have to wait until a few people come out before we can go in.”
“We could walk down to the dock, and… oh, there’s Miss Grace.” Vanessa smiled and waved.
“Oh, Vanessa, dear.” The older woman sat alone at one of the small outside tables. “I heard about your shop. I am so sorry. I can hardly believe it.”
“I can hardly believe it myself, Miss Grace.”
“Do the police have any suspects?”
“Not yet. I know they’re working on it, but so far…” Vanessa shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Was much stolen?”
“I won’t know until tomorrow. The police were still combing through the shop this morning, looking for evidence, so I didn’t go inside today.”
“Well, it must have been someone from out of town,” Grace pronounced. “I cannot imagine anyone from St. Dennis doing such a thing.”
“I feel the same way,” Vanessa said. “I don’t want to think that anyone I know would do this to me. But we do think it may have been someone who took advantage of the fact that everyone’s attention was on the Inn yesterday.”
“I wouldn’t think that anyone other than the locals would have known about the wedding.” Grace frowned. “Was there much damage to the shop?”
“One of the glass cases was broken, and one of the windows on the side was damaged. I think I probably lost some inventory, and I’m clearly going to need a new lock and a new alarm system, since both failed last night.”
“Terrible, dear. Just terrible.” Grace waved a thin hand as if to fan herself as she turned to Grady. “And what’s this I’m hearing about your car being smashed to smithereens?”
“Not quite smithereens,” he replied, “but yes, someone broke the windows out of my rental car while Vanessa and I were in Bling following the burglary.”
“Such crazy business. What next, do you suppose?” Grace patted him on the arm. “But it was certainly good of you to accompany Vanessa to the scene of the crime. I’m sure Beck will appreciate you giving her a hand last night.”
The corners of Vanessa’s mouth twitched.
Grady pretended not to notice. “Yes, ma’am. I was glad to do it.”
“Well, I hope they catch whoever was responsible.” Grace paused. “Do you think it was the same person? It seems awfully suspicious to me, one happening right after the other. Especially since we rarely have such goings-on in St. Dennis.”
“I think we all agree with you there.” Grady nodded.
“But let’s talk about that lovely wedding yesterday. Grady, your sister was a beautiful bride. I made sure we got several photos for this week’s paper. Along with a fascinating interview I had earlier today with Dr. McGowan.” Grace was almost beaming.
“Dr. McGowan?” Vanessa frowned. “You mean Daria? The woman who’s engaged to Connor? She’s a doctor?”
“Daria has a doctorate in archaeology,” Grady told her.
“She’s quite well known in the field,” Grace added. “One of the girls working at the Inn on weekends is a freshman in college, and she’s majoring in archaeology. Dr. McGowan offered to send her some photos she took at a dig in Turkey. The girl is simply over the moon.”
“That was very nice of her.” Vanessa’s attention turned as several patrons emerged with their ice cream. “Oh, Grady, look. People are leaving. Let’s dash in before anyone else does.”
“Well, you’d better hurry. There’s a small army coming up there on the left.” Grace pointed. “He who hesitates…”
“Has to wait in line.” Vanessa waved to Grace as she and Grady entered the shop.
The little bell over the door jingled but Steffie didn’t look up.
“Boy, she looks beat, doesn’t she?” Vanessa whispered from the corner of her mouth.
Grady nodded as they stepped in line. He looked around the shop, and met Hal’s questioning eyes from across the room.
I guess he’s wondering why I’m standing here holding Vanessa’s hand. Well, I suppose if I were him, I’d be curious, too. But curious is probably not the word I’d use to describe Vanessa’s reaction when she sees that Hal is sitting there with an arm over the back of Maggie’s chair.
He stood so that his body was between Maggie and Vanessa, then realized how silly it was for him to try to protect her from seeing her parents together. He understood why Vanessa would object, would want to protect Hal just as Grady wanted to protect Vanessa, but it was silly. Hal and Maggie were going to do whatever it was they were doing, regardless of what Vanessa or Beck or anyone else thought, and that was the way it should be. If Vanessa had a problem with it, she was just going to have to deal.
They were still three people back in the queue but the line was moving. Steffie had apparently called in recruits.
“You know, I get more steamed every time I think about that woman, Candice,” Vanessa told him, her hands in the pockets of her jeans, a deep frown on her pretty face. “I was going to give her a twenty percent discount on that dress. And then she destroyed it. Doesn’t that just stink?”
“It does.” He fought to control a smile. She was so seriously put out over that one factor. But the longer Grady thought about it, the more it began to bother him, too, albeit for totally different reasons.
“What can I get for…” Steffie raised her head, then smiled. “Oh, hey, guys. Ness, I was going to call you as soon as I had a break. I heard about what happened. Look, anything I can do… I mean anything, you got it.”
“Thanks, Stef. I appreciate that.”
“We need to talk about this. I need to hear everything.”
“You will. I’ll be at the shop tomorrow morning to start cleaning up.”
“I’ll be there to help if you need me. I’ll see if Tina can open for me. She was looking for extra hours.” Steffie’s eyes followed several new customers into the store. “Do you believe this? You’d think I invented ice cream, the way people are streaming into this store. Honestly, Ness, it’s been like this since I opened at noon.” She grinned and added, “And I should mention that Mocha Berry Vanessa has been a big seller.”
“We’ll have two of those,” Grady told her.
Steffie scooped the ice cream into bowls and stuck a plastic spoon in the top of each before handing them over.
“What time are you planning on going to Bling tomorrow?” she asked.
“I’d like to keep my regular hours, so I guess I’ll be in town for coffee by eight,” Vanessa told her.
“I’ll see you then.” She waved Grady away when he took his wallet from his back pocket. “I can help the next person in line…”
“Wow, she’s really doing quite the business,” Grady noted as they stepped out into the sunlight.
“It’s a nice warm day, and people like to get out and walk in the sunshine after a long cold winter. Besides, Steffie’s good at what she does, and she was at the right place at the right time. Unlike me, however, she always knew exactly what she wanted to do.”
“She always wanted an ice-cream shop?”
“She always wanted to make her own ice cream. Make up her own flavors, sell from her own little place. At one time, this little building was a crabber’s shack. She told me that her dad and her uncle and her grandfather were all watermen. This was where they picked the crabs, her grandmother and her mother and her aunt. Crabbing fell off a few years ago, the grandfather died, the uncle moved away, her dad retired from commercial crabbing, took out some loans, and went back to college.”