She made a mental note to ask Stef if she thought thirty percent was enough of a discount.
The mannequins were still in the front window dressed up for the wedding. Vanessa stood, hands on her hips, looking them over.
“Oh, hell, the wedding is over anyway,” she said aloud. “Time to move it all out. I wonder if it’s too early to move all those cute golf and tennis things to center stage.”
She needed music and wanted something upbeat, so she brought her CD player from the office and plugged it in on the counter. Odd he didn’t take this, she thought, since it was right there on the desk in plain sight. She put in a few CDs and turned it on loud enough to drown out her own singing. The music lightened her mood, and before too long, she had the windows stripped and ready for the glass people to do their thing.
She turned her attention to the jewelry case, and was surprised to see that very little, if anything, appeared to be disturbed, other than the glass counter and shelves. She checked the sales slips for Wednesday through Saturday, and when she finished, she could account for every piece of jewelry she’d had in that case. As far as she could tell, the only things missing were pieces that had been sold. She was wondering why someone would take the time to break the glass but not steal anything from the case, when she heard a tap on the door.
Vanessa unlocked the door. “Hi, Miss Grace. Come to view the carnage?”
“No, I came to bring you some coffee. I figured you would be needing a break right around now.” Grace handed her a cardboard cup with the Cuppachino logo on it.
“That’s so thoughtful of you. Thank you.”
“Thank Carlo. When I told him who it was for, he wouldn’t take a dime for it.” Grace looked around the interior of the shop. “Well, this doesn’t look too bad…”
“I’ve been picking up in here for the past two hours, but for the most part, it really isn’t too bad. The glass will be replaced and the contents are insured. I called my insurance agent, and surprise, surprise, she’d already heard about the break-in.”
“You use the Radell Agency?”
Vanessa nodded.
“So do we at the paper and the Inn. That Alice Radell is the best insurance agent I ever worked with.”
“She’s been very helpful. But speaking of Alices… I’ve been meaning to ask you about Alice Ridgeway.”
“What about her, dear?”
“I heard that you knew her fairly well.”
“Oh, yes. I grew up in that neighborhood, you know.”
Vanessa nodded. “I heard that, too. I was wondering if we could get together sometime to talk about her.”
Grace frowned. “She isn’t… bothering you, is she?”
“Ah… no.”
“Because she’s really harmless, you know.”
Vanessa stared at her. “You mean, when she was alive?”
“Oh…” Grace laughed. “Of course. I meant, she was harmless.”
“I see,” Vanessa said, although she wasn’t sure she did.
“What did you want to talk about, then?”
“I’d just like to know a little about her, that’s all. All I know is that she kept to herself a lot, and that she grew a lot of herbs.”
“Well, she wasn’t completely antisocial. She did have friends,” Grace made a point of telling her, “but she didn’t care to go out. Everyone visited her at her home.”
“Did you visit with her?”
“Oh, of course. We were friends, even though I was a lot younger. I’ve often wondered if anything still grew in her garden.”
“A lot of herbs, but I’m not sure what they all are. There’s a bunch of what appears to be herbs hanging over the back door.”
“Really? What do they smell like?”
“I don’t think they smell like anything, Miss Grace. They’re very dry.”
“Oh, of course they would be.” Grace smiled. “I’m sure it’s just something she put there for good luck.”
“Good luck,” Vanessa repeated flatly. Yes, her luck had certainly been swell lately.
Grace glanced at her watch. “I’m going to have to dash. I need to get these articles to the printer or we’ll have no paper this week.”
“Thanks for the coffee.” Vanessa walked her visitor to the door. “And maybe sometime we could chat about Miss Ridgeway…”
“Yes, I’d like that.” Grace was halfway out the door when she turned and asked, “You haven’t happened to find any of her books. Her journals or… anything like that?”
Vanessa shook her head. “No. I’ve looked through the books on the shelves in the living room, and there are several books about herbs, but I haven’t found any journals or… anything like that.”
Grace started to close the door behind her. “Have you been in the attic yet?”
“Yes, several times. Although I haven’t had time to look through the boxes that are up there. I’ve been so busy with the shop and then in the off-season, painting the downstairs and the bedrooms and trying to get the kitchen in order. You’ll have to stop over sometime and see what I’ve done in the house.”
“I’d like that very much.” Grace turned and smiled again. “Yes, I would like that.”
“Anytime. And thanks again for the coffee…”
Grace waved before she hustled down the sidewalk in the direction of her newspaper’s office. Vanessa was shaking her head as she closed the door behind the tiny woman. Well, she took my mind off feeling bad about this place. And it was nice of her to bring me coffee…
Vanessa’s cell began to ring, and she searched her pockets until she found it.
“Hello?”
“I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d take him when you didn’t want him anymore.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You think I’m jesting but I am so serious. I just passed him on Kelly’s Point Drive. He’s seriously fine, so whenever you’re finished with him, just toss him my way.” Steffie paused. “I hope this doesn’t interfere with our friendship.”
“It won’t, because he’ll be leaving for Montana any day now,” Vanessa said.
Steffie sighed. “So I suppose I will need to schedule some consolation time. We’ll be busy at Scoop but I can work it in.”
“What are you talking about? I won’t need consolation.”
“Please. It’s Steffie you’re talking to here. You know you’re going to miss him, Ness.”
“Well, sure. The sex has been great.”
“Is that all you can say?”
“It has been.” Vanessa bit a cuticle and frowned.
“Get off it. You’re not that shallow.”
“What shallow? It’s the truth. And sex matters.”
“What about the rest of it?”
“Yeah, well, the rest of it matters, too,” Vanessa admitted. “But it’s all moot. So it doesn’t matter-it can’t matter-beyond the next few days or however long he’s going to be here.”
“A girl can still dream, Ness,” Stef protested.
“I don’t dare dream, Stef. Any dream involving Grady is bound to have an unhappy ending. I’ve had enough of those.” She caught herself before she could say more. “And speak of the devil; he’s just crossing the street and walking in my direction.”
“Well, I’ll let you go, then, so you can chat with that guy who doesn’t really matter all that much…”
“I didn’t say that, damn it,” she whispered as Grady pushed open the door and came in. She slipped the phone into her pocket, knowing as well as Stef did that she’d been lying through her teeth.
“I thought you were keeping this door locked.” He frowned.