“Who is it?” Charlotte asked.
I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I forgot to ask her name.”
“It’s all right,” she said. “It’s probably one of the parents. I think I told you we’re having a book sale at the school next month.”
I nodded as we headed for the door. “Why don’t you take that box of books that we brought back from the storage place. I mean if you want them. We don’t really sell that many books here.” As Gram had suspected A Bear Called Paddington had turned out to be a valuable first edition, but the rest of the books were only worth a few dollars each.
Charlotte smiled. “If you’re sure, yes. I’d be happy to take them.”
She was still smiling as she approached the woman, who had taken only a couple of steps into the store. “Hello,” Charlotte said. “I’m Charlotte Elliot. You were looking for me?”
The other woman nodded. “I’m Katy Mueller.” She offered her name as though it should mean something to Charlotte. From the slightly confused expression on Charlotte’s face I could see it didn’t.
Katy Mueller could see it, too. She cleared her throat. “Gina Pearson was my best friend.”
“You’re here because of Mallory,” Charlotte said.
The younger woman nodded. “And Greg and Austin. They’re just starting to heal. Nothing good is going to come out of stirring up the past.” She twisted the bottom edge of her sleeve with one hand. “Please. Let Mallory down easy and stop your investigation.”
“It must have been very painful to lose Gina,” Charlotte said. The concern in her voice was genuine.
“Not as painful as it was for the children. Please. What you’re doing isn’t helping anyone.”
Charlotte nodded. “You care about them.”
“Of course I do,” Katy said, as though she were offended that anyone would think any differently.
“Then you can understand better than a lot of people why it’s so important to Mallory to help her father.”
Katy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I know Mallory doesn’t want to believe that Mike left Gina to die in that fire and I’m not saying he wanted that to happen, but he’d given her so many second chances I just don’t think he had it in him anymore. And you must have heard about Judge Halloran. He certainly had no reason to lie about what he saw.”
“What was Gina like?” Charlotte asked. “I didn’t really get a sense of her as a person from Mallory.”
“Gina was the only mother Mallory really knew. Her own mother died when she was barely more than a toddler. They were very close until Gina started drinking.” Katy stared off into space just past Charlotte’s right shoulder as though she was looking for something in the past. Then her gaze came back to Charlotte. “We met in our senior year of high school. I used to call her Goldie because she was one of those golden people for whom everything went right. She fell in love with Mike and he was crazy about her. And Mallory adored her. There was no wicked stepmother stuff. Then she had the boys. And she had a job she really liked. She had everything.” She looked away again. “I tried to make her understand that.”
“You were a good friend,” Charlotte said, her voice gentle as though she were trying to get close to a skittish animal.
Katy shook her head. “It was after she got promoted at work that everything went wrong. She worried about every little detail. She’d come home so stressed out and she started having a couple of drinks to relax. Pretty soon it was more than two. I kept trying to find the right words that would make her realize what she was doing to her children but she only cared about her next drink.” She narrowed her gaze at Charlotte. “You’re not going to stop this, are you?” she asked, her expression troubled.
“No,” Charlotte said. “Mallory asked for my help. I’m sorry. I can’t just walk away from her.”
“You’re making a mistake.” Katy’s voice was shaky. She lifted a hand and then let it drop. “I have to go.” She was out the door before Charlotte could say anything more.
I put a hand on Charlotte’s shoulder. “Are you all right?” I asked. Katy’s reaction had been unsettling.
She nodded. “I’m fine. But I don’t think Gina’s friend is.”
We started back toward the workroom. “She seems very . . .” It took me a moment to come up with the right word. “Wounded.”
“Did you see her face when she spoke about Mallory and her brothers?” Charlotte asked. “It was the only time she even came close to smiling. She obviously cares about them.”
“You care about Mallory, too,” I said. “That’s why you’re trying to figure out what really happened to Gina.”
“So you don’t think this investigation is a mistake?” There was a hint of both a question and a challenge in her voice.
“I never thought it was a mistake,” I said. “I didn’t—I don’t want to see those children hurt because it’s hard to look at what we know about Mike Pearson’s case and not think that he may have killed his wife. He had motive and he had opportunity.” I held up a hand because I knew there was an objection coming. “At least, it’s hard for me. But you’re a good judge of character and so is Rose and don’t get me started on exactly how the stars aligned so that she and Nick are working together.”
Charlotte smiled.
“The thing is, Mallory and her brothers deserve the truth and maybe it will bring their dad home.” I felt like I’d just given a speech.
“I hope so,” Charlotte said. She took a step closer to me and lowered her voice. “And I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds Rose and Nick on the same side a little disconcerting. Sometimes I have the feeling I’ve fallen into a parallel universe.”
I grinned at her. “Don’t worry. There’s no way it can last.”
Charlotte grinned back at me. “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing!”
I gave her a hug and went back to the shop. Avery was arranging a collection of flowerpots—the ones Liz had asked me about—in the center of a long wooden trestle table. This was her latest project. She’d painted the terra-cotta pots with a flat black paint, then used spray adhesive to randomly fasten cheesecloth to them. Avery had followed with a coat of metallic gold paint. When the cheesecloth was removed the pots were left with a black-veined design highlighted against the gold. They made an elegant collection on the dark tabletop.
“I’m just going upstairs to grab a cup of coffee,” I said to Avery. “I’ll be right back.”
“Sure,” she said, lifting a hand but not even turning in my direction. All of her focus was on the table. I could have told her I was going to put on tap shoes and do a dance routine in the parking lot and she would have nodded absently and said sure.
I was adding sugar to my coffee when my cell phone rang. I glanced at the screen. It was Liz.
“Hi, toots,” she said when I answered.
“Toots?” I asked.
“It’s a perfectly good word,” Liz retorted. “Which I’m not debating you on right now. What are you wearing?”
I leaned against the counter. “My bathrobe and slippers.”
“Don’t get saucy with me, missy,” she said.
“Why do you care what I’m wearing?” I asked.
“Because we have an appointment with Judge Halloran at four o’clock.”
I sighed. “Please don’t tell me that you think he can be swayed by a pretty face.”
Liz gave a snort of laughter. “I’m perfectly capable of charming Neill Halloran if that’s what’s called for, thank you very much. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t wearing jeans and a sweatshirt because you were cleaning out that storage unit. I didn’t think you’d want to go see the man if you were dressed like a hobo.”
“I’m not dressed like a hobo,” I said. “I’m wearing black pants and the red shirt I bought when we were in Boston.”