by Laina Turner
“Did something happen to make you decide it was over? I mean, yesterday you were willing to give him another chance.” I asked.
“Momentary lapse in judgment. He’s just never going to change. He’s been begging me for days to give him a second chance, saying he was ready for a commitment, and all that stuff I wanted to hear. Yet he is still seeing that Missy girl. I mean, he couldn’t even go a few days while begging me back without flirting with her. And now I’m sure they’ve done more than flirt, no matter what he says.”
“Are you sure of that?” Berklie asked. “Maybe he’s changed.”
“Trust me, he hasn’t. I snooped through his phone when he went to the bathroom. He was texting her right up until the time he picked me up. And trust me it wasn’t all innocent. I only stayed for dinner, for the free meal, and believe me, I even ordered dessert. I’m sure he thought he was getting lucky with the three martinis I stuck him with at nine bucks a pop.” Sophie smiled. She always had a great sense of humor even when things like this happened.
“I can’t believe you looked at his phone!” I said.
“How else was I supposed to find out? He has a history of lying. You think I should have just once again blindly trusted him?”
“No, I just meant that it was a pretty risky move to do it while out to dinner. Did he know?”
“I don’t think so. He just either isn’t that smart or doesn’t care. Probably a combination of both. Anyways, I’m done and moving on.”
“What an idiot not to have it password protected. You’d think a player like him would know that. I mean, even Tom was that smart.”
“Sylvia was probably that smart,” I said. “It’s the girls who are with the guy they shouldn’t be with who know the tricks not to get caught.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Wonder if this murder was karma’s way of biting Sylvia and Tom in the ass?” Berklie said thoughtfully holding her glass of wine.
“Now that’s a thought. You think karma’s that strong?” I asked.
“Makes you think twice,” Berklie said. “Don’t tell me you don’t do things—or not do things is probably more like it—because you know you shouldn’t and don’t want to risk bad karma coming back to haunt you.”
“I guess it’s that unknown consequence,” I said.
“Exactly. Who wants to risk it?”
Chapter 4
Good news,” I said to Berklie when she picked up her phone. “We are back in business.” I had called Berklie immediately after getting off the phone with Clive who had just given me the all clear to go into the shop and get ready to open. I was so relieved. I had been anxiously waiting for that phone call.
“That is good news.”
“No kidding. Especially since this morning I was told by the city council I was relieved of my duties effective immediately. It wasn’t a big surprise. I pretty much expected it when they asked me to come to the monthly meeting, but if we weren’t able to get this shop opened I’m not sure what I would have done.”
I had been taking vacation days I had coming to be able to spend the time necessary to get the shop opened, but figured if I needed to I could work at the library and Berklie and Sophie could run the shop until the city council could meet and vote on a replacement. They were promoting my assistant, which I was very happy about. She deserved the position, and these posts were not easy to come by since funding was always limited and there were only a certain number of libraries.
“I’ve got to take the girls to a dental appointment, but I can head over after I drop them back at school and we can make a plan.”
“Okay, I’ll call Sophie and have her meet us.”
*****
We all walked into the shop apprehensively. I wasn’t really sure what we were going to find, and I know Berklie and Sophie weren’t either. I guess it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Clive must have sent in a cleaning crew, as there wasn’t any evidence of a murder here. In fact, the shelves that had been knocked over were now upright.
“Hmmm, better than I thought,” said Berklie.
“I wonder who came in and put the shelving back up. I’m sure it wasn’t Clive,” I said with a joking grin.
“You’re right. I’m sure it wasn’t Clive, but who?”
“I don’t know, but we can worry about it later,” I said. “Right now we need to dig in and get this cleaned up and ready to open.”
“I can work on new flyers as soon as you give me a date,” Sophie said.
“I say Saturday.”
“I agree, Trixie,” said Berklie.
Sophie looked around at the mess in front of them. “You really think we can get this done by tomorrow?”
“Sure. Why not? We had it set up once. Now it’s just a matter of putting it all back where it was,” I said. “Berklie do you think you can call and see if we can get the foodstuffs and wine delivered by tomorrow?”
“I’m on it. “
“All right, let’s whip this place into shape.”
*****
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to open tomorrow?” Jack asked.
He had promised to cook me dinner, and I was holding him to that, while I just sat there not doing anything but drinking my glass of wine and watching him cook. I had no issue with being waited on. In fact, I could get used to this as a consistent practice. Especially after a day like today. Berklie, Sophie, and I had worked hard at getting the shop ready, and that hard work paid off. We were ready! Except now I was exhausted from a day of physical labor. It made the fact that he was cooking me dinner even better. And if he didn’t hurry, I would probably fall asleep. I was that tired.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. Is Clive sure it’s safe? I mean they haven’t caught the killer. Do they even have any leads? Should you guys be there alone?”
“What’s with all the questions? Clive didn’t say anything about knowing who might have killed Sylvia, but then I doubt he would share that with me anyways. You’re the one who golfs with him. You’d know better than I.”
“Clive doesn’t bring his work to the golf course any more than I do.”
“I would hope not. If you talked about your workplace, people would fall asleep.” I liked to tease him.
“Ha, ha. Funny lady. I’m just worried about you.”
“That’s sweet, Jack, but unnecessary.”
“You never know, Trixie. Who knows what Sylvia was in to?”
“What makes you think Sylvia was in to something that resulted in her murder? I thought you said Clive hadn’t said anything.”
“He hasn’t. I’m just assuming.”
“Maybe it was a random thing. You know, the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“I guess. But then why was she in your shop in the first place? How did she get in?”
The window next to Sylvia’s body had been open, so I’d just assumed that one of us had left it that way. I had told Clive as much. But the part that did puzzle me was what was she doing there in the first place? Again, Clive had asked the same questions—of me and Berklie and Sophie—and none of us had any ideas. “We assume she got in through a window, but your guess is as good as mine as to what she was doing there in the first place. I mean, she hated Berklie, so I guess she could have been there destroying things.”
“Clive didn’t have any idea either?”
“No, I told you he didn’t say anything.”
“That’s what makes me nervous, Trixie. The police don’t even know what happened or why.”
“Jack,” I said, exasperated, “we are going to be fine. I’m sure it was just an unfortunate freak thing that happened.”
“Just promise me you’ll be careful.”
“I promise.”
Chapter 5
The day was finally here. I was so excited. All of us were. It was a few minutes before our grand opening, and there was a line out the front door. Of course it was mostly our friends and family to wish us well, but hey, I wasn’t about to argu
e. It was better than the alternative, and that was having a grand opening to no one.
“This is exciting,” Berklie said to me. She put the last of the cupcakes in the display case and licked the frosting off her fingers before walking over to the sink and washing her hands. “Cupcakes organized, coffee made, wine glasses washed, although I doubt anyone will want wine at ten a.m. I think we’re ready.”
“Should we open the doors then, ladies?” I asked them.
“No time like the present. Places, everyone.” We had decided that we needed to stick to what each of us was good at. At least for the first few weeks. I was going to handle the book end, while Sophie and Berklie handled the café end. Not that they were experienced café managers, but I was the one with the most book experience, and they had unanimously agreed to let me do my thing.
This was exciting, just as Berklie had stated. I loved talking about books to people who appreciated it, and I loved having fun with people. I walked up and unlocked the door. Looking at all the smiling faces of people wanting to come in, I held the door open for all of them.
“Hi folks. C’mon in and browse around the Read/Wine shop where you can browse to your hearts content and have a cup of coffee while you’re at it.”
“Trixie, this is just beautiful. You should be so proud of yourself!” Exclaimed Trudy, my next-door neighbor. A grandmother herself, her grandchildren lived a few hours away, so she frequently offered to watch Cody for me. She was a huge help.
“Thanks, Trudy. I am proud. Proud of all of us,” I said, pointing to Berklie and Sophie. “This is a dream come true. Look around and enjoy yourself.”
I must have repeated that mantra a hundred times as our friends and family walked through the door. It was satisfying to have something that I was part owner of to be proud of and show off. People seemed to be enjoying themselves, and the cash register kept ringing enough that I wasn’t too worried our grand opening would be a financial bust. Even if they were just buying coffee, it had a great mark-up. I was happily discussing the shop and future plans with customers when Berklie came over to me.
“Can I talk to you for a second?”
“Sure. Excuse me, Mrs. Patterson. I’ll be right back. Make sure you try the almond biscotti.” I followed Berklie a little way over, out of ear shot of Mrs. Patterson who, as likable as she was, also was a bit of a gossip. “What’s up?” I asked Berklie.
“Ms. Gossip over there,” she said pointing to frienemy Maxine Overstreet, “is not helping our business.”
“Why? What is she doing?”
“She’s running her mouth, speculating on what happened to Sylvia, and trying to get other people sucked in. Until she brought it up no one had mentioned it.”
“Well, I’m not so sure what we can do about it.”
“I just don’t want people to dwell on what happened. Asking her to leave will cause just as much of an issue.”
“I agree, Berklie.”
She smiled. “Why don’t you go over and use your charm to change the subject?”
“You have such faith in my abilities. I’ll do my best.”
The rest of the day went by in a blur. We had a steady stream of people and a few of them weren’t even people we knew. Definitely success in our eyes, though there was still that lingering thought that they were here to check out the murder spot.
We finally closed and locked the doors and decided to grab something to eat.
*****
“I didn’t realize how hungry I was,” I said to Berklie and Sophie. We sat at a table in Murphy’s Bar & Grill, celebrating our grand opening and eating dinner. Since none of us had had the chance to eat all day—we’d been that busy—we were finally taking a well-deserved break and reliving the day’s events.
“Me either. I didn’t notice it at the shop. I think I was too busy having fun,” said Sophie.
“I know. With the exception of a few gossipy busybodies, I think we nailed the opening,” said Berklie. “People were having a good time and buying things.
“What was up with that?” I asked. “I know what happened to Sylvia is big news for this town, but why are people so morbidly fascinated with what happened to her?”
“Actually I’m surprised that more people weren’t more interested in where her dead body was found,” Sophie said. “People love that stuff. I don’t know why you guys think it’s odd that people are fascinated with death and drama. Look at all the reality shows out there.”
“That’s what Jack said, too. It just seems so creepy. But maybe more so because it happened in our shop, and it’s not something that happened to someone else,”
“I wish they would find the killer,” Berklie said.
“No doubt,” I said, taking a drink.
“Do you think they have any leads?” Berklie asked.
“I have no idea. You’re the one who spent the most time with the police,” I said.
“Yeah, because they thought I did it,” Berklie replied dryly.
I smiled. “Well, you’re not in jail, so they’ve obviously moved on.”
“Ha! Let’s hope so.”
I set my fork down and a wave of exhaustion rolled over me. “I think I’m going to call it a day.”
“Are you sure you’re okay to open by yourself tomorrow?” Berklie asked.
“Yeah,” I said waving away her concerns.
“You guys sleep in and come in refreshed at noonish. Everyone will be at church first thing when we open, so I don’t anticipate it being that busy until later. And by then you will be there.”
“Are we ready then?” Berklie said, grabbing her check to pay the bill on the way out.
“I’m ready.”
Chapter 6
I yawned as I held my coffee cup in one hand and fumbled for the right key that would unlock the door to the shop. Boy, was I tired. I had gotten home at a decent time after our dinner celebration, but I’d tossed and turned all night. I think out of nervous excitement more than anything else, but it made it hard to get up. Even after coffee, I wasn’t fully awake. It was going to be one of those days where it would take several cups to make me feel normal again.
Finally I got the key into the lock and heard the tumbler turn. But that wasn’t all I heard. It sounded like someone was in the building. There was the sound of books being slid back and forth on the shelf. Or was I imagining it?
I slowly opened the door and peeked my head in. I didn’t see anyone, but I still heard the noise, and many of the shelves obscured my view to the back. Someone was definitely here.
“Hello, anyone here?” I felt silly calling out. I took a step in, leaving the door open just in case I needed to run out quickly. My heart pounding, I took another step inside and called out again. “Berklie, Sophie, are you here?” I heard a thud and then a rustling. Someone was in here. I wasn’t crazy, though I was wishing I were. What if the person who had killed Sylvia had come back?
As I was wondering what to do—whether to go see who was in the building or flee in the other direction—I heard one more thump and then silence. I paused right where I was for a few minutes and listened.
Nothing. It was completely silent.
I took a tentative couple of steps and stopped. Nothing.
If there was someone here they seemed to be gone now. After a few more seconds of silence, I got braver and walked farther in until I was close enough to the middle where I could see the store in its entirety. I felt a cold breeze coming from my left and looked over in that direction. One of the windows was open. It was the same window that had been open when we found Sylvia. That was strange, as we hadn’t had any windows open yesterday. Maybe this was how someone got in here again.
I walked over to the window, my heels tapping on the wood floor, and once I got close enough I could see the frame at the bottom was splintered. I guessed the old wood window casings made for easy access. I peered out the window, not seeing anyone or anything. I continued my walk around the store, and except for some of the books b
eing out of place, it didn’t appear as if anything was missing or destroyed. Had it not been for the window being forcibly pried open I would have thought I had imagined the whole thing. I reached in my purse to grab my phone and call Clive. I just hoped he wouldn’t shut us down again while he poked around.
Call made to Clive, I went ahead and started the coffee brewing. He was on his way, but I had already decided I wasn’t going to wait and see what he had to say. I would just continue going about opening the store for business. The power of positive thinking, I told myself. As I rearranged the display of cupcakes, fitting in the new ones I had picked up on my way over this morning, I decided to treat myself to a red velvet cupcake. Calories be damned.
I was enjoying coffee and a cupcake when Clive arrived a few minutes later.
“What happened?” he asked, pulling out his trusty pen and paper. He really needed to get into some new technology.
“Just what I already told you on the phone. I unlocked the door and walked in and heard a noise. I called out, thinking maybe either Berklie or Sophie came in early, and then I heard a loud thump. After a few minutes of silence, I walked around. That’s when I found the window was open, and we didn’t leave it that way.”
“Anything missing?”
“Not that I can tell. It looks like a few of the books were rifled through. They aren’t the way we left them last night, but nothing is missing.”
Clive walked around the shop, made his way over to the open window, and made a few notes. “Any valuable books here, Trixie?”
“Not any more. We only ever had that one you already confiscated. These on this side are used books we bought from folks,” I said pointing to the left of the shop. “To the right are the new ones but nothing over a normal hardcover price of twenty-six dollars. Nothing here is worth stealing.”
“The books that are out of place are in the used book section. Do you think there could have been anything rare or maybe worth more in value to someone else?”
