A Fatal Collection

by Mary Ellen Hughes

  “I keep forgetting that Keepsake Cove is not its own town. That we’re a section of Mapleton.”

  “You’ll remember if you get slapped with a fine for breaking one of Mapleton’s town ordinances. Mel got one when she didn’t clear the snow out front soon enough.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. It snowed on a Sunday night but she put off taking care of it, figuring Tuesday morning would be okay. But she got fined.” Tabitha tucked her rib-knit tank top a little tighter into her skirt. “She always suspected that Karl turned her in, though she couldn’t prove it.”

  “So who reported the Harts’ sidewalk?”

  “Good question. I’m sure Laurie and Bill would like to know.”

  Callie’s eye was caught by movement across the street, and she was surprised to see Annie lowering the Keepsake Café’s awning.

  “Oh yeah,” Tabitha said. “Meant to tell you that, too. Annie’s handling the café today. She said Brian is sick.”

  “Oh my gosh! I wondered why I didn’t hear anything from him yesterday. You know about Elvin being in the hospital, right?”

  “I sure do. Poor guy. And I heard you went to see him Sunday morning.”

  “I did, with Brian. He seemed fine then. Brian, that is. I wonder what’s wrong?”

  “I forgot to ask. Want to run over and find out?” Tabitha asked.

  Callie nodded. “Be back in a minute.”

  She stepped outside and checked around for approaching customers. Seeing the coast was clear, she trotted across the street and found Annie, now inside the café and bustling about.

  “I just heard about Brian,” she said as she went in. “How sick is he?”

  Annie, looking just a bit frazzled, shrugged. “It’s some kind of flu. We dragged him to a clinic late last night, and they’re pretty sure that’s what he’s got. Fever, aches, stomach problems—the whole enchilada, if you’ll pardon the expression. All they could prescribe is bed rest and lots of fluids. He thinks he picked it up at the hospital, but then he’s ready to blame anything on hospitals.”

  “Yes, he told me how he feels about them and why.”

  “He did? Good for him. Brian tends not to talk about that. But you’re okay, right? I mean, you were there and didn’t catch anything?”

  “No, I’m fine. But I remember Brian saying on Sunday evening that he felt pretty beat. I’d guess he was coming down with whatever he has by then and must have caught his bug much earlier.”

  “I’ll tell him that. When I get a minute, that is. Right now, I’d better do a few million things back in the kitchen.”

  “Think you’ll manage okay?”

  “I’ll be fine. I’ve taken over here other times. But usually with a lot more notice, so that I had time to arrange things at home—like where the kids will go after the school bus drops them off. I just got off the phone with a friend who’ll pick them up.”

  “If there’s something Tabitha or I can do to help, let me know,” Callie said. Not wanting to hold Annie up, she wished her luck and left, hoping the café’s business would be light that day and that Brian would be back in charge soon.

  She could see a bit of the Kids at Heart sidewalk situation in the distance. A glance toward her own shop told her that Tabitha was fine, so Callie headed over to the vintage toy shop.

  Bill was pacing just beyond his shop, and as Callie drew closer she saw that he had put up a large sign directing customers to the back entrance. The sidewalk spanning the entire front of the store had been turned into rubble. Several orange safety cones and tape roped it off.

  “I heard,” Callie said to Bill as she drew near. “Where’s the crew?”

  “That’s what we’d like to know!” Bill said, waving his hands in frustration. “They turned our perfectly good concrete into this, then took off. Laurie’s on the phone now trying to get answers.”

  “I’m so sorry. At least you have your back entrance. Are people using it?”

  Bill shook his head. “They see these cones and the mess and cross to the other side of the street before they get close enough to read my sign. I’m out here, ready to assure anyone that they can still come in, but no one’s even coming near. I don’t know what else we can do!”

  He ran fingers through his thinning hair, and Callie could see his plaid shirt had darkened with sweat and was sticking to his back. Kids at Heart got the morning sun, which was already blazing. “If this doesn’t get fixed soon, we might be in trouble. One day, I can handle, but I don’t know how much longer. Somebody’s got to get back here and work on it!”

  “I heard about the hotline report. Any idea who called it in?”

  Bill shifted uneasily. “Laurie thinks it was Duane. That he heard about her audit efforts and was getting back at us. She’s always ready to think the worst of him, but I don’t know. I can’t see it. My guess is it was some cranky customer who stubbed a toe or just enjoys causing trouble.”

  Duane could be pretty cranky over what he’d consider Laurie’s harassment and want to cause trouble, Callie thought. But like Bill, she didn’t really know. Troublemaking shoppers were just as good a guess. “I hope Laurie will stir some action,” she said before turning back to House of Melody. Before going inside, she stopped to examine her own sidewalk and was relieved to spot nothing that could cause any alarm. But who knew? Maybe that hotline system didn’t ask for proof, and an anonymous claim was all that was required to set things in motion.

  On that uncomfortable thought, Callie entered her shop. The mail had come, and Tabitha was sorting through it. She held up a large envelope for Callie.

  “This looks like the estate sale Mel was interested in. I think it’s this week. You might want to look into it.”

  “An estate sale?”

  “Yeah, Mel enjoyed going to them. She sometimes picked up unique music boxes that way.”

  That sounded intriguing to Callie, and she opened the envelope. “It’s on Thursday evening,” she said, reading. “In a place called Mullica Hill in New Jersey. A long drive?”

  “Probably over two hours,” Tabitha said. “But it’s worth it, from what Mel always said. She went there a lot. She’d stay overnight and check out the antique shops before heading back. There’s a lot of them, she told me. I could close up for you on Thursday and open up Friday morning if you want. I used to do that for Mel once in a while.”

  “Did you? Then that would work. Let me think about it, though.”

  “Sure. I don’t need to know before Thursday. Look over their brochure and see if you think it’s worth the trip. But I know you’d love Mullica Hill, just for itself.”

  Callie smiled, liking the idea of a get-away that could also be good for her shop. But she still had a lot to consider. “Thanks, Tabitha. As usual, you’re a font of information.”

  •

  Later that afternoon, Callie looked up from the brochure she’d been studying to see Jonathan walk in. She felt a bit guilty for not having thought about him since his report on Elvin on Sunday and doubly so when she learned he’d spent a large amount of time at the hospital since then.

  “It wasn’t that hard for me,” he insisted. “I have other things to do in the area, and I can bring my work with me to the hospital, unlike you.” He tilted his head toward her music boxes with a smile.

  “How is Elvin?” Callie asked.

  “They tell me his brain swelling is slowly going down. They can’t say much about his prognosis. It’s still a wait-and-see situation.”

  Callie shook her head. “Brian is hoping to get to talk to him.” She grinned wryly. “I think he wants to scold him. But only because he likes Elvin and worries about him. Brian would have been at the hospital too except he’s come down with the flu. His sister has been running the café.”

  “I wondered why I didn’t see him. That’s too bad. In that case, I’ll make a poi
nt of stopping in at the hospital again tomorrow. I think somebody should be there for Elvin. Even if he isn’t aware of it.”

  “That’s really nice of you.”

  “Well, as I said, I got to know him a little and can’t help feeling sorry for him. The only thing is, that hospital cafeteria food is pretty bland. I have a meeting tonight with a new client and will have to work in the stop at the hospital tomorrow between a couple other things. I’m always eating on the run lately, which gets old pretty fast. But,” he said, shrugging, “I’ll survive.”

  “Why don’t I fix something tomorrow night?” Callie said.

  “Oh, no, I didn’t mean—”

  “I’d love to, really! I’ve hardly cooked since I’ve been here, and, you know, I kind of miss it.” Callie felt, too, that she owed it to Jonathan for the dinners he’d taken her to, as well as all the trouble he was going to for Elvin. “It would be a treat for me, honest.”

  “Well, if you’re sure?”

  “Absolutely. Does seven o’clock work for you?”

  “That would be perfect,” Jonathan said. “Thank you. I’ll look forward to it.”

  Jonathan took off, and Callie watched, already mentally scouring through the short list of company-level dinners she was capable of fixing and beginning to worry that Jonathan’s tastes might be much more discriminating than hers. Then she shook herself. She could definitely put something together that would top hospital cafeteria, so that would be her starting point. Anything after that would be gravy, so to speak.

  She smiled, and decided she was also looking forward to what would be her first hosted dinner at the cottage.

  Twenty-Six

  The next day, while Tabitha was there to take care of the shop, Callie drove the several blocks to the supermarket to pick up what she’d need for her dinner that night. She’d decided on baked salmon as something she could fix in the limited time, along with vegetables and a store-bought dessert.

  “I won’t be long. Just a few things on my list,” she’d promised her assistant, omitting the part about who exactly she was picking up the dinner items for. Although she was comfortable with her reasons for issuing the invitation, she wasn’t sure Tabitha would interpret it that way, and she wasn’t in the mood for either a teasing or a lecture.

  Callie quickly found what she wanted at the store, pleased that everything looked nice and fresh, and was heading back within minutes. While driving past Kids at Heart, she noticed a crew working on Laurie and Bill’s sidewalk. Good, she thought, until she realized the crew was pouring wet cement, which would take several hours to set. That meant no front door use for the toy store’s customers at least until the next day. She grimaced and hoped the Harts could deal with a second day’s major business slow-down.

  Annie was running the Keepsake Café for Brian again, but hopefully having had more time to plan had made it a little easier for her. The thought of her two neighbors and their difficulties made Callie grateful for her current comfort and ease, though she should probably knock on some music box wood once she got back. Things could change in the blink of an eye, as she was already keenly aware.

  She had decided to drive up to Mullica Hill the next day for the estate sale and smiled as she anticipated that trip. Tabitha had described the quaint town with its multiple antique shops enticingly, and though it would mean some hours on the road, the get-away, with its justifiable purpose of shopping-for-the-shop, sounded great.

  As she drove past the Keepsake Café, Callie spotted Annie catching a breath of air, and she tooted her horn lightly and waved before turning left to park off the main road. She made a U-turn to bring her car to the closer side of the street, then grabbed her bagged groceries and carried them past Car-lectibles, carefully avoiding any glances into Karl Eggers’s shop. She then followed the path along the fence to her cottage, where she stowed away her perishables. After throwing together a cheese sandwich, Callie checked around the living room as she ate, looking for any missed areas of tidiness from her previous night’s clean-up, Jagger following at her heels.

  “Guess I’ll have to brush off the seats again before tonight,” she said as she spotted a circle of gray cat hair on a sofa cushion, but she reached down and scratched the cat’s head affectionately as she spoke. Jagger had been a great antidote to loneliness during her evenings in the cottage, and the extra work he required was well worth it.

  She filled two glasses with iced tea, then, and carried them across her small yard to the back of House of Melody, one glass intended for Tabitha. As she walked in, she could hear her assistant guiding a customer through the many music box choices available to her and tossing out questions that might help narrow them down, queries such as Does your sister like classical music? Where would she keep the music box? In her living room? What style of furniture does it have, and would she want her music box to blend in?

  An older woman’s quavery voice answered each point, sometimes firmly, sometimes uncertainly, and Tabitha eventually led her toward choosing between two boxes: a rather expensive glass-topped box that played Hungarian Rhapsody, and a medium-priced, ivory-inlaid box that played Pachelbel’s Canon.

  Callie stayed out of sight, not wanting to disrupt the serious thought going into the purchase. The woman, after a long silence, finally pronounced, “Hungarian Rhapsody.”

  “Great choice,” Tabitha pronounced, and Callie smiled. What a gem of a saleswoman she’d inherited. The ultimate proof, of course, lay in the sale remaining final, but so far Tabitha had scored a hundred in that respect.

  When Callie heard the door close behind the customer, she stepped out of the office and congratulated her assistant, handing her the modest reward of an iced tea.

  “Thanks,” Tabitha said. “She was a sweet old thing. She wanted the perfect gift to celebrate her sister’s milestone birthday. Turning ninety! Luckily for us, Hungarian Rhapsody had a special significance.”

  “Lucky indeed.”

  Callie told Tabitha of having seen Kids at Heart getting its new sidewalk poured. “I don’t know how fast cement dries, but I’d guess it won’t be walkable before tomorrow.”

  “That’s too bad. Well, at least it’ll be done. Maybe they can run a special sale or something to make up for it. Got your food okay?”

  “Oh, sure.”

  “So who’s the lucky guest?”

  “Um … ”

  “No, let me guess. Jonathan! Am I right?”

  “Tabitha, you really are psychic, aren’t you?”

  Tabitha laughed. “Didn’t need to be, this time. The only other choice is sick in bed.”

  “I might have invited Delia, you know.”

  Tabitha thought about that. “Yeah, you could have. But the vibes I was picking up didn’t fit Delia.”

  “No vibes,” Callie countered. “Just a home-cooked meal for a guy who’s been generously looking after Elvin when the rest of us can’t.”

  “Okay. Whatever.” Tabitha’s words and casual shrug may have implied acceptance of the explanation, but Callie wasn’t fooled. She didn’t have to be psychic herself to guess what was going through Tabitha’s head.

  “I’ve decided to drive up to Mullica Hill tomorrow,” she said, changing the subject. “Are you still okay with putting in the extra time?”

  “Sure, no problem. While you’re up there, you might keep an eye out for music boxes with a little history. Jonathan loves those.”

  “That’s right. I remember he said something about that.”

  “Mel picked one up once—not at Mullica Hill, but somewhere else—that had been owned by one of the Roosevelt daughters. He went totally bonkers over it.”

  “Really? Which Roosevelt?”

  “Huh? Oh, gosh, did they both have daughters?”

  “Uh-huh, but Teddy’s was more well known. Alice.”

  “That’s the one.” Tabitha grinned, adding,
“I think.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind—something with a history, that is.” Callie glanced out her windows. “What’s the weather going to be for my drive up there? Any idea?”

  “I don’t need to be psychic to know that, either. Hot, humid, with a chance of thunderstorms in the late afternoon. Just like they’ve been saying nearly every day lately.”

  “It does get old, doesn’t it? Thank heavens for air conditioning,” Callie said, adding as she saw two women heading toward the shop, “which might keep people at home too much, but once they’re here, they hurry into our nice cool shops. Good afternoon!” she greeted the women as they came in, setting down her iced tea and getting back to work.

  •

  Tabitha had been gone for a while when, during a quiet time, Callie suddenly realized she’d forgotten to buy one item for that night.

  “Bummer!” she cried, knowing she wouldn’t have time to run back to the supermarket and still get herself and her food ready. Then she thought of the Keepsake Café and grabbed her phone.

  “Annie? Got a minute?” Getting an okay on that, Callie asked, “Do you have any dinner rolls I could buy?”

  “Dinner rolls? No, the only rolls we keep on hand are the sandwich type.” Callie’s groan was swallowed when Annie then asked, “Would nut bread do?”

  “You have nut bread? That’s great! Can I run over for it right now?”

  “Sure. The place is empty. I was getting ready to close up.”

  Callie said she’d be there in a flash and grabbed her keys to lock the shop’s front door, just in case. As she trotted over, she could see Annie coming out of the kitchen holding the tasty bread.

  “Thanks so much,” Callie said, hurrying in.

  “Glad to help. Expecting company?”

  “A last-minute thing. I thought I had everything. How’s Brian?”

  “Getting grumpy, which probably means he’s improving. Still pretty wiped out, though. I convinced him to let me run the café one more day.”