The Package

by Sharon Dunn

  She found herself not wanting to think about the stocks and elusive Joan and Therese. All her other plans and good intentions had borne fruit. Positive things were happening because she had trusted her instincts in pulling this intergenerational project together.

  Annie had just settled down to work on her own contribution to the hospital project when the phone rang.

  “Hello.”

  “Annie, it’s Mary Beth.” She sounded out of breath. “We have a problem at the store.” Preparing for the worst, Annie slumped down on the couch. Just when she thought things were going so well. “What happened?”

  “All this cold weather followed by hot weather caused a pipe to burst in the back room. I’ve closed the store for the day while the plumber is here. Kate and I are going to move as much as we can out of that back room to prevent mold damage.”

  Sympathy washed through Annie. Poor Mary Beth. So much to deal with. “I am sorry to hear that. Do you need some help?”

  “I think Kate and I have it under control, but we will either have to cancel the Wednesday class or find a different place to meet.”

  “You let me handle that end of things.” Annie paced the floor, her mind already filling with a to-do list. “I don’t want to cancel. Maybe we can reroute it to Seaside Hills? Gwen and Alice can probably give me a hand with calling everyone.”

  “As soon as you know what the plan is, give me a jingle, and I will put a note on the door for anyone who doesn’t get the message,” Mary Beth said.

  Annie hung up the phone and called Katrina at Seaside.

  After Annie explained the situation, Katrina responded, “Unfortunately, the dining room is spoken for by the Sons of Scotland Club. I have already made arrangement for transportation for the ladies. If we can come up with an alternative location, I can get the ladies there.”

  Impulsively, Annie said, “How about my house? Between the living room and the dining room, it’s big enough.” She’d just have to close the door to the library.

  “That sounds like a great idea.” Katrina took down the address.

  After hanging up, Annie gazed around the living room, hands on her hips. Why did the house always look messier when you thought about having company? Construction in the library had produced extra dust, and the men had tracked in mud from the patio.

  After calling Mary Beth and Alice—to get the phone relay started—with the change of location, Annie mopped and dusted, and then grabbed her coat and darted out the door to get some snacks at Magruder’s.

  Annie pulled into a parking space by the grocery store. Across the street, Mary Beth had already posted a note on the door of A Stitch in Time. Only one light was on and the “Sorry, We’re Closed” sign was propped in the window.

  “Hey, Annie.”

  Annie glanced up to see Peggy just as she crossed the street to talk to her. The Cup & Saucer looked dark as well.

  “Don’t tell me. Water damage.”

  “Mary Beth’s place and The Cup & Saucer share the same plumbing. The damage isn’t bad. My boss thinks he can get things cleaned up by dinner. You know what this means.” Peggy rocked back and forth on her tennis shoes, excitement gracing her features. “I can come to the class today. I saw the note on Mary Beth’s door. Meeting at Grey Gables should be fun.”

  “I think it will be nice to have a house full of people,” Annie said. “I need to start making use of all the square footage I’ve been blessed with.”

  Peggy gazed skyward as a few drops of rain fell. “Gotta run home and put Wally’s dinner in the cooker and get the neighbor to watch Emily.” Peggy raced toward her car, shielding her eyes from the sprinkle of rain.

  Annie darted into the grocery store and pushed the cart through the aisle at a trot. The rain was coming down in buckets by the time she loaded the groceries in her car and raced home.

  Annie worked at whirlwind speed to get some snacks together. She had just diluted and mixed the concentrated juice when the doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of the women. Rain slashed against the windows while half the women found a place in the living room and the other half settled around the dining room table.

  Annie leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, listening with satisfaction to the chatter and laughter. This is what Grey Gables was for, to be a place of hospitality. Gram had always made sure everyone in town knew they were welcome at her home. She needed to renew that tradition. It didn’t make sense for one person to be wandering around this big house alone. Why hadn’t she thought of this sooner?

  Heading to the kitchen, Peggy passed by Annie. “You’ll never believe it, but Estelle used to work as a waitress at The Cup & Saucer. She retired a little before I started working there.”

  “No kidding? There are so many neat connections between people that we never know about until we start talking.”

  “So true.” Peggy spoke over her shoulder as she headed down the hallway. “This is fun. We should do it more often.”

  Peggy slipped into the kitchen. Annie relaxed against the doorway. She closed her eyes. The harmony of voices talking and the laughter was like a song to her.

  A shriek and the sound of glass shattering came from the kitchen. Annie’s eyes shot open. Both rooms fell silent. Remembering the previous break-in, Annie raced down the hall.

  Peggy stood in the middle of the kitchen. All of the color had drained from her face. Pieces of shattered glass scattered across the floor. Annie rushed to her friend, draping her hands on her shoulders and following the line of Peggy’s gaze. “Peggy? What happened?”

  Peggy cleared her throat and pointed toward an open cupboard door. “A mouse.”

  Footsteps pounded down the hall. Annie craned her neck in the direction of the doorway where several of the women and teens had gathered. A sinking sensation invaded her limbs as she glanced back at the open cupboard door.

  “He stood up on his hind legs and wiggled his nose at me.” Peggy’s voice wavered.

  Heat rose up in Annie’s cheeks. “I’ve been trying to get rid of them.”

  Behind her, Taylor giggled, but the other women looked even more stricken than Peggy.

  “It’s just a mouse, guys.” Taylor seemed amused by the other women expressing fear over something so small.

  Annie grabbed the broom and dustpan. “Why don’t you go sit down, Peggy? I’ll clean this up.”

  “I didn’t mean to scream so loud. I’ve just never looked a mouse right in the eyes. They are usually scurrying across the floor.” Peggy spoke in a monotone as though she were still trying to recover from the fright. She left the kitchen, still shaking her head.

  As Annie cleaned, the chatter in the next room resumed, although not as lively as before. Her ire over the evasive mice grew. This one certainly was being bold.

  Annie returned to the dining room. “All taken care of.” She noticed that no one had touched the snacks she’d brought out. Leave it to a mouse to put a damper on a party.

  Peggy poked her head in from the living room. “Estelle remembers Joan and her daughter when they came into The Cup & Saucer.”

  Estelle stood behind Peggy, holding her knitting in one hand. “She came in quite often. Real nice lady. Good tipper. Impeccably dressed. She wore such nice suits with a silk scarf around her neck.” Estelle addressed her next comment to Peggy. “You always remember the big tippers.”

  Peggy nodded and then turned back toward Annie. “Estelle is pretty sure her daughter’s last name was Gilkerson,” Peggy added.

  “Real sweet gal, kind of quiet. Something had happened to the baby’s father. I don’t remember what. The craziest thing was—a couple of years later, the daughter came through town all by herself. She came into The Cup & Saucer for lunch, and I recognized her.”

  “Why was she back in town?”

  “She didn’t say. We were busy that afternoon. She acted a little skittish, like she was nervous about something. The reason I remember her at all is because later that afternoon, the poor thing went and g
ot herself killed out on the highway.”

  Annie suppressed a gasp, feeling a sudden light-headedness. “She died?”

  “A one-car rollover. It was a pretty big deal. Don’t have accidents like that around here that often.”

  “Really.” Annie could barely form a response.

  Estelle and Peggy wandered back to the living room. Annie finished the rest of the afternoon in a daze. As they slipped into their rain gear, several of the Seaside residents thanked Annie for hosting. Annie appreciated their graciousness. The mouse-spotting seemed to have affected the joviality of the party. Alice, Lily, Taylor, and Stella lingered after everyone else had left.

  “Look what we have done so far.” Lily handed Annie a delicately knitted blue hat with yellow trim.

  Annie brushed her hand over the soft yarn. What Stella and Lily had done together was far better than what they could have done separately. “Really beautiful.”

  “Come along, ladies.” Warmth permeated Stella’s voice as a glow of affection filled her eyes.

  “Stella’s dropping us off at my place,” Taylor said. “Lily is going to stay the night.”

  “That sounds like fun,” Annie said.

  Annie waited until the last three guests exited and the door eased shut before collapsing on the couch beside Alice. “So was that a success or a total disaster?”

  “The reviews are mixed.” Alice sighed and leaned against her friend’s shoulder.

  “I am going to take this house apart board by board to find that mouse.”

  “Don’t shoot off your nose to spite your face,” Alice said. “I kind of like Grey Gables in one piece.”

  “What a day.” Annie moved her crochet project to the table by the couch. “What do you think about what Estelle said?”

  “Memory isn’t a perfect thing, but what she said is probably true. You remember things like a fatal accident. It was probably front-page news in The Point.” Alice sat up. “We can check Mike Malone’s collection of old editions.”

  “Do you suppose Joan had a reason for staying away, but Therese was able to come back once Joan told her about the stock certificates?” Annie groaned. “I am tired of thinking about all this. All I can do is guess.”

  “Therese not knowing about the stock certificates would explain why there was a delay in her coming back.”

  “If she is dead, our only hope is to find Joan.” Annie fluffed one of her pillows and looked around the room. “Do you think anyone will ever want to come to my house again?”

  “Sure they will. It was just a little mouse.” Alice sat up straighter. “I’ve got to get back to the house. The UPS man brought three boxes of Princessa jewelry today. I have to sort through it all and put it in bags for delivery.” Alice rose to her feet. “Try to get a good night’s sleep.”

  Annie stood up as well. “You are a good friend.”

  After saying goodbye to Alice, Annie made herself a light dinner. Every time she had to open the cupboard where Peggy had seen the mouse, fresh anger surged through her. The pure arrogance of standing on hind legs and wiggling his little pink nose. Did he think he was being charming?

  The way things were going, that mouse would run her off before she got rid of him. She knew, too, that it was entirely possible it wasn’t just one bold mouse she had to get rid of. A mouse family might have taken up residence. Grey Gables would be reduced to a pile of toothpicks, and she still wouldn’t be able to find him, his family, or his nest.

  Annie walked through the kitchen, stopping to stare out the window at the patio. The wind had really picked up. Tree limbs were bent from the force, and her poor flowers were drowning. Either Wally or Douglas had left a piece of the cut wood out on the patio. This much rain would ruin it. The wind caught the piece of oak and lifted it. If she didn’t get that wood now, she’d be fishing it out of the ocean.

  Annie pushed open the kitchen door and raced across the patio. Raindrops pricked her skin like tiny swords. Wind plastered her hair against her face. She hadn’t taken the time to grab a coat. This storm was way worse than she had anticipated.

  Annie picked up the cutout piece of wood, which was 12 inches wide and maybe 4 feet long. She pulled matted hair from her face. The wind forced her sideways, and her wet clothes clung to her body.

  With her free hand, she reached for the doorknob, which didn’t budge. She shook and pushed, but … the lock must have latched behind her. She’d have to go around to the front. Annie was shivering by the time she made it around to the porch. Setting the piece of wood on the decking, she reached for the doorknob. Panic invaded Annie’s limbs. She was locked out. What was going on here?

  She hadn’t locked it after the guests left. She jiggled the handle. Heart racing, Annie dashed off the porch. She must have left a first-floor window open somewhere. She would have to get in that way. A light flashed on the second floor.

  Annie blinked and swiped the rain away from her eyes. Someone was in her house. Ignoring how cold she was, she dashed around to the family room window. She’d left it open when the temperature had warmed. With the door into the hallway closed, she had forgotten all about the open window.

  Finding a rock from the garden to serve as a step, Annie crawled through the window and landed in a heap on the floor. She lay on her stomach, catching her breath.

  Slowly, she rose to her feet. Had she seen someone in the house or not? The light had been real, she knew it. She needed to call the police. Annie glanced around the family room looking for anything that might serve as a defensive weapon. Grabbing a tennis racket from the closet, she edged toward the door; her pulse drummed in her ear as she crept down the hallway toward the kitchen and the phone.

  She tilted her head, listening. The light had been on in one of the second-floor bedrooms.

  A loud knock on the front door made her jump. Annie patted her chest as fear hit her full force, and her heart pounded intensely.

  Who is knocking on the door in this weather?

  The knock came again, this time more insistent.

  Annie grabbed the phone and edged cautiously toward the door.

  She cleared her throat, gripping the tennis racket even tighter. “Who is it?”

  “Police, ma’am.”

  That didn’t make any sense. She pulled back the curtain by the door to make sure it was the police and not her intruder. Officer Peters stood on the porch in his rain poncho. Taking in a deep breath, Annie opened the door.

  “How did you know to come?”

  “We had a call from your neighbor.” The officer pointed in the direction of Alice’s house. “She saw an intruder crawling in through your window.”

  “That was me.”

  Cal Peters’ gaze fixed on the tennis racket in her hand. “Ma’am, are you all right?”

  Annie set down the phone and the tennis racket. She held her trembling hands in front of her face. “I think someone was … is in my house.” Because she’d been operating on pure adrenaline, she hadn’t realized until now how afraid she was. She stepped to one side so Officer Peters could come in.

  The young officer squared his shoulders. “I can check it out for you.”

  She was feeling better already. “I think he was on the second floor.”

  Soaked to the bone, Annie sat on the couch listening to Peters’ footsteps on the stairs and then the creak of the bedroom door and more footsteps and shuffling. A chill that started in the marrow of her bones and worked its way outward made her shiver again. She grabbed the afghan she kept on the arm of the couch and wrapped it around her shoulders.

  The officer came back down the stairs. “I searched the rooms. I couldn’t find anything.”

  “OK,” her voice sounded squeaky. “He must have left.”

  “Do you think that’s what happened?” The officer narrowed his eyes, implying that he didn’t quite believe her about the intruder.

  Great, now he thinks I am losing my mind. “I know I saw a light on the second floor. And I am pretty sure I did
n’t lock that front door.” Her voice lacked confidence. Maybe she was losing her mind. Maybe she had just imagined the break-ins. She couldn’t offer any evidence of the phone call either. Peters had said that the chief was taking this seriously, but all these false alarms didn’t make her look good.

  “Ma’am. I’m just not comfortable leaving you here alone. Is there someone you can call?”

  “In this weather?” He must have picked up on her anxiety … or he thought she’d gone completely off her rocker and needed supervision.

  The officer raised his eyebrows, indicating that he wasn’t leaving until she came up with someone to call. Considering she was old enough to be his mom, the scolding look he gave her was somewhat amusing.

  At least she hadn’t lost her sense of humor through all this. Annie shivered. She really needed to get out of these wet clothes. “Alice should be available, since she is the one who phoned about an intruder.”

  Peters put his hands on his hips. “I’ll wait while you give her a call.”

  Annie suppressed a smile at the paternal role the young officer had assumed. Annie obediently picked up the phone.

  Even before she could say hello, Alice’s panicked voice came across the line. “Oh my goodness, Annie, are you all right? Was there an intruder?”

  Annie pressed the phone against her ear. At least her hands weren’t shaking anymore. “It’s a long story, but I am not feeling very safe right now at Grey Gables. Can I come over to your place?”

  “Sure.”

  “I’ll be over in just a minute.” The compassion she heard in her friend’s voice bolstered her. After hanging up, she told Officer Peters, “I just need to change into some dry clothes. I think I would like to go over there right away if you could help me make sure everything is locked up tight.”