by Jan Fields
“Probably no more than Dr. Paige was on you,” he said. “I will need to keep an eye on them though. Elizabeth is amazingly good at calming my brother, but he has a pretty big head of steam up about this lobster count, and we don’t need any shouting matches at this ball.”
They walked through the doors into the ballroom, and Annie gasped. The room was nearly full of couples. Some were dancing, the vintage costumes and masks looking elegant and otherworldly on the dance floor. Others stood along the sides of the room, chatting in small groups.
That’s when Annie spotted Victoria Meyer. The tall woman looked as haughty as Annie remembered. She wore a gold gown that poured over her figure like a fabric fountain. Then Annie spotted the ornately jeweled mask in Mrs. Meyer’s hand and realized the man standing beside her was the one who had bought the elaborate mask at the auction. Annie’s face darkened in a puzzled frown. Why did the young woman pay such a ridiculous amount for the mask Annie made if she wasn’t going to wear it to the ball?
8
As Annie looked over the other woman’s ball gown, she realized her mask would never have gone with it. The golden mask studded with jewels was a perfect match. Then Annie gave a small mental shrug. Maybe the young woman had changed gowns when her husband gave her the gift of the jeweled mask.
Just then, Mrs. Meyer turned to look fully at Annie. A sudden flash of surprise crossed the young woman’s face.
Someone stepped into Annie’s line of sight, pulling her back into the moment. Mackenzie stood in front of her with her arm linked through Vanessa’s arm. Annie was surprised to see Vanessa looking glum.
“Hi girls,” Ian said. “You both look lovely.”
“Your mother did a fantastic job on that gown, Vanessa,” Annie added.
The delicate crocheted gown sparkled from the fine ice blue silk yarn that was twisted with thin silver strands. Vanessa managed to smile a little. “Thanks, Mrs. Dawson,” she said. “Mom worked like crazy to get it done in time. She made my mask too.”
Vanessa held up the mask on the stick and Annie saw it was a lacy crochet done in the same yarn as the 1920s-style dress, and then made hard with fabric stiffener to hold its shape. “I see you bought Mom’s other mask,” Vanessa said. “She made zillions of those little flowers when I was a kid. She sewed them on all my clothes when I was little to fancy them up.”
“The kids started calling her ‘Daisy,’” Mackenzie said, and then she smiled. “But in the nicest way.”
“She says that because she’s one of the ones who started it,” Vanessa said, throwing a mock scowl at her friend. “I asked Mom to stop putting flowers on my clothes, so I’m glad she finally found a place to put them.”
“I’m glad too,” Annie said. “They’re lovely.”
Vanessa nodded; then her eyes swept the room, and Annie saw her frown again.
“I thought you were looking forward to the ball,” Annie said quietly. “You seem a little down.”
Vanessa pointed through the crowd. “Because of that!”
Annie followed her line of vision and saw Vanessa’s father, Harry Stevens. He stood near a blond woman quite a bit younger than himself. In fact, Annie suspected the woman was barely into her twenties. The young woman wore a ridiculously tight, slinky dress that stopped well above her knees. The dress didn’t look even slightly “vintage.”
“Oh,” Annie said.
Ian frowned slightly. “Well, your parents are divorced, Vanessa.”
“I know,” Vanessa said. “And I know they can date other people. I’m not a kid. But she’s so … so …” Her voice trailed off, and she just glared instead of finishing.
Annie had to agree. The young woman really was something else.
Right about then, Harry seemed to catch sight of Vanessa. He wove through the crowd toward her with the blonde leaning so heavily on his arm that he listed slightly to one side.
“Hi, baby,” he said when he reached them. He leaned over to give Vanessa a kiss on the cheek. She didn’t pull away, but she did frown at her father’s date. “You haven’t met my friend, Sunny!”
“Pleased to meet you, kid,” Sunny said.
“How do you do?” Vanessa replied stiffly.
“I do just fine,” Sunny said, and then giggled close to Harry’s ear. “Don’t I, Harry?”
Harry glared at her. “This is my kid, Sunny!”
“She’s a big girl,” Sunny said with a shrug. Then she turned to look pointedly at Ian and Annie, but Harry didn’t offer to introduce them. Sunny leaned closer to Annie. “That’s a pretty hair comb. I love sparkly things.”
“Like a crow,” Vanessa muttered quietly, bringing a frown from her father.
“Maybe I could borrow it sometime?” Sunny said, apparently not hearing Vanessa’s remark.
Annie looked at her in surprise. She didn’t know how to respond to a perfect stranger wanting to borrow her things, but she was rescued by Ian who asked Harry where he had met Sunny. Instead of letting Harry answer, Sunny spoke up. “I’m a waitress in Storm Harbor,” she said. “Harry’s my favorite customer.”
Annie could see Vanessa readying another remark, but this time Mackenzie cut in. “I’m going to drag Vanessa out to find some food and show off our gowns. Nice meeting you, Sunny.” Then she pulled her friend toward the door while Vanessa glared daggers at Sunny.
With his daughter gone, it was clear Harry had no urge to continue any conversation with Annie and Ian. An awkward pause settled on them until Sunny announced that she was ready to dance, and they moved away through the crowd.
Ian grinned down at Annie. “Your hair comb has been quite a hit tonight.” He tilted his head as he looked at it. “It is pretty. Was it Betsy’s?”
“I don’t think so,” Annie said. “It’s not really Gram’s style. Or mine for that matter. But it’s a pretty thing. I found the set in the attic.”
“Ah, the mysterious attic.”
Annie laughed lightly. “So far the attic hasn’t been nearly as mysterious and full of conflict as this masquerade ball.”
Ian looked over the crowd and raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Looks normal enough to me—maybe a little fancy.”
“But we have the mystery of the chattering biologists,” Annie said.
The corner of Ian’s mouth turned up slightly. “They do like to talk.”
“And ask questions,” Annie said. “But none of the questions are about fishing or lobsters or anything you’d expect of a biologist.”
“Astute observation, Detective Dawson,” Ian teased.
“And there’s the mystery of the changing masks.” Annie explained about Mrs. Meyer paying such a large amount for Annie’s mask and then carrying a totally different mask.
“I have a theory,” Ian said. “Perhaps her husband bought the gold mask at the auction as a gift. Since he paid a lot more for it, naturally she’d bring that one.”
“That is an excellent hypothesis, Detective Butler. But we have another perplexing mystery.”
Ian raised his eyebrows quizzically and Annie said, “The mystery of what Harry sees in that young woman.”
This brought a full-out laugh from Ian. “That is far too obvious to be a mystery.”
As they talked, Annie’s eyes continued to move over the crowd. Finally she stopped and nodded. “And there’s the biggest mystery of all. What has brought John MacFarlane to Stony Point?”
Ian looked up in surprise. Alice and John stood some distance away, talking seriously. “Now that is a mystery. Maybe we should go and greet them, Detective Dawson.”
“Excellent idea, Detective Butler.”
Annie and Ian crossed the room, pausing several times as different people called out to the mayor. Twice they had to stop and exchange short conversations with people Ian knew. Anytime he introduced Annie, she caught very interested looks and more than one knowing—or was it assuming?—smile.
It was a relief to reach Alice and John. They stood in a small alcove at one side of the ballroom, and
Annie’s and Ian’s arrival broke up some kind of serious discussion. Annie noticed that Alice greeted them with real relief. She quickly introduced Ian and John.
“What brings you to Stony Point?” Ian asked mildly.
“Can you possibly look at Alice and wonder that?” John asked as he turned an adoring smile toward Alice. Annie had to admit John looked dashing in his tuxedo. And Alice was lovely in the ivory strapless gown she wore. Together they made a striking couple, but a couple that Annie felt uneasy about.
Alice’s gown had a full skirt with tulle crinoline underskirts that hung nearly to the floor while the lace overskirt stopped just below the knee in front and curved to within a few inches of the tulle edge in the back. The simple color made it a perfect backdrop for the beautiful necklace of faux pearls, diamonds, and rubies that Alice wore. Long, sparkling diamond earrings caught the light each time Alice moved her head.
“You look beautiful,” Annie said, giving Alice a warm hug.
“You too.” Alice’s smile brightened still more when she noticed Annie’s hair ornament. “Oh, I’m so glad you wore something from the emerald set. I was right, it sets off your eyes.”
At the word “emerald,” John’s interest turned sharply toward Annie’s jewelry. “That is a lovely piece,” he said. “Is it a family heirloom?”
“Maybe,” Alice answered for her. “It came out of Annie’s attic, where there are more heirlooms per square foot than an antique store.”
Annie shook her head at her friend’s teasing. “Only if you define ‘heirloom’ as ‘dusty junk.’ I am beginning to think none of the women in my family ever threw anything away. It all just migrated to the attic at Gram’s house.”
“Sounds like an excellent place for a treasure hunt,” John said.
“We’ve had a few up there,” Alice answered.
“So,” Ian said, looking pointedly at John. “Do you think you’ll be in Stony Point long?”
“I’m not sure,” John said, locking eyes with the mayor. “It depends.”
“On what?” Ian asked.
John didn’t answer for a moment and the tension between the two men ramped up. Annie was struck again with how fiercely protective Ian could be. At least this time, his protective streak wasn’t related to her, and she was glad of it.
Just as John seemed ready to answer the mayor’s question, the ballroom was plunged into darkness. With the heavy drapes over the tall windows that lined the long, outside wall of the room, the darkness seemed absolute. Annie heard several cries of alarm and called out, “Is everyone all right?”
Then she felt a tug at her hair and wondered if Ian were trying to reach out to her in the dark. She could feel strands of hair falling down on her neck, and she suspected Ian’s cuff link must have caught and pulled part of her chignon loose.
“I’m fine,” Alice’s voice said in the darkness.
“Are you all right, Annie?” Ian asked.
“I’m fine. Though it’s amazing how wobbly it feels to be totally blind like this.”
“We should stand still,” John suggested. “With this crowd, we’d just bump into people if we move around.”
“They probably just overloaded the circuit,” Ian said calmly. “The sound equipment for the live music can draw quite a bit of power, and this is an older building.”
“I can see the light from the emergency exit,” Alice said and her voice sounded so close to Annie’s ear that she knew her friend wasn’t heeding the advice to stand still. Standing still wasn’t really in Alice’s nature. “So that one’s on.”
“That kind of light normally works even if the power goes off,” Ian said. “They have batteries.”
The continuing darkness made Annie feel a bit dizzy, as if she were swaying. She reached out toward the sound of Ian’s voice and laid her hand on his sleeve. She instantly felt more centered and calmer.
“Well,” Alice said, still standing near Annie. “Since we didn’t find a mystery in the attic, one seems to have come to us here.”
“I still think it’ll turn out to be more electrical than mysterious,” Ian answered.
“I just hope it doesn’t last long,” Annie said, and she felt Ian lay a reassuring hand over the one she had put on his arm.
All around the room, voices continued to call out. Annie listened quietly. Some of the people were clearly afraid, but others sounded quite insulted by the accident. She suspected the owner of Maplehurst Inn was going to get an earful from some of the guests over this.
Suddenly light flooded back into the room, and Annie let out a sigh of relief.
“Annie?”
Annie turned toward Alice with a smile.
“Where did your hair comb go?”
Annie put her hand up to her head. The hair ornament was gone! She looked around on the floor but didn’t see it anywhere. Had someone grabbed it in the dark? Why would anyone go to that kind of trouble for costume jewelry?
9
“I felt a tug at my hair when the lights went out,” Annie said. “I thought it was you, Ian.”
“I didn’t touch you until you put your hand on my arm,” Ian said, a frown pulling at his eyebrows.
“It had to be someone close by,” Alice said. “The room was dark as pitch. I can’t imagine someone weaving through the crowd to get over here.”
“That does make sense,” Ian said, then he looked at John MacFarlane so pointedly that Annie half expected Ian to demand the other man turn out his pockets.
“It’s really not worth a fuss,” Annie said. “It was just costume jewelry, and it wasn’t even really my style. If someone wanted it that much, I would probably have just given it to her or him.” At that, Annie remembered Harry’s date asking about borrowing the comb. She turned and scanned the crowd, spotting Harry and Sunny only a few couples away.
“Still,” Alice said. “A jewel thief. That’s a mystery for sure. Everyone at the Hook and Needle Club will love it.”
“Oh, I don’t want to get a whole thing started over it,” Annie said. “Really.”
“I still don’t like the idea of someone taking something off your person,” Ian said, his eyes still on John. The other man seemed intent on not noticing the mayor’s interest.
“I’m glad you weren’t hurt,” John finally said, breaking some of the tension from Ian’s stare.
“At least it was just a hair comb,” Alice said. “Imagine if it were earrings, ouch!” She reached up to rub her own ears in sympathy.
The word “earrings” made Annie think of Victoria Meyer and her odd fascination with the earrings from the set. She looked through the crowd and saw the elegant young woman was chatting with John and Gwendolyn Palmer. They were even closer to the alcove than Harry and his date. Still, that didn’t make any sense at all. Why would a wealthy woman have the slightest interest in costume jewelry?
As she looked over the crowd, she saw that Jenna Paige was fairly close as well. She’d found poor Stella and was talking avidly to the older woman while Stella looked a bit desperate. Annie noticed that Simon Gunderson was nowhere to be seen. Stella’s driver and general companion hovered close behind her, and Annie saw that Jason looked amused as he watched Stella and Jenna.
Just beyond Stella, Annie saw Peggy and Wally talking with Ian’s brother and his wife again. As she continued to scan the crowd, she spotted a number of people she knew. Then she gave herself a little mental shake at the realization that she was compiling a suspect list. All this mystery stuff is going to my head, she thought.
“I believe Chief Edwards is here,” Ian said. “Perhaps we should go find him and let him know about this.”
“Oh, I don’t really think this is a police matter,” Annie said, alarmed at the thought. Since she’d come to Stony Point she’d had to bother the police plenty of times with real issues, but she always worried that Chief Edwards was eventually going to chalk her up as overly imaginative and prone to hysterics.
“You may not have been the only person t
o have something taken when the lights went out,” Ian said. “We should ask.”
Annie agreed and let Ian lead her to the chief. She nearly laughed when she saw the chief was wearing a deerstalker hat and caped coat that definitely brought Sherlock Holmes to mind. The chief greeted Ian and Annie warmly, then listened seriously to Annie’s stammered explanation about the hair comb.
“I don’t want to raise a fuss,” Annie said. “But Ian thought you should know in case anything else went missing.”
“And you’re quite sure the comb isn’t valuable?” the chief asked.
“I haven’t had it appraised or anything like that,” Annie said. “But I’m certain it was just costume jewelry.”
The chief nodded. “Well, I could open a case file on it if you’d like.”
“I’d rather not,” Annie said, a little desperately.
“Fine,” he said. “Then for now we’ll just consider it an unfortunate incident, if you’re OK with that. No one else has reported anything missing, yet.”
Annie sighed with relief. “If no one does, I’ll be happy to simply chalk it up to an unfortunate incident.”
The rest of the ball passed pleasantly. Ian continued to mingle with the crowd until he’d at least greeted everyone he knew. Then they danced a bit. Finally, Annie was too tired for any more dancing, and Ian admitted he was about partied out as well. He drove her home, and Annie was again grateful to see the warm glow of Grey Gables waiting for her.
“Thank you for an interesting evening,” Annie said as Ian walked her to the door.
He winced. “Ouch, that’s the kiss of death. Interesting.”
She smiled. “How about unique?”
He put a hand to his chest. “Ow, ow.”
“Hmmm. Unforgettable?”
“I can live with that. I’m sorry you lost your jewelry.”
“Well, being the victim of a jewel thief is definitely something I didn’t expect. All the rich ladies would be so jealous.”
Ian laughed aloud at that. “I had a wonderful time tonight, Annie Dawson. May I call on you the next time I need to look less miserable and alone?”
