Chapter 19
We left the dogs in the car, with the window rolled down an inch.
“We’ll start with the office,” I said.
A dimpled woman with a red beehive greeted us with a cheerful, “Hiya ladies, what can I do for you?”
“Hiya.” Ange matched the upbeat lilt. “I was wondering if there’s anyone that I can talk to about a teensy item missing from my delivery? Or maybe I could go search for myself, with my friend?”
“Oh my. We’ve never lost anything. Is it valuable?” The woman patted her beehive, as if trying to ascertain the missing item wasn’t lodged in there.
“It’s nothing special, except for my mom. A silver napkin ring, like the ones she used to have when she was knee-high and visited her me-maw.” Ange clasped her chest. “It’s for her birthday, you see.”
“That’s so sweet of you. What did you say was your name?”
“Ange Gale.”
The woman tapped away on her keyboard. “Gale. Wheelbarrow, shovel …” She listed all the items Ange had purchased on that day. “There’s no napkin ring listed.”
“Oh dear, no wonder it wasn’t delivered.” Ange opened her purse, searched through the contents, and produced a folded piece of paper. “Here’s the receipt. If I could have a quick look, or talk to the men in charge of preparing the deliveries?”
“If you give me a minute, I’ll take you over myself. Honestly, it’s been one thing after another with this fair. My psychic warned me to stay away from crowds last weekend, but I said to myself, girl, if you want to pay your bills, you gotta risk it and go to work.”
“Your psychic?” I asked.
“She’s a lifesaver, and costs only 50 cents a minute when you call her the first time.
She knew straight away that my boyfriend was up to no good, the lying, cheating so-and-so, stringing me along when he was married the whole time.
She said I need to move on, because I’m a goddess and deserve better. ”
“We hear you, sister,” Ange commiserated.
“Talking to her was the best five dollars I’ve ever spent. Only a few days later I met my new fella at bingo. He’s been taking me out twice already, for a movie and dinner. None of the early bird discounts for him.” She switched off her laptop and motioned us to follow her.
We passed through the cavernous room, where folded trestle tables were stacked on one side, and stacks of covered furniture waited their turn. Pages with lot numbers and addresses were laminated and tacked to a cork board.
The woman pulled out her phone and brought up a floorplan. Without pausing, she took us to the spot where Ange had discovered the wheelbarrow. She pointed to the side. “That’s where you’d have bought the napkin. Lovely selection of old silver, I recollect.” She peered around.
“What’s behind the partition?” I asked, innocently. I hadn’t noticed it during the event, but now I spotted the tracks for sliding room dividers on the high ceilings. In front of us, one had been pushed across and locked.
The up to now so chatty lady clammed up. “Nothing of importance.”
Ange searched the floor. “I wonder if the napkin ring has rolled off the table and is now laying on the other side,” she wondered aloud.
“Not likely. The police …” The woman blushed.
“I don’t think anybody could have helped himself to a few items? It must be difficult to prevent theft, with so many people going in and out.”
“Oh no. We have a very reliable safety procedure, and our guards know all the tricks. After closing time, only verified buyers or sellers are allowed in, to have a looky-loo and arrange for transport, if they haven’t done so already.”
“I don’t know how anybody can keep track of all the things that are going on. You must be super organized,” I marveled.
“It’s all a matter of experience, and our boys have been doing the job forever.
” She showed her dimples, obviously relieved that we’d dropped the subject of the police poking around.
“Bless them, when we’re really busy like now, they go so far as to use their coffee break to work on their schedule. ”
“It must be useful to have a café in the building.”
“Oh no, they nip out to our coffee stall. You need a breath of fresh air once in a while.”
“I’m sure you do.” Ange scanned the floor again, for good measure. “If the napkin ring turns up, would you give me a call?”
“I sure will, honey. I’ve got your number right here in the system.” The woman crossed her fingers, for good luck.
“Thank you.”
We left the building with a sense of elation. Only one thing confused me. “Where did you get that receipt?” I asked Ange.
“That’s a real one. I bought the napkin ring when you and Reina were running around and put it in my purse. I’m only glad the woman didn’t find it suspicious that I’d add such a tiny thing to my delivery, or that it had been combined with Candice’s.”
“You have a trustworthy aura, and I imagine the police tries to keep the names of suspects quiet until they’ve amassed more evidence.”
“True.”
We entered her car where the dogs received us with wagging tails and soulful expressions.
Ange ruffled their ears. She took out a small Tupperware box and fed them each a dental treat.
While Mrs. Miniver and Mr. Chips crunched, I took out my phone. My fingers hovered over the contact list.
“You’re not planning on getting in touch with Rick?” Ange asked.
“No. I’ll leave that to Candice. But I think maybe I should check in with her. It must be awful to be stuck here, with the threat of prison.”
“What are you going to write?”
I read it out aloud while I typed.
“Hi, Candice, I hope you’re holding up. I hope that there will soon be developments that shed light on what really happened. B”
“Very circumspect. Do you think her phone might be tapped?”
I hit send. “I have no idea, but it can’t hurt to be careful. I don’t want the local police to suss out that I’m snooping, and I also don’t want to promise her too much.”
“I’d say you’re right on both accounts.” She ordered Mrs. Miniver and Mr. Chips to settle into their crate at the back, and we were on our way.
Candice’s reply bubbled up so fast, we’d barely left the parking lot.
“I’m so scared. The police have been searching my room.”
“Why?”
“No idea. They showed me the warrant but I was too flustered to read it.”
“Poor kid,” I said to Ange, after I’d read her the message exchange. “She needs a pick-me-up, one of the Merriweather kind.”
“You’re right.”
I typed.
“I’ll send you a stress-relieving tea, one that all my friends swear by. I assume you’re allowed to receive parcels?”
“Thank you”
“Who are you going to use for the delivery?” Ange asked.
“I haven’t figured that part out yet. I could make up the tea blend and drop it off myself, but that would cost me hours that I’d planned to spend with you and Harper and Reina, to talk things over.”
Under normal circumstances, I didn’t miss the lack of a courier service in Willowmere. We were lucky to have a post office, but it closed too early to be of any use for me tonight.
“There’s always Sam. It won’t hurt your ex to hear from his new love that there’s a smart, handsome guy at your beck and call,” Ange suggested.
“We’re just friends,” I protested.
“So what? It’s good for your self-esteem, to demonstrate that you can pull, especially if that pull is a tall, cool drink of water and not some tepid soda with the pop fizzled out.”
Ange’s weird yet accurate expressions had long become part of the crazy coven lore, so I found myself nodding in agreement.
Well, almost. “It wouldn’t be fair on Sam, to be used for some sort of cheap comeback, and to be honest, I don’t want to sacrifice more headspace to Rick.
He’s my daughter’s dad, I’m glad we’re on civil terms, and that’s the end of that. ”
“Hooray. I was hoping you’d say that.”
“You were?”
“You’re not the only one with an uncanny intuition at times. Mother earth magic is what I do. That, and basic psychology I’ve picked up as a doctor’s wife. And now, you should arrange the coven meeting before we lose momentum.”