“He took the morning off. He’s going to his critique group tonight since he’s in town. The man is giddy about seeing these people twice in a month. If I was Edith, I’d be a little concerned.”
“She has nothing to worry about,” Jonathon said as he came in the door. “I’m a one-woman man. Well, besides all of you in my sleuthing club who like to tell me what to do. But Edith knows where she stands.”
“See, you’re backtracking already,” Rarity said as she closed her laptop. “Anyone need lunch? I brought some soup from home.”
“I ate before I got here, but thanks,” Jonathon said as they turned to look at Shirley.
She blushed as she said, “I’ll be taking my lunch off-site. I should be back by one.”
Rarity studied her. Shirley had put on makeup and wore a dress this morning. Rarity had assumed it was because of her Mommy and Me class, but no. She had a lunch date. Three guesses on who it was with. “You look nice. I’ll see you later.”
“It’s not what you think,” Shirley started, but then a customer came in and headed straight to Rarity to ask about one of the books that a film introduction had mentioned.
By the time she’d finished with the customer, Shirley was gone, and Jonathon was deep into his writing. Rarity worked on the store’s internal staffing and event calendar, then sent a copy of next month’s calendar to the staff. There were some holes that needed filling, and she wasn’t sure about events, but they’d let her know and then she’d send out a final one next week. Her team was good about stepping in. She wondered if Drew still wanted Darby to be with someone at all times. The harassment had stopped. Almost as soon as Mason had died, but it couldn’t have been him since he and Darby had just met the day he was killed.
Rarity wondered if she was missing something there. But besides looking like Mason’s ex-girlfriend, there weren’t any connections between Darbyand the now deceased filmmaker that she could see. She waited for Shirley to get back and then went into the back to heat up her soup. While that was in the microwave, she took Killer out the back door to the alley.
Memories of the night Mason was killed surrounded her as she waited for him to finish. It didn’t take long, Killer didn’t like the heat, even with his super-short hair. Her security system had been turned off that night, but since then, she hadn’t had a problem with it. She went into the closet to make sure, but no, the system was up and running.
She took her soup out of the microwave then sat at the table with a book. Killer stayed with her, curled in his bed in the back room. He had three beds at the shop and two at home. If you didn’t count the actual furniture he claimed as his own.
Rarity had to admit it, her dog was spoiled. She set her book down and texted Drew again about a possible pet for Mason.
When his text came back, it made her smile.
No need for concern. He had a pet tarantula with a pet sitter who came in once a day. The sitter has been in contact with Jane and has agreed to continue to watch it until its new owner can pick it up. Who leaves a spider in a will?
She texted back the first thing that came to her mind.
The rich are different.
With that off her mind—she’d had nightmares about a dog or cat starving as it waited for Mason to come home—she finished her soup, getting lost in the story she was reading.
“Rarity, can you come out and help? Shirley’s getting slammed,” Jonathon asked from the doorway.
Rarity nodded. “I’ll be right there.” She rinsed the bowl and tucked it back into her lunch bag, then set the bag by the book. She would take the book home tonight and finish it for a Staff Recommends review.
Shirley had three people with books in line to check out and several others standing and waiting to be helped. Rarity made eye contact with Shirley, then headed to the young lady that Shirley had nodded toward. “How can I help you?”
The store stayed busy until closing, and the walk-in traffic just died at 5:00 p.m. Jonathon headed out to get the sidewalk sign and bring it inside. Then he turned the sign in the window to “Closed.” “Okay if I take off? I’m meeting the gang for dinner before our critique group starts.”
“I’m fine and I know my way home, even if Archer’s busy, so go, leave.” Rarity smiled as he packed his laptop bag then headed out. Rarity followed and locked the door behind him.
Shirley was almost as quick to leave. “I’ve got a few things to do and it’s Women’s Wednesday at the church. I need some calm in my life.”
“You deserve it. We were busier than I expected this afternoon,” Rarity said as she started closing down the register.
“I blame the film festival. I swear, I sold more books with movie adaptations this week than I have all year. I wonder if one of the presenters talked about some of these in a session.” Shirley had her purse and keys in hand. “Thanks for letting me take a longer than normal lunch.”
“We were fine. And when you came back, you kind of paid for it with how busy we were then. Thanks for being such a team player.”
Rarity finished up the closing tasks quickly. Even though Archer wasn’t coming to walk her home since he had taken a group out for a hike today, he had promised to call when he got back. So tonight was just about snacks for dinner, trashy television, and Killer until Archer called.
She thought it was going to be perfect.
Rarity was already home when she realized Shirley hadn’t told her where she’d gone or who she’d gone to lunch with. She’d assumed it had been Terrance, but he wasn’t sitting on his front porch when Rarity arrived home. Which didn’t mean that theyhadn’tgone to lunch together.
It was just a little disconcerting. And, she reminded herself when she unlocked the front door to her house, none of her business.
