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“I could’ve sworn it was close to midnight when I saw a car turn down your drive. That wasn’t you?”
“No. I was at the ranch. Did you happen to catch the make or model?”
A woman walked out of the house holding a pair of antique mantel luster lamps. “Will you take ten dollars for these?” she asked.
While Talulah was eager to get rid of almost everything, she shook her head. This person wasn’t just asking for a bargain; she wanted a steal. “No, I’m sorry.”
“Why not?” the woman pressed. “I don’t think they’re worth a hundred dollars.”
“Then put them back,” Ellen said with a shrug.
The woman lowered the lamps. “Well, you don’t have to be rude about it!”
Ellen scowled at Talulah. “WasIthe one being rude?”
Eager to return to the conversation they’d been having a moment earlier, Talulah didn’t want to get too distracted. “I’m charging much less than they’re worth,” she told the woman. “Feel free to do the research yourself if it makes you more comfortable.”
The shopper thrust a hundred-dollar bill at Talulah.“Here,”she said and marched down the walkway to her car.
“Ten dollars? Seriously?” Ellen said, shaking her head.
Talulah watched the woman edge past another vehicle as she maneuvered down the long, crowded drive. “It’s how the game’s played at an estate sale, I guess.”
“If you want to be an asshole,” Ellen muttered and Talulah laughed. Her neighbor was quickly becoming one of her favorite people. Even the way Ellen had acted when it came to Brant impressed Talulah. She could’ve been as jealous and possessive as Averil. Instead, she’d told Talulah that she wouldn’t want him if he wasn’t all that into her, anyway.
Talulah took a sip of her coffee. “Back to what you were saying before. Did you happen to notice the make and model of the car that was here last night?”
“No.”
“But it was a sedan?”
“I’m pretty sure it was. The headlights weren’t high enough for it to have been a truck.”
“How long did whoever it was stay?”
“I watched for about five minutes while I had a smoke outside. But when nothing happened, I figured it was you and Brant, after all. It wasn’t until this morning that I found something odd behind my barn.”
“What was it?”
“A teddy bear.”
“A teddy bear?”Talulah had been around that barn herself quite a bit lately, and she’d never noticed a teddy bear. “Did it look as though it’d been on the ground for very long?”
“No, that’s the thing,” Ellen said. “It’s obviously brand-new, not weathered at all. And when you press its paw, a recording comes on.”
“What does it say?” Talulah asked.
“‘Grandma loves you, Mitch.’ You don’t happen to know anyone named Mitch, do you?”
Talulah stopped the swing. “Yes, I do.”
“How’d it go?” Brant asked.
Talulah switched the phone to her other ear as she ambled around the house, taking stock of the items that were left over from the estate sale. “It went well. Most of the things I wanted to sell are gone. The rest won’t be hard to get rid of. The only thing that has me stumped is my aunt’s piano.”
“I’m surprised that didn’t sell,” he said. “Pianos, especially baby grands, are worth some money.”
“I marked it as not for sale,” she admitted.
