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“Maybe,” I replied. “I can’t say for sure, since I’ve never been blackmailed. But maybe someone’s decided you’re a target because you’re a new business owner who’s been successful.”
Archie absorbed my comment for a moment, his golden-brown brows drawn together. “If that’s the case, then why hasn’t anyone blackmailed you?”
“Well, on the surface, my store doesn’t look like much of a moneymaker,” I said, which was only the truth. Once in a Blue Moon pulled in just enough to cover the cost of the wares I sold and the electricity and water for the building, but if I hadn’t had that inheritance from Lucien Dumond to act as what seemed to be an everlasting backup source of income, I would have been in trouble.
“But everyone knows your money doesn’t come from the store,” Archie responded, pointing out the obvious.
“Most people in Globe know that,” I countered. “It’s not the sort of thing I’ve really advertised, though. And this blackmailer looks like they’re from the Phoenix area, so maybe they just thought you were a better target.”
Even as I spoke, I realized my words sounded like an overly sunny view of the situation, and I knew I could be dead wrong. After all, Archie’s fiancée Victoria was also doing very well for herself, but it didn’t appear that anyone had targeted her.
No, the unknown blackmailer had zeroed right in on the one person in town who had some pretty massive secrets to hide.
Judging by the frown that pulled at Archie’s sculpted mouth, I got the feeling he’d been doing the same mental calculations. However, he only said, “Maybe,” before adding, “Well, I was hoping you could help, but since it seems as though your gifts aren’t going to come to the rescue here, I’d better take this to Victoria and see what she has to say.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t do more — ” I began, and he waved a hand.
“It’s all right,” he said. “I suppose I need to remember that I can’t expect you to solve all my problems…especially now.”
He sent a significant glance at my ever-thickening midsection, then walked out. The bells on the shop door jingled as it closed behind him, sounding far more discordant than they usually did.
I let out a sigh of my own, and wondered if there was something else I could have offered to do for him, something I could have said. Unfortunately, with my talents deserting me…interrupted by my unborn child’s “medicine,” apparently…I honestly didn’t know what else I could have done.
It was only about a quarter to five, but I was finished for the day. I went to the door and locked it, then turned off the lights.
Time to go home.
Calvin was also disturbed to hear about the ominous letter Archie had received. “You say it was postmarked from somewhere in Phoenix?”
“That’s what it looked like.” I set down my fork, my interest in my plate of pasta carbonara currently dimmed. “Is there a way to fake a postmark?”
“Probably,” he replied. Out of deference to my current abstemious state, my husband was also drinking water, and he reached for his glass now as he appeared to ponder the question further. “I mean, people can do all kinds of stuff with Photoshop. But why Phoenix?”
“Maybe to make it look as though the blackmailer is somewhere local?” I suggested. “I know I’d probably be more worried about someone like that lurking nearby than if the postmark was from Kalamazoo, Michigan, or something.”
Calvin’s mouth twitched a little at my “Kalamazoo” comment. “I suppose that’s possible,” he said. “But it’s probably more likely that this person actually is somewhere in Phoenix. It’s a big city, the kind of place where someone could hide easily.”
That was for sure. The population of metro Phoenix alone numbered well over a million, and that didn’t even count the separate municipalities like Scottsdale and Tempe and Glendale. It would probably be near impossible to track down a single individual there based on one postmark and nothing else.
“Could you dust the envelope for fingerprints?” I asked next.
The smile Calvin sent me was just gently amused enough that I knew it had been a silly question. “That envelope’s been handled by way too many people for that to be much use,” he said. “The mail carrier, the people at the post office…you and Archie.”
Right. Yes, a lot of postal work was automated, but a piece of mail still had to be touched by various people along its route, and that didn’t even count the way both Archie and I had carelessly held the envelope.
“Okay,” I said, knowing how dejected I sounded, and picked up my fork again. Even though I had little appetite at the moment, I knew I was eating for two and couldn’t afford to let my nervous stomach get the better of me.
Obviously trying to offer some comfort, Calvin commented, “I think you might be right in that someone has gone after Archie because he’s a target. Don’t forget how visible he is at those ballroom dance competitions.”
I hadn’t even thought of that. But Archie and Victoria had continued to compete — and win prizes. None of them were as huge as the prizes offered at the Stepping Stars tournament, and yet, five grand here and ten grand there tended to add up. Maybe the person going after my friend was a disgruntled fellow competitor, someone Archie had left in the dust. Considering that he’d only been dancing on the circuit for a little more than a year and had already turned pro and opened his own dance studio, I could see why someone might be jealous enough to call him a fraud and try to extract a little of that prize money from him.
When I explained that theory to Calvin, he nodded. “That sounds about right to me. And for now, there isn’t much we can do except wait and see what happens next. Unfortunately, the wording of the letter isn’t specific enough to constitute a threat in the eyes of the law. Once they ask for money, then it might be time to approach Henry Lewis.”
I couldn’t help making a face at the mention of Globe’s police chief. True, we’d gone from armed neutrality to guarded friendship — mostly through the efforts of Henry’s wife Joyce, whose candles I stocked in my store — but he still took a very dim view of my amateur crime-fighting efforts, despite my so-far perfect track record in figuring out the identities of all those various murderers.
However, he seemed neutral enough about Archie, even though the story we’d told everyone was that Archie was my cousin, who’d moved to Globe from California. The fictitious relationship hadn’t been enough to sour Henry on the subject of Archie Bradshaw, probably because Archie was the polar opposite of my admittedly woo-woo presence in town…and also because Archie hadn’t stayed working at Once in a Blue Moon, but had struck out on his own and opened a respectable business just as soon as he could.
“Maybe,” I allowed. “Although that will be up to Archie.”
