Софи Райан - Telling Tails

Mac poked his head into the room. “I saw Nick leave,” he said. “How did it go?”

“Nick’s taking the blood to the lab. Now we wait,” I said. “Not that I think that Rose is going to pass the time by knitting or baking a cake.”

Mac smiled. “Based on the conversation she’s having with Avery, she’s planning on making dog biscuits.”

“For Casey.”

“Please tell me Casey is a dog,” he said.

I nodded. “A very nice black Lab that found Rose by the side of the road.” I pulled a hand back through my hair. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do next. There was no way Rose was going to sit by quietly until Nick had the results of her blood work.

“What can I do?” Mac asked.

“Aside from sitting on Rose until we know more, I don’t know.”

He took the heavy pottery mug from my hands. “How about I head over to McNamara’s in a little while and get lunch for all of us. Charlotte and Alfred will be here, you know Liz is going to stop in and Rose is going to want to start working on this case, because it is a case, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “It is. Michelle doesn’t seem to think so and I’m not certain Nick does, either, but I believe Rose, and I want to know what happened to her.”

Chapter 8

I was about to go back downstairs to see if I had any messages when my cell phone rang. It was Michelle.

“How’s Rose this morning?” she asked.

“She’s fine,” I said. “I’m guessing Nick told you about the needle mark on her neck.”

“He said he convinced her to let him take a blood sample.”

It was more like she conned him into taking the sample, but I didn’t say that. “I’m hoping we’ll get some results in a couple of days.”

“Good. Maybe that will clear things up.”

I could picture Michelle nodding as though those blood tests would settle everything.

“Sarah, the reason I called is I checked with the Camerons’ financial adviser. Jeff Cameron did empty the account yesterday with some made-up story about needing the money because they had the chance to buy a piece of property they’d been looking at.”

I propped an elbow on my desk. “It doesn’t prove he left town,” I said. “Do you have any idea who this other woman is?”

“If you’re asking did he show up at the bank with her on his arm, no. And I also spoke to his assistant, Chloe Sanders. She has no idea where he is, either.”

It was pretty much what I’d expected. I thanked Michelle for everything she’d done and said good-bye.

I spent the rest of the morning out in our newly converted work space in the old garage cleaning a couple of wicker rocking chairs so I could paint them. I headed inside at about twelve fifteen. Avery had a small drop cloth spread on top of a section of Mac’s workbench. She’d sorted the postcards into three piles.

“Hi, Sarah,” she said when she spotted me. “I went through those postcards like you asked. I have a pile that are nice enough to frame, another pile that you can just sell one by one in the shop—tourists like that kind of stuff—and a few that are torn or have big water blotches on them.”

“Good job,” I said. “You can recycle the ones that are damaged.”

She nodded, twisting the stack of bracelets on her left arm around her wrist. “Sarah, do you think I could maybe try framing some of those nicer postcards?”

Avery was very creative and I’d learned recently a pretty talented artist. I had no idea what she’d come up with, but I was sure she’d create something that would catch customers’ attention. “Sure,” I said. “There are a couple of boxes of frames on the top left shelf.” I pointed to the storage unit along the back wall.

“Awesome,” she said with a grin. “What do you need me to do now?”

“You could help me set up one of the folding tables and gather enough chairs for everyone to have lunch.”

“Sure,” she said, sliding off the stool she’d been sitting on. “Are you going to be talking about what happened to Rose last night?”

“Yes,” I said. There wasn’t any point in trying to keep what was going on from her. Avery had the kind of selective bionic hearing all teenagers had, in my experience. You could tell her something three times, and if she wasn’t interested, she wouldn’t hear a word. On the other hand, when she did want to know what was going on, she could make out a whisper from across the shop.

“I’ll take my lunch and stay in the store, then,” she said. “You’re getting lunch for everyone, right?”

“Mac’s gone to McNamara’s,” I said. “And thank you for offering to cover in the shop.”

Avery’s expression turned serious. “Rose is my family. We have to catch whoever tried to hurt her.”

“We will,” I said with a confidence I didn’t quite feel. “Nick is helping and so is Detective Andrews.”

We had the table ready when Mac came in the back door trailed by Mr. P. and Charlotte. It struck me that this was becoming a habit whenever the Angels had a case. Mr. P. raised a hand in hello and made a beeline for me. “Sarah, how’s Rosie?” he asked.

“She’s all right. I promise,” I said. Charlotte joined us. I brought them up to date on the visit with Nicole Cameron and the possible needle mark on Rose’s neck.

“Nicolas took a blood sample?” Mr. P. asked, frowning a little behind his wire-framed glasses. The few wisps of hair the man had were sticking out all over his head.

“I know what you’re thinking,” I said. “But there was no squabbling with Rose.”

“And Rose agreed without squabbling with Nicolas?” Charlotte asked.

“Let’s just say they each had an agenda, but if we’re lucky we’ll be able to prove that Rose was drugged, which will—I hope—show the police that Rose isn’t some ditsy old lady.”

Mac had given Avery her lunch and she’d gone into the shop. Now Charlotte took the take-out bag from him and began to set out the rest of the food. Rose came into the workroom then, and Liz was with her.

“Hello, pretty girl,” Liz said to me as she reached the table.

I caught her hand. She’d gotten a pink French manicure. “Very pretty yourself,” I said approvingly. I raised an eyebrow. “Was it worth the investment?”

“I think so,” she said.

I walked over to stand next to Mac. “Thanks for getting lunch,” I said. “What do I owe you?”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said.

“I can ask Glenn, you know.”

Mac crossed his arms over his chest. “Won’t work. It’s a guy thing. We stick together.”

“Really?” I said.

He nodded. “Really.”

I’d found Jeff Cameron’s business card on my desk. I pulled it out of my pocket now. “I need a favor,” I said.

“Sure,” he said. “What is it?”

Mac had worked as a financial adviser before coming to North Harbor. I handed him the card. “This is Jeff Cameron’s business card. He works for Helmark Associates. I Googled them. They provide temporary employees for businesses.”

“I’ve heard of them.”

“Do you have any contacts from your old life that might have heard of him?”

He swiped a hand across his mouth. “Maybe.”

“Thanks,” I said. “It struck me that if he was—is—having an affair, it’s probably not with someone here in town. I don’t think it would be possible to keep that secret for very long.”

“I’ll see what I can find out.” He tucked the card in his pocket. “What’s going on between Rose and Alfred? It looks like she’s avoiding him.”

I explained about Michelle suggesting Rose had had a small stroke and how both Charlotte and Mr. P. had wanted her to go to the doctor to prove her wrong. “She was . . . offended. She stalked out of her apartment into mine. I sent the two of them home. The good thing was once I had Rose at my place it wasn’t that hard to convince her to spend the night. I’d been afraid I was going to have to sneak around the back of the house and climb through the window so I could watch her sleep.”