Софи Райан - The Whole Cat Аnd Caboodle

Josh needed to spend some time going over the case with Maddie. He offered to drop her off at the shop later.

“Are you sure?” I said.

He nodded, setting his briefcase down to pull on his navy trench coat. “I’d love to see the place. I’m assuming I’ve earned enough brownie points to get a tour.”

“Absolutely,” I said with a smile.

We said good-bye to Maddie and Josh and walked back to the parking lot.

Neither Charlotte nor Rose said much on the way across town. There was a tour bus full of leaf peepers at the shop when we got there, but Mac seemed to have everything pretty much under control, although there was a line at the cash register.

Rose peeled off her coat and handed it and her purse to Liz, bustling over to help out. We’d stopped to pick up Elvis on the way. I set him down and he swiped a paw over his face before making his way over to a group of three women looking at the quilts.

Over by the window a woman had a teacup garden in each hand and was looking around for another set of hands. Charlotte piled her purse on top of Rose’s bag in Liz’s arms and headed across the floor to help.

“You might as well pile your things on, too,” Liz said to me.

“Thank you,” I said, hooking the strap of my purse over her shoulder.

“I suppose you’re going to want tea and coffee,” she said.

“You don’t have to do that.” I brushed a clump of cat hair off my red jacket. “Why don’t you go wait in my office?”

She smiled. “This is a onetime offer, kiddo. Who knows when it will come again?” She started for the stairs, looking a little like a Nepalese packman.

“I love you, Liz,” I called after her.

She waggled her elbow at me as she went up the steps. “Everybody does.”

It was just a bit more than half an hour before the tour bus pulled out of our parking lot. Liz handed me a steaming cup of coffee and gave one to Mac, as well. He came to stand beside me by the front window. I was counting how many of the teacup gardens we’d sold.

“How was court?” he asked.

“Maddie’s out on bail,” I said, folding my fingers around the coffee mug.

“What happens next?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure. Maddie’s with her lawyer right now.” I glanced over to where Charlotte, Rose and Liz were sitting around a small round table with a mosaic glass top. Rose was talking, gesturing with her hands, while the other two listened.

Mac followed my gaze. “Problem?” he asked.

I crossed my arms over my midsection, still holding on to my cup. “Umm, maybe,” I said.

He raised an eyebrow and I could see genuine interest in his warm brown eyes.

I sighed. “On the way over to the courthouse they were talking about looking for evidence to prove Maddie is innocent.”

“They’re not serious?”

I nodded. “Oh, I think they’re very serious. That’s what worries me.”

Mac looked over at the three women sitting around the small round table with their teacups. “Realistically, Sarah, how much trouble could the three of them get into?”

“You have no idea,” I said, rolling my eyes. Before I could say anything else the door opened and Nick Elliot stepped into the store.

Charlotte immediately pushed back her chair and stood up. I handed my cup to Mac and walked over to Nick.

“I got your message,” he said. “I thought it would be faster to just stop in. I hope that’s okay.”

“It’s okay,” I said.

Nick was dressed casually in khakis, a blue-striped dress shirt and his navy Windbreaker. The ends of his sandy hair were damp and I wondered if he’d had any sleep.

“You know about Maddie.” It wasn’t a question.

“We do,” I said. “She’s out on bail.”

He nodded. “Good.”

Charlotte stood in front of Nick and put her hands on his shoulders. She was only a few inches shorter than he was. I should have told her what Josh had told me about how Nick had spent his night. I wondered what she was going to say. I had a couple of ideas.

“I’m so proud of you,” she said, beaming at him.

Okay, not that.

“You are?” Nick said. His eyes darted to me and then back to his mother. I didn’t have any answers for him.

I looked over at Liz and Rose. There was a little self-satisfied smile on Liz’s face. I knew who had told Charlotte.

“I heard what you did last night,” Charlotte said. “You saved that girl’s life.”

Nick had that when did I fall down the rabbit hole? look on his face. “How did you know?” he asked. He looked at me again and I gave an almost imperceptible headshake.

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. And I’m sorry. I haven’t been supportive about this new job and I should have been.”

Nick put a hand over his mother’s. “It’s okay.” They smiled at each other. I looked over at Liz again. She caught my eye and smiled, too.

Charlotte dropped her hands and Nick cleared his throat. “So, Maddie’s out on bail and she has a lawyer?”

His mother nodded. “And we’re already working on a plan to figure out who really killed Arthur Fenety.” She made a gesture with one hand that seemed to include me.

Nick’s brown eyes narrowed. “Hang on a minute, Mom,” he said. “What do you mean, you’re working on a plan?”

“She means we’re going to investigate and find the real killer,” Rose said. Liz sent her a daggers look and for a moment I thought she was going to swat Rose with her napkin.

“No, you’re not,” Nick said, emphatically. “This is a police investigation. He made a circular motion with one finger that, like his mother’s gesture, seemed to include me. “You all need to stay out of it.”

“Excuse me?” Charlotte said.

She wasn’t my mother or even my grandmother; still, I knew what her tone meant. So would hundreds of her former students. Somehow Nick didn’t.

“Let the police do their job,” he said. He spoke slowly, enunciating each word.

“They don’t seem to be very good at it.” Charlotte crossed her arms defiantly over her chest. “Or they wouldn’t have arrested an innocent woman.”

Nick took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The set of his jaw showed that he was grinding his teeth together.

Suddenly Mac was at Nick’s elbow, holding out a mug. “Have a cup of coffee,” he said.

Nick turned to look at him. “What?” he said.

“Have a cup of coffee,” Mac repeated. “There isn’t anything stronger.” One eyebrow went up.

A little of the tension in the air seemed to dissipate. Nick took the cup and I mouthed a thank-you at Mac.

I touched Nick’s elbow. “Let’s go for a walk.” I smiled at him. It was a little fake but a smile nonetheless.

“I know what you’re doing, Sarah,” he said, shaking off my hand.

“Good,” I said. “I need to stretch my legs. Get the blood circulating.” I looked at him, thinking, Don’t be a dipwad. And hoped somehow he would get the message.

“We’re fine, Sarah,” Charlotte said without looking at me.

“I know you are,” I said, keeping my voice light. “I just want to take a little walk and I don’t want to go by myself.”

Nick pressed his lips together for a moment. “I’ll be right back,” he said. “Sarah wants to take me outside because she wants to give me a little lecture.”

“Yes, everyone knows that,” Liz said dryly. “So, why don’t you just get on with it?”

I looked at Nick. “So could we get on with it?” I asked.

He looked at Charlotte. “We’re not done, Mom.” It was a good thing he’d decided to move at that point, because I was ready to give him a nudge with the perfectly pointed toe of my black boot.

Nick didn’t say a word until we were outside, standing in the small side lot. He took a sip of his coffee, nodded his approval and then held out his free hand. “Okay, start lecturing me.” His sense of humor seemed to have returned.