Mariah Stewart - Coming Home

“Grady?” She was sitting in the chair, her knees primly together, her arms resting on her thighs. “I’m glad you came back.”

He put the last of his things in the drawer and closed it.

“Thank you,” she added.

He turned around and studied her face. “Why wouldn’t I have come back?”

She shrugged. “I guess I just thought that you weren’t going to.”

“Didn’t I tell you that I’d be stopping at the Inn?”

“Maybe you said something about the Inn…”

He went to the chair and leaned down to kiss her. “Do you really think I’d have done that? That I’d have waved good-bye and never come back?”

“I suppose I don’t have great expectations when it comes to men.”

“Then I guess we’re going to have to raise your expectations.” He kissed her again. “What do you want to do between now and dinner?”

She smiled and pulled him close. “Unfortunately, Sue is still here.”

“Well then, we’ll just have to find something else to do until Sue is finished.” He thought about it for a moment, then pulled her up. “Let’s walk down to Steffie’s for ice cream. You know you’re dying to talk to her about what happened last night at the shop.”

“Actually, yes, I admit I am. How did you know that?”

“I have a sister.”

They stopped in the kitchen to tell Sue they’d be gone for a while. The locksmith still hadn’t arrived, but she said he’d called and was on his way.

“I’ll still be working on this counter, so I can let him in,” Sue told them. “There are a lot of prints here.”

“Some are probably mine,” Grady said, recalling that he’d spent most of Thursday in Vanessa’s kitchen. “But I can get a copy of mine sent from the Bureau to your department so you can rule those out.”

“Thanks.” Sue never raised her eyes from her work. “That would be helpful.”

The air was cooler than it had been when they’d walked through town earlier in the day, but it was still pleasant. When they got to the corner at Charles Street, Vanessa raised her right hand to her face and said, “Let’s keep walking. I don’t want to see it. I’ll deal with the shop tomorrow.”

There was still a lot of foot traffic in town, and he could have told her that more than one pedestrian had stopped to look at her store, where the police tape still wrapped around the front. Grady took her hand as they crossed the street and headed down Kelly’s Point, and tried not to think about the fact that she’d believed he’d left her with nothing more than a beep and a wave. She wasn’t kidding when she said she had low expectations of men.

Well, the only thing he could do was try to raise them, and he was determined to do just that. If he could have gotten his hands around Gene Medford’s neck, he’d have choked him for what he’d done to this woman. Grady was almost sorry that one of Gene’s fellow inmates had gotten to him first.

“Grady?” Vanessa tugged on his hand.

“Oh, sorry. I guess I just wandered for a minute.”

“I said, it looks like half the town had the same idea we did.”

“It’s really crowded.” He could see through the side windows. “I think we’re going to have to wait until a few people come out before we can go in.”

“We could walk down to the dock, and… oh, there’s Miss Grace.” Vanessa smiled and waved.

“Oh, Vanessa, dear.” The older woman sat alone at one of the small outside tables. “I heard about your shop. I am so sorry. I can hardly believe it.”

“I can hardly believe it myself, Miss Grace.”

“Do the police have any suspects?”

“Not yet. I know they’re working on it, but so far…” Vanessa shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Was much stolen?”

“I won’t know until tomorrow. The police were still combing through the shop this morning, looking for evidence, so I didn’t go inside today.”

“Well, it must have been someone from out of town,” Grace pronounced. “I cannot imagine anyone from St. Dennis doing such a thing.”

“I feel the same way,” Vanessa said. “I don’t want to think that anyone I know would do this to me. But we do think it may have been someone who took advantage of the fact that everyone’s attention was on the Inn yesterday.”

“I wouldn’t think that anyone other than the locals would have known about the wedding.” Grace frowned. “Was there much damage to the shop?”

“One of the glass cases was broken, and one of the windows on the side was damaged. I think I probably lost some inventory, and I’m clearly going to need a new lock and a new alarm system, since both failed last night.”

“Terrible, dear. Just terrible.” Grace waved a thin hand as if to fan herself as she turned to Grady. “And what’s this I’m hearing about your car being smashed to smithereens?”

“Not quite smithereens,” he replied, “but yes, someone broke the windows out of my rental car while Vanessa and I were in Bling following the burglary.”

“Such crazy business. What next, do you suppose?” Grace patted him on the arm. “But it was certainly good of you to accompany Vanessa to the scene of the crime. I’m sure Beck will appreciate you giving her a hand last night.”

The corners of Vanessa’s mouth twitched.

Grady pretended not to notice. “Yes, ma’am. I was glad to do it.”

“Well, I hope they catch whoever was responsible.” Grace paused. “Do you think it was the same person? It seems awfully suspicious to me, one happening right after the other. Especially since we rarely have such goings-on in St. Dennis.”

“I think we all agree with you there.” Grady nodded.

“But let’s talk about that lovely wedding yesterday. Grady, your sister was a beautiful bride. I made sure we got several photos for this week’s paper. Along with a fascinating interview I had earlier today with Dr. McGowan.” Grace was almost beaming.

“Dr. McGowan?” Vanessa frowned. “You mean Daria? The woman who’s engaged to Connor? She’s a doctor?”

“Daria has a doctorate in archaeology,” Grady told her.

“She’s quite well known in the field,” Grace added. “One of the girls working at the Inn on weekends is a freshman in college, and she’s majoring in archaeology. Dr. McGowan offered to send her some photos she took at a dig in Turkey. The girl is simply over the moon.”

“That was very nice of her.” Vanessa’s attention turned as several patrons emerged with their ice cream. “Oh, Grady, look. People are leaving. Let’s dash in before anyone else does.”

“Well, you’d better hurry. There’s a small army coming up there on the left.” Grace pointed. “He who hesitates…”

“Has to wait in line.” Vanessa waved to Grace as she and Grady entered the shop.

The little bell over the door jingled but Steffie didn’t look up.

“Boy, she looks beat, doesn’t she?” Vanessa whispered from the corner of her mouth.

Grady nodded as they stepped in line. He looked around the shop, and met Hal’s questioning eyes from across the room.

I guess he’s wondering why I’m standing here holding Vanessa’s hand. Well, I suppose if I were him, I’d be curious, too. But curious is probably not the word I’d use to describe Vanessa’s reaction when she sees that Hal is sitting there with an arm over the back of Maggie’s chair.

He stood so that his body was between Maggie and Vanessa, then realized how silly it was for him to try to protect her from seeing her parents together. He understood why Vanessa would object, would want to protect Hal just as Grady wanted to protect Vanessa, but it was silly. Hal and Maggie were going to do whatever it was they were doing, regardless of what Vanessa or Beck or anyone else thought, and that was the way it should be. If Vanessa had a problem with it, she was just going to have to deal.