Bead onTrouble

by Barbara Burnett Smith

  "Enough. It's over now. Done. Finito. You don't think you're growing up?"

  "I sincerely hope not." I shivered. "Maybe we should go back to the cabin. I'm chilly?'

  "Good idea."

  I tried to get up and finally had to roll off the rock. "You can show me what you made for the Tivolini buyer. You promised you would."

  "I didn't promise. I just said I would:' She bent down to get the pitcher, and almost missed as she swayed. Beth's never been much of a drinker, and she doesn't hold her liquor all that well. I wasn't steady, either. I don't hold my liquor any better than she does.

  I picked up the blanket. "I feel the need—"

  "The need to pee!" She laughed, and so did I.

  "Take me to john!" We stopped at the john and finally got to the Lazy L, holding each other up so we didn't fal off the path.

  "You're lurching," she said.

  "I did not 'lurch.' I tripped over the tip of the blanket."

  "Blankets don't have tips. They aren't stockbrokers—"

  "In, madam" I opened the door. "Get your creations." I tossed the blanket on the foot of my bunk and sat down, holding onto the rail to keep myself upright. Beth put the almost-empty margarita pitcher in the cooler and brought one of her bead boxes out from under her bed.

  She stood in front of me. "Are you ready?"

  "Ready'

  She unclicked the latches and popped the top, "Ta da!"

  I looked inside the box, then looked up at Beth. We both peered in the case again.

  It was empty.

  Nineteen

  This isn't possible," I said. I glanced at Beth, then back at the case at least three times, as if the jewelry might be there the next time I looked. "You must have put it someplace else."

  "I didn't."

  "Well, then . . . it's ... close by."

  "Where?"

  "Somewhere," I said. "Be reasonable. Jewelry can't walk off on its own."

  "Appears it did." Beth sat down on her bed, still holding the empty box.

  "First," I said, trying to think logically, or just think at all. "When did you last see it?"

  "Friday, when I packed it."

  "We need to look in your other bead cases. Maybe you moved things."

  "You already said that. I didn't."

  "You might have—"

  "Right." She was too stunned to move.

  "Don't get up," I said. "I'll look."

  Beth's loose beads were in a large plastic box with five sliding trays, all with lots of compartments and tight-fitting lights. It was on the floor under her bed, and I pulled it out.

  'They're not there," Beth said.

  "You don't know; they could be." I carefully took out each tray. There were beads, findings, tiger tail, pliers, and things I didn't even recognize, but no completed jewelry.

  "Maybe you should tell me what I'm looking for?'

  Beth stared at me blankly.

  "Sober up," I said. I felt stone-cold sober already, which was a good thing and a good waste of wine. "What did the pieces look like?"

  "There was a set," she said. "Not to brag, but it was different."

  I waited, but she didn't add anything. "How was it different?" I asked.

  "There were chandelier earrings with blue beads, and to go with them, there was a necklace_ It looked like one of the earrings, only big. The circlet went up on the neck, and then the chandelier was, oh, four inches across and it fell a good six inches. There were sixty-five Swarovski crystals on the dropped portion. I spent forever making chain."

  "Just the earrings and necklace?"

  A little color was coming back into her face. "No.

  There was a bracelet, too. The circlet went around the wrist, and the drop covered the back of the hand. A band slipped over the middle finger to hold it in place. It was very delicate."

  "What size beads?"

  "Small. Four millimeter."

  I could picture the elegant pieces and the hours of work that went into making them. It would have won Beth the contract in a minute, a flash, less than an eye wink, only now they were gone.

  I stood up. "Okay, I'm not worried, because we'll find everything," I said.

  "I called it Empress Eugenia. I was really proud of it.

  What is it the Bible says? Pride goeth before a fall?"

  "Yes, and it means when your pride goes, you fall. Next, I'm going to look through your suitcases. Were the pieces in a box?"

  She was up now, the dead blank look being replaced by confusion. "Yes. Maybe you'll find it, A gray linen jeweler's box with a clear cover." She glanced around the small sleeping porch. "Maybe Shannan took them out to show someone and put them back in the wrong place. Do you think that could have happened?"

  "Absolutely," I said. "It absolutely could have happened?'

  "I'll look under all the beds." She wobbled but finally got down on her knees to look.

  "Good idea." I dug through her suitcase, then through mine. "Not in any of those. Wait! My bead box." I have a plastic case similar to Beth's only mine is blue where hers is red. And I don't have as many beads, but I don't spend as much time at it as she does. I pulled my case out and looked through every tray. Nothing.

  "Not under the beds;' Beth said with a sigh, getting to a sitting position.

  "Okay, what do you think? Should I?" I was holding out Leesa's designer duffle. Beth looked uncertain. "Oh, to hell with it," I said. I swung it up on Leesa's bed and almost fell over with the weight. "I'm checking it."

  "If you think so, but I'm not helping."

  Leesa's designer duffle held smaller designer cases and designer zip pouches that contained things like matched makeup brushes, Elizabeth Arden makeup, and designer underwear. "I'll bet you she's got a designer toothbrush. Is there such a thing as designer dental floss?"

  "Yes. They make it into thongs?' Beth was looking under pillows and running her hands over the covers of the beds. When she finished she turned to me. "We'll never find my things."

  I didn't quite slap her on the back, but I briefly considered it. "We are in an enclosed area. People haven't left all day, so all we have to do is tell Cordy—"

  "No."

  "No? What do you mean—"

  "I mean no."

  "Why not?"

  "I refuse to have security guards digging through everyone's luggage and acting like our friends are pretty thieves.

  No. I won't allow it to happen."

  When Beth gets stubborn, it's best to move in a different direction. "Okay, fine," I said. "We'll finish checking in here, then we'll poke around the rest of the cabin. And after that, if we haven't found the jewelry, and NI bet we have, then we'll branch out"

  She stared at me. "You are nuts. And probably less than sober, because if you were, you wouldn't be doing this."

  "Maybe, but don't bet on it. At least I haven't given up, which means we can still find your things. If we quit, we won't." I couldn't stand seeing Beth so defeated, and I couldn't stand that someone stole from her. Not that Green Clover hadn't had some petty thievery in the past, but this was beyond petty. This was mean-spirited.

  Beth was thinking hard, and in the end said, "I'll do these." She pointed to Shannan's bags, a large duffel and a smaller tote, and began searching them.

  Sinatra started yowling. "Oh, come here, little guy," I said, taking him out of the cage. He curled up against me and began to purr. "You're cute, but unfortunately you can't help." I held him up and looked at his big blue eyes.

  "You didn't see anything suspicious did you? Maybe someone walk off with Beth's jewelry?" He purred but didn't answer. "Okay, here you go. You can watch, and I don't mean cause problems." I put him on the bed and gave him a crumpled newsletter to play with.

  There was a paper sack on Jennifer's bed and I decided that was the next item to be searched. Apparently, the forensics' people had let her in the trailer, or maybe they'd handed things out to her. Either way, she now had clean underwear, along with two pairs of jeans, four tops
, and some toiletries. No jewelry. I put the sack back where it had been and looked around the porch. There was a wooden bead case on the floor in the corner, and I hadn't seen it before. "Do you think that's Jennifer's?"

  "Probably."

  I opened the top and then the drawers, each was lined with green felt. "Now this is the way a bead should travel."

  Beth turned. "What?"

  "Nice, huh?" I opened a second drawer that held tubes of seed beads. "The lining and all."

  "Very nice."

  I slid open another drawer and whistled. "Oh, my—" I pulled out a necklace of teardrop-shaped turquoise, black crystals, and silver pearls. "This is stunning."

  The door opened. "Tante Kitzi!" Shannan was behind me. "That's Jennifer's! What are you doing?"

  "Well, we aren't stealing it, if that's what you're worried about," I said.

  "I didn't think you were, but why are you in her things?

  She just stopped off in the john and she'll be here any minute "

  —

  "Calm. Be calm." I put the necklace away. "You didn't move any of the jewelry your mother brought, did you?"

  "No."

  "Darn." Then I slid open all the other drawers. When I didn't find what I was looking for, I pushed the bead box back into its corner.

  Shannan was appalled. "You just went through all the drawers."

  "I know that," I said. "And I have a very good reason. The things your mother made for the Tivolini buyer are missing. We're searching the cabin; would you like to help?"

  "Missing?" Shannan looked at me, then at Beth in disbelief, her mouth open, her eyes wide. "I don't understand.

  Where would they go?"

  Beth sat down on my bunk and started petting Sinatra.

  "If we knew, then they wouldn't be missing, would they?"

  She sounded unnaturally calm, and I couldn't decide if it was the tail end of the liquor or if she had gone beyond al rational emotion. She'd had more to deal with than seemed fair.

  Shannan sat beside her mom, "Oh, mom, I'm so sorry."

  Beth let out a long sigh and patted her daughter's arm.

  "Me, too, honey. Me, too."

  I was pacing the sleeping porch. "You know, there are other places to look in this cabin. I see no reason for us not to spend a little time just poking around—"

  "Peeking into other people's things?" Shannan said.

  "Yes. And now that there are three of us, you can help."

  "Tante Kitzi--"

  I leaned toward her and said softly, "You owe me."

  At that moment Jennifer came in. "Hi." She looked at each of us. "What's happened now?"

  It was Shannan who told her the story, finishing with a shake of her head, and saying, "And so, now my mom can't present to the Tivolini buyer tomorrow."

  "That's horrible. Do you think they're just lost? Or stolen?" Jennifer asked.

  Beth and I exchanged a look. "Stolen," I said. I couldn't think of any other way that the jewelry could have disappeared.

  "Why don't you just tell Cordelia?" Jennifer asked.

  "There are security guards all over the place, and they can—"

  "No." Beth remained firm. "I will not have my friends treated like criminals."

  "One of them is a criminal," Shannan said.

  "We don't know that. But, even if it's true, I still can't do that."

  Jennifer turned out to be a young woman of action.

  "Maybe we should start searching, just in case your things are still here" She glanced at her watch. "They're going to shut down the Saloon in half an hour. The guards want everyone back in their cabins to lock the doors, so that doesn't give us a lot of time."

  "I'm with you, Jennifer." I stood up and discovered that there was still alcohol in my system. I spoke as crisply as I could. "As I tell people when I'm training, 'Be bold, be brief, be gone.' So, who is taking what?"

  We divided up the rooms and started off. "Oh," I said.

  "If you see anyone coming, yell my name loud as a warning for all of us."

  Shannan stopped in the party room and opened the refrigerator door. Since she was most squeamish, she'd been given the easiest place to search, and after she was done with the fridge, she had to check the sacks of good-ies. Then she'd help Jennifer and Beth in the main cabin.

  By that time I hoped either her inhibitions would be gone, or they'd be finished. Or maybe we'd have found the jewelry.

  I went outside and up the stairs to the second floor, holding onto the railing as an extra precaution, since the effects of the wine reappeared when I least expected them.

  Upstairs, only six bunks were being used, and I started by looking under the blankets and pillows, sliding my hand along the covers, feeling for lumps or beads. That was the easy part. I didn't really want to snoop into people's personal belongings, but my like for Beth was stronger than my dislike for the search.

  I pulled out an old, brown vinyl suitcase, probably saved for occasions like camp and went through it carefully. Clothes, more clothes, and a couple of magazines, including The Stampers' Sampler and a Somerset Studio Paper Arts. I might have slowed down to peruse the amazing pictures, but underneath them was a hairbrush with long auburn hair. This was Sande's, and I felt like a complete rodent for going through her things. As I closed the suitcase, I reminded myself that if we found Beth's sample pieces, we'd all feel terrific.

  Outside, I heard the Saloon doors open and close a couple of times. I looked out the window, but thank goodness whoever went out was going in the other direction. I wanted to check with Beth and the girls in the main cabin, but the only way down there was on the outside staircase, and I didn't have time for that.

  I looked through a bead box, but there was only one completed piece and it was a leather necklace with earthy African beads. A noise came from outside, and I must have jumped a foot. I pushed my forehead against the screen, but I didn't see anyone.

  More bags. A green duffel came first, and I went through it in record time. Next was a black rolling bag, and I was careful not to miss a zipper pocket or the cosmetic case. A vinyl bag was filled with rubber stamps, stamp pads, and some really interesting charms that I assumed went on cards, and another similar case had beads.

  The final suitcase took forever because it had boxes and boxes of beads, and I had to open each one to look for Beth's things. By the time I finished I was sticky with sweat, and I don't sweat. If I kept this up I could get a job searching bags at the airport, and I'd already be trained.

  Only one or two little items left. Heads under sheets sitting on a rickety card table. Lynn's heads.

  One more time I thought I heard someone outside, but the pathway downstairs was empty. Obviously, burglary was not a profession I was cut out for, and I wasn't even stealing anything.

  I lifted the first square of material and saw the head that Lynn had shown me the day before. It looked more garish than I'd remembered, and as a tiny bead fell off, something inside me fell, too. I realized that whoever took Beth's jewelry could already have them apart and the beads could be in something else entirely. Or down the john. I was betting Beth had thought of that long ago, and it was only my insistence that had made her agree to a search.

  Well, if she could tough it out, I could, too. And I would. I lifted the head and looked at the bottom, just in case something could be hidden inside. It was solid and I put it back the way I'd found it_ Last, I used great care to lift the final sheet and found the face of a woman staring back. She had huge eyes of deep sapphire Swarovski crystals. Four millimeters. The size Beth had used. The beaded head also wore a choker of the same blue crystals. As much as I hated to, I ran my hand over the choker looking for a loose bead. When I found one, I popped it off to show Beth.

  "My, my, guess who I found snooping around my things."

  I swung around to face Lynn Donaldson.

  She seemed amused at my awkward position.

  "Yes," I said, pointing at the head with my left hand so I could slip
the bead from my right hand into my pocket. "I thought you'd made this."

  "And now would you like to explain why you're up here? Or do you still just assume that you can do whatever you want and to hell with the rest of us?"

  That was a shot out of the blue. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

  "I'm not surprised." As she said it, I realized why her sneer was so good—she practiced it all the time. "I'll just run down and get Officer Peterson, since he said to report anything suspicious," she said. "He can decide whether you spend the night in jail."

  "Fine." I put my hands on my hips. "Then get it over with."

  "Dam, I just remembered that we aren't supposed to leave because of the lockdown. Guess

  do it tomorrow."

  "This is ridiculous. I didn't take anything."

  "Oh, really? And what about the bead you're holding in your hand?"

  I held both hands out, palms up. "What bead?"

  "A thief and a magician. Do you cheat at poker, too?"

  "I only play poker with my grandson, and usually he wins." I shook my head. "I have no idea why you are acting this way."

  "No, you wouldn't, because you have no idea who I am."

  I looked at the woman, trying to place her. "Nope, I don't. Can't say that I've given it much thought, either."

  "You wouldn't?' She sneered again.

  "Let me guess, you drive a Hummer Two. Hmmm, is your other car a broomstick?"

  The look on her face told me that I had shot from the mouth again, and she was going to make me pay for it.

  "I'm sorry," I added, genuinely sorry that I was even having this conversation. "That was rude. You don't deserve for me to be rude."