by Jan Fields
“Definitely.” Annie gave Ian’s hand a squeeze and then slipped through the front door. “Good night, Ian.”
“Good night, Annie.”
Annie turned away from the door, smiling softly to herself. She walked into the front room and gasped. The cushions had been pulled from the couch and thrown on the floor. Drawers stood open on the small side table. Annie backed up quickly, hurrying back to the door. “Ian!”
Ian turned. “Yes?”
“Could you come in here, please?”
At her anxious tone, Ian trotted quickly up the walk, and Annie led him into the front room. He glanced around. “Someone was looking for something. Is this the only room you’ve been in?”
Annie nodded, blinking back tears. She hated it whenever her home felt invaded, and that had happened far too often since returning to Stony Point. “Do you think the person might still be here?” she whispered.
“I doubt it, but let me call Chief Edwards, just in case, before we do any more exploring.” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed, and then had a brief conversation with the chief. “He’s on his way. He was still at the ball, but he said he was about to leave anyway.”
Annie had a sudden thought that brought a slight smile. “This will be the first time my case has been examined by Sherlock Holmes.”
“Good to see some of that Annie Dawson spirit.”
When Chief Edwards arrived, he left the deerstalker cap in the car, but the Sherlock Holmes persona lingered as he walked through each of the downstairs rooms. Though nothing seemed to have been maliciously trashed, every drawer or cupboard door hung open and a number of objects were shifted out of place.
As they started up the stairs to check the second floor, the chief asked, “Have you noticed anything missing?”
“No,” Annie said. “I can’t be sure, but nothing has stood out.”
When the chief opened the door to Annie’s room, Boots streaked past them like a gray blur. “I’m sure I didn’t leave that door closed,” Annie said.
As they looked into the disheveled room, Chief Edwards said, “Since the housebreaker was clearly in this room, I expect that’s who shut the cat up in the room. Look around carefully, Mrs. Dawson. Do you see anything missing?”
Annie looked around the room in alarm. Someone had opened every drawer and her clothes were in disarray within. The boxes that she’d stacked neatly in the closet until she got a chance to unpack them were now in the middle of the room, contents half spilled out. Annie stepped over to the dresser, quietly stuffing a couple of bras back in a drawer, and then she checked her jewelry box. She wasn’t really into jewelry, not like Alice, but Wayne had given her an expensive watch for their last anniversary along with the diamond earrings she was wearing. The watch lay neatly in the jewelry box. The box clearly had been pawed through, but nothing taken.
“I don’t understand this,” Annie said. “Probably the most valuable things I own are my laptop, which is right there on the top of the dresser, and the watch that’s still in the jewelry box. What could this person have wanted?”
“I don’t know.” The chief looked over the room quietly. “I don’t suppose you have some new mystery you’re working on?”
Annie shook her head. “Only this one tonight.”
“And the hair comb,” Ian added.
Annie looked startled. She’d actually forgotten the hair comb in the shock of seeing her home invaded. Losing it seemed so unimportant in the light of some stranger pawing through her underwear drawer. “But that hair comb wasn’t worth much at all,” she said. “The watch alone was worth more than that whole costume jewelry set.”
“It’s possible you’re mistaken about that,” the chief said. “Do you have other pieces in the set?”
Annie nodded, her eyes sweeping the room. Where had she put that jewelry box? Then she remembered shoving it under her pillow to keep Boots out of it. She walked over to the bed where a few things from her closet had been tossed by whoever wrecked her room. The chief stepped up beside her. “Mrs. Dawson, is that blood?”
Annie looked at a several small drops of blood on the edge of one of her Battenberg lace pillowcases. “That’s not mine,” she said. “I’m sure I would remember injuring myself.”
Ian grinned. “As I remember, Boots can get a little feisty with trespassers.”
“So the housebreaker may be wearing a few scratches,” the chief said. “I’ll need to take the pillowcase with me. We’re not exactly CSI: New York around here, but that blood could be evidence.”
Annie nodded and shook the pillow out of the case. As she picked it up, she saw the small jewelry box underneath. “Well, they didn’t take this jewelry box either,” she said. She picked it up and opened it. The emerald necklace and brooch still lay in their specially molded spots. Annie ran her finger over the empty slots for the earrings and comb. “I guess the thief wasn’t after these.”
“Or Boots dissuaded them from messing with your bed,” Ian said. “After all, not a lot of people keep jewelry boxes under their pillows. It might have seemed unlikely enough to not be worth wrestling an angry cat over.”
They poked through the rest of the upstairs rooms and discovered the window in the spare bedroom was wide open and the screen shoved up. The housebreaker had clearly come in through the window after climbing up the broad oak whose branches often brushed the window on stormy nights. “I’m definitely getting someone to trim that tree back,” Annie said.
The chief leaned out through the open window, judging the climb and distance. “Well, we know one thing about the housebreakers,” he said. “They were young and reasonably fit.”
After that, they even checked the attic where some of the closest trunks had been thrown open, but most of the boxes and trunks were clearly untouched. “I guess this was a little too daunting,” Ian said. “The only way to do a thorough search up here would be to move in.”
“Is anything missing here?” Chief Edwards asked.
Annie turned slowly, looking around the attic. “I’m not sure I would know. Nothing obvious.”
The chief nodded. “Well, I’ll file a report, and you can come in sometime tomorrow and look it over. You let me know if you find anything missing.”
“I will,” Annie said as they trooped down the two flights of stairs.
“I’ll send one of my men to drive by the house a few times tonight,” the chief said. “But I don’t expect they’ll be back. Someone was clearly looking for something, and they did a pretty thorough job. I see no sign that you interrupted the searchers, so I assume they simply gave up.”
Annie nodded and thanked the chief. He left soon, but Ian lingered. “I hate to leave you alone after this,” he said.
Annie forced a weak laugh. “Well, you’d think I’d be getting used to people poking around Grey Gables by now. Usually though, I’m at least doing some poking of my own to get it all started.”
“Do you want me to stay?” Ian asked. “I could sleep on the couch.”
Annie shook her head. “I’m a big girl; I can handle it.”
“OK,” Ian said reluctantly. As he opened the door, they were met with an excited Alice rushing up the front steps.
“I saw Chief Edwards leaving as I got home,” Alice said. “Is everything all right?”
“Someone broke into Grey Gables, but other than scaring Boots half to death and making a mess, they didn’t do much.”
“That’s enough,” Alice said. “I’m putting my foot down. Either you come over and spend the night with me, or I’m staying here. You don’t need to be alone after a break-in.”
“I second that,” Ian said.
“All right, I give,” Annie said. “Would you mind staying here? I want to get at least a few things back in order. I don’t think I could sleep if I didn’t.”
“No problem,” Alice said. “Let me go get my jammies.” She turned and headed back for the carriage house.
“Well, since I’m leaving you in good hands, I fe
el better about leaving. Thanks again for coming with me tonight. I wish the evening hadn’t ended so badly.”
“It was quite an evening,” Annie said. “For a small town, there aren't a lot of dull moments in Stony Point.”
Ian squeezed her arm gently, and then he turned and headed back to his car.
Annie walked back inside and began putting the front room in order. It was mostly a matter of arranging cushions on the couch and closing drawers. She knew her room would be a much bigger job.
Minutes later, Alice joined her. Together they made quick work of the downstairs, and then sat down for a comforting cup of chamomile tea. “I can do the rest of the cleaning tomorrow after church,” Annie said.
Alice looked surprised. “I thought you might want to stay home and recover.” Alice said. “Everyone would understand.”
Annie took a long sip of the warm tea. “No, I’m going to do just what I would normally do. Besides, I think I would benefit from the peace of a morning at church.” Then she smiled at Alice. “Let’s talk about something else so I can take my mind off this before we try to sleep. So, tell me about you.”
“You mean me in relation to John?” Alice said. “I still don’t know what he wants, but I’m sure he wasn’t lured here by any undying love for me.”
“I could see someone lured by exactly that,” Annie said. “But I agree that this isn’t likely to be the case here. Has he said anything to give you an idea of what his real motives are?”
“He has asked me how my businesses are going,” Alice said, and then she sighed. “Honestly, I expect it’s money somehow. John was always overspending and getting involved in one sure-fire deal or another. It took me forever to get my credit in decent shape after the divorce. If Betsy hadn’t vouched for me, I never could have gotten the landlord to rent me the carriage house.”
“Well, at least you know to be careful,” she said.
“Oh, I’m careful. I checked to make sure I didn’t have any rings missing after he held my hand,” she said. “He practically drooled over the diamonds on that Meyer woman.”
Annie smiled a little at her practical friend checking her jewelry, and then she blinked as a wave of exhaustion passed over her. “I think I’m done in.”
Alice took the guest room and Annie spent the night surrounded by the familiarity of Gram’s bedroom, which had now become her own. Sometime in the night, she felt a light thump and heard Boots purr as she curled up against Annie’s back. With the comforting warmth and gentle rumble of the purr, Annie fell back to sleep.
10
The next morning, Alice helped Annie put the upstairs back in order before she left to do a little light cleaning at her own place. Although the house no longer showed signs of the break-in, Annie still felt restless. Several times, she opened the jewelry box and stared at the remaining pieces of the emerald jewelry set. They were pretty, but she couldn’t really say they looked real. She wondered if she should get an appraiser to look at them. At least knowing the actual value of the pieces would help her nail down one aspect of this mystery.
Finally, she shoved the box in her needlecraft bag and finished getting ready for church. I need some time to think about something besides the break-in, she thought as she headed out to her car. Still, it was hard to set aside the nagging thought that, whether it made sense or not, somehow the costume jewelry had something to do with all that had happened.
The morning service soothed Annie’s troubled nerves, and she carried that bit of peace home with her. On Monday she spent the day close to home and again fought the urge to peer out the window for burglars. She needed to do something to get rid of that terrible feeling of violation. She hoped her friends would have some ideas on Tuesday when they met for the Hook and Needle Club.
The next day, the warm smiles of the other women sitting in the cozy chairs at A Stitch in Time made Annie feel better instantly, giving her almost as much of a rush of security and peace as the church visit had. Stony Point might be a little too mysterious sometimes, but it was full of good friends.
“I had such a wonderful time at the ball!” Peggy gushed as soon as Annie sat down. “I’ll bring back the gown and jewelry as soon as I get the dress cleaned.”
Annie smiled at her. “You may keep the gown as far as I’m concerned. It’s just one more thing in the attic. And I can’t imagine it looking nearly as good on anyone else as it did on you.”
“That’s for sure,” Alice said. “You looked like a 1940s movie star.”
Peggy blushed slightly at the compliments. “Wally did say he liked the dress,” she admitted. “I don’t know where I would wear it again, but you never know!”
The mention of Wally reminded Annie, “Peggy, would Wally know anyone who trims trees? I need the oak trimmed away from the upstairs windows.”
“Because of the break-in?” Kate asked sympathetically, laying the vest she was crocheting in her lap as she looked at Annie.
Annie glanced around in surprise, and then she turned her eyes to Alice. Her friend held up her hands. “Don’t blame me. Ian must have talked to Chief Edwards in front of Charlotte because everyone already knew when I got here.”
Peggy blushed again, looking down very pointedly at the quilt square in her lap. “Charlotte was in the diner this morning for breakfast. She told me about the gang that climbed your tree to rob your house.”
“Well, I don’t know that it was a gang or even more than one person,” Annie said, smiling slightly. “And it still doesn’t look like anyone took anything. But the tree climbing is right.”
“Why would anyone break into your house?” Stella asked, so surprised that she actually stopped knitting—something that rarely happened when Stella was at their meetings.
“I guess they thought Annie had something they wanted,” Alice said, looking pointedly at Stella.
When Annie had first come to Stony Point, Stella had hired someone to buy something from Annie in secret. The man took his assignment a bit too seriously and tried to break into Grey Gables. Stella must have thought of that when Alice made her remark, as a small dot of color appeared on the elderly woman’s pale cheeks, and her knitting needles began clicking furiously. “Do you have any idea what it might be?” Stella asked quietly.
“I’m not sure,” Annie said. “I do have an idea, but it seems so silly.” She went on to explain about the comb that had been snatched from her hair when the lights went out at the ball. And she described that rather unusual place she’d left the rest of the set and the signs of Boots’s response to the housebreaker.
“Good for Boots!” Mary Beth said. “I’ll have to buy that kitty a new mouse.”
“Maybe I’ll save her some fish scraps from the diner,” Peggy said. “A hero like that deserves a reward.”
Annie laughed. “Well, Boots is always up for more food.”
“You know, this gives us one more clue to the culprit,” Alice said. “It sounds like whoever broke into the house is going to have some scratches.”
“So our first step is to check hands,” Peggy said. “Everyone comes into The Cup & Saucer at one time or another. I’ll watch for suspicious scratches. Though it would help if we could come up with some suspects.”
“Who was standing near you when the lights went out?” Gwen asked, dropping her own knitting project into her lap as she turned her full interest to the new mystery. “I know that ballroom was pitch dark. I can’t imagine anyone walking very far to reach you.”
“Well, Ian was beside me,” Annie said. “In fact, I thought at first the tug on my hair was him, reaching out to make sure I was OK. And Alice was there with John MacFarlane.”
Alice narrowed her eyes. “John did look awfully interested in that comb.”
“But if you didn’t get home until after I did, he couldn’t have been the person who broke into my house,” Annie said. “Besides, I mentioned that it was costume jewelry after it disappeared, so John would have no reason to break into my house. By then, he knew i
t wasn’t valuable even if he had grabbed the comb.”
“You have a good point. I’d forgotten you said something about the comb being costume jewelry. Still, he could have gotten to your house,” Alice said. “Not long after you went looking for Chief Edwards with Ian, John managed to spill wine on his suit, and he went off to the bathroom to dab it off. I didn’t see him again for quite a while, and when he finally rejoined me, he scolded me like I was hard to find. Plus, we don’t actually know, for sure, that the hair comb and the break-in are connected. I’m still going to do some sleuthing about the hair comb. I wouldn’t put anything past John.”
“He does seem a likely suspect if the only people near you were Ian, Alice, and John,” Mary Beth said sensibly. “How far could someone travel in a crowded room in the pitch dark?”
“Although John might have been closest, there were plenty of other people who could have reached me in very few steps,” Annie said, then she turned toward Gwen. “We were standing in that little alcove near where you were chatting with Victoria Meyer. After the comb was gone, I noticed Jenna Paige was really quite close as well. And I practically could have reached out and touched Harry and Sunny.” Suddenly Annie realized what she’d said and fell silent, turning sharply to look at Kate. The last time Kate thought someone else was interested in Harry, the result had been unpleasant—especially since Annie was the someone else Kate had suspected!
Kate looked distressed, but she forced a smile. “I know Harry was out with another woman,” she said. “I had to expect it eventually. He’s a good-looking man, and we are divorced. Anyway, you know Vanessa couldn’t keep silent about that.” Then Kate dropped her voice slightly and added. “I know it’s tacky of me to even ask, but did the woman really look like a streetwalker?”
Alice gave a tiny bark of surprised laughter at that.
“She was dressed a little … obviously,” Annie said. “But I think Vanessa might have been letting her anger color her description.”
Kate nodded. “I thought that might be the case.”