Jasper said, “I’m sure they’ll catch whoever’s doing it soon. Now that they don’t have to worry about finding Gracie, they can devote all their resources to it.”
The five of us had a pleasant enough lunch, but I could tell that Liam was quite bothered by the robberies despite Jasper’s attempt to reassure him. When he started to say he was going to check with Detective Cutter to see if there were any new leads, I finally spoke up.
“Actually,” I said, “do you want to come with me for a walk? I have an idea about who’s been robbing stores.” Everyone at the table looked at me in shock.
“If you’ve decided to become a successful amateur sleuth, count me in,” said Liam, “especially if it gets me my costume jewelry back.”
Prompted by the Gracie Coswell affair, I had been thinking a lot about both jewelry and people I’d seen around town recently. The thieves had never been caught on camera, didn’t cause a mess, and took only a couple of items each time they struck. I reasoned that they must be very clever, and they must have cased the places they targeted. They never broke in, so somehow or other they were getting keys.
In particular, I had started to wonder about Fearne and Frannie that day when they came into the Costume Shop. No one would suspect two old ladies of stealing, but they were the only ones I could think of who might have gotten access to the keys of every shop in town. I’d have been remiss if I hadn’t wondered whether their coming into the shop could be interpreted as casing the joint.
The hardware store they ran was in a small brick building at the quieter end of Main Street. They lived together above the shop. My friends were very curious about what I was up to as I led them down Main Street to Fearne and Frannie’s place.
“I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on me,” Liam said accusingly.
“Who is it?” Charlie demanded. “Can I do a story on them?”
I wasn’t sure what would happen once my friends found out whom I suspected, but I was happy to leave that up to them. When we got to the hardware store, everyone was puzzled.
“Is this the scene of the next crime?” Liam asked. When I looked at him sideways he said, “What? I’ve always wanted to say ‘scene of the crime,’ and even adding ‘next’ in there didn’t diminish it for me!”
“I don’t think anyone is going to rob this place,” I said.
“I’m very confused,” said Charlie, shaking her head.
“I wasn’t entirely sure, but now I think I am,” I said.
The latest robbery had happened at the hair salon right next to the hardware store. The owner, who also lived above her place of business, had a dog, and she hadn’t needed me to pet sit when she went on vacation, because Fearne and Frannie just loved animals.
What they also loved was free hair curlers.
When we entered the hardware store, Fearne came through the gloom in the back to greet us. Her eyes widened when she saw how many of us there were, but she managed a smile and said, “Hello, how’s everyone today? Can I help you with anything?”
I was just about to launch into a roundabout and somewhat awkward explanation when Frannie came down the stairs. “Fearne, I think we should make our next . . . “ I was nearly positive she was about to say “hit” when she noticed us all standing there gazing up at her.
Everyone stood still for a few seconds as my friends took in the implications of Frannie’s words. The woman slowly reached up and drew her sweater more tightly around her shoulders, but she was too late.
Liam let out a loud gasp and pointed a shaky finger. “That’s my necklace!”
Instantly the sisters fell into a defensive mode. “What are you talking about!” said Frannie.
“How dare you accuse us of stealing! The nerve! We’re nice old ladies,” sniffed Fearne.
“You’re wearing my necklace!” Liam cried. “You stole from my store! What cheek!”
Looking at the expressions on the two women’s faces, you would have expected them to continue with their denials, but they didn’t. They suddenly took the opposite tack. Frannie drew herself up and said, “Who are you kidding? We’re the perfect thieves! No one has even suspected us!”
She looked rather gleeful and smug, but it couldn’t last. Frannie’s brazenness took us off guard at first, but once we recovered and presented the sisters with a united front, they had no choice but to back down.
In the end, Fearne and Frannie promised to return everything they had taken, and Liam promised not to prosecute them as long as they never made another copy of his keys.
“I don’t want just my own keys,” said Liam as Fearne and Frannie gathered his costume jewelry in a heap on the counter.
“You want all the keys?” said Fearne, aghast.
Liam nodded solemnly.
“How will we know you aren’t going to keep on entering places when no one else is there?” said Frannie.
Nice that she managed to avoid saying breaking in, I thought.
Liam stuck out his hand. “Spare. Me. All the keys. Now.”
For good measure he also pulled out his phone, muttering something about how if it wasn’t going to work in Mintwood to make calls, at least he could take pictures. Once he had documented the thefts, “Just in case,” we all headed back to our vehicles to go home.
Jasper Wolf stopped next to the Beetle on his way to his truck, which was parked a couple of spaces away. He said his goodbyes and congratulated us on finding Gracie Coswell.
“It was nothing,” said Greer, shrugging modestly.
“It’s going to be the biggest story of the year, and Charlie’s going to write about it,” he said. “That isn’t nothing.”
I hated to say goodbye to Jasper, but I told myself sternly that I had to content myself with just being friends. He was a Wolf, after all, and until I found out exactly what that meant, I was going to admire him like crazy from not too far away, but not too close, either.
I turned to him with a smile and said, “You wouldn’t happen to have a truck we can borrow this weekend, would you? We have some stuff to pick up.”
Over Jasper’s shoulder I saw my two friends grinning.
The End
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By Addison Creek
Witch of Mintwood Mysteries
Witch Way to Mintwood
Witch Some Win Some
Witch Way to Mintwood (Witch of Mintwood Book 1) Page 19