“What happened to your rental?” she asked, sliding a hand over the glove compartment. The leather was soft against her fingertips.
“I turned it in.” He gave her a sidelong glance. “Are you okay?”
No, Alice thought. She was not okay, but there was nothing anyone could do about it at the moment. “Not really. Where’d you get this one?”
“Chicago.”
“Oh.” Alice leaned forward until her forehead was resting on the dashboard. “I like it. It reminds me of Lewis’s old car.”
“So he had good taste at some point.”
“Hey.” Alice turned her head slowly until she was looking at him. “He’s about to marry my best friend.”
Adam seemed momentarily surprised, and then his eyebrows scrunched together. “I thought Lewis was your best friend.”
“A girl can have more than one, you know.”
“How many do you have?”
“Well, there’s Lewis, obviously. And Whitney. She counts too.”
“Any others?”
Alice’s hand drifted over to where his rested on the gearshift. “Maybe one. Only him I can kiss.”
Adam’s smile was small but satisfied. “Do you want to talk about what you learned at your shop?”
Her fingers clenching compulsively, Alice swallowed hard. “I don’t know what to think. That stuff happened a long time ago, when my mom was just a baby. Mimi couldn’t be that much older than she is. How could a person hold a grudge for that many years?”
“I thought we were talking about Mimi.”
Alice’s lips curved up in a wry smile. “Point taken. I think I need to talk to Whitney.”
The lights in the upstairs apartment were all blazing when Adam pulled into the driveway. “It looks like we’re in luck.”
Whitney and Lewis were in the kitchen playing a card game when Adam and Alice walked through the door. Lewis glanced up and grimaced when he saw Adam. “Way to show me up back there, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Twinkle-Toed. Is there anything you can’t do?”
Adam looked like he wanted to snap at Lewis but Whitney cut him off. “What’s wrong? Alice, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Alice tightened her hold on Adam’s fingers. “Did your mom ever talk about your grandmother?”
“Grandma Walker? She couldn’t stand her. Said she was too much like my dad.”
“Not that one. Your mom’s mom.”
Whitney made a face. “Oh, Grandma Frome. Not in a while, but I haven’t paid any attention to what’s come out of Mimi’s mouth since I was in middle school. Why?”
Alice slid into a chair across from her. “Did she ever tell you that Bertha owned a shoe store?”
“Not that again.” Whitney rolled her eyes and slapped her cards down on the table. “That’s the reason I tuned out in the first place. ‘Some young upstart waltzed into Mama’s store and demanded a pair of shoes…’” She shuddered.
Adam sat down and pulled Alice next to him. “Can you tell us exactly what happened? We kind of need to know,” Adam said.
Whitney shot a questioning glance at Alice and shrugged. “It’s not much of a story, to tell you the truth.” She launched into a tale that was very similar to the one Alice had heard from her mother–albeit with a slight tone of contempt and entitlement–but toward the end there was one glaring difference. “Then the man stole the shoes and started his own business, putting Grandma Frome in financial ruin.” Whitney moved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “She was probably on the way out anyway, so I’d take that with a salt lick.”
Alice felt the blood drain from her face. If Mimi really believed that the original slippers had been stolen instead of duplicated, that made her actions a little more understandable. “Do you believe that story?” she asked in a voice that shook.
Whitney’s eyes narrowed. “What’s going on?”
Taking a deep breath, Alice pulled her slippers out of her bag and set them on the table. “My grandfather had these made for my grandma after he saw the ones in Bertha’s shop. He married the young upstart.”
Whitney stared at the slippers for a solid sixty seconds without saying anything. A myriad of emotions crossed her face before she rose to her feet and almost ran out of the kitchen, leaving her stunned friends behind her. When she reappeared she was carrying the box Alice had lugged back from Mimi’s house.
Three pairs of eyes watched as Whitney dug through it, her forehead crinkled in concentration. Then she smiled in satisfaction and placed an old photograph on the table.
Alice leaned forward to examine it. The only thing on it was a pair of shoes that was similar to hers, but not close enough for someone to call them the same pair.
“Yours have a thinner heel,” Lewis said, tapping the picture with one finger. “And the toe on these is wider. They look more like a French heel.”
The fact that Lewis knew what a French heel was didn’t seem to faze Adam in the least. He just tilted his chair back and rubbed his face with his hands. When he spoke his words sounded tired. “What we need to do is find the originals.”
“Why?” Alice turned to him. It she weren’t so exhausted herself she would have probably felt furious. “Why does it matter? Mimi still owns my shop. She still wants me to quit. And no matter how many pairs of shoes we find, she’s not going to change her mind. Besides,” she added with a glance at Whitney, “there’s no way we can find them at her house.”
“Alice is right.” Whitney closed the box with finality and tacked the picture on the fridge. “You couldn’t find a rhinoceros with a head cold in that house. And anyway, it’s getting late. I don’t know about you two, but Alice and I need our beauty sleep if we want to dazzle you at the ball.”
Adam’s jaw tightened but he didn’t argue. Instead, he stood up and tugged on Alice’s hand. “We’ll figure this out after everything’s back to normal.”
Once they were in the hall, Adam ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “My parents are arriving in the morning,” he told her. “Do you want to meet them when they get here or at the ball?”
“The ball,” Alice said immediately. “I’m sure your mom’s a lovely person but she kind of freaked me out.”
Adam’s smile was affectionately resigned. “She freaks me out too sometimes, and I lived with her for eighteen years. But in all seriousness, she’s not as bad as she sounded on the phone. Her mental filter sort of disintegrates when she’s excited.”
That doesn’t bode too well for tomorrow night, Alice thought. “I can’t wait. What time do you have to be at the mall tomorrow evening?”
“Early, I’m afraid. One of these days I’m going to pick you up for a date in my own car.” His voice grew distant. “Maybe I can do a vanishing act around six-thirty…”
Alice laughed. What was it with men and their cars? “How about I just meet you? I don’t mind. Really,” she added when Adam’s lips pressed together in a disapproving line.
“All right.” He sighed and tugged his collar away from his neck.
Alice reached up and pulled his hand away. “I thought you were going to spare your designer shirts,” she reminded him softly.
The only thing Adam could do in response was kiss her.
***
The day of the ball dawned clear, bright, and hot–which was a bit of a surprise for the Michigan natives. Alice had just made her bed when her cell phone rang.
“Are you showered yet?”
“Lewis…”
“Alice, this is a big day. You’d better get going.”
It was entirely too early to sigh this heavily, but she did it anyway. “I’ll be ready on time,” she told him with some exasperation. “Will you calm down? I don’t think I could handle a repeat of our senior prom.”
“I wasn’t that bad.” Alice made a rude noise and Lewis laughed. “Just… remember to shave your legs. I’d hate you to snag your gown with a bristly calf.” Then he hung up.
Alice was on her way out of her bedroom when the sl
ippers caught her eye. She stopped and contemplated them for a long time. If Mimi really thought they’d been stolen it was a minor miracle that she’d left them in the display case without breaking the glass to get them out.
Perhaps she’d been counting on the fact that Alice would honor her mother by keeping them there forever. Impulsively, Alice grabbed them and slid them under her bed. She knew she was being silly but something in the back of her mind told her to keep them out of sight.
The phone rang as Alice was putting her breakfast dishes back in the cupboard. “Hello?” she asked, trying not to drop her bowl in the sink.
“Miss Riverton? This is Johnny Evers. I hope I’m not calling at an inconvenient time.”
Immediately perking up, Alice gave up on being domestic and leaned her hip against the counter. “Mr. Evers! I’m so happy to hear from you.”
The smile In Johnny’s voice was unmistakable. “I wouldn’t mind a granddaughter or two like you.” He paused, and Alice could hear papers rustling in the background. “I’ve been scouting around and I think I’ve found something interesting. It seems that our friend Anna has been making the rounds of the assisted living centers in the area.”
Somehow this wasn’t entirely surprising, and Alice told him that. “Where else has she been?” she asked, suddenly feeling bone weary.
Johnny rattled off the name of another property on the other end of town and Alice shook her head. “Is she trying to find a sugar daddy?” she asked, hoping that wasn’t the case.
“It sure seems like it. If that’s the case, she’s definitely courting disaster with this man.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Johnny paused. “Let me visit this other gentleman and get back to you. I have a hunch that Anna’s slipped up, and this might be our chance to catch her at her game.” The papers in the background shuffled again. “Do you know anyone who needs money?”
Alice thought about the people who worked, or pretended to work, at The Glass Slipper. “Not Whitney. And probably not Brittany, either,” she mused, thinking of the way Brittany had gazed up at Clyde the day of the baseball game. Had Adam said that Clyde was well off? All she could remember about the man was his over-large chin. “Although, come to think of it, I haven’t seen or heard from her in three weeks.”
“Is there anyone else?”
“Mimi… but she didn’t seem very concerned with the shop’s financial situation…”
Johnny was quiet for a moment. “It would appear that those two are our best choices at the moment,” he said finally. “Let me nose around a little. I’ll be in touch with you as soon as I discover anything concrete.”
“Thanks. You’re such a sweetheart for doing this. I wish there was something I could do to repay you.”
He chuckled. “Come visit me every so often once this is all sorted out. That’s all I really need.”
“Consider it done.”
Alice hung up the phone feeling like she’d just gained another member of her family.
***
It was almost noon before Whitney emerged from her room. “Sleep well?” Alice asked from the couch.
“No.” Whitney plopped down next to her. “I kept dreaming that a dancing pig was flying over the ball tonight and was throwing pork chops at people. It was horrid.”
Alice tried not to laugh. “You’re not nervous, are you?”
Whitney hesitated before answering. “Kind of. I mean, I’ve never been to something like this before. What if I trip and fall into the fountain?”
“Lewis won’t let you.” Alice smiled to herself. Most likely, Lewis wouldn’t let Whitney more than a foot away from him this evening. “What’re your plans for this afternoon?”
“Just to get ready. I told Lewis I couldn’t stand to wait around here until he came to pick me up so I’m getting ready over there.” She shrugged at Alice’s surprised expression. “He already has my dress. As soon as I eat lunch and take a shower I’m heading over there.”
And that was how, an hour and a half later, Alice had the entire house to herself.
Contrary to what Lewis thought, it would not take Alice an entire day, or even an afternoon, to get ready for a ball. She read a book and did a load of laundry. The sight of a dress shirt lying crumpled on the floor next to the dryer was enough to make her mind wander into a very nice fantasy about a tuxedo-clad Adam standing in the middle of the atrium.
She swept the kitchen floor after dinner before finally making her way to her bedroom. She took a long shower, even going so far as to shave her legs twice in deference to Lewis’s admonishment. She had just laid her dress on the bed when something crashed in the family room.
“Whitney?” she called, throwing her robe over her shoulders. “Are you okay?” To her surprise it wasn’t Whitney that she found in the family room.
It was Mimi.
She was pulling the cushions off the couch with single-minded determination. She didn’t bother to look up when Alice gasped. “What are you doing here?” Mimi just overturned an easy chair. Alice darted in and grabbed a picture frame before Mimi could get her hands on it. “If you don’t stop right now I’ll call the police.” She was going to do it anyway, but she had the feeling that Mimi would do her bodily harm if she told her that.
Mimi dropped the lamp she was holding with a crash and glared at Alice. “Go ahead and call the cops, Alice Riverton. They’ll just take you away first.”
Alice narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
If looks could kill, Alice would be nothing but a pile of dust and memories. “You’re a thief. All these months I’ve allowed you to work for me, and how do you repay my kindness? By stealing my property. Give them back, Alice Riverton.”
“Give what back?” Alice had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“My shoes. I want them back, and I want them back now. Hand them over.” As frightening as the situation was, it wouldn’t be nearly as terrifying if Mimi’s voice hadn’t been so cool and detached.
“I don’t have your shoes.”
Two bright red spots bloomed on Mimi’s cheeks. “You’re the only one with a key to that display window. What did you do with them? I’ll search this place from top to bottom if I have to.”
Alice grabbed the cordless phone and pushed a few buttons. It only took a second for someone to pick up. “Hello, this is Alice Riverton. I have an intruder in my home.”
Mimi growled and bent down to pick up the forgotten lamp. As Alice rattled off her address, Mimi said a very unladylike word and threw the lamp as hard as she could at the wall. Then she kicked a side table and stalked down the hall, slamming the door behind her so sharply the glass rattled in its panes.
Alice slid to the floor where she was and listened as the operator assured her help was on its way. When she told the woman that Mimi had gone of her own accord, she was told to stay where she was. So she did, and thanked her lucky stars that Mimi hadn’t seen the picture of the original slippers that was stuck to her fridge.
The officer that showed up was, ironically enough, the same one that had investigated her mother’s murder. “Hello, Miss Riverton,” Officer Jennings said with a weary smile. “I’m sorry we have to meet again like this. Are you all right?”
Alice nodded but remained seated on the floor. “I’m fine.”
Officer Jennings crouched down next to her and gazed at her sympathetically. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”
Before she knew what she was doing the entire story came spilling out of Alice’s mouth, all year-and-a-half of it. By the time she was finished speaking her mouth was dry and she had tear tracks on her cheeks. Officer Jennings had quietly taken notes while her partner took fingerprints, even though Alice had told them who had broken into her apartment.
“It sounds like you’ve had a rough go of it since we spoke last,” Officer Jennings said after a long pause. “How again did you say Ms. Walker knew your mother?”
“She didn’
t, at least not as far as I know. But her mother knew my grandmother, and…”
“That’s right; there was an issue with a pair of shoes. Would you mind showing them to me?”
Alice slowly got to her feet, studiously avoiding the mess littering her family room floor. “Sure. Hold on just a second. I stowed them under my bed.”
“Wise move.”
Once she was alone, Alice closed her eyes and took several deep, lung-cleansing breaths. Not for the first time she wished that doing away with someone wasn’t so against the law. Not that she was willing to kill Mimi, per se, but if she could just get rid of the woman, her life would be a whole lot less complicated.
Officer Jennings took the slippers from Alice and studied them carefully, then handed them back with a wistful smile. “So this is what caused all the trouble,” she remarked. “And, evidently, continues it on. Do you know where Ms. Walker is now?”
“Not right now, but she’ll be at the mall this evening.”
“Is she going to the Wentworth’s ball? We know some of the security guys over there.”
Alice was about to ask if they’d be helping their friends for the night when she glanced up at the clock over the mantel. “Crap, crap, crap,” she moaned. “It can’t be seven forty-five already.”
“I take it you’re attending the ball as well?”
“Yeah. I have to be there in fifteen minutes, and I haven’t even–”
Sensing a panic attack, Officer Jennings’s partner cleared his throat. “We’ll let ourselves out, ma’am.”
It felt like the faster Alice moved the longer it took her to do anything, and by the time she stepped into her dress she was almost crying with frustration. Calm down, she told herself sternly as she twisted her hair into a low knot. The ball won’t disappear if you’re a few minutes late. She tried not to think about Adam’s parents as it just made her feel queasy.
The slippers seemed to wink at her after she’d stepped into her dress, and she smiled in spite of her nerves. What was it her mother had said? “And now they’re yours. Your grandmother wore them on her tenth wedding anniversary. I only wore them once, on the day I married your father. I expect you’ll do something equally wonderful with them.” Alice wasn’t sure what exactly she was going to do while wearing one-of-a-kind dancing slippers, but Belinda’s words gave her the burst of courage she needed.
Alice in Glass Slippers Page 31