Frisky Business

by Tawna Fenske

  Susan folded her hands in her lap and turned to Marley. “Marley, you mentioned a few days ago that you have a cousin with some expertise in the area who might be able to give an informal assessment of the value of the figurines. Did she happen to give you any sort of impression of what the pieces are worth?”

  Marley clenched her fingers. “Nothing concrete. I really think if we just wait until the formal appraisal is complete, we’ll be able to offer a very accurate picture of what the figurines are worth.”

  Or not worth, Marley thought grimly.

  Aunt Nancy sighed. “In that case, I’d like some photographs, please.”

  “Of course,” Susan said. “Just let me put on some lipstick and—”

  “Not photographs of you,” Nancy snapped. “Photos of the art.”

  “Certainly,” Marley said. “If you’d like, I can have a photographer out here this afternoon to capture some professional images that should meet your need for tax or insurance purposes.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Nancy said. “I’ve got an iPhone. Doesn’t need to be anything snazzy.”

  “But for tax purposes—”

  “This is just for personal use,” Nancy interrupted. “The figurines have been in my family for more than fifty years, and they’re extremely valuable. I entrusted them to the Cascade Historical Society and Wildlife Sanctuary with the understanding they’d become part of a popular exhibit, but if that’s not going to happen expediently—”

  “It’s going to happen,” Marley said, standing up so fast her chair nearly tipped. “It’s going to happen very soon, and we’re just as excited about it as you are. We just need to make sure the appraisal is done properly.”

  “Marley, why don’t we escort Ms. Thomas-Smith to the safe and let her take the photographs she needs,” Susan said. “It’s the least we can do in light of such a generous and valuable donation.”

  “Of course,” Marley said. “If you’d like to come with me, I’d be happy to take you to the safe for a look at your… um… at the figurines.”

  She reached down to offer the older woman a hand up, but Nancy ignored her, hefting herself out of the seat and onto her feet. Susan stood too, beaming at Marley with a look that said, Please don’t blow this.

  “Follow me,” Marley said cheerfully, reaching into her purse for the keys to the safe. She led the little procession through the administrative lobby, down a hall, and into the back room. She fumbled with the keys as Susan and Nancy stood to one side waiting.

  “We’ve all been very excited about the prospect of featuring your figurines as part of a traveling exhibit,” Susan prattled. “We’ve been researching, and while there are many exhibits featuring Native American artifacts, and a number of exhibits featuring Old West erotic artifacts like items from brothels, no one has ever created an exhibit of the sort we’ll be able to display with your pieces, Ms. Thomas-Smith.”

  “Absolutely,” Marley said, crossing her fingers that this whole thing didn’t blow up in their faces once the appraisal came through. “Our tentative plans would be to keep the figurines on the road for eleven months of the year, and with the revenue generated from the traveling exhibit, create a new wing here at CHSWS devoted to the arts, with a special emphasis on Native American artifacts.”

  “The Nancy Thomas-Smith Wing,” Susan supplied.

  “Nancy Ursula Thomas-Smith,” Nancy added. “The Nancy Ursula Thomas-Smith Arts Center.”

  Marley bit her lip. “We may want to think twice about making that into an acronym.”

  Nancy frowned at her. “What’s that, dear?”

  “Nothing,” Susan said quickly. “Marley, do you know how to work the lock?”

  “Absolutely,” she said, inserting the key into the safe and turning it. “I was just here the other day showing the pieces to my cousin.”

  She twisted the handle and popped open the door, allowing light to flood into the small, enclosed space.

  For a moment, no one said anything. Marley stood blinking in the cool air, her eyes adjusting to the dimness of the safe’s interior and what she saw inside.

  Or rather, what she didn’t see.

  It was Susan who spoke first, her stiff smile making her words tight and difficult to understand. “Marley? Did you… um, did you relocate the figurines?”

  Marley blinked. She had a brief, panicky thought that if she just closed the door and opened it again, the figurines would reappear. Poof! Just like a magic trick.

  But magic wasn’t going to save her here. Where the hell were the figurines? Her brain clawed for some reasonable explanation.

  She turned to face the other two women, trying to keep her panic from showing. She looked at Susan, who pressed her lips together. Then Susan turned to Nancy and smiled.

  “I just remembered!” Susan said brightly. “We sent the figurines out to be professionally cleaned. Weren’t the cleaners picking them up this morning, Marley?”

  Marley blinked, too stunned to respond. Oh, Christ. Not again.

  Nancy looked at her, and Marley forced her expression into a stiff smile. Forced her mouth to form the words.

  “Of course!” Marley said. “The cleaning service. It completely slipped my mind.”

  Susan nodded and put a hand on Nancy’s arm. “I’m so sorry we forgot to inform you, but I’m sure you’ll agree it’s important to have the figurines looking as polished and perfect as possible for the appraisal.”

  Nancy frowned. “I suppose.”

  “It’s a crucial part of the process,” Marley babbled, wishing like hell she could just crawl into the safe and hide for the rest of the day. Or the rest of the year, depending on how this whole thing shook out.

  The old woman was still nodding as she stared into the safe’s interior. Marley watched, wondering if she was suspicious, annoyed, or completely convinced of their story.

  Not again, not again, Marley’s brain chanted, throbbing to the rhythm of the words.

  Marley looked at Susan, whose expression was blessedly impassable. Marley turned to Nancy. “I’ll call the cleaning service and find out when we’ll get the figurines back. And after that, we’ll make sure you have some lovely, professional-caliber photographs to cherish for personal use, or to utilize for all your accounting purposes.”

  “Absolutely,” Susan agreed, nodding so hard Marley thought the woman’s head might fall off.

  Nancy shrugged. “Fine. I suppose that will do.”

  “I’m sure the figurines will look just lovely once they’re polished, don’t you agree?” Marley said.

  “Lovely,” Nancy repeated, her tone suggesting the faintest hint of sarcasm. “I have an appointment to get to across town. I’m meeting with a group at the college to discuss my research on foot size and penile length. Would one of you please walk me back to the lobby now?”

  “Allow me,” Susan said, taking the older woman’s arm. “Marley will just stay here to lock up, and I’ll show you the way.”

  “It was wonderful seeing you again, Ms. Thomas-Smith,” Marley called, projecting an enthusiasm she didn’t really feel. “I look forward to working with you again very soon.”

  “Likewise,” Nancy called, and headed out the door with Susan trotting beside her like a nervous mother.

  For a moment, Marley just stood there in the storage room listening to the tick of her watch. When she started to feel dizzy, she realized she was holding her breath.

  She let it out in a whoosh, wondering what the hell was going on. Where the hell were the figurines? Who could have moved them, and why?

  Marley was still standing with the safe gaping open behind her and her arms hanging limply at her sides when Susan scurried back in.

  “Oh, God, Marley. What’s going on here?”

  “I have no idea.” She bit her lip. “I take it the figurines aren’t really being clean
ed?”

  “I was just covering.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  Not the only thing.

  Marley looked back into the safe once more, in case the figurines had magically appeared.

  Still empty.

  “I have no idea what’s going on,” Marley said slowly. “I brought my cousin, Kayley, here last Friday to give me her gut impression about the value of the pieces. That was around three in the afternoon. I haven’t been in here since.”

  Susan bit her lip and nodded. “I came in yesterday afternoon to look at the new piece Bethany Barclay brought us the other day.”

  The tension in Marley’s shoulders eased just the tiniest bit.

  I wasn’t the last one in here. It could be much worse.

  “So you have a key, and I have a key. Who else has one?”

  “The head of security. Have you met Jimmy yet?”

  Marley shook her head, and Susan continued.

  “We’ll have to introduce you soon. Besides the three of us, there’s the checkout copy that’s kept at the front desk in Administration.”

  “Checkout copy?”

  “Yes. It’s for the curators. They sometimes need access, so they can sign out a key and leave their badges as collateral. We’ve been doing it that way for years.”

  “Can we look at the checkout sheet?”

  Susan nodded, and Marley closed the door on the safe, careful to lock it tightly.

  For all the good it does.

  Both of them took off at a quick clip, but Susan put her hand on Marley’s arm to stop her. “Wait—slow down.”

  “Why?” Marley asked.

  “We don’t want to alarm anyone. Right now, we’re the only two who have any idea the figurines are missing.”

  “You don’t think Nancy suspects?”

  Susan shook her head. “I think she bought the story about the cleaning. So until we know what’s going on, let’s try to keep this quiet.”

  Marley hesitated, then nodded. “You’re the boss.”

  Susan turned and strode out the door. Marley followed right behind her, concentrating on keeping her expression neutral. She wished she could come up with some casual line of conversation to initiate with Susan so they looked more like two colleagues out for a stroll than two panicked women who’d just lost a valuable donation.

  “Did you hear one of the porcupines is pregnant?” Susan blurted as they passed the grant writer’s desk.

  “What?” Marley asked.

  “Pokey,” Susan said. “She’s pregnant again.”

  “Wow. I didn’t realize she was in a relationship.”

  “Yes, well, she and Spike have had three pups in the last four years, so they’ve been very good breeders for our program.”

  “She’s done such a nice job keeping her figure.” Marley swallowed as her mind scurried into dark corners in search of ways to keep the casual conversation going. “I read recently that baby porcupines are known as porcupettes. They’re born with soft quills that get hard within hours and…”

  Marley stopped talking, partly because she was thinking about Will, and partly because they’d reached the front desk.

  “Thank God, Anna must be in the restroom,” Susan murmured. “Look casual and smile. I’ll just take a quick glance at the sign-out sheet.”

  Marley nodded and leaned against the counter, projecting her best look of innocence. There were plenty of employees milling about, but no reason for anyone to be suspicious about two upper-level administrators consulting a notebook at the front desk.

  “See anything?” Marley asked under her breath as the older woman flipped open a green notebook.

  Susan ran a finger down the page. “Darin Temple was in the storage room yesterday at four p.m. to grab an antique papoose for the display in the west hall, but that would have been a different safe.”

  “Does the key ring give him access to all of them?”

  Susan frowned. “I suppose so. We can at least ask him if he saw anything.”

  “I wasn’t suggesting Darin stole the figurines,” Marley said quickly as the two of them turned and retreated to Marley’s office. “Or even that the figurines are stolen. If anyone really had evil intentions, they wouldn’t sign the key out in the first place.”

  “Of course, you’re right. I’ll talk to Darin today and see if he noticed anything amiss.”

  Marley pushed her office door shut, but kept her voice low anyway. “What about the security guy—Jim?”

  “Jimmy, yes. I don’t want to alert him just yet. There may be nothing at all to worry about.”

  “Nothing at all,” Marley repeated, willing it to be true.

  “For now, we keep this quiet. At least until we get more information. We don’t want to alarm anyone unnecessarily.”

  Marley nodded, wondering how long Susan planned to keep the secret. A few hours? A few days? Longer?

  She swallowed and glanced toward the door. “I don’t want to point out the obvious, but you know the pieces aren’t insured, right?” Marley said. “We can’t insure them without an appraisal, and without insurance—”

  “Don’t panic,” Susan said, her voice belying an inability to follow her own instructions. “We’ll figure this out. In the meantime, we don’t want to alarm any employees or donors or, God forbid, not a word to the family members.”

  A cold shiver chattered up Marley’s spine, even though her space heater kept the room at near tropical temperatures. Will, she thought. Will and his stupid trust issues would have a heyday with this one.

  “No family members,” Marley repeated. “Okay.”

  ***

  Will kicked his toe through a pile of orange and red leaves as he hurled a soggy tennis ball for Rosco. The dog scrambled after it, skidding to a halt in a cloud of flying leaves and bark chips at the base of a tall ponderosa.

  “Good boy, Rosco!” Bethany shouted, clapping her hands as Polly danced around April’s heels.

  Will stooped to pick up the ball again as Rosco dropped it at his feet. “You don’t think there’s something a little dysfunctional about going for a walk in the park with my sister, my ex-wife, and my dogs?”

  “Shut up, Will,” Bethany said, stooping to scratch Polly’s ears. The dog gave a cursory tail wag before sprinting off to chase a chipmunk. “This is our time to get to see our niece and nephews. Don’t ruin it for us.”

  Will grinned. “The fact that you refer to my dogs as your niece and nephews? Also a sign of dysfunction, in case you’re wondering.”

  “I wasn’t wondering. Were you wondering, April?”

  “It’s such a lovely day, isn’t it?” April said, stooping to pick a sprig of lavender off a shrub beside the walking path. “I adore autumn afternoons like this when the weather’s so crisp and cool, but it’s still sunny.”

  Bethany kicked her hiking boot through a pile of leaves and Will felt a pang of fondness for his sister. In spite of everything they’d been through with their parents and Aunt Nancy and April, Will still considered her one of his best friends.

  She grabbed his arm, and for a second Will thought it was a sign of mutual fondness. Then she pointed one of her purple-gloved fingers toward a bank of large pine trees. “Is that Marley over there?”

  Will felt his whole body lurch pleasantly at the sound of Marley’s name, and it took him a moment to shake the feeling. He looked the direction Bethany was pointing and felt another surge of longing.

  Beside him, April smiled. “It sure looks like Marley with that beautiful blond hair and that trim figure. Such a lovely girl.”

  Will stopped walking and stared, still breathless at the sight of her. He’d spent the last two days trying to avoid her, tending to volunteer duties that kept him away from Cheez Whiz and away from the temptation of her.

  They’
d been right to avoid romantic entanglement, he was sure of it. The last thing he needed in his life right now was a woman with a romantic agenda angled the opposite direction of who he was. A woman with text-messaged secrets and unclear motives and a habit of bending who she was to please the people around her.

  You don’t need that, he told himself, willing his brain to buy it.

  But as he looked at her now across the sprawling park, it was hard to remember. She wore rainbow-patterned mittens and a matching scarf over a fall parka in a shade of green Will knew would bring out the color in her hazel eyes. Her hair fluttered behind her in bright threads of gold, and he could swear he smelled blueberries in the breeze.

  His breath caught in his throat, and he fought the urge to sprint for her.

  “Who’s that guy she’s with?” Bethany asked.

  April cupped a hand over her eyes to shield against the sun’s glare. “And what’s that thing she’s holding?”

  Will was aware of a strange buzz in the back of his brain, the sign that he was losing it once and for all. That the women in his life had driven him to the brink of insanity, where he heard voices in his head and buzzing in his skull and had the faint urge to climb Pilot Butte naked, cover his body in peanut butter, and roll down the side of the cinder cone.

  “Earth to Will,” Bethany said, jabbing him in the ribs with her elbow.

  Will started walking again, his eyes still on Marley. “It’s a remote-controlled airplane,” he said, relieved to realize the buzzing was coming from the sky and not his skull. “Marley’s date is flying it.”

  The word date tasted bitter on his tongue, and Will stared at the man, wondering whether he was the plumber or someone else Marley had decided to go out with. He sized the man up, hating the clench of jealousy in his gut, hating the way the guy’s hand lingered on Marley’s as he handed the remote control to her.

  “Come on,” Bethany said, grabbing April by one arm and Will by the other. “Let’s stop standing here staring like morons and go say hello.”

  “I kinda preferred being a moron,” Will said, but allowed his sister to tow him toward Marley.