Chapter 10

“I can do better than that,” Lincoln said as he put the accelerator down and flashed on his high beams. “You call the police, and I’ll try to see who’s got trouble on their mind tonight.”

As we raced toward my storefront, the figure ran away, ducking between two buildings before I could catch a glimpse of whoever had just been there.

“They’re gone,” I said.

“You should still call the police,” Lincoln replied. “Christy, I shouldn’t have gotten so carried away. I’m sorry if I scared the burglar off.”

“I’m not,” I replied. “I’ve already been broken into once this week, and I’m in no mood to repeat the experience,” I said as I dialed Sheriff Adam Kent’s telephone number.

“What’s wrong now?” the sheriff asked as he picked up on the other end.

“What makes you think something is wrong?” I asked.

“Christy, you wouldn’t be calling me if it weren’t.”

“Somebody just tried to break into Memories and Dreams again,” I said.

“You should have started the conversation with that particular little tidbit. I’ll be there in two minutes.”

I started to tell him that there wasn’t any hurry since whoever had been at the door had taken off, but I never got a chance to say another word.

“Can you believe that? He hung up on me,” I told Lincoln.

“Is he coming?”

“On a dead run, if the way he signed off is any indication,” I answered. “Should we wait for him inside the shop?”

“It might be a better idea if we wait in the car,” Lincoln said.

“Okay, I’m game if you are.” Two minutes later, the sheriff showed up in his patrol car.

“Where’s the suspect?” he asked after he pulled up beside us.

“He took off between those two buildings,” Lincoln said as he pointed to the spot where our would-be burglar ran.

“You didn’t try to follow him, did you?” the sheriff asked.

“No, once we scared him away from the building, we figured that it was your job to track him down,” I said.

“That’s smart thinking. Stay in the car, both of you,” the sheriff said as he pulled out his revolver and followed the bad guy’s footsteps. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Shouldn’t you be calling for backup or something?” I asked as he started to vanish between the buildings.

“Don’t worry. I can handle this by myself,” he said.

“I don’t like this,” I said after the sheriff had been gone a few minutes. “What if the burglar’s waiting to ambush him?”

“I don’t think the sheriff has anything to worry about. Whoever it was has to be long gone by now. Besides, I’ve known that man for years. He’s perfectly capable of protecting himself; there’s no doubt in my mind.”

I hadn’t realized that I was holding my breath until the sheriff came back around the building and walked toward us. I was happy to see that his gun was now reholstered. “Did you see anybody?” I asked as we got out.

“Not a soul,” he said. “Thanks for staying put, though.”

“You’re welcome,” Lincoln said as he smiled at me.

The sheriff double-checked the front door as we all walked over to it. “It’s still locked up tight. The back is okay, too. That was fast, getting an alarm system installed. Good job.”

“I had the feeling at the time that I was locking the barn door after the horses got out, but it turns out that it was a pretty good idea after all.”

“Who did the installation for you?” the sheriff asked me.

I gave him Emily’s name, and he nodded in approval. “She does good work. Listen, don’t hesitate to call if you see anything else suspicious around here.”

He started to get back into his car when Lincoln called out, “Sheriff, Christy would probably sleep better tonight if you doubled up your patrols around here.”

“It’s already been taken care of,” he said, arching an eyebrow at Lincoln as he spoke. “You two have a good night, at least what’s left of it.”

After Sheriff Kent was gone, I said, “I’m not sure that the sheriff approves of us being out this late without a chaperone.”

“He can go bark at the moon if he doesn’t like it. As for me, I’m having the time of my life. How about you?”

“I’ll say this for you, Lincoln. You’re not a bland first date.”

“Is that what this is? I would never have allowed Marybeth to tag along if I’d known it was going to turn into that.” Then he flashed that smile at me again. At least I caught myself before I returned it in full force.

“You know what I mean. Should we call it a night?”

“If you insist,” he said, clearly disappointed by my suggestion. “But what I’d really like to do is go inside the shop and see if my hunch is right.”

I’d nearly forgotten about his awaiting clue interpretation in all of the excitement. “I’m happy to go in if you are. Don’t you have to get up early tomorrow, though? I don’t have to open the shop until ten, so I can always sleep in tomorrow.”

“I’m willing to sacrifice a little sleep in order to do some digging,” he said. I was starting to feel as though Lincoln was my kind of guy, though I wasn’t about to tell him that.

I unlocked the front door, and then I stepped aside. “Lead on. After all, this is your party tonight.”

“I’d be delighted,” he said as he walked into the darkened shop. I flipped on a few lights, but not all of them. I didn’t want anyone to think for one second that I was actually open for business at this time of night.

I locked the door behind us, and then I asked Lincoln, “What do we do now?”

“We need to go straight to the back,” he said. “If I’m right, we’ll know it soon enough.”

“Do you want to see the playing card and whatever is left of that fern frond first?” I asked.

“No, if my hunch is right, we won’t need either one of them.”

“And if you’re wrong?” I asked as I followed him into the back.

“Then I still get to spend a little more time with you, so in a way, it’s a win-win situation, don’t you think?”

“I reserve judgment until I see where this is headed,” I said, though I smiled slightly in spite of my austere comment. Lincoln was fun to be with, I was just beginning to realize. I hoped that Midnight forgave me for acting like a high school girl, but I had a hunch that he would understand.

“Let me ask you one question before we go exploring. Is your heat not working, by any chance?”

“No, it’s been down for a month,” I said. “How could you possibly know that?”

He just smiled. “Follow me.”

“Watch the boxes,” I said as I opened the door, and he nimbly skipped through. I settled them back in place temporarily and followed him into the storeroom.

We walked over to the furnace together and he knelt down beside the access panel, but before Lincoln started to remove it, I put a hand on his. “I think you’ve been cryptic for long enough. What makes you think there’s another clue hiding in there?”

“I just put two and two together,” he said, “and if we find something interesting inside here, it will most emphatically add up to four.”

“Explain.”

He nodded, and his hands dropped from the screws that held the main furnace panel in place. “You said that Cora liked to share puzzles with you. You found two objects in the exit sign, a fern frond and a playing card. The value of the card is crucial in the clue.”

“Fern plus Ace equals Furnace,” I said as I finally got it. How had I missed that before? “I am an idiot.”

“Losing Midnight has temporarily deadened your abilities. There’s no shame in grieving for a lost friend,” he said.

“I still should have caught that one. Would you mind stepping aside? I’d like to see exactly what Cora hid in our disabled furnace for myself.”

Lincoln got up graciously, and I knelt down in his place. The screws had elongated ridges, and besides, they were already a bit loose, but it was still a bit of a task backing them out with my fingertips. Once the panel came off in my hands, I passed it over to Lincoln and then I peered inside.

It was too dark to see anything at first, and the last line of Cora’s poem struck me.

It did indeed appear to be housing the heart of Midnight.

I reached over and grabbed a flashlight that Cora kept nearby for emergencies, and after I turned it on, I peered into the gloom.

What I found there made me wonder if I was seeing things.

It was a paper mache black cat, and someone, most likely Cora, had hand painted a collar and tag for it.

It said proudly ‘Midnight,’ and I wondered what my friend had been up to.

“So, that’s it?” I asked as I looked at the cat in disbelief. “It was one of those puzzles.”

“What do you mean?” Lincoln asked.

I put the cat down on the nearest table and explained, “Every now and then, Cora liked to have a little fun with me. She would build a treasure hunt into something outlandish and overblown, and then the prize would be something nearly worthless. I had my hopes up based on the clues she left me, but honestly, I can’t blame her. She had no idea that someone was going to break into her shop and kill her before I could solve the puzzle.”

“So, where does that leave you?” Lincoln asked.

“Well, for one thing, it’s going to give me more time to focus on figuring out who killed Cora and Midnight. When I get that worked out, I’ll know what whoever did it was looking for.” I considered telling him right then and there about Cora’s notebook, but I wasn’t sure that I was ready to besmirch her name quite yet. If I could find it myself, I could check it out and then destroy it if that’s what it called for, so no one would ever be faced with anything Cora had speculated about them. I’d have to take time to think about sharing the information with anyone else, but not tonight, not while I was standing so close to where Cora and Midnight had died. I could tell Lincoln about it, but then I’d never be able to take it back. I had to be sure of my decision when I made it.

“Do you think the murder was tied into the burglary attempts?” Lincoln asked.

“Don’t you?” I asked him in a roundabout way. I was avoiding his glance, and I had a hunch that he knew it.

“I do,” he replied. “I just wish we knew what there was so valuable.”

“Whatever it is, we’re not going to find it in the storeroom,” I answered.

“What makes you think that?” he asked.

“Well, in the first two burglaries where the burglar actually gained access inside, the messes were restricted to the sales floor. That makes me believe that whoever broke in had reason to believe that whatever they wanted was somewhere on display, but I’ve already looked everywhere, and I couldn’t find a thing.”

“Maybe you just need another set of fresh eyes,” he said.

“Maybe,” I said as evasively as I could manage.

“There’s something else that’s been troubling me,” Lincoln said after a brief pause. “If there was something here that valuable and Cora didn’t realize it, why didn’t the thief just buy it and be done with it?”

“I have a couple of theories about that,” I said.

“I’d love to hear them.”

“First, what if there’s something that ties them to the item that they don’t want known about them?”

“I’d love an example, if you can come up with one,” he said.

“It could have already been stolen from someone else when Cora bought it, and by buying it, the thief could be connected to some link that they wanted to stay hidden.”

“Does that happen very often?” Lincoln asked.

“What’s that?”

“Are you in the habit of buying many stolen items at the shop?”

“We never fenced anything for anyone, at least not on purpose,” I said. “And we certainly never made it a habit of buying stolen goods. Then again, not many folks come in with a receipt from their original purchase, so who’s to say? Cora had pretty good radar about things like that. I suppose that’s just one more skill I’m going to have to develop if I stay on and eventually take over the business.”

“I hope you do,” Lincoln said as he moved a little closer to me. Was this man seriously about to try to kiss me in my own storeroom? I was still deciding on how I was going to react when the chance slipped past me.

There was a pounding on the front door, and the mood was broken. It had nearly happened, though, and I still wasn’t sure if I’d wanted it to or not.

“Let’s go see who that is,” I said.

Lincoln surprised me by smiling. “To be continued,” he said with a grin.

Now what had he meant by that? I supposed that only time would tell, but I had to admit, I was interested in finding out.

“Celeste, what are you doing here at this time of night?” I asked the café owner as I opened the door for her. I’d grabbed the paper mache cat almost as an afterthought, thinking that Marybeth might get a kick out of it.

Celeste glanced at it, but she didn’t comment. “I was doing inventory at the café when I spotted the light on in back of your shop. If you hadn’t come to the door, I was going to call the sheriff.”

“Thanks,” I said. “It’s nice to have a neighborhood watch here.”

She looked a little guilty as she nodded. “That’s sort of what I was hoping to talk to you about.”

Lincoln got the hint immediately. “Christy, I’ll wait for you in the car. Take your time, I’m sure I have a ton of messages waiting on my voice mail.”

“We won’t be long,” Celeste said. As she watched him walk back to her car, she added, “I always liked him.”

“That’s nice,” I said. “Celeste, what’s so important that it won’t wait until morning?”

“I said something to you today that I instantly regretted. I was out of line, and I need to apologize for it if I have any prayer of getting to sleep tonight.”

I tried to remember everything that she’d said to me recently, but I wasn’t able to come up with anything out of the ordinary. “I’m sorry, but I honestly don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

“My comment about buying this place so I could expand was in the worst taste possible, especially after what you’ve been through recently. It wasn’t like me. I’m not a woman who pushes and pushes until she gets what she wants, and it’s important for me to know that you realize it, too. I didn’t think about what I was saying when we chatted. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”

I saw the troubled expression on her face, and on a whim, I stepped forward and hugged her. “There’s nothing to forgive,” I said.

I could feel the tenseness leave her body as I said it, and I knew that it really had been troubling her.

“Are you really going to make it that easy on me?” she asked with a smile as we broke our hug. “Christy, you could make me jump through a few hoops first, you know. I figure that I deserve at least that.”

“Friends don’t do that to each other,” I said.

Celeste studied me for a second, and then she smiled. “We are friends, aren’t we?”

“I’d like to think so,” I said. “Listen, I’m glad we cleared that up, but I don’t like leaving Lincoln waiting for me.”

“I understand completely. Thank you so much, Christy. You’ve made me really happy today.”

“I’m glad I could help,” I said.

“I can be a very powerful ally,” Christy said. “You wouldn’t believe the variety of folks who eat at my café. If you need anything, and I mean anything, don’t hesitate to ask me. Would you promise me that?”

“I might just take you up on it,” I said, suddenly realizing how Celeste might be able to get me information that no one else could.

“I’ll be upset if you don’t. Now, go to your young man, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“He’s not exactly my young man,” I said.

“Don’t bet on it. I saw the way Lincoln was looking at you. I’m not afraid to admit that I’m jealous. It’s been too long since someone looked at me the same way.”

I rejoined Lincoln, and as I got in, he asked, “What was that all about?”

“She told me earlier that she wouldn’t mind buying the shop so she could expand the café, and after I left, evidently she started feeling guilty about the offer.”

“So you forgave her,” Lincoln said with the hint of a grin.

“I did. She was sweet about it, so I decided to let her off easy.”

“Good for you,” Lincoln said. “Where to now?”

“Would you mind taking me home? I have another big day tomorrow. I’m planning on getting to the shop as soon as I can and try to discover what I’ve missed so far.”

He looked at me and asked me softly, “Would you like some help? I’m not due in court until ten tomorrow morning, but I’d be delighted to help as long as I can.”

I laughed. “Thanks for the offer, but people will talk.”

“Let them,” he said. “I don’t mind if you don’t. What time are we going to get started?”

“I was thinking about seven,” I said.

Lincoln laughed slightly in surprise, and then he grinned. “Seven it is.”

“Do you mind if I recruit Marybeth, too?” I asked.

“Why would I mind that?” he asked, but he was clearly disappointed that we wouldn’t be hunting alone. “The more the merrier, right?”

“Right,” I said. Until I could figure out how I felt about Lincoln, it might be wise not to be alone with him. Losing Midnight and Cora so recently, my heart wasn’t ready to open up to anybody just yet.

I just hoped that someday it would, and that Lincoln would still be around and interested.

But I wasn’t betting on it.

It could just be that our timing was off.

That was the story of my love life over the past few years, but it was something I could deal with. I had to. Until the person who had taken Midnight and Cora from me was brought to justice, there wasn’t much room in my heart for someone new.