Two months had passed since I’d become owner of Sage Advice. I’d poured my heart and soul into the store, working sometimes as many as sixteen hours a day. Annabelle had been by my side for most of it. She’d dubbed us the Superior Sisters. Most of the time, I felt we lived up to the name. Sometimes, I preferred the Disappointing Duo, especially when it came to the business side of running the store. I’d substituted my herbal books for entrepreneurial tomes and studied nightly, while also spending far more time on the phone with Colin Breckshire III than I wanted to.
Setting up the online store proved more difficult than either Annabelle or I imagined, especially since neither of us were particularly computer literate. In my past life, my computer time had consisted of checking my email and posting to social media. Building an online store was out of my wheelhouse.
Annabelle had the brilliant idea of hiring a high school kid to do it. We figured it would take him a week or so and budgeted to pay him. In reality, he completed the set up in just under two hours and did a beautiful job. Even the photos he took of the products we wanted to list looked as if they’d been done by a professional. I was so impressed I paid him for the week.
I’d also been spending what free time I had with Gina from File It Away. Annabelle joined us for coffee or cocktails and even adopted one of Gina’s rescue dogs, a seven-year-old Beagle named Jack who liked to take a walk in the morning and sleep all day. Annabelle said it was like he was meant to be hers because he fit into her life so perfectly. Even Catnip liked him, and the two napped at the store together most of the day. When we closed for lunch, Annabelle and I took both for a walk. Catnip hated the leash but didn’t mind me carrying him.
One day, as Annabelle and I were strolling along the Riverwalk, my phone rang. Normally, I’d ignore it, but glancing at my screen, I realized it was Gina.
“Hey,” I answered. “What’s up?”
“I need your help,” she whispered.
Grabbing Annabelle’s arm, we came to a halt. “What’s going on, Gina?”
Annabelle’s brow furrowed in concern.
“It’s my ex-husband,” she whispered. “He’s dead.”
“Ralph’s dead?” I asked. Annabelle gasped and placed her head next to mine so she could hear. How weird was it that both of my friends had dated and/or married the same man?
“Yep. Dead as dead can be, and the police think I did it, Sam. I’m in big trouble. I need your help.”
Annabelle and I exchanged glances. “Where are you?” I asked.
“At File It Away. The police are in the front room. I said I had to use the bathroom and I called you.”
“We have to help her,” Annabelle whispered. I nodded in agreement.
“We’re on our way, Gina.”
I wasn’t sure exactly what we could do to help her, but I knew in my heart she didn’t kill Ralph… no matter how much he deserved it.
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