The town seemed almost as full today as it had been yesterday. But then, the Fourth had fallen on a Thursday so lots of folks had made it a long weekend. The merchants would be happy, but she wasn’t. There wasn’t a parking spot in sight. Maybe if she went down the alley …
There were a couple of ways she could enter the alley. One was off Main Street, which would put her right behind Furry Friends, her destination. John and Glen, who owned the shop, wouldn’t mind in the least if she went in the back door. Or she could go down the block and cut down Elm Street. That would take her behind Lowell’s Jewelry. What she thought she’d see she didn’t know, but that was the way she went. Lowell’s back door was dirty white and open, but the metal mesh screen door with the heavy lock wasn’t. Someone was in the back room, but who she wasn’t sure. However, she was sure there was no robbery in progress. Not that she’d thought there would be. She pulled into an empty parking spot in the back of Furry Friends Pet Shop, snapped the leash on a wiggling Millie and entered through the back door.
‘Hey,’ she called out. ‘It’s me, Mary, and Millie, too.’
‘Come through,’ a female voice answered.
Krissie, the dog groomer for Furry Friends, a tall, black woman with a head of elegantly braided hair, stood at the counter with a collar and leash in her hand, staring at the cash register. She looked at Mary with relief. The people trying to buy the dog collar looked at her, and Millie, with confusion.
‘Mary,’ Krissie almost whispered, ‘what do I punch in here?’
Mary took the dog collar and leash, entered the proper inventory code on the register, swiped the credit card and finished the sale. Smiling broadly, she handed the woman the Furry Friends sack. ‘I love that collar and leash. Turquoise and sequins look good on almost any color of dog.’
The woman beamed. ‘My little Tootsie is buff-colored. She’s a cocker like your dog, but smaller. I think. She’ll just love it.’
‘She’d better, considering how much it just cost me,’ the man muttered.
They took their purchase and left, the woman still beaming, the man still muttering.
‘Where’s John?’ Mary looked around the store but there was no sign of John Lagomasino, the owner and Mary’s close friend.
‘He had to step out. He should be back any minute. I told him I’d mess up if I had to make a sale but he said I’d be fine. Thank God you came in. I have got to learn how to work that thing. Maybe next time you’re here, helping out, you can teach me. John goes so fast …’ She bent down and scratched Millie’s ears. ‘I see she lost her red, white and blue ribbons.’
Millie wiggled with pleasure then looked around the store. A small dog in a crate in the grooming area started to bark. Millie’s ears went forward and so did she, dragging her leash behind her. Mary watched her go then turned back to Krissie.
‘I’ll be glad to help you. It is confusing. I thought I’d never figure it out. Right now, though, I need Millie’s food. You do have some, don’t you?’
Krissie nodded. ‘John ordered extra. He thought we’d be pretty busy this week.’ She started down the aisle toward a pile of brown sacks. ‘What size?’
‘Might as well make it the large one.’
She slung the bag up on the counter then smiled at Mary. ‘You get to ring it up.’
Mary had expected to.
Krissie watched while she put away her debit card. ‘I’ll take it out to the car for you but I wanted to ask … Was a man really shot at the fireworks display last night? John said you found him. Did you?’ There was horror in her voice, mixed with hesitation.
Mary was sure Krissie didn’t want to sound morbid but curiosity was a powerful thing. Besides, it was bound to be all over town. ‘I’m afraid it’s all true. Poor Mr Miller.’
‘Miller.’ The hesitancy was still there but the name meant something to Krissie. Her dark brown eyes opened wide and a soft, ‘Oh, no,’ escaped as she stared at Mary. ‘Was he the man with the German shepherd?’
Mary nodded. ‘Did you know him?’
‘Not really. He came in the day before yesterday needing dog food. We got talking. He was a nice man.’
‘Talking about what?’
‘The town, mostly. He said he was retired and thinking about moving. Our town looked like a nice place. I said it was and told him to talk to Ellen. She’d tell him everything.’
Evidently he hadn’t. At least, Ellen hadn’t mentioned it. ‘What else did he say?’
‘He asked about downtown. Did we have a lot of new businesses? He thought The Yum Yum was new. I laughed at that one. Ruthie’s had that café since Hector was a pup. I told him we had a number of new businesses – the olive oil store, some of the wineries that have opened tasting rooms in town, Miguel’s Mexican restaurant. He asked about Lowell’s, the jewelry store. I said they’d been here at least five years. Maybe six. Then he asked who owned the We Buy Gold shop. I told him Lowell also owned it.’
Mary blinked. Hector was a pup? That was one of her mother’s favorite expressions. She never had known what it meant. ‘Why was he interested in the businesses? Was he thinking of starting one?’
Krissie shrugged. ‘He asked about a bookstore. I told him our only independent one went out of business because the owner got sick. But I don’t think he wanted to be a bookseller. He was mostly interested in the restaurants, the wine shops and the jewelry shop. Why, I don’t know.’
The jewelry shop. What, exactly, had he wanted to know about Lowell’s Jewelry besides how long they’d been in business? Before she had a chance to ask, the front door opened and John appeared, chatting to two middle-aged women dressed in crop pants, T-shirts and floppy sun hats. Tourists. They thanked John and headed for the dog dishes decorated with oak trees and grape vines that had made California’s central coast famous.
‘Mary,’ John cried, seemingly ready to embrace her. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Why wouldn’t I be?’
‘Well, you had such a long day yesterday and then finding Mr Miller … You’re right. You’re fine.’ He grinned then leaned over to pet Millie, who had come running at the sound of his voice.
The doorbell tinkled and an elderly couple walked in. She was dressed in wide-legged pants in a wild print topped with an off-white peasant top with embroidery around the neck. Mary felt an almost overpowering urge to ask where she’d purchased them but squashed the thought immediately. She felt honor-bound to purchase her wardrobe at the rummage sales she ran. But she really liked those pants. Not only did they look comfortable, they looked happy. She contented herself with a cheery, ‘Good morning.’
The woman smiled back. The man nodded. From the wary look on his face, Mary thought he was afraid they were about to spend some money.
‘Such a cute shop.’ The woman looked around. ‘Oh, you have a grooming area. What a good idea. Our town has one of those pet-store chains that has one, but it’s always so crowded and I never know who’s going to do our little Pumpkin.’
The man seemed to wince at the name. Did the dog wince as well?
The woman didn’t seem to notice. ‘This town is simply darling. What a pity we have to leave this afternoon. There are several wineries we haven’t visited and I haven’t been in The Olive Pit – such a clever name – and I’ve heard so much about central California olive oil and wanted to try some. Everyone’s been so nice.’
‘Except the man at the jewelry store.’ The man sounded almost relieved. ‘He almost threw us out.’ A flicker of a smile crossed his face. ‘Too bad. My wife had her eye on a rather pretty pendant, too.’
A frown creased the woman’s face. ‘It was a beautiful piece. I’d never seen one like it before but it was an outrageous price. The man was so … nervous. Unpleasant. You’d think we were there to rob him or something. Anyway, we left.’ The frown faded. ‘But we had a wonderful breakfast this morning at that adorable Yum Yum.’
They all agreed The Yum Yum was indeed wonderful. The couple wandered off but tourist ladies appeared bearing dog dishes decorated with grape vines. John started to ring them up and Mary, Millie and Krissie carried the dog food out the back door to the car. Krissie grinned from ear to ear.
‘I wonder what happened that they let Jerry Lowell out on the floor. He’s usually either grousing at someone who wants to sell some gold or in the back, working on one of his pieces. He’s a genius when it comes to designing jewelry but he’s a failure as a human being.’
Mary wouldn’t go that far but it was true that Jerry Lowell had become increasingly nervous and irritable over the last couple of years, ever since he’d opened the We Buy Gold shop. He’d never been interested in casual chitchat, nor in any of the jewelry store customers unless they had come in to talk jewelry design or something related to gems. Most wanted wedding rings, Mother’s Day presents, Christmas gifts, something like that. He left them to Marlene, his wife, who Mary was told managed the business entirely. But Jerry handled the buying of old gold. She’d wondered if the strain of having to deal with people was more than he could handle. The thing that seemed to make him the happiest was making his special pieces and he had seemingly instilled his love of creating them to his son, young Tommy. But young Tommy wasn’t so young any more. He’d been home from London, where he’d gone to school at a college that specialized in degrees or certificates in jewelry design and gemology for a couple of years and had apprenticed at one of London’s finest stores. He’d returned, outdistancing his father in knowledge and skill. Maybe Jerry’s increasingly bad temper had more to do with that than his difficulty in dealing with the people who wanted to sell him gold. She wondered, briefly, which of them had made the piece in the store window that had held Mr Miller’s interest. Not that it mattered.
‘Good thing Jerry’s got Marlene,’ she said to Krissie as she lowered the trunk lid. ‘She …’ Her cell phone rang.
‘Susannah. Where are you?’ She listened a moment then sucked in a breath. ‘You want me to take care of Ranger? Oh, I don’t know. He’s a big dog and I’m not sure … He is too, bigger than Morgan. But I know Morgan. I don’t know that dog and he doesn’t know me. What if … Oh, all right. But where are you going that’s so … I guess … now? No, that’s fine.’ She clicked off her phone and shook her head. ‘It seems Susannah has to go somewhere right now. Ellen isn’t home, Morgan’s with Dan and she doesn’t want to leave Ranger alone. So I’m elected.’ She looked at Millie, who sat beside her, looking up expectantly. ‘Well, I guess it will be all right. He likes Millie.’
Krissie smiled and patted Mary on the arm. ‘He’s a nice dog and very well behaved. He’ll be fine. German shepherds are really smart.’ She glanced at Millie and grinned. ‘So are cockers. You’ll be fine. But it’s a good thing you bought all that food. Shepherds eat a lot.’ With that, she turned and went back into the shop.
Mary sighed and opened the back door of the car. Millie jumped in. Mary got in the front and they started down the alley. She hoped Krissie was right. Taking care of a large bereaved dog wasn’t something she felt prepared to handle. However, there was a first time for everything and Millie liked him. She picked up speed as she turned the corner, headed for the Dunhams’ house and what she hoped wouldn’t be too much of a new adventure.