Mary sat in front of the computer, muttering. The notebook Mr Black had given her was open on the desk and she was trying to follow directions on how to set up and save a list of committee members. She could make the list, and she thought she’d saved it but found, to her dismay, she couldn’t find it again. What had she done wrong? She didn’t know but her frustration level was growing. This computer business had sounded wonderful when she’d decided to do it but the learning curve everyone talked about felt more like climbing Mount Everest.
The back door opened. She could barely hear who it was over Millie’s frantic barks but it was someone they knew. That was Millie’s welcome bark, not her warning one. Mary pushed her chair back, glad of the interruption, and headed toward the kitchen to greet their guest.
It was Ellen. ‘Hi. I’m on my way home for lunch but thought I’d stop by. Got a second?’
‘You came just in time. I’m trying to learn how to work that wretched machine and was about to throw it out of the window. Let’s have a glass of iced tea. Maybe I’ll be calmer after having one and talking with you for a minute. What brings you here, anyway?’
Ellen took two glasses out of the cupboard while Mary got the tea out of the refrigerator then filled them. They sat at the kitchen table, Millie under Mary’s chair, and smiled at each other.
‘All right.’ Mary took a sip of her tea. ‘What’s up?’
Ellen smiled. ‘Nothing, really, but after our conversation last night I thought you might be interested. I got a voicemail from Tommy Lowell this morning.’
From the mixture of amusement and disbelief on Mary’s face, Ellen thought she was probably very interested.
‘What? What did he say?’
‘First, that he couldn’t pick up Ranger today until after work. That was no surprise. It was what else he said …’
‘I’m waiting.’
‘He wants to buy a house.’
Mary set her glass down on the table, hard, and stared at her niece. ‘He what?’
‘He wants to buy a house. One in town, with a yard. One where he can walk to work. Two bedrooms is fine. Can I help him?’
Mary wasn’t sure what to say. Buy a house? With what? Did he have enough money to do that? He was young. Maybe he didn’t realize … what was she thinking? He was well over twenty-one, had lived on his own in another country and had worked in a business light years more sophisticated than Lowell’s small-town jewelry store. He most likely knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it. ‘What did you tell him?’
‘I sent him to Glen Manning. Glen will tell him about loans, then he’ll tell me what Tommy can afford. Prices have gone through the roof in the last few years and a small house in town is no longer a bargain. We’ll see, but I thought it was interesting. Do you suppose it’s the dog or he’s just sick and tired of listening to his father complain?’
What a curious thing to say. Mary wouldn’t doubt Jerry Lowell complained and was probably jealous of his more accomplished son, but how did Ellen know?’
‘How do you know he complained? What about?’
Ellen looked into her glass of tea and her cheeks got pink. ‘Dan and I bought our rings at Lowell’s. There’s nothing fancy about them, just two plain gold bands, but Marlene was really nice to deal with. Jerry ignored us. She and I got sort of friendly and one day, when she must have had it with him, she made a few comments.’
‘Well? You can’t stop now. What did she say?’
‘That Jerry had nothing to do with the business. He ran his custom jewelry design business out of the workshop behind the store and sold his jewelry through the store but he was more interested in the gold-buying store than the jewelry store. I guess it’s making good money, but Marlene said she was responsible for everything else and was getting tired. She wanted Tommy to come back and help run it. Jerry didn’t. When Tommy returned, he made it as hard for him to work as he possibly could and she was getting sick of it. I doubt it’s gotten better, hence Tommy wants something of his own.’
Mary thought about that for a moment but it didn’t make much sense. ‘I don’t understand. How does he make it hard?’
Ellen shrugged. ‘I got the impression she meant he didn’t want Tommy using the jewels and the gold for his designs. Although, why he’d care when all of it must belong to the Lowell’s store, I have no idea. But you saw that necklace. I think it has a lot to do with what Tommy does with the jewels. He really is an artist.’
Mary nodded. Maybe that was it. Maybe Tommy was sick of dealing with a morose father and wanted his own place. That was understandable. But all this gave her an uneasy feeling, one she couldn’t identify.
Ellen looked up as the old schoolhouse clock chimed out noon. ‘I’ve got to go. I have a showing at one and still have some preparations to make. Pat wants us all to come to her house for dinner tomorrow. She wants to talk wedding plans and look at the ideas Susannah is coming up with. She’s already bought about two pounds of bride magazines and is marking them up. Neil is beginning to get that glazed “I’m out of my depth” look grooms get. It’s a good thing they’re off to school in a few weeks. They can concentrate on something other than the bride’s dress, how many bridesmaids to have and caterers. This is going to be a long year.’
Ellen gave her aunt a kiss on the forehead and Millie a pat on the head and was gone. But Mary didn’t move. She sat for a long time, sipping her tea and thinking about Tommy Lowell and his relationship with his father. Whatever it was, it evidently wasn’t warm and fuzzy. Suddenly, she straightened up so quickly the chair creaked under her. When had Tommy come home? Not quite two years ago? She thought that was right. And when had the burglaries started? About that time. Could it be possible … no. Absolutely not. She didn’t think Tommy liked his father much and certainly wouldn’t commit robberies with him. But the stones in the necklace … Had they really come from pieces Jerry bought for his We Buy Gold shop? What was it Jerry had said? He only bought diamonds. All the other stones were either kept by the owner of whatever it was they wanted to sell or he disposed of them some other way, but to him they were worthless. That sapphire didn’t look worthless. It was large, a deep blue and beautiful. Had whoever owned it really just given it up? Or had it been in another piece of jewelry entirely? Millie whined. She crawled out from under the table, put her front feet on Mary’s chair and her head in Mary’s lap.
‘Worried about me?’ Mary’s hand dropped to stroke Millie’s silky head; her fingers scratched the back of one ear. ‘Don’t. I’m fine. It’s just that … Oh, dear. I think we’ve managed to land ourselves in the middle of a particularly nasty muddle.’