The surprising contents of Mrs. Lucinda Steele’s handbag:
- Homemade doggie treats.
- A plastic, fold-up rain hat.
- Cough drops.
- A brown leather wallet.
- Aspirin.
- An old lipstick.
- A jangly bunch of keys.
- Something smelling an awful lot like thievery.
Mr. Nate left, and Mrs. Steele and Miss Josie stared around at the ruined interior of the shop. “It’s going to be okay,” said Mrs. Steele. “We’ll get through this.”
She placed her large purse on the floor, and removed her coat, taking it to the back room to hang it on a hook on the wall. I followed her, my tail wagging.
“I have a cleaning crew coming today, Mrs. Steele. The insurance company is sending them. They’ll take care of the floors, which might get warped if they aren’t dried quickly, and a few other things in the shop.”
“What can I help you with?”
Miss Josie wrapped a lock of hair around one of her fingers, frowning. “Well, maybe you can help me go through the books. I need to separate them into three categories. Some are a total loss, others are damaged but could be repaired, and a few weren’t affected at all. Those books should be packed up carefully and moved to my apartment.”
“Did the sprinklers go off in your apartment, too?”
Miss Josie shook her head. “No, but it reeks of smoke. The cleaning crew will do what they can, but it will be a time-consuming process.”
As they talked, I sniffed around Mrs. Steele’s purse. Rocco eyed me curiously. “What are you doing, pup?”
I frowned at him. “Mrs. Steele makes the best dog biscuits and brings them to me in her purse. I smell them, but now I smell something else, too.”
I stuck my head into her bag, trusting my instincts. Mrs. Steele’s purse, more like a briefcase or a messenger bag, didn’t suit a woman who wore floral print dresses and lacey cardigan sweaters. It was almost bigger than me.
Note to self: A woman’s handbag is a mysterious thing.
At first, all I encountered was her wallet and some aspirin. Boring. As I stuck my head in further, however, things got more interesting.
I caught a whiff of an old book. The aroma caused a familiar tickle in my nose because it carried the distinctive scent of Miss Josie’s shop. Not the way it currently smelled, which was an acrid mixture of smoke and sadness, but the way it did before, like vanilla and almonds and old leather.
I stuck my head in deeper, wondering what else I might find, when I felt a tug on my collar. “Capone. What are you doing in Mrs. Steele’s purse?” asked Miss Josie, nudging me away.
Mrs. Steele grabbed her purse off the floor. She zipped it closed, her movements quick and a little frantic. “He probably smells dog treats,” Mrs. Steele said with a laugh. She patted me on the head, harder than necessary. “Silly puppy.”
Putting her purse on the counter, she gave me a stern look, then she and Miss Josie went to the back room to search for boxes. Rocco jumped up onto the counter next to the purse and sniffed at it.
“What did you smell in here exactly?” he asked, staring down at me from his perch.
“She had one of Miss Josie’s books in there, packed up in a mailing envelope.”
“Well, I guess she could be mailing it for Miss Josie, couldn’t she?”
“I guess, but there was something else, Rocco. Single pages inside clear sleeves. They smelled familiar. Do you remember the page tucked inside the ledger we found under the stairs?”
Rocco’s eyes narrowed. “The one cut out from a book?”
I nodded. “Yes. The pages inside Mrs. Steele’s purse smelled the same, like they came from one of Miss Josie’s books.”
“Hmmm. Let’s see what Mrs. Steele is hiding in here. I can’t open the zipper, but I do have one skill cats around the globe are famous for.” He used the full weight of his furry grey body to knock Mrs. Steele’s purse off the counter. It fell to the floor, and Rocco hopped down next to it. “We have to work fast. Grab onto the zipper with those fangs of yours and pull.”
I didn’t like the fangs comment, but I found the zipper and tugged on it. It was harder to open than I expected.
Curse my soft baby teeth.
Rocco sat on the purse and cheered me on. Well, let me rephrase. He called me rude names and told me to hurry up, but his weight provided an excellent counterbalance, and, at last, I felt the zipper move.
I worked and tugged and pulled, until I could stick my nose inside. I grabbed the envelope with the book, and was about to yank it out, when the door to the shop opened, and Jackson waddled over.
“What’s up?” he said, letting out a loud belch. “Are you digging for treats?”
“Leave him alone,” said Rocco. “He’s working. We suspect Mrs. Steele has items belonging to Miss Josie stashed away in her purse.”
“You think that nice old lady is a thief?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Are you going to help us or not, you dimwit?” asked Rocco, with a hiss.
Although Jackson did not take kindly to the name-calling, he joined me in trying to open the purse. I had the envelope in my teeth, and nearly got it out. Mr. Nate, unfortunately, noticed what we were up to and stopped us.
“What are you doing, Capone? Get away from there.”
He put a cardboard tray full of coffee cups onto the counter and grabbed the purse. When I refused to let go, he gave me a serious look, lowered his voice, and said, “Drop it.”
Sadly, it worked like a charm. Dang Misty Mountain and all those obedience classes. They made me too well behaved. I slumped to the floor, disappointed and discouraged. Why did I have to be so good?
Mr. Nate put Mrs. Steele’s purse back on the counter, and I let out a whine. I’d been so close.
“What is wrong with you, boy?” he asked.
I licked his hand. I didn’t blame Mr. Nate. He didn’t know there could be stolen items in Mrs. Steele’s handbag, and I had no way of telling him.
Gracie and Ms. Anne arrived, smelling of shampoo and the doggie groomer. Gracie had on a new pink collar. They both stopped and looked around in horror at the interior of the shop. They hadn’t seen the full extent of the damage, and it was rather shocking.
Miss Josie and Mrs. Steele came out from the back, carrying several large, empty boxes. Ms. Anne hugged Miss Josie. “Josie. I’m so sorry.”
“Me, too,” said Miss Josie, taking a coffee from Mr. Nate and sipping on it. “Thanks for coming by.”
“Of course,” said Ms. Anne, taking off her coat and grabbing a coffee for herself. “We’re here to help.”
“Were you able to figure anything out, Nate?” asked Miss Josie, putting a hand on his sleeve.
He shook his head. “Not yet, but we have cameras trained on the sidewalk in front of First Impressions. When I heard about your break-ins, I added additional cameras on the side of the shop, and one to get a view of the sidewalk in front of Bartleby’s. The footage is sent directly to my security company, but they promised to forward it to me as soon as possible. I took the liberty of sending it to the police as well. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not,” she said.
Mr. Nate looked at Mrs. Steele. “Speaking of thieves,” he said. “I caught Capone in your purse. You might want to look through it to make sure nothing is missing.”
She visibly flinched. “I will,” she said, grabbing her purse. My drool was all over it, but she didn’t wipe it off. She clutched it close to her body.
Jackson, Gracie, Rocco, and I followed her when she went to the back room of the shop. After putting her purse high on a shelf, she grabbed me by the scruff of my neck.
“Don’t touch my things again.” Her eyes were cold and hard, and I saw a trace of spittle by her lips. Mrs. Steele was drooling. That could not be a good thing.
She put on her coat, shoving her arms into the sleeves with angry thrusts. Then she took a deep breath, visibly composing herself, and walked back to the main area of the shop.
“I’m sorry, Josie. I have to go. I have an errand to run. I’ll try to come back later.”
“Sure. No problem,” she said, a confused look on her face as Mrs. Steele waved goodbye and hurried out the door. The sudden departure must have seemed odd, but Miss Josie didn’t have time to focus on it. The cleaning crew had arrived, and men walked in and out of the shop, carrying buckets and ladders.
“What do we do?” asked Rocco. “She’s getting away.”
I sat up straighter. This was probably the worst decision I’d ever made, but we had no choice.
“We follow Mrs. Steele.”
“Leave the shop?” asked Rocco, shrinking back.
I nodded. “We have to.”
Jackson agreed with me. “He’s right. I know a guilty face when I see one, and she looked guilty.”
Gracie seemed less than enthusiastic. “I just had my hair done, and you want me to go outside? What if it rains?”
An ominous rumble of thunder sounded from the distance as if on cue. The sound made Rocco crouch low in fear.
“You’ll have to decide for yourselves, but I know what I’m doing,” I said. “I’m going out that door and tracking Mrs. Steele with my super sniffer. This is what I was born to do. No…this is what I was bred to do. And I won’t let anyone steal from Miss Josie again.”
“Fine,” said Gracie. “If you’re going to be all heroic again, I guess we can be heroic, too. But how are we going to get out?”
One of the men from the cleaning crew propped the door open. “Easy,” I said, with a smile. “Follow me.”
And, to my great surprise, they did.