Chapter 18

Hogan let us wander around for a few minutes, then he firmly led us back to my van. He assigned Jerry Cherry to escort us back to Warner Pier and sent us away.

“Don’t talk about this lack of personal mail,” he said. “I don’t want Watt to hear about it before I can question him. He may have tossed it himself. Maybe he deliberately broke all contact with family and friends.”

I guess his instructions were one reason we speculated about the mail all the way back to the office.

Aunt Nettie seemed really puzzled. “Why would the burglars make such a mess? And apparently not take anything else? Unless they took some papers. And they may not have. Maybe Watt simply hadn’t collected his mail for a month!”

“Or maybe they did take something else. We didn’t take an inventory.”

“If we missed something, it wasn’t anything very large.”

Our speculations, of course, were more annoying than helpful to both of us. I think we were both pleased to get back to a parking spot in our alley so we couldn’t talk about this incident anymore.

Jerry Cherry was still following us, and we both waved good-bye to him with pleasure. He had barely turned the corner when we heard a loud voice from farther up the alley. Looking around, we saw Alex Gold waving at us from the porch of his own shop.

“Hey, Lee and Nettie! Hang on a minute before you go inside. I have a special invitation for you both.”

We stood on our porch, waiting while he walked quickly down the alley toward us. Alex was beaming happily. “Ladies, I’m having a party.”

Aunt Nettie smiled. “Just what we need, Alex. Things have been pretty dismal lately.”

“This is going to be a great party! And it is a party. I’m asking all the downtown merchants over for a champagne breakfast tomorrow at the new shop. And bring your husbands and wives, and your girlfriends and boyfriends, and your sweethearts and pals!”

“Is the shop ready to open?” Aunt Nettie asked. “I didn’t think it was finished.”

“It’s not. This is a preopening event. Come and go. Eight to ten a.m. It’s the secret kickoff of the real thing.”

“But, Alex,” I said, “what good is a ‘secret’ kickoff? A kickoff event is supposed to draw in customers. If nobody knows about it, it’s a waste of time.”

Alex beamed ever more broadly. “It’s a preview of something that’s going to knock Warner Pier onto its backside with excitement! I can hardly wait to see your reactions!”

He turned around, chortling. “You’re going to be really impressed. Eight o’clock tomorrow morning. At the store. You’re going to love it! And Herrera’s is doing the food.”

“Yum! Yum!” Aunt Nettie said. “We’ll be there.”

I shook my head as we watched him trot up the alley. “What do you suppose he’s up to?”

“Some special jewelry that’s too expensive for most ordinary tourists to buy,” Aunt Nettie said. “I don’t know Alex as well as you and Joe do, but he always seems excited about something.”

“At least we get breakfast,” I said.

Then we opened the back door to TenHuis Chocolade and found a madhouse. No real disasters, I suppose. But when two of three bosses—one of us chocolate and the other money—were three hours late to work, and the third boss, Dolly, wasn’t coming in at all, the morning was destined for trouble.

It took a while, but we got it straightened out. Aunt Nettie got the chocolate schedule back on track, and I returned calls and took orders that the clients swore were desperate emergencies. By one o’clock we had all the serious challenges handled, and I told Aunt Nettie I was ready for lunch.

“Me, too,” Aunt Nettie said. “Bunny is back from her lunch break. I suppose that the two of us could dash down to the corner for twenty minutes and get something to eat.”

“Terrific idea,” I said. “And while we’re waiting for our sandwiches, maybe I’ll call Wildflower Hill and see if she knows another raccoon trapper. I’m afraid Watt is simply not going to be able to get the job done. Not while Hogan is trying to keep him undercover. And Mike is unavailable.”

About half the time, I hate my cell phone, because it always rings when it’s in the bottom of my purse in the back bedroom. The rest of the time, I can’t live without it. The call to Wildflower fulfilled both situations.

First, she wanted to hear all about the excitement at Watt’s house. And, of course, I wasn’t supposed to tell her anything.

“Huh,” I said. “How did you hear about it? Hogan told us to keep the whole innocent—I mean, incident! The whole incident under wraps. He threatened us with a good scolding if we told anybody anything.”

“Hogan’s smart enough to know that plan won’t work in a neighborhood like mine.”

I was having trouble picturing the deep, dark forest where Wildflower and Watt lived as a “neighborhood,” so I apparently didn’t answer her question as quickly as she expected. She prodded me for a reaction. “Well, Lee? What’s going on?”

Could I tell her an abbreviated version and satisfy both Hogan and Wildflower? I had to try.

“Watt had to go back to the hospital,” I said. “He asked Aunt Nettie and me to go out to his house and make sure there was nothing in his fridge that would spoil. When we got there, we felt—well, afraid. We were afraid that somebody had been prowling around. Things seemed disturbed. Since we’d never been to Watt’s house before, we weren’t sure. When we told Hogan about our fears, he sent somebody out there to double-check. And the person he sent could tell that there had definitely been an intruder.”

“Did that really call for six patrol cars?”

“Six? Were there six?”

“That’s the gossip. Three from Warner Pier—and we’re outside the city limits—plus one from the county, and two state cops. Naturally, the neighbors all gathered around to stare, too. Plus, later on, the state cops went house-to-house asking if any of us had seen anything. I guess they talked to everybody.”

“Did you? See anything?”

“What would I see?”

“Oh, a strange car, a strange person—you know, anything out of the ordinary. Strange.”

She sighed. “You know, Lee, I know you don’t like the deep woods, but our area isn’t really that remote. We’re not strange; we just like cheap places to live.”

“I know, I know, you told me! You back up to the Fox Creek Nature Preserve. It has hiking trails. People walk by all the time.”

My sarcasm didn’t amuse Wildflower. “That’s right. But nobody walked by this morning. Not that I saw. The only thing unusual—and it’s not even that out of the ordinary—was the chopper.”

“Chopper? As in helicopter?”

“Yes, the forestry service patrols an area near here.” Then she spoke darkly. “Or that’s what they claim. It comes by about once a week. Watt says he’d like a ride ‘for old times’ sake.’ ”

“Wildflower—”

Before I could finish my sentence, she took a sudden, deep breath. “Gotta go!”

“She hung up on me!” I said with a groan of annoyance.

“I see the waitress coming with our lunch,” Aunt Nettie said. “Eat first, call back later.”

“But I didn’t get to ask her about a raccoon trapper.”

“She’ll probably just recommend Mike.”

“I don’t think Hogan would like that idea. He certainly doesn’t want Mike fooling around in an area that seems remote anymore. Not until this situation is resolved.”

I gave up on the idea of trapping our alley raccoon and ate my sandwich. The whole thing seemed rather pointless. But before we even finished our dessert—ice cream with a fancy cookie—Wildflower called back.

“I guess you’re going to need another raccoon trapper,” she said.

“How’d you know? I didn’t even mention it.”

“I’m clairvoyant. Also, with Watt in the hospital, it was pretty obvious.”

She gave me the name and number of a man over near the county seat. Then she hung up again. I had the feeling I wasn’t on Wildflower’s list of all-time favorite people. But maybe she hadn’t given up on me.

However, as it ended up, I didn’t call the new raccoon trapper. Mike called me as soon as I was back at my desk. In fact, he called me so promptly that I suspected he had seen me arrive at the shop. Was he up in Dolly’s apartment? He and Dolly should have been hiding out still.

Mike spoke so quickly that I didn’t get the chance to ask where he was.

“Hey, Lee, I guess all this commotion is leaving you without a raccoon catcher.”

“That seems to be the case. I sure don’t want you or Watt wandering around in the dark alley where the boogeymen seem to be hanging out.”

“I’m not too worried, but Hogan is. And Dolly. But surely we’ll get it all straightened out pretty quick.”

“I sure hope so. Though I’m much more worried about you and Watt than about the raccoons.”

“Yeah. Watt—well, he almost needs a full-time keeper. Has for years.”

“When did you first meet Watt?”

Mike hesitated. “Oh, long time back. He’s a smart guy, but he can be kind of spacey.”

A suspicion began to boil up in my mind. Could I ask? I took a deep breath and jumped right in.

“Mike? Did you know Watt in the army?”

Mike hesitated as long as I had before he answered. “How’d you get that idea?” he said. “Give the guy a chance. And if he wants to help Bob, let him.”

The line went dead.