Page 49 of Merry Murder Season
“I’m not getting involved in that one. Evie can tell you herself if she decides to.” Beth laughed and shook her head. “Changing the subject, did you know that the jewelry store where we found the patch is still closed? That robbery must have freaked out the owner. Or is it just open onthe weekends?”
“Really?” I wondered if Mandy had talked to the owner about personal boundaries with her husband. “I hadn’t noticed. I thought I saw her at the diner earlier tonight.”
“I was going to stop in on the way to the bookstore this afternoon to do some shopping but the door was locked and the windows still empty. You would think they’d try to rescue the holiday shopping season, even with the robbery. You have so many people coming in and buying books or gift cards for stocking stuffers. Deek’s great at upselling a little treat for the buyer too.” Beth stirred her hot chocolate with a candy cane she’d added to the cup. She saw me watching. “I didn’t ask if you liked peppermint. I drink mine this way from November first until way afterthe New Year.”
“It’s fine. I didn’t realize I had any candy canes.”
Beth laughed. “You didn’t but you do now.”
“Thanks. Now, let’s watch the movie. We could have Friday night watch parties from now to Christmas if you want. We could text each other.” I started the movie but as Buddy made his way to the magical world of New York, I thought about Evie and Deek. Could they be a match? I always thought of Deek as young and irresponsible. Evie was divorced and world-weary. Or she had been when I hired her.
Maybe she was ready for a real relationship now.Circus, monkeys,I reminded myself. Besides, not everyone wanted to be part of a happy couple. And not all couples were happy. I settled into the movie to start believing in the magic of the Christmas season again. I wished it was just as easy as singing loud for everyone to hear. Matty needed a group to gather in front of her house and sing. Maybe she was South Cove’s very own Scrooge.
Beth’s observation about the store’s closure gave me the perfect excuse to go see Matty. If she was okay, then I’d tell her to leave Josh alone. If she was upset, maybe I’d be a little nicer. Maybe.
* * *
Walking to work the next morning, I slowed down in front of the jewelry store. It looked the same as it did when Beth and I had noticed it closed. I pulled out my phone and texted Esmeralda, asking if Matty had put in an out-of-town notice with the police station. Greg had implemented the process so if someone was gone, the patrol officers could keep a closer eye on the property, just in case.
Now I questioned if it had been Matty at the restaurant. I’d only seen her back and I’d been worried about her being there with Josh.
That done, I hurried into the bookstore and started my day. Around ten, Darla came in, looking like she hadn’t slept much. I hurried to pour her a coffee. She folded herself onto a stool and took the cup. I started to say good morning, but she held up her hand for me to stop talking, so I waited.
After she’d drunk half the cup, she set it down and looked at me. “What exactly did you want to know last night?”
“Was there anything weird you noticed about Matty Leaven during your welcome-to-South-Cove interview withher last year?”
Darla finished her coffee and handed me the cup for a refill. As I set it back down, she took out her notebook and looked at someprior entries.
“You have last year’s interview notes in your current notebook?”
She sipped her coffee. “No, I pulled out the notebook this morning before I came over since you mentioned Mattyon the phone.”
“Oh, sorry.” I refilled my cup and came around to sit by her. There were no customers in the shop anyway.
She finished reading her notes and then tapped her pen on the page. “There was one thing. She’d just gotten robbed for a fifth time in her building. She said she hoped things would settle down when she moved here. Her insurance had threatened to cancel her policy unless she moved out of the neighborhood where shehad the shop.”
“Seems reasonable. If the neighborhood is dangerous, why stay?” I didn’t understand what Darla was getting at. She tapped her pen onthe page again.
“She was robbed five times before even considering a move. She sells some high-end stuff. Why did she even open a high-end jewelry store in a bad neighborhood? And once she realized it, why did it take four more robberies for her to move? I would have been out of there after the first one. Honestly, I would have done my research and not opened there in the first place.” Darla sipped her coffee at a calmer pace now. “I dug around and realized I had a friend who lived in an apartment on that same street. She saidthat the place wasn’t a bad neighborhood. That no one else besides Matty’s shop was getting robbed. The police thought it wasan inside job.”
“She fakedthe robberies?”
Darla shrugged. “Or knew someone she could pay to rob her store. She collected the insurance money, then she probably sold the pieces reported as missing to someone on theblack market.”
“Her store here was robbed on Thanksgiving night.” Darla probably already knew that. “She gets robbed, and a few days later, Chip dies from what appeared to be torture. Can it just bea coincidence?”
“Do pigeons like statues because they admire the person behind the work? No, it’s not a coincidence. Have you told Greg about this?” Darla looked at me like Ihad two heads.
I stirred my coffee, still thinking about Matty and Josh. Had she asked him to help get the jewelry back from her robbery partner in crime? Just as I was about to say something, Evie came into the store, followed by Andrew and Zara.
“Hey, boss lady. I’m going to supervise as these two fly solo this afternoon. Tell your sister-in-law we don’t need her tonight. Deek and I have it covered. But if I don’t see her before she leaves, she needs to know she rocked it.” Evie pointed the two new baristas to the counter. “Go wash up and get ready to start your shift. Your bosses are watching your every move.”
Evie came and stood by Darla and me. “So what’s going on here? Solving the world’s problems using scented markers?”
“You’re kind of nosy. You know that, right?” Darla finished her coffee. “I need to go and try to write up something about the murder for next week’s edition. I was hoping you’d have information about that, not some insurance fraud.”
“Insurance fraud is a real thing,” Evie added to the conversation. “In class last year, my professor went over tooth and nail on what was and wasn’t stealing from your employer. He even had a timeline that listed the amount of insurance claims filed per year. It’s no wonder our insurance rateskeep going up.”
