there?” he asked.
“These are lovely, well preserved, like they’d been worn only a few times and then put away. They should sell pretty well once I get rid of the musty smell.”
“What do you think? Someone your great-aunt knew played Santa? Your great-uncle, maybe?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. Why else would she have it in this trunk?” She sorted through the old costume jewelry. “Some of these have real diamonds. They could be worth some money. A couple of old Chinese vases. I’ll have to check on all these things to see if they’re truly valuable or just pretty decorator pieces.”
Then they began searching around in the attic. She found a whole bunch of old paintings leaning against one of the walls, a floor-length mirror, and boxes and crates of stuff she’d need to sort out later. Thankfully, the mirror and the paintings hadn’t been hit by gunfire.
She didn’t have time to look through everything right this minute. She was thinking she needed to hire someone to run the shop while she sorted, cataloged, determined values, and then priced the items for sale. Not to mention she needed to update her website where she listed all the major merchandise.
Josh peeked through a bunch of dishes he found in one crate, each one wrapped in newspaper.
“I haven’t inventoried the boxes of merchandise my great-aunt has stacked in all the rooms. I haven’t had time to go through them. Any of the new merchandise she bought should have inventory lists packed in the boxes. For the past two weeks, I made some headway on listing items she already had out for sale, so they’re now on a website people can search through. If they want an item, they can claim it and then come in within forty-eight hours to pay for the item and it’s theirs.”
“You need to have it where they can pay online.”
“Yes, next job to do. Oh, and be careful with the newspapers wrapped around objects. They can be sold also, depending on the shape they’re in, what the news was, and the age of the newspaper.”
He looked over one. “1911? Does that mean these dishes have been wrapped up in this paper since then?”
“Probably. And that’s great. The dishes and the newspaper might be worth something. Depending on the quality and the name brand of the dishes, they could bring in some money. Though only collectors want stuff like that. Most everyone wants microwavable dishes nowadays. Which is why so many people get rid of their old dinnerware now.”
“That makes sense. I know that’s all Maverick and I use. We didn’t have any hand-me-down dishware though.”
“You don’t use paper plates?”
He smiled. “We have a dishwasher.”
“The last guy I dated used paper plates and cups for everything.”
“No dishwasher?”
She chuckled. “No dishwasher soap.”
“I have him beat there. What about the rest of the items in the chest?”
“Tintype photos, which can be worth a little. A wedding gown, a beautiful red ball gown. They can be used for displays and sold.”
He looked over the red gown. “It looks like it would fit you.”
“It would be pretty to wear for New Year’s, once I clean it. Oh, also, I’ll be closing early on Christmas Eve. I usually close early because I don’t have many sales after about two. At least that was the case in Phoenix. At that point in the day, everyone goes to the mall and the big-box stores for their last-minute shopping.”
“We also have a pack party. You could wear it to that.”
Was he inviting her to the Christmas party as his date?
“It might be a little dressy for it. Let’s leave this for later. I can lock the attic so no one gets in here, hopefully, but I’ll take the jewelry with us, just in case it’s valuable,” she said. “I had a built-in safe installed in the house. It’s the first thing I did when I moved in.”
“Good idea. Do you want me to take anything downstairs?”
“Grab the vases, if you don’t mind. We’ll put them in the office in the safe I had installed, and I’ll check the value of them later.”
Then they left the attic, and she locked the attic door. She should have done it last night, but with all the police there and being injured, she hadn’t thought of it.
“Do you always lock it?” Josh followed her down the stairs.
“Yes, except last night.”
The doorbell rang. She glanced at the Felix the Cat clock. “It must be the mail carrier with another package. It’s not time