“You should be asking me,” she said. “I’m way ahead of Pink in the investigating department.” She let her gaze move over the whole table. “Here’s the crux of the whole case. There’s a chink in the golden triangle of guilt. We need to find the murder weapon and a little more direct evidence to tie . . .” Adele’s voice trailed off as she checked the area then dropped her voice. “We’re all sure Dan did it, but we need something more before we can charge him.” Adele adjusted her pigtail as her lips curved in a self-satisfied smile. “And there’s something else. After story time, I met with Eric. You know he’s a motor officer and was the first responder.”
“We know,” Rhoda said in her nasally voice. “Get to the point.”
“The point is, I told Eric about something I found out this morning. There’s something going on with Dan Donahue and his neighbor.”
Dinah and I looked at each other. Adele was out of control.
Thankfully, CeeCee changed the subject back to the crochet pieces for our booth at the fair. She knew it was hopeless to get Adele to stop making the cowls, but said it would be nice to have more of Eduardo’s bracelets from the rest of us. When the group broke up, Dinah and I walked to the front of the store.
“I’m not competing with Adele to solve this case,” I said to Dinah.
“Of course, you’re not.” Dinah said. “It’s just that if Adele does beat you to the punch, we’ll never hear the end of it.”
“We should really see what we can find out about Nanci Silvers,” I said, but I’d already lost Dinah’s attention. Commander Blaine had just come through the door. Dinah had no problem with his longish thick white hair, but she was still adjusting to his clothing choices. The wrinkle-free dress shirt tucked into the khaki slacks with sharp creases was a little too perfect for her taste.
As soon as he caught sight of Dinah, Commander’s eyes lit up. Sadly, Dinah was even having trouble with that part. After an ex-husband who was a jerk and several boyfriends who were about the same, she was having a hard time getting used to someone who actually wanted to spend time with her, and didn’t have a line of ladies on the side. But Commander was a gentleman through and through.
“Ready?” he said linking arms with Dinah after giving her a welcoming hug. “You’re welcome to join us,” he said to me. We’re putting on game night at the senior center. Charades, Monopoly, Parcheesi, and more. You’ll have fun.”
I thanked him, but declined and went back to work as they left. Not that there was much to do.
Mrs. Shedd and Mr. Royal were busy conferring over the e-reader display. Even the table in the yarn department was empty for the moment. I walked around the bookstore picking up stray books and putting them back where they belonged.
Mason came in as I was doing a little housekeeping in the yarn department. “I thought I would just come by instead of calling,” he said giving me a hug. “Can you leave?” He glanced around the empty store. “I thought we could get dinner or something.”
He was still in his work clothes, a tan-colored suit and a cream-colored shirt with the collar open. Despite his smile and the lightness of his comments, I sensed something was wrong. He usually appeared untarnished by the day, but not this time. I’d never seen him look quite this way. Exhausted? Strained? I wasn’t sure what it was.
I suggested he sit down while I finished putting all the skeins of yarn in their correct bins. “There’s something wrong, isn’t there?” I said as he took a seat.
He smiled briefly and then his expression dimmed and he looked away. “You caught that, huh,” he said in a low voice. “Run away to the beach with me and I’ll tell you all about it. We can still make the sunset.”
I checked with Mrs. Shedd and she was fine with me taking off. Mason was waiting by the door when I came to the front with my things.
“Okay, what’s up?” I said once we were in the black Mercedes sedan and on the freeway.
He sighed deeply. “I have been spending too much time with my ex-wife. I can’t trust her to do anything on her own with this wedding. I spent the afternoon tasting appetizers and looking at flowers. Jaimee