which by now was cold. “I know you’re upset about Jeffrey having a girlfriend, but you don’t have to worry. Nanci is just as upset with her daughter having Jeffrey as a boyfriend.”
“And how is it that you know this?” Barry asked. He was leaning forward in his chair, watching me intently.
“I know that and more. How about Nanci probably has a fancy gun and likes to shoot skeets.” I told Barry I’d found it all out when I stopped by to see if she had a notepad from a real estate agent. He ignored my investigating and only focused on what Nanci had said. Apparently while he wasn’t happy with his son having a girlfriend, he was more upset that her mother implied Jeffrey might not be quite up to her standards.
I finally got up to go across the house.
“Good night, bab—I mean, Molly,” he said. He came up behind me and stopped. I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. He paused for a moment and then he put his hand gently on my shoulder. “You know Jeffrey really likes you and . . .” I wasn’t sure what was coming next and I didn’t hang around to find out.
CHAPTER 20
Despite what I had said, I was really concerned about the turnout for Stone’s picture signing. Mr. Royal was a fan and apparently thought that all of Tarzana was, too, because he’d ordered fifty copies of the book. There were only two pages devoted to Stone and the book was expensive. I’d asked all the Hookers to come, so at least there’d be some bodies in the chairs.
But it turned out to be unnecessary. Even before Stone got there, people started to show up. They were mostly men and they all looked like Stone with the shaggy sun-streaked hair and deep tans. I recognized a few of them from the group I’d seen him with at Le Grande Fromage. They appeared to think he was a god and were honored to be able to go surfing with him.
Since I wasn’t interested in surfing, it was hard to understand how they felt. I tried to put it in terms that made sense to me and guessed it was like getting a chance to go yarn shopping with Vanna White.
Mr. Royal had tried to give the bookstore a Hawaiian feel by hanging brightly colored paper leis off the bookcases. He’d found a fake palm tree somewhere and brought it into the middle of the store. Next to it, I’d set up a table with some of the books. Mr. Royal had found a documentary that featured Stone and some other surfers, traveling the world’s best surfing beaches. He’d brought in some DVDs of it to sell and placed them next to the books. We’d set up chairs and Stone had agreed to tell some surfing stories to try to make it more of an event.
Rhoda and Elise were in the front row, crocheting as they waited. Dinah and Commander found me and we discussed my offer of our help with the reception after Kelly’s funeral.
“I’m glad to help out,” Commander said. “You know Kelly had a post office box at my place and she dropped off packages all the time for UPS or FedEx to pick up.”
“Really?” I said, surprised, but then it made sense. For privacy reasons, a lot of people who worked from their homes didn’t want to use their address as a return address. Commander Blaine had said what made his place special was that he gave his customers a real address to use instead of just a post office box number. I asked how well he knew her and if he’d seen any examples of what she sold.
Commander smoothed back his thick shock of white hair. “She was always in a hurry so I never really got to talk to her, and her packages were always sealed and ready to go. You know I view everybody who uses my services like family. She was just a little more distant than the rest of them.”
“Sit with us,” Rhoda called, waving at Commander and Dinah. As they went to take their seats, I noticed that some of the production people had come in. I recognized Fred and Zeke, the two prop guys who’d been placing the plants in Kelly’s backyard.
I’d overheard their conversation with North Adams, but never talked to them myself. It was always a little awkward just going up to people cold and