Carolina Mist (32 page)

“Well, I think that’s an absolutely brilliant idea, Miz Matthews.” Naomi winked at Abby as she passed by. “And I would hope that you would be the first of the senior members of Primrose to offer to preserve your recollections on tape. Now, who else do you think might have some interesting tales to tell?”

“Wasn’t this a great day?” Alex sighed and squeezed Abby’s hand.

“A great day,” she agreed, and she leaned against him as they strolled slowly. “Can you remember the last time you saw Belle so perfectly happy?”

“No, I cannot,” he said. “And I can’t remember the last time I was this happy, Abby. Maybe not since I was a kid. But then again, being in Primrose always brought out the best in me.”

“Who was that older gentleman you were talking to over by the reenactment booth?”

“Oh, you mean Professor Weston.” Alex grinned. “He is a retired professor of history from the University of Richmond. He’s into Civil War battle reenactments and serves as a consultant to a number of different groups. He’s really concerned with historical accuracy. Interesting fellow.”

“You’re talking about Professor Weston?” Drew dropped back behind Sunny and addressed Alex. “Are you considering joining the battle group?”

“I don’t know.” Alex shrugged. “On the one hand, it sounds like fun. On the other, I don’t have any Southern sympathies, so I don’t know how uncomfortable I’m willing to make myself for the sake of recreating battles I don’t really care too much about.”

“You watch yourself there, Mr. Kane,” his grandmother called over her shoulder. “In some parts of town, that sort of talk is near blasphemy.”

Abby stifled a giggle, and Alex and Drew exchanged a bemused glance, before Drew’s eyes lighted on Abby and he realized that she and Alex were holding hands that swung between them with casual intimacy. With a brief glance at Alex, Drew turned back and caught up with Sunny just as they approached their destination. The two little girls were swung to the ground almost simultaneously, where they compared notes about their rides and went giggling onto the front porch.

“Drew, I have to thank you for finding a way to include me in this most remarkable day.” Belle patted his arm and smiled. “I saw so many folks today, and so many things. What a pleasure to see the center of town from something other than the occasional car window. Your thoughtfulness gave me a freedom I haven’t experienced in many years. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Why, I believe you just did, Miz Matthews.” Drew offered his hand to assist her out of the chair.

“Call me Belle,” she told him as she accepted his hand. “Now, you will be joining us for dinner?”

“No, I’m afraid I need to be going,” Drew told her. “I have a sales meeting early tomorrow morning.”

“Well, then, we’ll say good-bye here.” Sunny kissed his cheek as she breezed past, being dragged by Lilly, who had loudly claimed to be in need of the bathroom.

“As will
I.
” Abby waved from the top of the steps, where she was assisting Belle into the house.

“Well, it was a fun day.” Alex offered his hand to Drew. “I’m really glad you joined us.”

“So am I.” Drew nodded and hesitated slightly as he turned toward his car.

“What?” Alex asked, sensing the unasked question.

“Well, it’s
…
” Drew laughed self-consciously. “About Abby.”

“What about Abby?”

“Look, I don’t like to intr
ude into anyone else’s life…
”
Drew ran his fingers through his hair as if debating whether or not to continue. “I mean, it’s something I never do
…”

“Stick to that, and you’ll be right one hundred percent of the time.” Alex folded his arms across his chest, almost challenging Drew to continue. Which he did.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m her father or something, and I don’t want this to sound as if I’m asking you what your intentions are toward h
er…
”

“But you are.”

“I guess I am.” Drew shrugged. “Abby is very special to me, Alex. I’ve never known a woman like her.”

“Neither have I.”

“What I mean is, she means a lot to me, Alex. She’s like the first bit of family I’ve had in a very long time.”

“And?”

“And I don’t want her hurt. By anyone.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I know she cares about you. I guess I just need
to know that you… that…
” He struggled with his words almost sheepishly.

“That my intentions are honorable?”

“Something like that.”

“I see.” Alex nodded slowly.

“Well?” Drew waited.

“Well, I don’t think you—or Abby—need to worry about my intentions.” Alex rubbed his chin. “But it does make me wonder if I will have to ask you for her hand.”

“I think she can speak for herself when it comes to that.”

“And will, if I know Abby.”

They exchanged knowing glances.

“I guess I better be on my way.” Drew turned toward his car.

“Thanks, Drew,” Alex called to his back. “For what you did for Gran. And for letting me know how much you care about Abby.”

Drew turned and gave Alex a sort of semi-salute as he got into the car.

Abby stood on the front porch and leaned over the railing, watching Alex as he watched Drew drive away. He
put his hands on his denimed hips and seemed to inhale deeply as he turned and saw her half hidden by a massive rhododendron.

“How long have you been standing there?” he asked.

“Long enough to hear you and Drew discussing your relationship with me.”

“And?”

“And I think it’s really sweet that he cares enough to feel as if he wants to sort of look out for me.”

“I can look out for you.”

“I know that. But this is different. It tells me that he feels
…
oh, I don’t know,
honor-
bound, maybe, to keep an eye on things. It’s sweet, Alex.” Her eyes twinkled, and she pulled a dead flower bud off the shrub and tossed it at him. “I saw you talking with him today—talking and laughing like old friends. Admit you were wrong about him. Admit that you like him.”

Before he could respond, Belle appeared in the doorway, her eyes filled with panic and te
ars even as she opened the door.

“Alexander! Abigail!” she called. “Meri Puppins is missing!”

“Bel
l
e, how could she be missing? She was in the front hall when we left this morning.” Abby turned and saw the full measure of Belle’s disturbance. “She has to be in the house, Belle, there was no one here to have let her out. Come on, Alex, we have a naughty puppy to find.”

36

“
I
can’t believe this.” Abby threw up her hands in a gesture of incredulity. “There is no way that dog could have gotten out of this house. Where could she be? We’ve looked everywhere.”

“It is pretty strange.” Alex leaned back against the
kitchen counter and rubbed his chin. “The only thing I can think of is that somehow, one of the doors had to have been opened while we went out.”

“The doors were all locked, Alex. No one has a key except for me. And Naomi.”

“All the same, I can’t see any other way the dog could have gotten out. We’ve checked all the closets
…
every place the dog could hide if she wanted to. Could someone have come in through a window and let the dog out when they left by a door?”

“The doors all have dead bolts. You’d need the key even to get out,” she reminded him.

“Let me take another look and see if we missed anything.”

Alex went, one more time, from room to room, but there were no signs that a break-in had occurred.

“I’m stumped. I give up.” Alex shrugged his shoulders as he met up with Abby in the front hallway.

“I think we should call Colin.”

“Good thinking. Even though nothing seems to be missing except
for the dog…
”

“I haven’t really looked to see if anything is missing,” Abby said as she headed for the dining room, the site of the only real valuables in the house, “but I will now.”

“Wait till Colin gets here,” Alex told her, “in case there are fingerprints.”

“Well, of course there are fingerprints,” Abby said. “Yours. Mine. Sunny’s. Drew’s. Belle’s.”

Colin agreed that fingerprints were always a good place to start when there has been a theft—and a heartbroken Belle insisted that her dog had in fact been shanghaied. While Colin lifted prints from the dining room, Abby and Sunny searched the second floor.

A mystified Abby came back into the kitchen and told Alex, “I just cannot figure this out. How can a dog just disappear into thin air?”

“It really is bizarre, isn’t it?” He shook his head.

“Abby?” Colin stuck his blond head in through the
kitchen door. “Can we get all your prints so that we can do some comparison?”

“Sure, Colin.” Abby tried to smile. “We’re all here— except Naomi and Drew.”

“Where is Drew?” Colin stepped into the room.

“He said he had a sales meeting early in the morning, so he left right after the fair.”

“This is so strange, Abby. There is no sign of breaking and entering, no sign that anyone has even been here who shouldn’t be. Except for the fact that the dog is missing.” Colin scratched his head. “And you are positive that you locked the house? And that the dog did not scoot out of the house when you all left?”

“Absolutely. We all left by the front door. If the dog had come out, she would have stayed right by Belle. She would not have taken off.”

“Don’t know quite how to write this one up, folks.” Colin leaned his elbow on the stairwell’s carved banister. “We have an apparent theft with no signs of breaking into a locked house, and nothing is missing except that little dog.”

“That little dog, my traveler’s checks, and my amethyst ring,” Sunny announced from the doorway.

“What?” Abby exploded.

“My ring—the one Aunt Leila left me, the one we got out of the safe deposit box—and my traveler’s checks are gone. I almost didn’t even look in my suitcase,” Sunny grumbled. “But there’
s something odd in my room…
”

“Show me.” Colin motioned for Sunny to lead the way.

“
…
almost as if something heavy had been set upon it,” Sunny was saying as she pointed to the quilt that covered her bed and the flat, rectangular depression that appeared on one side toward the footboard. “And then I noticed that the suitcase was open. I had zipped it up this morning.”

“So it would appear that the person or persons placed the closed suitcase on the bed, making that indentation in the feather mattress,” Colin concluded, “then proceeded to go through the contents until they found your checks and your ring. I’ll need a good description of the ring, and I’ll also
need you to go through your things one more time to make sure that there’s nothing else missing.”

“Sunny, I feel so bad. I cannot apologize enough for what has happened.” Abby leaned back against the radiator.

“Abby, don’t be silly. It’s certainly not your fault.” Sunny’s nose began to twi
tch. “Oh, dear, I’m going to…
ahhchoo!
Excuse me, but
…
ahhchoo!”

“Sunny, are you all right?” Abby asked, handing her cousin a box of tissues after the fifth major sneeze.

“I’m afraid that someone’s wearing aftershave or perfume that’s bothering me. Certain fr
agrances very often make me…
ahhchoo!
…
sneeze, and I could smell just the trace of someth
ing when I came up the steps…
ahhchoo!”

“Colin, are you wearing aftershave?” Abby asked.

“No.”

“Well, I’m not wearing perfume, nor is Sunny. Alex doesn’t wear aftershave at all.”

“Can you identify the scent, Sunny?” Colin asked. “Some sort of flowers, heavy-scented.”

“I didn’t know that you had such a sensitivity,” Abby said. “How have you managed in this house with all the lavender Aunt Leila left around?”

“For some reason, natural herbal scents don’t bother me, but heavily concentrated florals in perfumes do.” She shrugged.

“Well, maybe whoever was in here was wearing a flowery perfume.” Colin nodded. “Can you sketch the ring for me?”

“Sure. It was a very simple gold setting, but it was an immense stone.” Sunny shook her head. “Damn! I hadn’t even really gotten to wear it but once or twice. Damn!”

“Well, we’ll see what we can do about getting it back for you.” Colin patted her on the back. “Now, come downstairs and draw us a picture of the ring, and we’ll get the reports made out.”

“Colin.” Abby spoke up. “A woman bumped into me today at the fair. She wore a very pronounced perfume.”

“I guess it’s too much to hope that you know who she was,” Colin said.

“I didn’t see her face,”
Abby
replied. “But Drew knows her. I saw him talking to her right before lunch. There was something familiar about her, but I just can’t place her.”

“Oh?” Colin’s eyebrows rose. “Well, then, let’s get Drew on the phone and find out who his friend is.”

“He’s on his way to a sales conference.”

“Did he say where the conference is?” Colin asked.

“I think he said Williamsburg.”

“I have a friend in the Williamsburg P.D. I’ll give him a call, and we’ll track Drew down. Now, Sunny, let’s see about that sketch.”

“
A
bby, if there was any way I could get out of this trial tomorrow morning, I’d do it,” Alex said as he reached his hand through his car window to bring her face close for one more kiss good-bye. “I do not like leaving with all this going on.”

“It’s okay.” She kissed his nose. “We’ll be fine. And Colin is right across the street.”

“Well, I want you to call the office and leave word if anything happens.” He put the car in gear. “And I’ll give you a call tomorrow night.”

She stepped back from the side of the car as he began to drift slowly backward.

“Do you think Gran will be all right?” he asked.

“I think she’ll be better if we find Meri P.”

“Maybe some signs around town?”

“First thing in the morning. And I’ll
call the SPCA, the local vets…”

“Good idea. That little dog means a lot to my grandmother.”

“I know. We’ll do our best. Oh, and Alex?”

He stopped the car.

“Good luck tomorrow. With your case.”

“Thanks, Ab.” He reached out a hand and clasped the back of her neck gently, drawing her to him for one last deep kiss to hold them both until Friday night.

Abby closed up the house and started her nightly ritual of turning off the lights. Sunny and Lilly had already turned in,
but Belle had insisted on waiting ju
st a little longer to see if Meri
would come home. Abby helped her up the steps around eleven and placated the woman slightly by describing all the means she would try the next day to find the dog.

“She’s been dognapped.” Belle wiped the tears from her face. “I just know she has. Whoever broke into the house just fell in love with that dog and had to take her. O
h, Abigail, pray that this…
this person will take good care of her. Though, of course, one who breaks into houses to rob them can’t be counted on to give a dog like Meri the manner of care she is accustomed to.”

“We will find her,” Abby told Belle firmly as she turned on the old woman’s bedroom light for her. “You’ll see. We’ll pull out all the stops.”

“I do so hope you are right, dear. Meri is like a very dear and special friend to me. I have loved that little dog since the day Naomi brought her to me.” Belle removed her sweater and folded it neatly before placing it on a small yellow-and-green print slipper chair near the door. “And it is so very wonderful to find someone new to love, Abby. At any age, at any stage of your life, it’s always unexpected, you know. But it’s always glorious to have a special someone who loves you, who brightens up when you enter the room
…
even if that special someone is only a dog. What I learned from that little dog is that life can still hold surprises, Abigail, even at my age. And that if I’m still young enough to feel that sort of joy in the company of so small a creature, then perhaps I’m not so very old after all.” Belle turned sorrowful eyes on Abby. “I do miss her already, Abigail. And I am worried about her.”

“I know you are, Belle. We’ll do our best. I promise.” Belle nodded and dabbed her eyes as Abby kissed her softly on the cheek and left the room. She had planned on trying to probe—subtly, of course—Abby’s growing relationship with Alex but had no heart for a discussion on something so important as their future. Belle sighed as she closed her bedroom door. It could wait till tomorrow or the next day. Or the next.