A Whisker Оf Trouble

Chapter 5

“We have to talk to her,” Rose said at once. I could feel her eyes on me. “Sarah, where does Teresa live?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Somewhere just outside town, I think.”

“It doesn’t matter, dear,” she said. From the corner of my eye, I saw her pull out her phone. “I’ll Google her address.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I need to get back to the shop and . . .” I hesitated, not wanting to get any more involved than I already was and, even more important, not wanting to insult either one of them by pointing out the obvious.

“And what?” Rose asked.

I stopped at the corner, checked the traffic in both directions and took the opportunity, while we were stopped, to look at both of them. “And have you considered the fact that your information came from a four-year-old?”

“She’s very bright,” Mr. P. said immediately, leaning forward and placing one hand on the back of my seat. “She has the vocabulary of a much older child.”

Rose turned partway round to look at him. “Sarah was the same way,” she said. “She could read before she started school. Isabel used to get her to read everyone’s horoscope out of the newspaper.”

I flashed to sitting at my grandmother’s table in a red plastic booster chair with a cookie in one hand and the newspaper spread out on the round wooden table.

“I remember that,” I said, smiling at the memory as I turned left.

“I don’t doubt that you do,” Rose responded a tad tartly. “You were a very bright child, too.”

“And I’m smart enough now to see you’re trying to play me like a piano.”

“I’m disappointed that you would think that,” she said. I didn’t have to look over at her to know she was sitting at attention in her seat, her shoulders squared, chin jutting out just a little. The tinge of self-righteousness in her voice told me that.

“Because I’m right,” I said lightly. I did shift my gaze right for a moment then.

Rose blushed and ducked her head.

“We need to go back and talk to those other neighbors,” Mr. P. said from the backseat. “Which doesn’t mean I think Alyssa made up what she told me. No offense, Sarah.”

“None taken,” I said. “And for the record, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to talk to Teresa. I just don’t want to see her ambushed.”

“She won’t be,” Mr. P. promised.

When we got back to Second Chance, Rose and Alfred went into their sunporch office and I walked through the workroom to the store. While we were gone Mac had brought in two blue rattan egg chairs that we’d picked up at the curb of a house two streets over from the store the night before the spring-cleaning pickup Paul had spoken about. Jess had made cushions for them with heavy, dark blue canvas removable covers. Elvis was sitting on one of them, methodically washing his face with one black paw. My brother, Liam, was sitting on the other.

He grinned when he saw me, got to his feet and wrapped me in a hug.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, leaning back to look up at him. Liam was Nick’s height—six-foot-plus, with blond hair he kept fairly short these days, blue-gray eyes and a little boy grin that most women couldn’t resist.

“Business,” he said. “I’m consulting on the new proposal for the harbor front.”

“That’s great,” I said. “How long are you here?”

“Couple of weeks, probably.”

I smiled up at him. “I’m glad.”

He snaked an arm around my neck and pulled me against him. “That’s because you can’t feed yourself and you know I’ll cook for you.”

“I can cook. Sort of.”

“Yeah, right,” he said with a roll of his eyes as he let me go.

“Rose is teaching me,” I said with an edge of self-righteousness to my voice.

“How’s that going?” he asked dryly.

“Merow!” Elvis proclaimed loudly.

Liam looked at the cat, raising one eyebrow. “That’s pretty much what I thought.”

“No one asked you,” I stage-whispered to the cat.

“Mrrr,” he said, seemingly making a face at me before going back to washing behind one ear.

“I talked to Gram this morning,” Liam said, “and she told me I can stay at her place. She said you have a key.”

Strictly speaking, Liam was my stepbrother, and wasn’t related to Gram at all, but to her Mom was family even though my dad, Gram’s only child, had died when I was five. So when my mom had married Liam’s dad, they became family, too.

I nodded.

“Or I could just live with Rose for the next two weeks,” he said. He swung around and swooped Rose—who had been quietly sneaking up on him—into a hug.

“It’s so good to see you,” Rose said, grinning from ear to ear.

“It’s good to be seen.” Liam took both of her hands, took a step backward and looked at her. “You look as beautiful as ever.”

“And you’re as full of it as ever,” she said sternly, but she was smiling even as she shook her head at him.

Charlotte came downstairs then carrying a mug of coffee. She handed it to Liam.

He turned his smile on her. “Thank you. I left early this morning and I’m down by at least three cups.” He took a long drink and Charlotte, just as Rose had, beamed at him.

I pulled my keys out of my pocket, slid Gram’s off the ring and held them out to him. “The gold one is for the front door and the silver one is for the apartment.”

“Thanks,” he said. He took another sip of the coffee.

“There’s nothing to eat,” I warned him. “The fridge is empty and so are the cupboards.”

“In other words it’s like staying at your place.”

I stuck my tongue out at him.

Liam looked at his watch. “I have a meeting downtown and I need to get going or I’m going to be late.” He drained his mug and Charlotte took it from him.

“How about dinner at Sam’s?” I asked.

Liam shook his head. “Can’t,” he said. “But I shouldn’t be late, so I’ll talk to you later.”

I nodded. “All right.”

He gave Rose and Charlotte that little boy grin that had been getting him out of trouble with women—and into some as well—since grade school. “It’s really good to see you both,” he said.

“Come for dinner some night you’re here,” Charlotte said.

He nodded. “Give me a day or two to get a schedule worked out and I’ll let you know what works.” He looked at me again. “Later.”

Liam disappeared out the door and Rose and Charlotte exchanged smiles.

“It’s good to have Liam here,” Charlotte said.

Elvis murped his agreement and settled himself a little more comfortably in his chair.

“I think he looked a little thin,” Rose offered, slipping off her jacket.

Charlotte frowned. “Maybe a little,” she said. “I expect he’s as bad as Nicolas, working all the time. It would be nice if he could meet someone.”

I took the empty cup she was holding and leaned in to kiss her cheek. “I’ll be in my office if anyone needs me,” I said.

Upstairs I set the empty cup in the sink and poured myself coffee, taking it back to my small office. Elvis was there, sitting on my desk chair.

“I thought you were staying downstairs,” I said. He blinked his green eyes at me. I picked him up, sat down and settled him on my lap. That involved some grumbling and poking my legs on his part.

It was good to have Liam in town for a while. We hadn’t lived in the same house for years and even though he knew how to drive me crazy better than anyone else, sometimes I missed seeing him every day.

I knew how lucky we were to be so close. Most people who didn’t know assumed that we were biological siblings and were surprised to find out that we weren’t, a tribute to Mom and Dad—and Gram—who knew that family was more than biology. As far as Gram was concerned, Liam was just as much her grandchild as I was.

And a bonus to having Liam around for the next couple of weeks was that Rose and Charlotte and Liz would have someone else’s love life to ask loaded questions about instead of mine and Nick’s.

I wondered if Liam had let Nick know he was in town. Probably not, since he hadn’t let me know. I put a hand on Elvis to steady him and reached for the phone. The cat gave me the stink eye for disrupting his nap.

“Hi, Sarah, what’s up?” Nick asked when he answered the phone.

“Liam’s here,” I said, leaning back and carefully propping my feet on the edge of the desk. “I figure since he didn’t call me he probably didn’t call you, either.”

“No, he didn’t, but it’s great he’s in town,” Nick said. “How long is he staying?”

Elvis lifted his head, nudging my hand. I took the hint and began to stroke his fur. He closed his eyes and purred. “He could be here for a couple of weeks. He’s consulting on the new development proposal.”

“Good. That must mean it’s a go.”

“According to Liz, it is,” I said. “After the North by West deal fell apart, she got involved with the group that was looking for another developer.”

“Why do you know that and I don’t?” he asked.

“Probably because I make it to dinner at your mom’s more than you do.”

Nick laughed. “Speaking of dinner, can you and Liam meet me at Sam’s tonight?”

On my lap Elvis stretched, yawned and then looked expectantly at me. He made an exhalation that sounded a lot like a sigh of contentment.

“Sorry,” I said. “Liam had plans.” I realized my brother hadn’t told me what his plans were.

“So just you and me?” Nick said.

I couldn’t keep mooching meals from Rose—well, maybe as far as she was concerned, I could—and I didn’t feel like going grocery-shopping after work. “Sure,” I said. “But there’s something I need to tell you first. You might want to rescind that invitation.”

“Mom already told me that they’ve started their investigation.”

“And you’re surprisingly calm about that,” I teased.

I heard him exhale slowly. “I give up,” he said.

I had a metal image of Nick holding up both hands in a gesture of surrender.

“They just ignore me,” he continued. “They smile sweetly, pat my cheek and do what they damn well want.”

I laughed. “Welcome to my life,” I said. “And by the way, what took you so long?”

He started to laugh as well. “I don’t know. I guess I’m a slow learner.”

I heard other voices in the background. “I have to go,” Nick said. “How’s six work for you?”

“That’s fine.”

“Do you want me to pick you up?”

“I’ll meet you there,” I said.

We said good-bye and I ended the call. “Time to get up,” I said to Elvis. I gave him one last scratch behind his left ear and then I picked him up and set him on the floor. “Go see if we have any customers.”

He shook himself, took a quick pass at his face with a paw and disappeared around the half-open door. Elvis knew customers generally meant lots of attention for him, especially if he did his Sad Kitty face and made sure the long scar that cut diagonally across his nose was in the right light.

I stood up and brushed cat hair off my pants. Seeing Liam and talking to Nick had distracted me, albeit briefly, from dealing with what we’d learned from Paul Duvall and his adorable daughter.

It was easy for people to feel a little uncertain about trash pickers like Teresa. Both Teresa and Cleveland, the other picker I bought from regularly, lived pretty much outside the conventional work world. They bartered, traded, scavenged and Dumpster-dived for everything from furniture and car parts to clothes and food. They were both quick to make a deal if it would make them a profit and equally quick to share whatever they had with anyone who needed it. Cleveland and Teresa had always been fair with me and I’d tried to do the same with them.

I thought about Teresa. She was quiet and serious, but she had a good eye for small things like clocks, jewelry and old general store fixtures. I ran my hand over the cigarette case on my desk that I used to hold pencil leads and paper clips. I’d bought it from Teresa because it had reminded me of a similar box my dad had used to hold guitar picks and extra strings.

I couldn’t put Rose and Mr. P. off forever. They were going to talk to Teresa sooner rather than later and I hadn’t exactly been straight with them. It wasn’t that I was afraid she’d get railroaded, because I knew there was no way she would have been sneaking around Edison Hall’s house looking for something to take. It was because I knew there was at least a possibility that she had been.