Valise in the Attic (12 page)

“But he’s also very protective of her,” Annie said. “And loyal. And charming.”

Ian harrumphed. “So, did you ever figure out what to give your son-in-law for Christmas?”

“Smooth subject change, Mr. Mayor.”

Ian shrugged. “It’s the politician in me. So did you?”

“Yes, and you inspired it,” she said.

“How did I do that?”

“When you suggested a book. I liked the idea of a book, but I needed to give him the whole library. I just couldn’t choose.”

“How did that help you?”

“I bought him one of those electronic book readers,” she said. “It came with two free book downloads. After that, I’m sure he’ll fill it up with his own books.” She sat back in the seat with a huge smile.

“Sounds like a great idea,” Ian said. “So, one problem solved.”

“I wish they were all so easy,” Annie said.

15

Annie and Ian ate the rest of their breakfast chatting lightly about Christmas and the difficulties in gift giving. Finally Annie sat back in her chair with an empty plate and a contented stomach.

“I think I’ll stop by A Stitch in Time and see how Vanessa is enjoying her weekend,” Annie said. “I still worry a little about her having that suitcase.”

Ian raised his eyebrows. “Is Mary Beth still opening on Sunday?”

“She does for the Christmas season,” Annie said, “but only for a couple hours. I need to get over there while they’re still open. Thank you for everything last night and this morning.”

“I wouldn’t have wanted to be left out of it,” he said.

She reached out and patted his wrinkled shirt sleeve. Then she paid her check and looked toward Alice’s table. She wondered if she should stop and say hello, but decided against it. Her two friends didn’t look as if they needed more company. Annie braced herself and stepped back out into the cold.

She looked up at the sky as she walked the short distance to A Stitch in Time. The clouds looked like a gray washboard. “Looks like more snow,” Annie muttered with a shiver.

As always, A Stitch in Time greeted her with a whoosh of warmth as she opened the door. Kate looked up from the counter and smiled. She looked especially pretty in the long crocheted sweater dress she wore.

“Hi, Annie,” Kate said. “I missed you at church.”

Annie sighed. “I was sorry to miss it. I slept in, and even Boots couldn’t get me out of bed. But I’ll be there next week, even if I have to get a sled-dog team.”

“Oh, you noticed our snow clouds?” Kate asked. “I’ve been listening to the weather report. Our little warm snap seems to be over. They’re warning about a possible blizzard next week.”

“That would make it tough on the moviemakers, I’d imagine.”

Kate shrugged. “That’s all right with me. Vanessa could talk about something else for a while that way.”

“Speaking of your lovely daughter, has she enjoyed her trip?”

Kate nodded. “She called from the lodge last night. They got some skiing in yesterday and are planning some more tonight. She’s going to be getting home pretty late, but I’m glad she got this chance. Harry’s parents are everything I could ask for in grandparents for Vanessa.”

“That’s good,” Annie said. She knew that Harry wasn’t everything Kate could hope for in a dad for Vanessa. In some ways, Harry could be a kid himself.

“Oh, I have something for you,” Kate said. “I totally forgot when you were in here before. Hold on while I find it.” Kate turned and hurried into the back room.

Annie wondered what Kate could mean. She knew she wasn’t expecting any kind of yarn order. Then Kate came out carrying the brown valise. “Vanessa didn’t take it after all,” Kate said. “Apparently it’s locked, and she didn’t want to force it open. So she couldn’t use it.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Annie said. “The locks were broken. I’m sure of it. They couldn’t have locked.” She took the case from Kate and looked it over carefully. Then she realized the case in her hands wasn’t hers.

“Oh, dear, this isn’t my valise,” she said. “They must have been switched in the props department. I had their case on the second day of filming.”

“Oh well, that would explain the locks then,” Kate said. “Vanessa wondered why you loaned her a locked case.”

“I’d imagine,” Annie said. “Well, good. I can return this to the prop master.” Then she felt a rush of relief. This meant the case they’d given the kidnapper the night before really was hers. The man actually got what he wanted. They might not have solved the mystery, but at least the man had no more reason to come after her.

She considered pouring out the story to Kate, but then she stopped. She’d have to tell it all at the Hook and Needle Club meeting on Tuesday. She might as well save it for then. She chatted with Kate a bit longer about Christmas, and then carried the valise out to her car.

She considered stopping by Maplehurst Inn and getting rid of the valise right away. She found it made her nervous sitting on the seat beside her. Then she shook her head.

That’s just silly, she told herself sternly.

Annie pulled up in front of Grey Gables and hurried up onto the porch, eager to get out of the cold. As she pulled out her keys, she saw the front door was slightly ajar. Annie just stared at the small crack, frozen. She was sure they hadn’t left the door open. Ian was too careful for that.

Annie backed up slowly, feeling backward with her foot to avoid tripping on the stairs. Still, she nearly tumbled backward when she heard someone shout her name. Catching herself at the last second, she turned to see Alice running across the lawn from the carriage house. “Annie!” she called. “Someone’s been in my house. It’s ransacked!”

“Someone’s been in Grey Gables too!” Annie exclaimed. “The door is open. I haven’t been inside.”

Alice stood beside her, and they looked up toward the door as Jim caught up to them. “Are we staring at the door for a reason?” he asked, his voice slightly breathy.

“It’s open a little,” Annie said. “I’m scared to go in.”

“Well, I’m not,” Jim said firmly. “I’d like to get my hands on this guy. I may not be fast, but I’d still show him something.” He climbed the steps and pushed the door open.

A gray streak flashed past his legs.

“Boots!” Annie called, but the cat ran right past her as well. Annie watched Boots race up the nearest tree and peered down at them, her tail swishing.

“That certainly settles that,” Alice said. “Someone’s been inside.”

Annie walked to the tree and reached up, calling Boots softly. The cat never moved. Her eyes stayed glued to the front door and her tail continued to twitch. “She’s not going to give in,” Annie said. “Maybe we should call the police.”

“We certainly should,” Alice said. “But I think we should also go in.”

Jim didn’t say anything. He just pushed the door the rest of the way open and walked in. Annie and Alice followed.

Annie groaned softly as she looked around her disheveled front room. The cushions had been pulled off the couch. Things were swept off shelves and dumped out of the drawers on the small end tables.

I don’t understand, Annie thought. If he was looking for the valise, why would he look in drawers and under cushions? Maybe the valise isn’t what he is after!

“Haven’t we been here before?” Alice asked.

Annie forced a smile. It did seem like her house was searched a lot more often than could be considered strictly normal. “At least I’m getting better at putting things back in place,” she said. “I better call the chief.”

She pulled out her cellphone and dialed Chief Edwards’s office. She wondered what it said about her that the chief of police was on her speed dial. The chief listened to her brief report. He said he’d be right over with some more officers to check out both houses. “You should go outside,” the chief said, “just in case the man is still inside.”

Annie passed the chief’s recommendation on to her friends. “I don’t think he’s here,” Jim said. “He’s after something he thinks you have, Annie. I’m sure he searched this place first and Alice’s after. He’s long gone.”

“And he’s fast,” Alice said. “How long have you been gone?”

“Hours,” Annie said. “If he was watching the house, it didn’t have to be that long. But this doesn’t make any sense. He got the valise.”

“Not the right one,” Alice said.

“No, he did get the one he wanted.” She explained the mix-up with the cases and held up the valise she’d gotten from Kate. “This is the one from the props department. The one we left on the beach was mine.”

Jim limped over and took the case from Annie. He looked at it carefully. “This one belongs to the movie people, and it’s locked?”

“Yes,” Annie said. “That’s why Vanessa didn’t take it.”

“Maybe the guy never wanted your case,” Jim said. “Maybe he thought you had this case during the movie shoot. This could be what he’s been after all along.”

“Who knows what’s inside that,” Alice said. “Diamonds, stocks, cash.”

Annie thought about that for a moment, and then she remembered the one weird event that had started the whole mystery. The event they’d overlooked every time they thought about it. “Alice, do you remember when Stella told us she’d seen a car on the side of the road?”

Alice blinked at the change in subject. “Yeah.”

“That was Samuel Ely’s car,” Annie said. “The casting director was riding with him and that’s who Stella saw. Ms. Kensington told me someone had run them off the road.”

“And Samuel is the prop master,” Alice said.

“The man was after this case all the way back then,” Annie said. “Before I even found my case in the attic.”

“We should open it,” Jim said.

“I don’t know,” Annie protested. “It’s not technically mine, and I don’t have the key. We’d have to force the locks.”

“Didn’t the prop master offer to sell it to you?” Jim asked. “Why would he care if you popped the locks. You could always just buy it.” The photographer grinned, and then his eyes twinkled. “I’ll pay for it if you want. We have the mystery right here in our hands; we have to open it.”

“OK, let’s open it,” Annie agreed.

Jim carried the bag into the kitchen, and Annie moaned again at the destruction. The contents of all the kitchen drawers lay in a jumble on the floor. The counters were covered with canned goods swept from the cupboards.

Alice bent down and picked up a butter knife. “Can you pop locks with this?”

“In my sleep,” Jim said. He carried the case to the table and used the knife Alice had handed him to open the locks in less than a minute. The three crowded around to look inside the valise. It was completely empty.

“Well, so much for diamonds,” muttered Alice.

Jim ran his hand over the thin lining inside the box. There were no bulges or bumps. “It certainly doesn’t seem like there is anything hidden in here.”

They heard the sound of feet on the front porch, and Annie walked back out to meet Chief Edwards. He looked over the front room and shook his head. “I’ve sent some men over to Alice’s house to check it out. We need to dust for fingerprints, but we’ll try not to make a mess.”

“Do what you need to do,” Annie said. “I trust you. Oh, and I don’t suppose one of your men could get Boots out of the tree before you leave?”

Chief Edwards grinned. “Sure, we try to be a full-service police department. Let’s give her a few minutes to calm down, though. She might just waltz in here on her own.”

Annie realized she should call Ian about the break-ins too. He would be upset if she didn’t let him know. She called, trying to talk him out of racing right over, but she wasn’t successful.

When Ian arrived, he took one look at the mess and turned to Annie. “That’s it,” he said. “I think both of you ladies should get rooms at Maplehurst Inn until whoever did this is arrested. I can hire someone to come in and put everything back in order.”

Annie frowned. “I appreciate your take-charge attitude, Mr. Mayor, but I believe I can clean up my own house. I don’t need more strangers poking around in my things.”

“You’re too vulnerable here,” Ian insisted, stepping closer to her so that he seemed to tower over her. “I can’t always be here to keep you safe.”

Annie felt her temper rising. She didn’t like feeling bullied, and definitely not by someone she considered a friend. “I called you because I didn’t want you to be angry about not being told. I don’t expect you to look after me, Ian Butler.”

“Someone should,” Ian snapped.

“Whoa!” Jim stepped up, holding up his hands as if separating two boxers. He gave Annie a sly wink. “Maybe we all need a moment to calm down.”

Ian turned to face the craggy photographer, and Annie watched the two tall men try to stare each other down.

Alice caught Annie’s glance and rolled her eyes, and then she stepped up. “How about we try a compromise?” Alice asked. “After the chief is done, we can spend a few hours helping Annie clean up and then get to the hotel before dark. I can call Linda and make sure she has a room. Would that work for you guys?”

“We don’t need to be in a hotel. We can stay in your house,” Jim said. “I’ll be there. You don’t have to worry.”

Alice smiled. “But then Annie would be stuck in the hotel with those movie people, and we still don’t know if one of them is a kidnapper.”

Annie held up her hands. “I don’t mind being at the inn, especially if Alice is with me. But I’m not leaving here with my house looking like this, and I want to be sure Boots is safe and sound inside.”

Ian’s nodded in agreement. Alice stepped into the relative quiet of the kitchen and made the call to the inn. When she came back, she smiled. “Linda even offered a special dispensation to Boots! She can stay in the room with us. Then it’ll be as much like home as we can make it.”

“As long as it doesn’t last too long,” Annie said. “I really am ready to be done with this mystery.” Almost simultaneously with her last words, the phone in her pocket rang. Annie fished it out with shaking hands and saw only “Unknown Caller” on the caller ID screen.

“Hello?” she said softly.

“You’re starting to make me angry.” The raspy whisper made the back of Annie’s neck tingle.

“That’s not my intention. Look, we gave you the valise! What do you want?”

“I’m not stupid, lady,” the man snarled. “That was the wrong bag. That means there must be a right bag, and you better start handing it over. So far, I haven’t hurt anyone, but I’m starting to get annoyed.”

Ian knew from Annie’s pale face whose voice was on the other end of the line. He slipped back into the front room and got the chief. The chief snapped out his own phone and made a rolling motion with his finger. He wanted Annie to keep the man on the line.

“Maybe if you told me what you expected to find in the bag,” Annie said, “we could make sure we bring what you actually want.”

“Don’t worry about that! Just worry about what I’m going to do to you if you don’t hand over the goods! You’re a pretty lady. Don’t you want to stay that way?”