easy to figure out what windows went with Luxe.
It was late enough that everything was closed and I wondered if Nicholas was in the back section of his shop. I pointed toward the window next to the door we’d seen Emily come out of. There seemed to be some light coming from it. Dinah turned off the motor. Our minds were so in tune, we didn’t even have to discuss it.
We got out and approached the back of the building and moved along the wall until we got to the edge of the deep-set window. My heart was pounding in anticipation as I leaned in just enough to get a peek. I leaned back quickly and Dinah nudged me.
“What did you see?” she whispered.
“Nothing. The window’s frosted.” We stepped straight back and looked up at the window. The bottom might be frosted, but it looked like the top part was clear glass. Again, no discussion was needed. Without a word, we both started looking for something in the parking lot to climb on.
Dinah pointed out one of the Tarzana trash cans under a light pole. The square-shaped tall bins were part of the Safari Walk, as the stretch of Ventura Boulevard that passed through Tarzana was designated, and were supposed to add to the character of the area. Each side had the silhouette of a wild animal. The important thing was the flat top made it easy to climb on, and it was empty and moveable. The trash bin made a scratching noise as we started to drag it over the pavement. Dinah held up her hand and came back with one of the unfolded gift boxes she’d gotten at Macy’s. We slipped it under the can and were able to pull it without noise. We stopped and gave each other a high-five at our cleverness when we got the can under the window. Dinah had wound her scarf around her neck so there were no long ties to catch on anything. I boosted myself on the top of the receptacle and then twisted around until I was on my knees. I figured I could balance against the sides of the window as I stood up. Dinah’s job was to make sure I didn’t step off the can.
I went from kneeling to crouching and began to ease my way to standing. Dinah and I had done things like this before, but it still sent my heart into flutter mode.
I had my hands on either side of the window as I moved up past the frosted area. Just a little more and I’d be in the clear area.
And then I felt two hands grab the back of my legs.
This was one of the problems of having a car that stood out. Maybe if I’d parked in the shadow instead of right under a light pole, he wouldn’t have seen the greenmobile.
“Do you want to tell me what you’re doing?” Barry said after he’d gotten me off the trash can.
“No,” I said. He surprised me by laughing. He replaced the decorated can, while telling me I was lucky he, instead of a patrol car, had found me.
I told Dinah it was okay and to go on home, so she could let the babysitter go. Barry followed me back to my house.
He helped me take in the packages and looked around the inside of the house, making a few jokes about expecting Mason to pop up with his dog sweater.
“Okay, Sherlock, what were you up to this time?” Barry asked. It was late and I was tired so I just told him. I showed him the pictures of the tire impressions and said Nicholas had admitted to having a mountain bike.
After being down on the idea before, Barry’s reaction totally surprised me. I wasn’t sure if it was real or just because Mason was so willing to be my cohort in investigating.
“Interesting idea. I checked and there are a lot of different kinds of mountain-bike tires, and I suppose each person’s would wear differently,” he said, examining the print, which by now was getting a little worse for wear. He wanted to know what I would have done if I’d seen a mountain bike parked in the back room of Luxe.
“You don’t want to know,” I said in a teasing voice.
“You’re right,” he said in a light tone as he put his arm around my shoulder. We flopped on the couch. “Just remember, all arrows point toward your neighbor. Heather thinks there was no blood on her clothes because she was wearing some kind of covering like a rain poncho and had on gloves. She hasn’t bothered you again, has she?”
Samuel came in later and the noise of him rummaging around the kitchen woke me up with a start. I was sitting up on the couch nestled next to Barry. We must have fallen asleep in midconversation. After thinking my bike tread idea was good, Barry’d gone back to telling me to let it go. When I said nothing, I think he’d smiled, thinking it meant I was agreeing.
Not exactly.
CHAPTER 26
I MET DINAH OUT IN FRONT OF LUXE THE NEXT day. She was taking the kids to a holiday program at the library, and I was on my way to the bookstore. I had come up with a quick plan I thought would get me into Nicholas’s secret back area.
“We could just ask to see his mountain bike,” Dinah said. “You could give him the same story you gave Mr. Royal about wanting to get one for Samuel.”
“I already told Nicholas I was shopping for bike accessories. By the way, Mr. Royal hasn’t shown me his bike yet. He might have just said yes to end the subject and had no plan to follow through. He could know why I’m so anxious to see his bike. Remember the biker might have recognized us as he zipped by.” I looked at the kids. My idea was better. Who could turn down children?
There were several customers browsing in Luxe who I recognized from the bookstore and I nodded a greeting. The kids wanted to leave and Ashley-Angela was getting dangerously close to a meltdown so I figured it was time to put the plan into action.
Nicholas was waiting on someone and I realized it was William. I tried to calm Ashley-Angela by pointing out William was Koo Koo the clown. For a moment she stopped fussing as she watched Nicholas hand him a shoe box. But as soon as she saw the shoes were some kind of brown wool-lined ankle boots instead of the red clown shoes she expected, she started fussing again.
My window of opportunity hadn’t even opened and already it was shutting. I went up to the counter and didn’t even wait for Nicholas to finish wishing William a nice trip before I interrupted.
“I’m sorry, but it’s kind of an emergency,” I said, pointing at Ashley-Angela. “She needs to use the restroom.” I gestured toward the door to the back area.
Nicholas glanced toward the kids. Ashley-Angela’s fidgeting gave credibility to my request. I knew he was going to go for it. He started to step away from the counter and I waved for Ashley-Angela to come. She broke free of Dinah’s hand and ran up to me.
“Aunt Molly, why did you say I have to go potty? I don’t have to go,” she said. She looked up at Nicholas. “I didn’t tell her I had to go.” She rushed back toward the front door. “C’mon, I want to see the puppet show at the library. We’re going to miss it.”
How could I have forgotten that kids were loose cannons?
Dinah went on up the street toward the library and I headed to the bookstore. She said they’d be back in time for the Hookers’ gathering. Dinah looked a little worn. As much as she liked the kids, having a pair of almost five-year-old fraternal twins 24/7 was getting to her. I was glad I’d said I would take care of them for her evening out with Commander.
As soon as I walked in, Mrs. Shedd and Mr. Royal were in my face. There were all kinds of logistics to go over about the launch party. It was the biggest event the bookstore had ever been involved with and there was even more riding on its success. Though I wondered if selling a bunch of books in one night would be enough to save the bookstore. “The eyes of the world are going to be on us,” Mrs. Shedd said. “We don’t even know who we’re dealing with. Suppose it’s some high-strung person who freaks out when faced with a bunch of people. There has to be a reason they’ve been keeping their identity secret.” Obviously, Mrs. Shedd had discounted what Adele said about it being her boyfriend.
“Molly, all your events turn out off center,” Mrs. Shedd continued. “They’re interesting and people seem to like them. But this one is different. This one can’t end up in a riot.”
We had a summit meeting in the cafe and by the end I think I’d calmed them both. I reminded them this wasn’t going to be an event where an author gave a talk. It was just going to be a long line of people getting their books signed. The key was how to handle the line and how to make sure it kept moving. We decided to have a
