hear it ring. Though with Mason’s custom “ring,” I didn’t think that was going to happen. How could you not hear a voice crying
“I didn’t exactly have it,” I said.
“You lost it?” Barry asked.
“Not exactly. More like it was confiscated.”
I guess Mason was used to speaking for his clients because he took over and explained my trip to the cop shop. He did a much better job than I would have done. He made it sound like CeeCee and I were just crossing the street and suddenly had been surrounded by the gang of bottle thieves.
Barry ranted on about being worried. I was sympathetic to a point. I guess it didn’t occur to him that when he was off chasing suspects, disappearing and reappearing without a word, that I might feel the same. Mason must have realized his presence wasn’t helping and, with a wave, left.
When Barry and I went inside, Samuel came out of his room. “You were out kind of late. Everything okay?” he had said.
“It was a weird feeling being on the other side of a comment on what time somebody got home,” I said to Dinah. She wanted to know what I’d said and I told her I did just what he and his brother had done when I said something similar about their late arrival. I just nodded and gave no details.
“And?” she prodded.
“Samuel went back into his room and then Barry wanted to hear all the details. He did a lot of head shaking and finally laughed when I described CeeCee’s disreputable appearance when she met the photographers hanging outside. After he took me to pick up my car, he left; he had to drive carpool.”
“So you never found out who was driving the BMW,” she said. I started to nod my head in dismay and then began scrounging in my purse.
“How could I have forgotten? I wrote down the license plate number.” I found the scrap and waved it around.
“Are you going to ask Barry to find out the name that goes with it?”
I rolled my eyes. “Are you kidding? He said he accepted my sleuthing activity, not that he would help with it. You have no idea how upset he was when he heard about our almost arrest. Well, upset, until he started to laugh. He might have said something about when you stick your hand in the beehive you shouldn’t be surprised when you get stung.” Besides, I figured with all Mason’s connections, he could probably find out and be willing to do it.
Dinah looked at the doll and lifted its crocheted skirt to see how it was made. “Oh, look, she’s wearing undies,” Dinah said. Not only did she have underpants, they had a little pink rosebud sewn on them.
Just then, CeeCee came in, or more correctly, made an entrance. She couldn’t help it, really; she seemed to automatically make a stir. She was wearing sunglasses and looked like she had a hangover.
She sank into one of the chairs with a loud sigh. “Going out with you is quite an adventure. I hope Nell appreciates what I did for her,” CeeCee said, looking over the top of her sunglasses at me. She made a weak gesture toward the counter as if she didn’t have the strength to get up and go place her order. One of Bob’s gifts as a barista was he knew how to cater to our clientele. He didn’t wait for CeeCee to even say anything before he was on the way to our table with a lemon bar.
“You’re a dear,” she said, extracting it from his hand. She savored the scent and took a big bite. She sighed with delight at the flavor. “There, better already.”
“You’re usual nonfat double cappuccino?” Bob said before he went back to the counter.
“I think you better use whole milk today,” she said. She turned to us and assured us it was for medicinal purposes.
I started to apologize for the previous night, but she held up her hand to stop me. “If you want to know the truth, I haven’t done anything nearly as exciting for a long time. Of course, when it wasn’t clear what was going to happen, I wasn’t quite so sure.”
I mentioned the press people hanging by the door when we left. She took off the sunglasses, and I could see her eyes had lit up. “It turns out that was a good thing. I talked to my publicist about trying to kill the story, but she was thrilled when she heard I got photographed leaving jail.” CeeCee appeared sheepish. “Maybe I embellished a bit. I had us in a cell with all sorts of lowlifes. Anyway, my publicist said that she’d already been getting all kinds of requests for my story. I kind of hate to have to say it was all a mistake. I’d get better street cred if I’d said I was researching a part and had been part of the bottles and cans gang.”
Bob brought her the foamy coffee drink. When he set it on the table, she noticed the girl doll for the first time. “You’re why we almost went to the pokey?” she said, picking it up. She lifted the skirt and there was a small burst of her musical laugh when she saw the underpants. “Look at all the details,” she said, indicating the tiny pink flowers crocheted out of fine thread along the hem of the moss green full skirt. She showed us how it was made and commented on the high quality of the workmanship. All the while, she looked like she was thinking of something but couldn’t quite grasp it. She finally set the doll down.
“I’ve seen a doll like this before. Not exactly, but the flowers, the underpants with the rosebud.”
I lifted the bottom of one of the doll’s black Mary Jane–style shoes and showed CeeCee the scribbles on the bottom done in surface crochet.
CeeCee sat forward suddenly. “I know where I saw a doll like it before.”
Adele interrupted CeeCee’s thought as she stood next to the table. “Where’d the doll come from?”
We all ignored her as I cajoled CeeCee into continuing. “It was a sale we had for Hearts and Barks. All the things were made by celebrities. You know how that can jack up the price we get.”
“That was made by a celebrity crocheter?” Adele said, her voice quaking with excitement. “Who? We have to get her to join us. Nothing personal, CeeCee, but I knew you couldn’t be the only other celebrity crocheter besides Vanna White.”
We all looked at CeeCee expectantly, waiting for the name, though for different reasons. I was looking for clues into Robyn’s life and Adele was after publicity.
CeeCee said she didn’t know offhand and would have to ask around the charity group. She picked up her drink and then set it down with distaste. “I think my cappuccino needs some sweetener.”
I volunteered to get it for her. When I went behind the counter, I saw the box of Nature’s Sweetie that Bob had bought for Robyn. I grabbed a packet and asked if it was okay if I gave it to CeeCee.
Bob gave me the go-ahead and said I might as well leave the box on the counter. Just as I was about to hand it to CeeCee, out of left field, D. J. came bolting over from his computer and grabbed it, yelling, “Don’t!”
I let go at the same time he did and the packet fell to the floor. Before I could retrieve it, the author had picked it up by the tiniest edge. He dropped it on the table and told all of us to stay away. Then he brought over his laptop and pointed out the news story he was reading. In big letters, it said, “Nature’s Sweetie Recalled After Another Tainted Box Found.”
CHAPTER 21
I’M NOT SURE WHOSE IDEA IT WAS TO CALL 911. WE could have just taken the box back to Crown Apothecary where Bob got it. It wasn’t like it was going to blow up or anything. As long as nobody used it, it seemed like we would be safe.
Three cop cars squealed to a stop in front of the cafe and two officers came in, guns drawn, and ordered us all to freeze. Okay, I also don’t know what whoever called had said, either.
When Bob pointed with his head and said, “It’s over there,” and they saw that it was a pyramid-shaped sweetener packet in the middle of the table, the two serious-faced uniforms cracked a smile.
The arrival of the police brought a sudden surge of attention to the cafe. I think the fact the cruisers had their lights and sirens on had something to do with it.
The extra officers held back the lookie-loos who’d drifted in from the bookstore, while D. J. explained the problem with the box of Nature’s Sweetie by showing one of the uniforms his computer screen.
The cops did a bunch of conferring by radio. The lookie-loos left after a few minutes once they saw the source of all the action and realized they couldn’t even order a drink. Mrs. Shedd and Mr. Royal came in and had to fight through the exiting crowd like fish swimming upriver.
