“Adri, two of your wedding dresses were found today.” Tony’s voice didn’t sound happy.
“Can you bring them back here?”
“Unfortunately, they’ve been vandalized. We need you to come down to the station to have a look.”
My heart sank. “I’ll be right down,” I mumbled and hung up.
“Good news?” Lorea asked.
With a shake of my head, I repeated the short conversation. “Do you want to come with me?”
“Of course,” Lorea said. “Maybe there will be something we can salvage.”
I didn’t answer, and she didn’t say anything else. I figured it was because we both felt the doom and gloom settling over the shop as we imagined scenes of Sylvia Rockfort in a rage.
The Ketchum police department was housed in a new red brick building only three blocks away. Tony ushered us into a little office, where folds of white satin and tulle billowed from a table near his desk.
Lorea cried out when she saw the damage. I covered my mouth. The dresses had dirt and grass stains on them, and bits of twigs and dried leaves stuck in the tulle skirt. But that wasn’t the worst part. I touched the ragged hemline of the sleek form-fitting gown made for a princess. It had been crudely slit open, strips of fine silk hanging in a jagged line.
The other dress had a bell skirt and a graduated train over layers of tulle. Its hemline was in similar condition. The gowns were destroyed. But Sylvia’s dress wasn’t one of them. I wondered where it could be.
“Why would someone do this?” Lorea whispered, and I noted the husky sound of tears under her breath.
The back of my throat burned as disappointment washed over me. I couldn’t look at Lorea until I got myself under control. Crying was definitely not something I liked to do in public. This seemed like a personal attack on my dream, not to mention Lorea’s.
“I’m sorry, ladies,” Tony said. “A fly fisher on Trail Creek found them under some bushes. I don’t understand it, either.”
So the thief had vandalized the wedding gowns and then dumped them barely a mile from my store. Was someone trying to ruin my wedding business? It seemed so pointless, and my head spun with the implications. I shoved down the rising paranoia and reminded myself that Ketchum was a good, wholesome community filled with caring individuals. The thieves were after the diamonds I’d hidden in my quilt. That thought terrified me.
My mouth went dry, and I grabbed Lorea’s arm to steady myself as I stared again at the ripped hemlines. The diamonds. I needed to tell Tony about Natalie’s dress, but how could I do that without getting myself and her dress into trouble?
“I wonder where Sylvia’s dress is,” Lorea said. “It just doesn’t make sense. The thief could have sold these dresses for a lot of money. Sylvia’s dress would have easily brought a few thousand dollars to even the most unknowledgeable person.”
Lorea was right. Where was Sylvia’s dress? The thief, or thieves, had only taken three of the nine wedding gowns, and although I felt grateful they hadn’t all been stolen, I was confused as to their motive. “Can we take the dresses with us?” I asked. “Lorea might be able to salvage some of the beadwork on this one.”
“These are going to the lab to see if we can pick up any trace evidence,” Tony said. “I’ll let you know as soon as I find anything.”
“How long will that be?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe a couple of weeks.”
“That’s a long time. Good thing these dresses weren’t scheduled to make an appearance at a wedding yet,” Lorea said.
With difficulty, I swallowed my confession. Natalie’s wedding was in three weeks—not enough time to go to the lab and make it back.
My phone rang, and Tony laughed. “Great song.”
“I know. My clients like it too.” I recognized the caller as one of the caterers I had contacted about Natalie’s wedding. “I’ll take this outside if we’re finished here?”
Tony nodded, and I walked out of the station, grateful for an escape from the guilt coming like heat waves from my body. I declined a meeting with the potential caterer, happy all over again that I had found Valerie, and ended the call with a deep breath.
The sun glinted off the windshield of my Mountaineer, and I didn’t relish getting inside the oven-like interior. As I moved toward it, Lorea came out the front entrance, accompanied by Tony.
“Adri, I forgot to ask you one more question about the other stolen dress,” Tony called.
I paused. “Shoot.”
He pulled out his notebook. “Do you have any idea how many might’ve been made like it?”
“I can answer that one,” Lorea said. “It’s supposed to be one of a kind. I’m sure there are dresses with similarities, but we chose the design especially for our shop.”
Tony nodded. “We’re concentrating on pawn shops or other places where someone might have tried to sell that dress. If it’s online, we have a better chance, but we haven’t seen anything yet. We’ll keep searching with the pictures you provided.”
“Thanks.” I fished out my keys as I passed the car parked next to my Mountaineer but stopped when I noticed the fancy motorcycle on the other side of the parking lot. The blue and silver were the same design I’d admired at the Smokehouse BBQ and taken a ride on just an hour earlier.
“Hey, I’ve seen that Harley before.” I indicated the motorcycle with a smile, and both Tony and Lorea took a step forward.
“Yeah, it belongs to that new lawyer.” Tony whistled. “It’s a nice ride.”
“A lawyer?” I looked at Tony, and then back at the Harley. “Is his name Luke?”
“Yeah, Luke Stetson. He’s that divorce lawyer with the new office on the other side of the bookstore.”
“Uh-oh,” Lorea whispered.
“Divorce lawyer.” I ground my teeth. “I can’t believe it. That’s what he meant by ‘considering.’ ”
Tony gave me a confused look, and Lorea
