My thoughts strayed to the farm in Rupert, and I craved the comfort and safety I always felt with my family. I could be there in less than two hours. I’d been meaning to go home to meet with an old friend of mine who had started a business designing wedding invitations, hand addressed with beautiful calligraphy. But I also had plenty of work to do here to prepare for Sylvia’s and Natalie’s bridal showers. For a moment, I vacillated between the two options. Then I grabbed a bag and began tossing in everything I needed for a quick jaunt to my hometown.
I’d have to report this to Tony, of course, but not until I was safely on my way. I considered taking the quilt with me, but I didn’t want to draw any attention to the hiding place, so I left it sitting conspicuously in my front room. The bag of diamonds threatened all kinds of trouble to me for interfering in a police investigation, but I ignored that and hoped a way would present itself soon for me to come clean and still keep Natalie’s dress.
As I pulled out of my parking space, I dialed Tony’s number. “Tony, can you have someone drive by my house? I’m going to Rupert for the weekend.”
“Sure, but I think your home is safe,” Tony said. “Are you worried about something in particular?”
I struggled for a moment, unsure of what to do. “Someone left a picture of me taped to my front door.” I swallowed back tears. “It was from this morning.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m just pulling out of my parking lot.”
“Stay there. I’ll be over in five.”
I groaned as he hung up, and I looked at my shaking hands. Even though I was trying to be brave, I was scared, but I still couldn’t tell Tony about the diamonds. Closing my eyes, I braced myself for his questions and turned off the engine. Wait. Could someone be out there watching me now? I looked around, but no one was in sight. I locked the doors anyway before texting Lorea to let her know I’d be back first thing Monday morning. Better to keep busy.
Tony arrived in four minutes. After I let him in the house and showed him the pictures, he did a thorough search of every room. “I think it’s a good idea for you to go to Rupert. This is strange, but I’ll find the connection.”
My face paled as I thought of the connection I had already made. Tony referred to the wedding gowns, but it was probably all related to the diamonds hidden in my quilt.
He patted my arm. “Try not to worry. We’ll get to the bottom of this. And tell Wes hello for me.”
“I will.”
Ten minutes later, I stopped for a sandwich in Hailey. I sent a text to my mom:
Surprise! I’m coming home for the weekend.
I opted to eat my sandwich while driving, pushing to get home and see my family. For the first twenty minutes of the drive, I constantly checked my rearview mirror, but then I laughed at myself. What did a diamond smuggler look like? And what would I do if the criminal did decide to follow me? It was better not to think about it, so I pushed down on the gas pedal and continued on the back roads toward Minidoka County.
My mind kept wandering to the missing wedding gowns, diamonds, and the pictures taped to my door. I was pretty sure not telling the police was a bad idea, but I didn’t know what else to do at the moment.
As I entered the quiet streets of Shoshone, I reminded myself to slow to the twenty-five-mile-per-hour crawl through town. The cops here were relentless with the tourists on their way to Sun Valley, and a ticket wouldn’t help my insurance rates.
As I approached the turnoff to the old highway that would take me to my hometown, I couldn’t help but smile. When I first moved home from California and began investigating the possibility of starting a wedding business in Sun Valley, it had been ten years since I’d visited the American Shangri-La, as some locals liked to refer to the resort town. My sense of direction was a bit rusty, so I consulted Dad. He loved to give directions, and when he told me about the shortcut to Sun Valley, at first I thought he was kidding. “It’s three stop signs and you’re there.”
It really was that simple. Over one hundred miles of road, and I only had to make a right, a left, and another right. My path home led through fields of potatoes and sugar beets bright green under the warm sunshine.
I loved being away from the freeways and traffic jams of San Francisco. When I talked to Dallas about my family, he had hit on a point that I’d often asked myself. Was it the right decision to move to a tourist town where I didn’t know anyone? Back home, I was surrounded by people who knew my parents and my grandparents. My ancestors had homesteaded in Rupert at the root of its foundation. But then I thought about Lorea and the friends I’d made, the clients I’d served in the four short months I’d been in business in Ketchum. It was different, but I felt like I was in my element. And I knew Briette would approve.
When I pulled into the lane, our golden retriever ran up to my Mountaineer, barking and bumping into the fender. I honked and rolled down the window. “Hey, Samson.” The big dog’s tongue lolled to the side, and he dashed back to the house and then ran circles in the yard. My vehicle fit perfectly in the third space next to the garage. I hopped out and gave Samson a good scratch behind the ears.
“Adri, I just saw your text twenty minutes ago.” My mother, Laurel Pyper, opened the front door of the
