But this morning wasn’t cold or rainy. It was sunny and bright and Tara decided that thoughts of Brody would not ruin such a perfect day. Soon the sun would be climbing high in the sky and it would be warm. All the tourists who had stayed away because of the freak blizzard a few weeks ago would now be coming back to town and ready to start hiking on one of the many trails that led into the mountains that Sweet and the surrounding towns had to offer.
As she drove down the road and headed to the store, she took a moment to glance at the dashboard for the time. She groaned. She was running ten minutes late, and Norma would probably be at the shop when she got there. And she’d be angry, not that Tara didn’t blame her. Norma had other places to deliver to, and she had her own catering schedule to keep up.
But as Tara pulled up onto Main Street, she saw flashing blue and white lights and a police cruiser parked in front of her store. Norma’s car was parked out on the street in front rather in the back where she normally pulled in for delivery. She was standing on the sidewalk with her body leaning against her truck as she spoke to Officer Lincoln.
Tara’s heartbeat kicked up a notch. Confusion and fear collided with her as she pulled her car up to the curb, shoved it into park, and then launched out to make sure Norma was okay. As soon as she approached the police cruiser, she saw the front window of Sweet Sensations completely smashed. Glass was sprayed on the sidewalk and inside the shop.
She ran over to Norma. The closer she got to the older woman, the more she saw how rattled Norma was by what she’d witnessed.
Guilt choked Tara as she took in Norma’s tear filled eyes. She was late and whatever had happened here, Norma had to deal with it herself.
“Are you okay?” she asked Norma, touching her arm.
“Oh, thank heavens!” Norma said as relief washed over her face when she saw it was Tara. “I’m fine. I wasn’t here when they were here. I was afraid you’d been inside when I saw this damage.”
Norma, a middle-aged woman with a thick stomach and hair she kept wrapped in the back of her head in a messy bun, swiped a hand across her forehead as if to push away hair.
“I was late,” Tara said. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here.”
“Sorry? I’m not. What if you’d been here when this happened?”
Tara placed a hand over her chest to slow her rampant heartbeat. “What exactly happened?”
Norma shrugged. “I was about to pull in the back like I always do, but I saw the window. I mean, how can you not? And I thought the worst. I didn’t know what to think. Chuck and I had our house broken into about ten years ago and they did the same thing. They broke the window so that they could get inside. There was no way I was going in there. But I was afraid you were already inside, so I called the police.”
She turned and saw Officer Lincoln on the sidewalk across the street talking to a few cowboys in front of the diner. One of them pointed in their direction and continued telling his story.
“Did they see what happened?”
Norma shrugged. “I have no idea. I never saw anyone come out. So I think whoever it was who broke in is long gone.”
Tara glanced through the broken window and saw two other officers inside her shop. One was looking around and talking, pointing at things. He had a camera in his hand and was taking pictures. The other was on the phone talking to someone. She recognized the man as Officer Caleb Samuel and knew him well. He usually stopped into the shop every morning for a coffee and scone at the beginning of his shift.
Her shop was a mess. Someone had caused this destruction on purpose. It broke Tara’s heart to see it in such disarray. She’d worked so hard to build it up and make it part of the community. People liked it. She got good reviews from her customers. She’d even searched blogs from travel sites and had seen people comment about coming to Sweet and visiting Sweet Sensations. Her store had given her pride.
But now it looked broken. Invaded by someone who hadn’t cared about all the work and love that she’d put into the shop.
“Oh, I totally forgot about Dixie!” Norma said, her expression full of panic.
Tara shook her head. “She has today off for an examine at the college.”
“Oh, thank goodness.”
Dixie was so young. She was very naïve in some ways. It would have been horrible if she’d been here during the break in.
If Tara had been on time this morning, she may have seen whoever had did this. But more than likely, it had happened hours ago. Why hadn’t her store alarm gone off? She didn’t have the most sophisticated system, but if someone had tried to escape through one of the doors, it should have gone off.
In her angst over Brody Whitebear being here in town, had she forgotten to set the alarm when she’d left last night? What were the chances someone would break in on the one night she hadn’t set the alarm?
And who would be so callous and so mean to destroy the beautiful work that some of the local artisans had put countless hours into creating? Every one of them will be paid. Tara would make sure of that. She knew that the insurance company would reimburse her for the items that were
