Testing His Patience by Lyn Cote

Author:Lyn Cote
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2004-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

On the next Thursday afternoon after school, the little bell over the door jingled as Patience let herself into the Shop on the Square. On the door in gilt lettering appeared the name Vincent Caruthers, Dealer of Fine Antiques.

The shop had an austere look to it. No embroidered linens, ladies’ gloves or frilly hankies displayed within the glass counters. Instead, there were a few good pieces of art deco jewelry, watch fobs and cuff links. A man’s shop. But every piece of wood glowed and the scent of lemon oil hung in the air. Patience walked past a display of very good, very expensive American primitive pieces: a homemade pie safe, a Windsor rocker with an aged patina, a carved highboy painted turkey red.

“May I be of help?” A tall fiftyish man with a serious face stepped from the rear of the store.

“I’m just looking.” Patience used the standard reply of all browsers. For clues about you and what you might have done.

“Well, that’s a good start.” He gave her a prim grin. “Take your time. If anything interests you, please alert me. If you are looking for a certain type of collectible or antique, also let me know. I go to many sales and auctions.”

“Thanks. I will.” Then Patience took her time looking over everything the shop had to offer. All the while, she pondered Vincent Caruthers. She’d come primarily to get an impression of him as a possible suspect. And something about her impression of him today dissatisfied her. Or was it just her already aroused suspicion?

In the midst of her inspection of an interesting mahogany secretary, the phone call she’d gotten this morning came back to her. Out of the blue, Sprague, Putnam’s lawyer, had contacted her. “You’ve heard about the second robbery, haven’t you?” he’d asked.

She’d assented and then he’d dropped his bombshell. “I’ve been watching you, wondering if you could be of help to me with my defense in the second trial.” That was all he’d said, but had he implied more?

Did Sprague want her to pick Gil’s brain and then feed information to him? The thought hit Patience badly. She’d agreed to nothing and ended the conversation quickly.

But I am trying to find facts to help Dan Putnam. Would it be wrong to give the defense lawyer anything Gil tells me? That didn’t sound right to her. But who would I tell if I actually find something? It would have to be Sprague or it won’t do Dan Putnam any good.

Finally, with a knitted forehead, she walked to the back of the store and was met by the proprietor. “Do you ever evaluate items for insurance or sale value?”

“I do sometimes.” Caruthers led her toward the center of the shop beside a display of an Early American maple dining-room set, replete with a full rose-chintz china set.

“I have some pieces of jewelry from a great-grandmother put away in a safe-deposit box in Chicago,” Patience said her practiced speech. She’d had to come up with a reason for meeting again with Mr.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.