Treasure Borrowed and Blue (Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery Series) by Hubbard S.W

Author:Hubbard, S.W.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: S.W. Hubbard
Published: 2018-06-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

After finishing up at the Carnahans’ house this afternoon, Ty and I have returned to the office to prepare for the bigger sale we’re doing this weekend. Ty is working on signs while I send out an email announcement to our regulars. “Did you have any success convincing Lester that the trunk in the attic didn’t actually come over on the Mayflower?” I ask as I type.

Ty doesn’t answer. I glance up. He is staring fixedly across the room. Is there a mouse or a tarantuala? My gaze moves in the same direction.

To the coat rack.

Which is empty.

“Where’s my dress? Did you move it?” I know even as the words are leaving my mouth that he didn’t. His face is as stricken as mine.

“Where is it? Who moved it?” Together we tear around the office. But there are only so many places where a large Kleinfeld’s garment bag could be in a small, cluttered office: the over-stuffed supply closet, the floor behind Adrienne’s old desk, the powder room.

My wedding dress is not in this office. I feel the same rising panic I felt when Sean’s niece slipped away from me at the carnival. Come back! Please, come back!

“When did we last see it?” I ask as I continue to search. “It was here yesterday morning, but we went straight to the job today. We haven’t been here since yesterday.”

Ty stops first. “How did the thief get in? Did we leave the window open the other day after we burned popcorn in the microwave?”

Thief. The reality is sinking in. Someone stole my Bettina Bartok designer wedding gown.

Ty and I move to the window: it’s locked tight, with no signs of being pried open. We examine the door, but I already know we won’t see pry marks—we both came in that way.

Ty squints at the premium deadbolt lock that Sean made me install once we started dating. “It’d take a real pro to pick that lock. Can’t be popped with a credit card or a screwdriver.”

Our gazes meet over the significance. The thief came in with a key.

“Who has a key to the office?”

“You. Me. Jill. And I have a spare at home.” I knead my eyes trying to picture where it is. “But I’m not sure where it is. In my condo, I kept it in the junk drawer in the kitchen. But since we moved into the house....”

“Anybody else?”

“Uhm...Adrienne, I think. I never actually asked her to return the office key when she quit.”

Ty jabs his index finger at me. “Who knew that you got a way cool designer dress?”

“I’ve told a couple people—Natalie, my pregnant friend Katie. I’m sure Deirdre and Adrienne and Jill and Maura have all told people about it too. After all, scoring that dress was an incredible coup.” In short, scores of people could know I possess a valuable designer wedding gown. But how many of them would know I’d been storing it here? And how would a friend of a friend get into my office with a key? I sink into the old ratty armchair in the middle of the room.

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