“Mrs. Gable,” I said, tapping the doorframe with my stiff right thumb. “We have known each other since your daddy ran the hardware store. Why are your prices suddenly double what you advertised?”
She looked up, her expression hardening before she could hide it. She closed her computer screen with a soft snap.
“Rosemary, I run a business, not a charity shop,” she said. “The market dictates the value of our inventory.”
“A simple lace dress does not cost eight thousand dollars in Oconee, Georgia,” I said, rubbing the joint of my thumb where the ache was beginning to bloom. “Not unless the thread is made of solid gold.”
“Perhaps you should try the department store in Athens,” Mrs. Gable said, turning her attention back to a stack of invoices. “They have very reasonable polyester blends.”
At one o’clock, Clara and I sat in the corner booth of the bakery next door while Emily washed her face in the restroom. The coffee here was two dollars a cup, and it tasted like scorched paper.
Clara reached into her linen shoulder bag and pulled out a small piece of heavy cream cardstock. She slid it across the laminate table, keeping her hand flat over it until she was sure nobody was watching.
“I found this on the corner of the front counter while you were in Mrs. Gable’s office,” Clara whispered.
It was a high-end designer business card, thick and embossed with gold foil. On the blank back of the card, three letters were written in a sharp, elegant hand: M. R.
“Those are Margaret’s initials,” I said, staring at the ink.
“And look at the date written under them,” Clara said, pointing a pink-painted fingernail at the corner. “It was yesterday afternoon, right before we got that phone call.”
“Why did Margaret leave her business card with the boutique owner?” I asked, looking toward the restroom door where Emily was just emerging.
By three in the afternoon, the heat had climbed, making the vinyl seats of my old Buick stick to our legs. I drove slowly, the gas at three dollars and fifty cents a gallon making me ease off the pedal.
Emily sat in the passenger seat, her head pressed against the glass as the pine trees flickered by. A single tear rolled down her cheek, leaving a faint track through her powder.
