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.” Cilla folded the slip and added it to the bag.She walked to a tall rack on the farthest counter and spun it around slowly.After two rotations she chose a few pieces of costume jewelry and put them into a small zipper bag, then put that in the bag with the dress.“I imagine she can wear her own shoes.What do you think?”A pendant on the jewelry rack twinkled, begging to be inspected.She dangled the silver chain up to the bulb.The sapphire color stone and the surrounding rhinestones bounced shards of light at her.“Yes, I think she can wear her own shoes.How much is this?”“You can have it if you want.”“Oh, I couldn’t do that.”“Really, I’d like you to have it.”“Well, thank you.” Cilla slipped it into a small bag and handed it to Angie who deposited it in her purse, then asked, “You said your husband is a student teacher?”“Yes.He…I think he had some sort of midlife crisis.One day he came home from work—he was a car salesman—and he said to me, ‘Cilla, I enrolled in teacher’s college today.’ You see, when we first met, his goal was to become a teacher.He loved working with kids.” She laughed.That’s when Angie saw that Cilla did in fact have crooked teeth.Now that they would qualify under school’s insurance program, she could get them fixed.“Josh sort of got his wish, within four years we had three children so, by then we couldn’t afford tuition.Now that the kids are older, we have a bit more time, which gave me the opportunity to open the shop.It doesn’t make much but helped pay his tuition.You know?”Angie said she did.“Things are finally coming together for us.Do you have children?”“No,” was all Angie said.The topic had been up for discussion many times during the first ten years of her marriage to Will.He had wanted kids.She had been against the idea—for reasons too selfish to think about.“Oh, I’m sorry,” Cilla said, obviously mistaking Angie’s one-word reply for sorrow rather than guilt.“No, it was my choice, though if my mother had any say…”“Oh yes, grandmothers.My mother wanted us to have a dozen babies.”Angie thanked Cilla for the jewelry, picked up the costume bag, and wished the slim lady good luck.As they walked toward the door together, a tall, nondescript man approached.He raised his hand to pull on the handle.From the way Cilla’s eyes lit up Angie knew this to be Josh Philmore.He had café au lait colored hair, the same color slacks, tie, and sport jacket.He even wore glasses with the same brown color rims.The only thing not cocoa colored was his shirt, which was ecru.The brown color said boring.He leaned down and gave Cilla a quick kiss on one temple.When he turned to nod acknowledgement to Angie, she knew right away this man was in no way boring.Though she wasn’t surprised to see that color-wise his eyes matched the rest of him, his features practically glowed with energy, with life.This was a person who got things done and loved every moment of it.“I thought I’d find you here,” he said in an accent Angie couldn’t place.It sounded like a cross between Australian and Welsh.“I had to pick up a few things.Angie—you two have met, haven’t you—came to get a costume for the school play.”“No, we haven’t met,” Josh said.“Angie is Gwen’s replacement.”“Temporary,” Angie said.“Just till the show is over.”They shook hands.Thankfully he didn’t say what everyone else had said—glad to hear you’ve come to find Gwen’s killer.He said something perfectly normal, “Good to meet you.”Cilla locked the door, calling over her shoulder, “What are you doing here?”“I told Randy how rough you were taking Gwen’s death and he sent me home to be with you.”“That was nice of him,” Angie said.Cilla laughed.“You must’ve caught him at a weak moment.”“I did.When I went into his office I had to plow through a battery of cops in the secretary’s office.”Angie and Cilla said “Uh-oh” at the same time.“They were waving a warrant to search Ted Chalmers’ office.”“Oh no,” Cilla said.“He wouldn’t—he couldn’t have killed Gwen.They were getting married.Angie, what’s wrong?”“Excuse me?”“You looked surprised at the announcement.”“Not surprised that it’s happening.Surprised because I thought they’d been in sometime last night.” She explained how the auditorium had been a disaster twice already [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]