Bats and Bling (3 page)

We’d stayed up way too late talking last night and not only was I exhausted but I’d just got off the phone with the insurance company and it was not the news I had hoped to hear or been expecting for that matter. This situation had just gone from bad to worse and I didn’t know what my next step should be. I felt like lately it was one step forward and two steps back. Anna came into the kitchen and caught me sighing into my coffee

“What’s wrong?” she said as she walked over to the Keurig and started the process to make her a cup of coffee. She may have been gone almost a year but she still knew her way around my kitchen which was oddly comforting. I was so glad she was back even though I wasn’t happy she had a stalker that ran her off from a job she liked. I needed my friends right now more than ever. Especially with Cooper out of town. He’d been so busy we’d been playing phone tag since the break in happened and I hadn’t got the chance to fill him in and more importantly get his opinion. I didn’t always follow his advice but I enjoyed hearing it.

“Just got off the phone with the insurance company.”

“I assume by the look on your face that it wasn’t good news?”

“Yeah. Since that brooch wasn’t part of our stock, nor the personal property of anyone who worked at Silk, it’s not covered for loss. That’s not at all what I expected to hear. I thought since it was in the store it’d be covered. There’s no way in hell I can come up with enough money to pay Veronica for her loss. Silk is still in a lot of debt so I couldn’t even sell the business to pay her back if I want to. Which I don’t. Sell the business I mean. I have no idea what I’m going to do now.”

“I have nothing but time on my hands right now until I decide what my next steps are going to be. I can help in any way you need,” Anna said.

“Do you know what you want to do now that you’re back. You know for work. Are you going to try and get your old job back?” I said, changing the subject and trying to get my mind off my problems. Anna had been a junior executive at a pretty big advertising firm before she had left and had been on the fast track to move up. At the time she said she loved what she did just not enough to stay and she had moved half way around the world for almost two years teaching English.

“I’m not sure. I thought when I came back I’d just slide right into my old life, but I don’t think I want to go back to corporate America. I don’t have that same drive to climb the ladder and deal with all the crap that I used to. I was thinking maybe starting my own PR firm,” she said this tentatively as if nervous at what my reaction would be.

“That’s a great idea, Anna,” I said. “You’d be awesome at it. You always were the best executive at your firm. I bet you could even re-connect with some of your old clientele and get them to come over.”

“I like the idea of having something that’s one hundred percent mine but it’s scary. I have a lot of money saved from the last two years since my room and board was paid for so I can live for a while without making an income but what if I can’t make it successful? Then I’ll be out of money and a business.”

I started laughing. “I’m not laughing at you,” I quickly added when I saw her face. “What you said is just funny to me because it’s what I said to myself a million times before taking the plunge with Silk. I still think about it constantly. It’s scary to think about going into business for yourself with weekly no direct deposit going in your bank account but you’re good at what you do and smart. I have no doubts you’d be successful. Just don’t hold onto a customer’s valuables. That will get you in trouble,” I said smiling. “If we make it past this crisis, Silk can be your first client. As long as I get the friends and family discount because if not I could never afford you.”

“You’ll figure out how to fix this, Pres. You always do.”

If only I had the same level of confidence in my ability to fix this that Katy and Anna had but all I had in my mind were doubts right now.

“I don’t think I have much choice but to figure out who took the brooch and get it back. If insurance won’t cover the loss and Veronica sues me I will lose everything. I’ve worked too hard to let that happen and I don’t see any other option.”

“And how do you plan to do that?”

“No idea.”

I decided that one more cup of coffee was exactly what I needed to clear my head and help me figure this out. Ok, probably not really what I needed but it was the little things that got me through the day sometimes and lately they’d not been that easy. I popped in another hazel nut Kcup and hit brew. My phone started vibrating again and I looked and this time it was Cooper. Finally, something positive.

“Hi, there,” I said answering with a big smile on my face. If only he were here to see it. God I wish he was here.

“Hi yourself. I got your message last night but when I called back it went right to voicemail.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I forgot to put the phone on the charger when I went to bed and I didn’t realize it was dead.”

“Too much wine,” he teased.

“Maybe. But not without good reason. Which is why I’ve called and left you a million messages.”

“I know, I know and I’m sorry. It’s been crazy but you’ve got me now.”

“I know you’ve been busy, it’s OK.”

“Tell me what’s going on. You sounded upset in your message.”

“Remember me telling you about Veronica Knapp and the fashion show.”

“Of course. I do listen to you when you tell me things.”

“Well, to make a long story short she brought in a very expensive piece of jewelry when she came to try on dresses, asked me to hold on to it for her, and someone broke into Silk and stole it.”

“What?”

“Yeah, and that’s not even the best part. Insurance won’t cover it because it wasn’t part of our stock and now I’ll probably lose everything,” I said with a sarcastic tone because if I didn’t try and pretend it wasn’t a big deal I would break down and bawl and I just couldn’t let myself do that right now. I was afraid if I let go I wouldn’t be able to pull myself back together and I had to work today. There was no calling in sick when you worked for yourself, another downside along with no direct deposit.

“Are you ok?”

“Not in the slightest but the show must go on.”

“Do the police have any leads? You did call the police didn’t you?”

I rolled my eyes, “Yes, I called the police.”

“Don’t give me that tone, missy,” he said half in jest. “You have a bad habit of trying to take matters like this into your own hands.”

“Ok, maybe sometimes but not this time. I did call the police, mainly because I thought I’d need their report for insurance purposes. This could kill my business, Cooper. If the cops can’t figure out who did this I could lose everything.”

“Don’t think like that. The police will find out what happened. Is Willie on the case?”

“Not directly but he’s keeping me in the loop.”

“Well then you know he will make sure the cops are doing everything they can. Listen sweetheart, I’m really sorry but I have to run to a meeting. I’ll call you this afternoon ok.”

“OK. When are you coming home?”

“Hopefully in a couple days. I should know more after this meeting when I’ll be able to wrap things up.”

“I’ll talk to you later then. I love you.”

“Love you too, babe.”

“How’s Cooper?” Anna asked when I hung up. She’d been leaning on the kitchen counter drinking her coffee while I was on the phone.

“Wonderful as ever. If only he were here and not always flying off to places without me,” I grumbled. Cooper ran a security firm and represented clients all over the United States. If this meeting went well then maybe the world. He was currently in London meeting with the CEO of a software company who believed he had someone on the inside selling secrets to competitors. I used to travel with him sometimes but after buying Silk I didn’t have the flexibility to do that very often. I wouldn’t trade it, I loved my business, but I hated being away from him too.

The store was hopping when I arrived. That was a positive. Though I couldn’t help but think about how many dresses it would take to pay off what that brooch cost. I had to stop obsessing. Worrying didn’t solve anything.

Katy had opened the store for me so she hadn’t been home when I talked to the insurance company and I filled her in.             

“How are we supposed to figure out who took the brooch?” she asked when I finally stopped talking and telling her the only solution I could come up with.

“That’s the million dollar question. I don’t know if whoever took it was trying to get at Veronica, or Silk, or me, or just really likes bats and couldn’t afford their own gaudy brooch. Though it’s not like a lot of people knew we had the brooch in the safe. Just us, Yvette, Veronica, and her friends. That significantly narrows down the suspect pool.”

“Surely it’s someone who wants to get at Veronica. Why would anyone want to hurt Silk or you? Besides if they were out to get you then it was coincidence the brooch was even in the safe.”

“I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you ask her friends?” Yvette said from behind us and Katy and I turned around.

“I didn’t hear you come up,” I said.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. But maybe ask her friends who might have wanted to steal the brooch or who her enemies are. People who might be out to get her.”

“That’s a good idea but I’m not sure her friends would want to talk to us any more than she would want to talk to us right now. I’m sure she’s already called them and told them to boycott Silk,” I said. “They’d probably hang up if I called.”

“She has a point, Presley,” Katy said. “What do we have to lose by asking? Maybe we could even have a special shopping event to get them here. If they are shopping and getting great deals maybe they would be more inclined to talk.”

“That’s a great idea. We could serve wine and loosen them up a bit get them talking,” Willie said. “You might be surprised at what they might say after a few drinks.”

“I’d be willing to help you put it together. I love organizing parties,” said Yvette. “How about a Halloween themed event. We have all those props and decorations we bought for the fashion show. We might as well use them instead of letting them go to waste.”

“That’s brilliant! It’s already Thursday. Do you think we could pull this together for Monday? We could close an hour early and have an invitation only sale? Mondays are slow anyways so maybe we could drum up a little more business with all this great new fall merchandise,” I said.

“It’ll be a lot of work but we can pull it off,” Katy said.

“I’ll print off our preferred guest list, which I know Veronica and most of her friends are all on, and start making calls since there isn’t time to mail invites. Do you want to have a store wide discount or just selected merchandise?” said Yvette.

“Let’s do store wide with a deeper discount on the markdowns. We need to get rid of that stuff to make way for the new merchandise that’s sitting in back or hasn’t even made it in. Might as well pull out all the stops. Even if no one shows up we can at least say we tried.”

“Don’t be so negative, Presley. Things will work out. You’ll see. These women won’t be able to resist a sale. It’s in their DNA to shop,” Katy said.

Yvette headed to the back to make some calls and a couple women walked in with a man following closely behind. I didn’t recognize any of them so I was excited. New shoppers. I loved it when new people came in. It made me feel I was doing something right and gave me the opportunity to win people over to regular customers. Even with the current drama surrounding the place I still got excited. Katy was right. I needed to have a positive attitude about things. Negativity didn’t get you anywhere,

“Hello and welcome to Silk,” I said and then filled them in on the layout of the store. The two ladies headed back to the evening dress section while the man lingered in the front. I quickly got the feeling he wasn’t here to shop since he didn’t seem to be with the ladies as I’d first thought. I decided I might as well approach him and see what he wanted.

“Can I help you find something, sir? Are you looking for a gift for someone?”

The man smiled and held out his hand. “I’m Bert Tremain with Windy City Insurance. Are you Presley by chance?”

My heart dropped as I shook his hand but I kept a smile plastered on my face. This couldn’t be good and just when my day was starting to look a little brighter with new customers. Windy City wasn’t my insurance company, so I could only assume it was Veronica’s. She certainly worked fast. “Yes I am.”

He must have noticed the distress in my face because he quickly added, “Don’t worry dear. I’m just here to ask you a few questions about the brooch that was stolen.”

That was his purpose for stopping by and he expected me not to be worried. I was confused by his demeanor.

“My insurance company has the police report but I’m not yet sure what they are going to do,” I lied, not wanting to admit that they wouldn’t cover the loss and hoping he might not know that yet. I needed a little more time to think about all this, maybe find a solution, or find the brooch.

“I’m not here about that exactly. I’m representing the jewelry store that gave Ms. Knapp the brooch on loan, not Ms. Knapp.”