Danger in a Small Town

She slanted him a glance. “Okay. Let me have it.”

His brows met over the bridge of his large nose and he shook a finger at her. “I’m not happy about you quitting your job in Charlotte.”

“As you’ve told me a couple of times.” She’d put him off long enough. She had to tell her uncle what had happened. “There were problems at Magnusson’s. Someone began to steal from the registers, and only department managers had the codes to open the drawers. Because my department was hit three times, the police began to suspect me.”

“Idiots!”

The anger in Uncle Gordon’s gaze told her to hurry with her tale. “It’s okay. They found the woman who did it. She worked for the IT department. She’s in jail, but some of the people I worked with never got over their suspicions. I couldn’t run the department if my employees were suspicious of me.”

“Did they only hire idiots in that place?”

She smiled. Such simple support was worth everything to her. “No, they just couldn’t get beyond their fears, and they didn’t want to lose their jobs if I proved to be guilty sometime in the future.”

“So now you’re here, twiddling your thumbs, because of a bunch of fools. Now how can that make sense?”

“Now this I’ve told you more than a couple of times. I’m starting my own business. Please give me a chance. I’ll show you what I’m doing once we’re home.”

He “hmphed” again, but didn’t speak during the rest of the ride.

Tess parked in front of the house, reached out and patted his hand. “Trust me, Uncle Gordon, I’m much happier here at home. I didn’t have anything better to do. Not in Charlotte.”

“How can you be happier? You told me all you’re going to be doing is staring at a little box with letters on it that’ll suck the smarts right outta your brain.”

“Oh, it’s got pictures, too!” She hopped out and rounded the car to his side. “Computers have come a long way. Wait till you see the sweet laptop I bought for my new business. It’s great!”

Tess helped him swing his legs out of the car then opened the rear door to grab the shiny new walker. That’s when she noticed the flower bed under the bay window on the right side of the house. It was a mess. The rosebushes lay on their sides, and all the flowers had been trampled. “Would you look at that? What could have made that mess?”

Uncle Gordon glared. “I’m going to have to have me another talk with Rupert Anthony. That man’s got himself a canine beast. And he thinks nothing of letting it roam and do its business on everybody else’s property. But it’s too much when the monster takes to trashing a man’s roses. You won’t ever see me harboring a dog. Uh-uh. Gordon Graver won’t ever make a sap of himself over a bag of bones, fur, teeth and barks.”

Uh-oh. Tess had a problem—another one—on her hands. Her new little bag of bones, fur, teeth and barks wasn’t going to be welcomed by her uncle anytime soon. At least she’d postponed the confrontation by leaving the dog at The Pampered Pooch for grooming before going to pick up the semi-invalid at the hospital.

She reached into the backseat and grabbed Uncle Gordon’s walker. A couple of twists later, she had it open and on the sidewalk. “They did teach you how to use this thing, right?”

He snorted. “A drill sergeant named Harry made me push it up and down the hospital hall about a million times. Of course, they taught me to use it. But I’m ditching it the minute I get used to this clunky old cast.”

“You’ll get rid of the walker when Dr. Meyer says you can,” Miss Tabitha Cranston, Uncle Gordon’s longtime lady-friend said as she marched down the sidewalk. “Is he giving you a hard time, Tess?”

“Nothing I can’t handle.” She closed the car door and followed her lovable curmudgeon up the front walk, and then helped him with the stairs. “He thinks he’s tough, you know?”

“He does have his moments.” Miss Tabitha’s warm hug was as welcome as always. “But we love him anyway, right, sugar?”

Tess turned the key in the lock, then pushed the door in. “I haven’t met another man I’d be willing to move for.”

Miss Tabitha helped ease the walker over the threshold. “There aren’t many of those, are there?”

“See?” Uncle Gordon crowed. “I’m just about perfect. One of a kind.”

“Oh, brother.” Tess dropped his bag of hospital gear on the floor at the bottom of the steps. “I’ll carry all this upstairs as soon as I make you comfortable.”

“Tess,” Miss Tabitha said, her voice unusually tentative. “I took the liberty of asking one of my boarders to meet us here. He’s a nice, strong young man, and he can help us get Gordon upstairs. I think he needs to take another of those pain pills and go straight to bed before the pain gets too bad to bear.”

“Bed!” he objected. “I’ve done nothing but lie in bed for three weeks! And you girls want me to go back to one? What’s the point of busting out of the hospital, then?”

“The point,” Miss Tabitha said, “is that someone else needs that hospital bed more than you, Gordon. All you have to do is lounge around and wait for the bone to heal. You can do that here just as well as there.”

“I’m not going upstairs. I’m perfectly fine here.” He pointed toward the living room. “I can sit on my own sofa just as well as lie on that bed!”

The minute he let go the walker, he swayed. The temporary cast, only two days old, wasn’t meant for walking. That one would come in about ten days, once an X-ray revealed the progress the bones had made.

Tess grabbed his left arm, Miss Tabitha the right.

“You’re not ready for the living room,” Miss Tabitha said with a shake of her head. Her alabaster braided coronet loosened, and a stray wisp grazed her forehead. “That’s why Ethan’s going to help you up those stairs. He should be here any—”

The doorbell cut her off. She murmured something about lunch, and Tess headed for the foyer. At the door she smiled at Ethan Rogers. “Surprise, surprise!” she said. “I didn’t expect you to be the boarder Miss Tabitha said she’d roped into helping us corral our wild man.”

He smiled. “Hi, Tess.” He stepped inside and went straight to her great-uncle. “Mr. Graver is going to need a hand with those stairs. Don’t know about that corralling bit, though. I’m a city boy all the way.”

As the tall, muscular Ethan stood next to thin, wiry Uncle Gordon, Tess grinned. “I doubt he’ll give you much trouble.”

Uncle Gordon snorted again. “I don’t tangle with the law, girlie-girl! This guy’s way outta my league. I know when I’m beat. Let’s go upstairs.”

Ethan’s jaw tightened. “Retired, Mr. Graver. I used to work for the DEA.”

Uncle Gordon jutted out his chin. “I’m still impressed.”

“Don’t be,” Ethan said, his words as tight as his jaw. “There’s no glamour in law enforcement. Just a lot of pain and heartbreak.”

Hm…she’d been right. Definitely a story somewhere under Ethan’s many layers. But just as she’d told herself out on the roadside the day before, she didn’t have the right to go digging. That didn’t stop her from wondering what had led Ethan to leave the agency.

Her curiosity would have to go unsatisfied, though. They had a septuagenarian to get to bed.

To her surprise Ethan didn’t leave right after he helped her settle Uncle Gordon in the middle of the old four-poster bed. Instead he followed her to the kitchen, where Miss Tabitha was making lunch.

She turned and waved toward the table when Tess and Ethan walked in. “Take a chair. The sandwiches are almost ready.”

“Great!” Tess said. “I’ve missed your cooking.”

Miss Tabitha tsk-tsked. “Oh, this isn’t cooking. I told you, it’s just sandwiches.” Then she beamed her forest-green eyes at Tess. “Gordon’s told me you left your job in Charlotte. How come?”

Tess didn’t know anyone who could dodge Miss Tabitha’s stare. But how was she going to tell the older woman about the thefts at Magnusson’s Department Store? Especially with Ethan, a virtual stranger, sitting right here. How, for a brief time suspicion fell on her because of her position as manager of the Finer Footwear department? How could she tell Miss Tabitha that even after the culprit was found and Tess was cleared, the stigma of suspicion had dogged her every move at work?

She couldn’t, so she fell back on the flip response. “I retired. I worked like crazy, and it was great for a while, but home is home. I’m back for good.”

“Pshaw! You’re barely out of diapers, Tess Graver. You’ve no more retired than I’ve taken up beach volleyball. What are you up to?”

Diapers? Beach volleyball? “I’m serious, Miss Tabitha. I’m done selling fancy flip-flops and sky-high heels for Magnusson’s. I’m back in Loganton to stay. I’m starting a new business here.”

“Tell me all about it.”