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.“Almost.”She took a long drink of tea, and I felt my stress level rising as I waited for her to continue.“She was dating her older brother’s best friend, Nick Jeffries, and they were getting pretty serious.It was the sixties, the war in Vietnam was heating up, and her brother, Randy, got drafted.Nicky got the idea that he needed to take care of Randy for her, so he volunteered, and the two boys shipped out together.“The night before he left, he told Martha he wanted to get married as soon as he got back, and she agreed.He sent her that brooch from Hawaii, on his way to ’Nam.Said it was a promise of a real engagement ring, just as soon as he had a chance to shop for one.”Paula stopped again, her eyes suspiciously red as she took a bite of sandwich and a long drink of tea.She seemed to swallow a lot harder than necessary, before she spoke again.“You can guess the rest of the story, can’t you?” she asked, her voice husky.“Neither of the boys came back to Pine Ridge.Randy was listed as MIA for a long time, but they finally identified his remains.Nick is buried in a veterans’ cemetery in Missouri, next to his dad.”She shook her head.“So you can see why I don’t believe she would have left here without that brooch.It meant too much to her.”Paula reached out one finger, and gently traced the filigree edge of the cameo.“She talked about taking a trip, after she retired.She wanted to visit Nick’s grave.And she had promised herself a trip to DC, to the Wall.She wanted to look for their names.”We sat in silence for a few minutes.Sue’s natural inclination to wisecrack had deserted her, and I had to admit I’d started choking up as I listened to the end of the story.We sat, glumly eating our sandwiches, for several minutes.Paula’s story—as Wade had warned me—was dramatic and tragic; the implications were beyond imagining, yet I found myself going there.It wasn’t a nice place to be.I cleared my throat, and looked at Paula.“You’re not saying she was kidnapped, are you?”The idea was ridiculous.No one was ever kidnapped in Pine Ridge.There was that one time back in high school, when Terry Pierce’s mother called the police.But it turned out Terry and her boyfriend had run off to Reno to get married.“I don’t know what I’m saying,” Paula answered.Worry creased her forehead, and set her mouth in a tight line.“I just know she wouldn’t have left without that brooch.”“Wade could be right, though,” I said, though I knew I didn’t really believe it.“She left all that stuff in the house, the furniture and things.She must be planning to come back and take care of it before the house is sold.”Paula just shrugged, and glanced at the clock over the lunch counter.“I have to get back to the library.There’s a primary story hour in twenty minutes, and I have to get ready.”I waited until after she left before I asked Sue, “What do you think? Do you believe Miss Tepper would have left on her own?”Sue gave me a look.“Not a chance.”I felt the same way.We had to find out what was going on soon for Martha’s sake.And for my peace of mind.3finding the core of the problemBefore trying harsh chemicals to unclog adrain, try this.Bail out the clogged fixture.Pour a half cup of baking soda into the drain.Add a couple of cups of vinegar.The reactionbetween the two should dislodge most clogs.If you use a harsh drain opener and it doesn’twork, you’re creating a dangerous chemicalstew for the plumber you eventually call in.This way’s cheaper, environmentally friendly,and won’t cause trouble later if you need aplumber.—A Plumber’s Tip from Georgiana Neverallchapter 9Sue looked down at her plate, picking at the toasted crusts of her sandwich.“Paula tells a good story,” she said slowly, not looking at me.“But I just don’t know what we can do about it.The brooch isn’t evidence of anything but bad cleaning practices.We can’t call in the cops—at worst, you’ve only found missing property.” She shrugged.“And it does look like she plans to come back,” I agreed.“But I know there’s something wrong.I just don’t know exactly what it is.” I laughed nervously, feeling embarrassed.“Wade did try to warn me about Paula’s stories.He said she would have some tragic tale, and he was right about that.”By the time we paid for our lunches and left Franklin’s, we had talked ourselves out of the funk Paula’s story had put us in, though I knew the echoes of it would lurk in the back of my brain.I made a quick detour by my house to pick up the dogs before returning to Doggy Day Spa for their appointment.While Sue clipped and bathed, I wandered outside.Sue’s shop was on the main street of Pine Ridge.Local businesses lined the street, along with a couple of bank branches and a Radio Shack franchise.Dee’s Lunch, its long counter, red vinyl stools, and stoneware mugs a Pine Ridge institution, occupied a narrow store front a few doors down.Dee had closed at two every day for as long as I could remember, and I spotted her locking her door, as I walked along the sidewalk.I waved, and she waved back, her arm thin as a matchstick.I crossed the street and followed my nose.The yeasty aroma of fresh-baked bread teased me along, right to the door of Katie’s Bakery.I have a weakness for fresh bread, and I emerged a few minutes later with a sourdough ba guette and a loaf of whole wheat.It would go stale before I could eat it all, but I couldn’t decide which one I wanted, so I bought both.I walked a couple more blocks, glancing in store windows, taking stock of what had changed and what had stayed the same.I’d been back in Pine Ridge a couple months, but I had holed up in my rented house and concentrated on putting my life back together.I hadn’t really explored my old hometown, and it was both strange and familiar at the same time.I crossed back over, strolling along the sidewalk.The drugstore and the fabric shop were where I remembered them, but there was a vacant store front between them, its window papered over, leaving only a sliver of the room visible
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