“I’ll tell you Polly,” Edna said. “I was never so scared in my life.”
“And you say this was at the new jewelry outlet that just opened up?”
“It’s called The Midas Touch.” She frowned as if the name itself tasted bad.
“And they said you stole the bracelet?”
She nodded. “Can you imagine calling me a thief! Why, I never stole anything in my whole life.”
I couldn’t think of a more unlikely person to accuse of stealing than Edna.
She took a sip of coffee. “I still can’t figure how that bracelet got into my pocket.”
I had a pretty good idea. “Did anybody bump into you while you were in the store?”
Edna squinted, recalling. “Now that you ask, they did. Why? Is it important?”
I nodded. “That’s probably when the bracelet was planted.”
“Planted? Polly, what are you talking about?”
“It’s a scam, Edna,” I said. “Old as the hills. They saw you as an easy target, dropped the necklace into your pocket, and bingo, you’re a shoplifter.”
“Well, I never—” Edna plunked her cup on the table. “I knew I was right in coming to you. I knew you’d know what to do.”
“Why me?”
“Who better? You know all about the criminal element; undesirable things like plants and scams.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “With you being my oldest and dearest friend, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Oh, Polly, you know what I mean,” she said. “You’re so smart about this sort of thing. Remember that couple who tried to talk us into turning over our social security checks and let them manage our money; said they’d make us all rich. Huh,” she grunted. “You dispatched them with a bye-your-leave.”
“That was just common sense, Edna. Nobody turns their money over to a stranger without a heck of a lot of investigation.”
“See!” she cried. “Investigation! That’s what this case needs. I want you to go down to that store and find out what’s going on.”
I grinned at her. “You want me to just waltz right in, I reckon, and solve the mystery.”
“Well, why not. They had the nerve to call me a thief.” She snorted. “And what’s more, wanting fifty dollars not to call the police.”
“You didn’t pay the money?”
“I had no other choice.”
That settled it—fifty dollars from a poor widow who barely got by on eight hundred dollars a month. “I’ll go down there first chance I get.”
Edna held on to my hand. “Today, Polly. Can you possibly go today?”
“You know I always visit Frank on Fridays. He expects me.”
“I’m sorry, I forgot.” Her eyes saddened. “You still miss him, don’t you?”
I nodded. “But it helps to talk things over with him. I declare, Edna, sometimes it’s as if I can hear him talking back—answering my questions, giving me advice. That sort of thing.”
Edna pushed back from the table and stood up. “But you will go, won’t you? You’ll go down to that store and find out what’s going on with those terrible people?”
“I’ll try, Edna. I promise, I’ll try.”
It was afternoon before I finally got to the cemetery.
“Sorry I’m late,” I said. “Edna kept me talking all morning.” I pulled my coat around my legs and sat down on the grass. “You see, Frank, she has a problem and I don’t exactly know how to handle it.”
I sat quietly and listened. It seemed I could hear Frank’s voice in the slight breeze.
That night I went downstairs to Frank’s old office in the basement. I rummaged through old boxes, pushing aside the odd assortment of devices and weird looking contraptions until I found what I was looking for.
I was ready to leave the house by nine o'clock the next morning. Checking the hallway mirror, I straightened the hat on my head, a perky little thing with cherries and strawberries and brightly colored flowers. And just in the center was a bird-nest with a proud robin looking right at home. I positioned the cherries and strawberries so they’d fall just so.
I walked three blocks to the shopping center. THE MIDAS TOUCH, in gold leaf, was proclaimed proudly across the windows. I readjusted the hat on my head, pushed mama robin down into her nest until I heard a slight click, then I pulled open the door.
I took my time scanning the room. A salesman came from somewhere in the back and beamed down at me.
“Good afternoon, ma’am,” he said, smooth as silk. “May I be of assistance?”
“Just browsing,” said I.
He gave me a wide grin, showing a mouthful of beautifully capped teeth. “Well, if you need any help let me know.” He turned in the direction of new shoppers coming through the doorway.
I wandered around. The shop was fairly small with counters scrunched together and lining each side of the room. If there was a diamond in the store, I had yet to come across it. Not only were the stones glass, they were not particularly good glass. Just as I turned to check out another display, the man with the teeth jostled into me.
“Sorry,” he said as he took my arm to steady me. “Looks like we’re getting pretty crowded in here.”
He moved away in a hurry and I had a feeling I had just become their newest shoplifter. I touched the side of my coat and could feel a slight lump against my hand. The lump had not been there when I first entered the store. It was time to leave and I was going to be very disappointed if they let me get all the way out the door. Suddenly a hand touched my shoulder.
“Excuse me, ma’am.” It was the man with the teeth. “You’ll have to come with me.”