Free Yesterday's Magic by Beverly Long Page A

and wound the small crank. Music began and Saul closed
his eyes and took a deep breath. “Beautiful. Do you know it?”
    Jed shook his head.
    Bella took a couple steps toward them. “The
Blue Danube,” she said. Her voice had a catch in it and Jed
wondered if she was feeling badly about coming to Saul’s.
    Saul beamed. “Yes. Yes, indeed. It’s a new
piece by Johann Straus.” Saul hummed along for a few notes and then
glanced in Bella’s direction. “Have you studied music?”
    She shook her head. “No. This piece was…uh…is
one of my mother’s favorites.”
    Saul wrote out the receipt. “It’s eight
dollars, Sheriff.”
    Jed pulled the money out of his pocket. He
hadn’t expected this little venture to cost him a week’s worth of
pay.
    “What can I assist you with, Miss?” Saul
asked.
    “Nothing today, thank you,” Bella said. She
smiled at Saul, turned, and walked out the door. Jed followed her,
carrying the music box in his hand.
    Once they were several feet from Saul’s door,
he turned towards Bella. “Well?” he asked. “Did you accomplish what
you set out to?”
    “I don’t know,” she said. “Aunt Freida has so
much stuff in her store that I probably only saw a fraction of it
this morning. I looked for similar things at Saul’s and wrote down
the prices. He really has some lovely things.” She looked at the
music box. “May I?” she asked.
    He handed her the music box. She wound the
crank and the music began. Bella had a faraway look in her eyes, as
if she were imagining that she was suddenly somewhere other than
Mantosa. She walked and he accompanied her in silence. When the
music ended, they were just steps from the Mercantile.
    “Thank you,” she said. “I hadn’t heard that
in a long time.” She handed him back the music box. “It’ll probably
come in handy the next time you and Bart decide to dance.”
    Even though it was cold outside, he could
feel heat flood his face. She was teasing him. It made him realize
that it had been a long time since somebody had teased him.
    “I imagine it will,” he said. He tucked it
into the pocket of his coat. It wouldn’t do for the townspeople to
see the sheriff carrying a music box around with him in the middle
of the day.
    When they entered the Mercantile, Jed walked
directly to the back of the store. He expected Bella to follow him
but when Freida joined him, he realized that Bella had taken over
waiting on the customers at the counter.
    The door didn’t show any damage from the
inside but once they opened it and stepped through the doorway, it
was easy to see that someone had done a fair job of trying to pry
the door open. The wood frame was bent and splintered. Fortunately,
Freida’s sturdy lock had held. He looked at the ground. The morning
sun had melted the snow that had fallen during the night so there
were no footprints to examine.
    He felt bad about his earlier inclination to
dismiss Freida’s concern. He was angry too. Freida went out of her
way to help people, many times giving them credit when she had no
business doing so. “Any idea who might have an interest in getting
inside your building?” he asked.
    She shook her head. “I did tell Warren
Partridge to clean up before he came in again. The old fool
smelled; he stood next to Vera May and her knees buckled. She
practically cracked her head on my candy case.”
    Warren Partridge was close to seventy and
given that the man barely weighed a hundred pounds, it didn’t seem
likely that he’d have wielded this much damage with a crow bar. But
Jed would have a conversation with the man, just in case. “If you
think of anybody else, let me know,” he said. “Bart and I’ll keep
an eye out when we’re doing our night rounds.”
    Freida reached into her skirt pocket. “I’ve
got an extra key here, Jedidiah. Why don’t you keep it? Then, if
for some reason, you need to check inside the store, you’ll be able
to get in.”
    He took the key and dropped it into his