Free Secondhand Stiff by Sue Ann Jaffarian Page B

in no time.
    After I’d moved the sheets from the washer to the dryer, I grabbed my laptop and one of the folders from the box Steele had brought over and joined Mom on the patio. By her side in another chair was Seamus, our elderly feline. Muffin was off playing explorer among our shrubs. Wainwright was with Greg at work. Seamus is wary of strangers, usually spending most of his time on our bed or snoozing in front of a window, but in the past couple of days he and Mom had become close chums. Maybe Seamus sensed that, like him, Mom was in her golden years and just as cranky about it. Last night he even slept on Mom’s bed. It had been the first time he hadn’t slept with us since…well, forever. Mom was reading while her right hand gently stroked the cat, only moving it to change the page on her reader. I smiled to myself. Having Mom around longer wasn’t proving to be the chore I’d thought it might be.
    Mom looked up. “You doing some of that work Steele brought by?”
    â€œI should be.” As soon as I said the words, I wish I hadn’t. I should have simply said yes. My fingers flew over the keyboard of my laptop as I fired up a search engine and plugged in some information. I hoped Mom wouldn’t pry further, but today was not my lucky day.
    â€œYou’re snooping around in Ina’s mess, aren’t you?”
    â€œI’m not snooping, Mom. I’m simply checking out a few things, like the names and locations of the secondhand stores owned by some of the people Ina knows.”
    â€œThat Detective Fehring told you to keep your nose out of it.”
    â€œShe said no such thing.”
    â€œWhat I recall her saying as we left was ‘under no circumstances are you to get involved in this, or I may have to shoot you.’ In my book, that means keep your nose out of things.”
    Unfortunately, my mother’s hearing and memory were not aging as fast as her eyesight.
    â€œI saw you talking with Buck Goodwin yesterday. Did he happen to mention the name of his store?”
    â€œSo you’re ignoring what the lady detective said?”
    When I didn’t answer, Mom pursed her lips and closed her eyes as she pondered the question and its possibilities. A good thirty seconds passed before she spoke again, making me wonder if she’d nodded off. “Goodwin’s Good Stuff, I think,” she finally said, keeping her eyes shut. “Or something like that.”
    I put in the name Goodwin’s Good Stuff and up popped a couple of suggested links. One was to the store itself; other links were to review sites like About Town , which offered consumers the opportunity to review restaurants and other businesses they frequented, letting potential customers know if it was a good deal or should be avoided.
    I opened the link to the website for Buck’s store. Up popped a website that looked like it had been set up using an inexpensive service with preset templates. It was uncluttered and clean, giving basic details like location and hours. The store claimed to deal in used and vintage items, including furniture, appliances, and tools. The site also welcomed phone call inquiries about specialty items, proclaiming, “Looking for something special? We’ll help you find it.”
    I scooted my chair over and turned my laptop so Mom could see the website while I hit the print button and sent the page to our wireless printer.
    Next I checked out the About Town reviews for Goodwin’s Good Stuff. There were just a handful, almost all very favorable, citing excellent customer service and help in locating specialty items. One man had been looking for a specific hood ornament for a vintage car, and Buck had located it for him. Other reviews commented on the nice selection of items in the store and the convenient parking. There was a photo of the storefront on the website. Like the website, it appeared basic and uncluttered. It was located in a strip