Free Mind Over Murder by Allison Kingsley Page B

and Clara was rearranging the window display when the tall blonde passed by.
    Frannie was right, Clara thought, as she watched the woman stoop to open the door of Jordan’s Stationer’s. Roberta Prince did look as if she’d just leapt off the cover of a magazine.
    The doorbell rang just then, and she pulled back to greet the customer. To her intense embarrassment, it was Rick Sanders, and he didn’t look too happy.
    “Is Stephanie here?” he asked, looking around as if he expected to see her pop out from one of the aisles.
    “No, she left.” Clara did her best to smile as she made her way back to the counter. “Is there something I can do for you?”
    “No . . . Yes . . . No. Thanks.” Rick turned back to the door. “I just wanted a word with her, but it can wait.”
    “I could give her a message.” Clara bit her lip. Why was she doing this? Why didn’t she just let him go? Because she felt guilty, she answered herself. Should she apologize for cutting him off so rudely last night? Or would that just make her look pathetic?
    Rick chose that moment to swing around to face her, catching her off guard. Once more she’d been caught staring at him. Heat rushed to her cheeks, and she started stammering. “I’ll be seeing Stephanie later on. I just wondered—”
    “Look,” Rick began at the same time. “I’m sorry about last night—”
    They broke off together, and Clara uttered a sheepish laugh.
    “Sorry.”
    “No, I’m sorry.” He walked closer to the counter. “I must have scared the heck out of you.”
    “You didn’t.” Her violent shake of her head made it spin. “It was just . . .” She trailed off, realizing she couldn’t tell him about the misunderstanding.
    “It’s okay. You don’t have to explain.” He jerked his head at the wall. “Did I just see Roberta Prince opening the door of Jordan’s?”
    “You did.” Clara pretended to rearrange a stack of tarot cards. “I heard she just bought the business.”
    Rick groaned. “I was afraid of that. That woman scares me.”
    Clara looked up. “She does? Why?”
    “I don’t know.” He headed for the door. “There’s just something about her. She’s so . . . intense. That much determination can’t be good.”
    Clara smiled. “For her or for you?”
    He glanced at her as he opened the door. “For everybody. I’m telling you, that woman’s trouble with a capital T.”
    The door closed behind him, leaving Clara staring at the space where he’d been. He’d sounded genuinely disturbed by the new owner of Jordan’s Stationer’s. She wondered what had gone on between those two to upset him so much. Had she been pressuring him, too, about selling his business?
    When she called Stephanie later to tell her about the encounter, her cousin seized on Rick’s words. “Whoa—a tough woman. Maybe Frannie wasn’t so far off base, after all. I wonder if she was in town last Friday?”
    “If you’re expecting me to ask her, you’re out of luck.”
    Once more she was treated to Stephanie’s exaggerated sigh.
    “We’re getting nowhere fast. We need to sit down together and work out what we’re going to do. I know it’s your day off tomorrow, but come over to the store in the morning for coffee. Molly will be there, and hopefully we won’t be busy and we can all get together.”
    “All right. I’ll see you then.” Clara closed up her phone, wondering what her cousin hoped to accomplish. They might as well face it. They were amateurs, messing in business best left for the police. Frannie was right. They should just forget about it and let Dan handle it.
    Hoping to take her mind off things, she spent the evening with her mother watching a TV crime movie. Not that it helped much, since Jessie insisted on making sarcastic comments about the stupidity of the investigators.
    Arriving at the Raven’s Nest the next morning, Clara was all set to persuade Stephanie to give up on the investigation. She was barely inside the door, however,