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By the time Shirley had arrived at nine, Rarity had finished a pot of coffee. She still had a box of eggs to stuff. She glanced at her watch as Shirley came into the back room. “ Good morning.”

“Don’t tell me I’m late, I stopped by Annie’s to get coffee for us.” Shirley handed her a to-go mug and studied her face. “You need to ge t more sleep.”

“Thanks. I take it I look about as good as I feel?” Rarity sipped the coffee gratefully. She might not be able to sleep tonight due to the amount of caffeine in her system, but at least she’d get through the day. If she had to, she’d go cold turkey from caffeine on Sunday to get her system back in sync. “Maybe we should keep the door locked until these are done. Heidi’s c oming at two.”

Shirley glanced at the table, then emptied the rest of the box of plastic eggs on top of it. “We should be fine. We rarely get customers this early. And besides, Jonathon should be here soon to wat ch the front.”

“How did you know Jonathon was coming?” Rarity put a blue egg she’d filled into the basket and reached fo r another one.

“I texted him to see if he needed coffee.” Shirley shrugged. “I figured he’d be hanging around here during the day while Drew works. He’s a creat ure of habit.”

“He didn’t want coffee?” Rarity asked.

“It’s sitting behind the counter with my tote.” Shirley sat down and started filling eggs. “Ho w’s Terrance?”

“Maybe you should text him yourself and ask.” Rarity glanced up as she put a pink egg into the basket and reached fo r another one.

“I’m asking you.” Shirley’s vo ice was quiet.

Rarity nodded but didn’t look up at Shirley. “He’s sad, I think. Jonathon spent some time last evening with him. He wou ld know more.”

“Oh, my. Are the two of them hanging out together? Sedona won’t survive,” Shirley said. Rarity looked up at the tone and saw Sh irley smiling.

The bell over the door rang and Jonathon called out, “Hon ey, I’m home.”

“We’re in the back working on eggs,” Rarity called back. It felt good to have people around. Especially after the strange night she’d had. If this was the end of her and Archer, at least she wouldn’t be alone. Sh e had friends.

“Aren’t you done with those yet?” Jonathon stood inside the doorway where he still had a view of the front door. He held up one of Annie’s to-go cups. “And is t his my coffee?”

“No, and yes,” Shirley answered. “If you’re that worried about us finishing, you can come in and w ork on a few.”

Jonathon shook his head. “Nope. I always left Easter for Edith to manage. Except, I need to get back to Tucson in time for the festivities in two weeks. It’s nice that Sedona does their egg hunt so early. I heard parents talking about doing one each weekend up until Easter Sunday. I would have been the grump to put my foot down and limit the kids to the one hunt close by. But no—Edith and the grandbaby are coming up for Sedona’s hunt, then hitting Flagstaff’s the next day.”

“I hope I’ll be seeing them.” Rarity worked on filling a yellow egg that didn’t want to go back together.

“You have too much stuffing,” Shirle y pointed out.

Jonathon chuckled at the two. “Reminds me of that old Lucy bit with Ethel. You need a conveyor belt. And to answer your question, Rarity, Edith promised to stop by your tent. You need to make sure you have baby books for sale, I’m sure she’ll want to fill up Savannah’s baske t with books.”

“Believe me, we’ll have an assortment for all ages. I almost didn’t buy any adult books, but I know we’ll have lots of tourists wandering through as well as local families.” Rarity turned to Shirley. “Remind me to have Katie make a sign for the door telling them we’re at the festival an d to stop by.”

“She’s not in today, but she’s already made a sign for the door. She did it last Saturday.” Shirley nodded to the front. “It’s under the regi ster counter.”

“Of course she did.” Rarity grabbed another egg. “I swear, that girl could run a three-ring circus all on her own on top of a forty-hour-a-week job. She’s going to do something w ith her life.”

Shirley grabbed another egg. “I’ve decided that I’m going back to scho ol next fall.”

“What?” Rarity and Jonathon asked the question at the same time.

“Jinx.” Shirley grinned. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I don’t want a degree for some big job, but I’d like to explore a few subjects and see what I want to study. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get a master’s degree and teach at the c ollege level.”

“I think it’s a great idea.” Rarity almost followed it up with the whole since-you-were-kicked-out-of-hanging-out-at-George’s-home. She rethought the comment and only said, “I’ll probably lose you back to part-time.”

Shirley shrugged. “Not at first. I talked to a counselor a few weeks ago and they suggested I take some evening classes to see what I want to study. I’m pretty sure it’s English, but maybe history. So I’m taking two classes in the fall. Kathy’s worried about me dri ving so much.”

“Kathy’s worried about a lot of things she should leave alone,” Rarity said then slapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, I should stay out of fam ily business.”

“I trust your opinion. You see me as an adult woman. Kathy sees me as her aging mother. I know I gave the kids a scare during the cancer thing, but I’m a grown woman and I can make my own decisions—especially since their father is unfortunately abdicating his role in the family. He didn’t even recognize Kathy yesterday when she went to see him. And that Lizzy, she thought Kathy was trying to fl irt with him.”

“Oh, Shirley, that must be hard,” Jonathon said.

“He got an infection, so he’s sick right now. They’re talking about sending him to the hospital for IV antibiotics. Kathy’s talking to Sally at the nursing home today.” Shirley grabbed the last egg. “I’m glad she’s here to help. I’m not sure I could deal with all the drama around there this week. I told her you needed me at the shop.”

“Well, on that note…” Jonathon ex cused himself.

Rarity started to clean up the table. “You know you can skip work anytime. This is just a business. Geor ge is family.”

“I know I could. Kathy, on the other hand, needs to know what I’ve been dealing with. She’s still mad at me for even starting to talk with Terrance. Maybe if she understands what’s happening with her father, it might help us communicate better.” Shirley waved Rarity away as she started to stack the empty boxes and trash. “Let me clean this up. Go work on the bookstore stuff. I know you have a lot to get ready for the festival.”

Rarity stepped over and hugged Shirley. “Everything’s going to be all right. We both know that neither George nor Terrance could have k illed anyone.”

“Now, we need to have a third suspect.” Shirley nodded. “I’m afraid I’m not thinking clearly. I won’t be much help with t he sleuthing.”

“You don’t have to be.” Rarity rubbed Shirley’s arms. “W e’ve got you.”

“Well, I’ve got this trash.” She looked at the clock on the wall. “We’re done early. Heidi could have come earlier. I’ll have this area organized and looking like we finis hed days ago.”

“I already told her I’d forgotten about the eggs,” Ra rity admitted.

“Well, so much for looking on top of things. You know Heidi Youngman is the biggest gossip in town. Telegraph, telephone, tell Heidi.” Shirley waved her out of the break room. “Go work on something. And don’t fall asleep. You look like you should go curl up on the sofa by the fireplace. But wait until after two. Heidi will think you ’re homeless.”

“Unhoused I think is the new term.” Rarity was tired. She couldn’t remember what the wording was, at least not right now.

Rarity went out front and checked her to-do list against the calendar. Since they didn’t have any other book clubs this week, she only had the festival to get through. The good news was the tents closed up at six and Drew would have police protection out there to make sure nothing happened to the booths or the inventory inside. She’d done a lot of follow-up for the sleuthing club on Tuesday. She’d also completed a small book order yesterday for next week.

There wasn’t much left to do for the week.

So instead of worrying about today, she started looking at the next three months. Rarity attended a business council meeting once a month, and they had sent her a calendar of festivals and charity events. That’s how she’d gotten roped into working with Heidi’s egg project. And the pets at the nursing home. Gretchen’s project had felt right, and Rarity realized she hadn’t followed up with an adoption day at the bookstore like s he’d intended.

She emailed Gretchen to see when her next opening would be. Then emailed Amy and Staci. The two kids had done such a great job with the backpack collection drive, she wanted to give them first dibs on working on this project. If either one said no, Rarity would ask Katie to float it by her high school group. Maybe someone needed some community service activities for their college applications.

She’d finished up when Heidi came in the front door. “Good afternoon, we’ve got the baskets all r eady for you.”

Heidi looked surprised. “Oh, that’s a pleasant surprise. I thought maybe I’d have to ask my church group to finish them up. With all that’s been happening around here.”

“Nope. We’re done.” Rarity didn’t know what Heidi was talking about. It could have been George and Shirley. Or the books showing up. She hoped it wasn’t her relationship. “We’ve got everything in the back.”

“Well, bless your heart. I want to tell you that I’m rooting for you and Archer. The two of you make such a cute couple. I’d hate to see you break up. But I guess the heart wants what the heart wants. You’ll be in my prayers.” Heidi went into the back and started talki ng to Shirley.

Rarity sighed. It was he r relationship.

Jonathon stared at the break room door. “What on earth is she t alking about?”

“I’m not sure. I guess according to the Sedona grapevine, I’m about to be single again.” Rarity stared at the computer screen, not seeing the calendar she had opened for next month.

Jonathon stood and patted Rarity’s back. “I don’t believe a word of it. Archer is too in love with you to let anything break you up. I’ve seen the way that boy looks at you. I’m going to go help get the eggs and that woman out of your shop. She’s tainting the positive en ergy in here.”

“Thanks, Jonathon.” Rarity laughed and then tried to focus on filling up the calendar, but her thoughts kept going back to what Archer had said last night, that they n eeded to talk.

By the time all the laundry baskets filled with eggs were packed into Heidi’s van, Rarity was wiped out from smiling every time the woman looked at her. As she took the last box of candy out to the car, Heidi stopped and gave Rarity a big hug. “I’m so thankful for all the hard work you did on this. Good things come from good works. You r emember that.”

“I will. And I’ll see you at the festival.” Rarity waved and smiled until the woman had walked out of the bookstore. She waited until the door closed, then added, “Unless I se e you coming.”

“You were amazing. I can’t believe you kept your face so upbeat.” Jonathon glanced at the clock. “I’m starving. You do realize we forgot to order lunch?”

* * *

Drew showed up before she closed the bookstore for the day. Jonathon packed up his laptop and nodded to Rarity. “I’m heading home. I’ve got my writers’ group this evening. We’re going to listen to an author talk at th e university.”

“Sounds fun,” Rarity said as she gave Drew a hard look. “If he’s local, get me a card or contact information if you talk to him. I’ll schedule him for a signing for his next release.”

Drew said good night to his dad, then turned to Rarity. “So why did you throw me the sour face?”

“Are you here to walk me home? You men need to realize I can find my house all by myself.” Rarity focused on closing up the register. Shirley had left earlier as Kathy wanted to stop by the nursing home and then take her to dinner.

“I only worry about you during these murder investigations. Especially when you have your posse trying to dig up evidence. And now, you’ve got someone dropping off items that were stolen years ago during a robbery where someone was killed. It’s making me antsy.” He leaned against the register. “Besides, I wanted to look at your security feed with you for the week.”

She swatted at him. “I’d say I was sorry for jumping to conclusions, but I’m pretty sure you planned when you were going to look at the security feed for right when I’d need to be escorted home since Jonathon is heading to Flagstaff. You know your dad probably needs to be in Tucson more than he is. His l ife is there.”

“Mom’s coming up tonight with Joanna and Savannah for the egg hunt Saturday and one in Flagstaff Sunday. My place is going to be a madhouse. I might hang out at Archer’s apartment.” Drew nodded to the door. “I’ll go lock it if you’re done. Then we can look at the footage.”

“Let me walk through the store, but go ahead. I don’t want to strand anyone inside.” She locked down the register and pulled the key, tucking it into her tote before heading to do a walkabout. She’d started the practice last week after finding the Alice book. If someone was leaving valuable books out, she wanted to know soon er than later.

When she’d finished her pass through the bookstore, she met Drew in the back room at the security closet. She walked over and double-checked the back door lock— another habit.

“Anything new?” Drew asked as he keyed up the video files. He knew her system better than she did. Of course, he’d been the one to recommend the local security company to her. Probably most of the shops in Sedona had the same guy and, more than likely, th e same system.

“No new rare books, if that’s what you’re asking. There are always books lying around, but all the ones I found tonight are supposed to be on my shelves, waiting to be sold.” She leaned against the table as she watched him. “Hey, does the Sedona Memory Care home use the same security sys tem provider?”

“That’s an oddly specific question, but no. The local company lost the contract at the first of the year. William Jully went with an out-of-state company. I guess they had a lower bid.” Drew chuckled as he stepped back with the remote. “Now Sally’s furious since they’re not taking any responsibility for the system breaking down. She has to pay Terrance on top of what they’d budgeted for this company. I guess it’s wreaking havoc on her budget. I bet they’re going back to Scott’s compa ny next year.”

He pointed the remote at the television and pressed Play. “Stop me if anythi ng looks off.”

They watched the video and Drew fast-forwarded through the periods where no one was on the screen. Nothing jump ed out at her.

“Can we watch it again?” She glanced at him. “I’m not keeping you from a date with Sam or an ything, am I?”

“Nope. Mom has a spare key to the house if they get there before I do, so no worries. What’s bothering you?” He reversed the video to where he’d s tarted before.

“There are several people I don’t recognize. Of course, I’m not here all the time anymore. Monday, I don’t come in at all. But if they’re local, I’ve usually met people at least once if they’re readers. We didn’t have a lot of tourist traffic this week. Everyone’s waiting for the festival tomorrow.” Rarity listed off the reasons she should have recognized the people walking into her shop.

“Show me the people you don’t know. It’s a start. I’ll compare them to last week’s traffic when the first book was left.” Drew pulled out his noteb ook and a pen.

Slowly they went through the people. If Drew knew them, he put context to the face. If not, Drew wrote down the time and date they came to the shop. After they were done, he went back to the system and reset it for the night. “I’ve already sent myself a copy of this time frame we were looking at. If I have time tonight, I’ll compare it with what we pulled last week. It’s a shot.”

As they walked toward Rarity’s house, Drew seemed lo st in thought.

“Tell me you’re making progress on Jully’s murder,” Rarity said as she watched Killer s niff the curb.

“You mean you want me to tell you that there’s another suspect besides George,” D rew clarified.

She chuckled and added, “I’d like Terrance off your list as well. What about this cheap security system? Maybe that was the reason behind J ully’s death.”

“Unless Sally killed him, and she says she has an alibi, I don’t know who would have been that mad at him.” Drew chuckled as Killer started barking at a fire hydrant.

“No one at the facility liked him,” Rarity said as she pulled Killer away from the bright red hydrant. “I wonder if it was that bad at his last facility. How much background information do you have on William Jully?”