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Drew had even walked through her house before leaving last night. Rarity had wanted to tell him that no one considered her a viable threat in the solving of either of the murders the book club was investigating. She didn’t know bunk. All she’d done so far was look up people on the internet. And visit a bookstore. Nothing g roundbreaking.

Friday morning, she heard knocking on her door; then her phone rang. “Hello?”

“I thought we were meeting at eight to go stock your booth?” Archer sounded normal, playful even. “I came a little early for coffee. Don’t tell me you’re still in bed.”

“Fine, I won’t tell you. Let yourself in. I’ll be right out. Killer needs to go outside too. Don’t let him distract you.” Rarity hung up and headed straight into the bathroom. Killer had stairs that let him get up and down off the bed, so she figured he’d be fine. She needed a shower and a cup or two of coffee to wake up. How had she not reset her alarm this morning?

As she started the shower, she heard her phone going off with the wake-up alarm. As usual, Archer was ten minutes early. But she hadn’t added in time for her to get ready.

By the time she got out to the living room, she had a plan for the day in place in her head. The festival didn’t start until noon, so she’d have plenty of time to set up, with Shirley’s help. Then Katie was coming at three and manning the booth until the festival ended that night. Rarity would take a break midday, then come back to give Katie a dinner break and finish up the evening s hift with her.

Killer was cuddled on Archer’s lap as he scanned his phone, a cup of coffee in front of him. They looke d comfortable.

As Rarity came into the room, Archer looked up. “Are you taking Killer today?”

“I think so. I hate to leave him alone for so long, and it’s not supposed to be crazy hot. I packed his bag last night, just in case.” Rarity poured herself a coffee. “Thanks for making this.”

“No problem. I needed it too. I’ve got my booth’s stuff already on the bus. Jack is meeting us at the park, and he’ll help me set up my booth. Then I need to take off for a few hours midday.” He set his phone down on the table. “What’s your schedule today? Are you planning on staying in the booth unt il you close?”

“No, I’m not.” Rarity sat at the table. “I’ve got a two-hour break from four to six so I guess Killer and I will come home and relax during that time. I might leave him home for my last shift. It depends on how ti red he looks.”

There was an uncomfortable pause in the conversation. Before, Archer would have told her he’d bring over food and they’d eat together. Or he’d suggest putting something in the slow cooker for them to eat later. But today, he picked his phone up again and star ted scrolling.

“So are your folks excited about getting the books back?” Rarity was eager to change the subject away from what they weren’t d oing together.

He didn’t look up. “Mom’s happy for Dana and me. Since the divorce, she’s separated herself away from Ender business. And Dad, well, we haven’t told him yet. I want it to be a surprise when we can give him the books.”

Something in his tone said there was more he wasn’t saying, but Rarity left it alone. If they were broken up, as Sedona’s gossip train had claimed, it wasn’t her bus iness anymore.

“I bought a supposedly rare copy of The Hobbit that I saw at the bookstore in Flagstaff.” Rarity refilled her coffee cup. “I guess as a bookstore owner, I should be investing in rare and antique books. At least for display at the shop. It’s kind of a way to remind people that books are valuable, not just for the stor ies they tell.”

This time Archer’s gaze did pop up from his endless scrolling. “Just be careful if you’re buying from Arthur. He has a slippe ry reputation.”

“What do you mean?” Rarity felt chilled and curled her hands around her coffee cup, hoping that would warm her hands as well as the rest of her body. He’d seemed a little odd when she’d visited the bookstore, but not dangerous. “I’m having it appraised by a professor over at th e university.”

“Drew says he’s been linked in the past to selling books from homes in Flagstaff that have been hit by robberies. Not connected, he always seems to have an alibi, but Drew thinks he’s acting like a fence, selling stolen items.” Archer leaned forward. “Is that why you were at the bookstore? Were you looking for a s pecific book?”

“I was trying to see what a copy of the Alice book might be worth. I don’t know a lot about rare books and I wanted to do some research.” Rarity paused and considered the new information. “Did you know that he used to have a bookstore her e, in Sedona?”

Archer nodded. “Grandma worked for him and his wife buying up valuable books at estate sales and auctions. According to Drew, he was questioned when Grandma was killed. He had an alibi and swore he’d never seen the books. Be c areful, okay?”

“I will,” Rarity said. She started to say more, but Archer stood and took his cu p to the sink.

“We need to get going. The festival starts at noon. And you know there’s always a rush before it starts.” Archer grabbed Killer’s bag. “Is everyt hing in this?”

“Add a couple of water bottles from the fridge, but everything else is there.” Rarity stood and dumped the rest of her coffee out, turning off the machine. Then she went to collect her tote. “And grab the tub with the bottled water in it that’s sitting on the porch. Shirley’s bringing the ice. So if you or Jack need water during the day, come on over.”

As she gathered the rest of what she needed, she thought about Archer’s warning. If he was worried about Arthur Wellings, why had he been there the same day she was? And what had he been looking for? Reading material for the woman in the car with him? Maybe he didn’t want her coming into Rarity’s bookstore, so he drove he r to Flagstaff.

This wasn’t something she was going to fix in the short drive from the house to the bookstore to the park. But at least they were talking about some things. She’d missed Archer as a friend as much as she did a s a boyfriend.

When they got to the park, Archer parked the bus as close to her tent as possible. He texted someone on his phone. Then he went to the back and opened the rear exit door. Rarity went out the front with Killer, his bag, and her tote. She tied him up under the table that the festival organizers had provided, then went back to the bus to st art unloading.

Archer handed her three folding chairs and grabbed two tables. “You go set up and I’ll bring in the books as soon as all the tables are in. Jack’s coming to help unpack your stuff; then I’ll drive the bus over to the other parking lot to unpack my booth’s boxes. If I forget to unload any of your stuff, I’ll bring it over as soon as w e get set up.”

“Thanks, but I can help unload too,” Rarity said as she reached over to grab the metal tub and the water bottles.

“I’ll get that.” Jack came up behind her and took the tub out of her hands. “Archer wants you back at the tent so you can tell us where to pu t everything.”

“Your boss can be a little pushy at times,” Rarity said as she went back to get the folding chairs she’d left at the ba ck of the bus.

“You should have to work with him.” Jack grinned. “And he’s been a bear for the last month. Always got something on his mind.”

When she got to the tent, she saw that Archer had already set up the two tables. He moved out of the way as she came into the tent. He nodded toward Killer, who was pulling on the table where she’d strapped his leash. “He’s trying to get free.”

Rarity took the chairs over to the table she would use to set up a cash register station. She took the time to set Killer up under the table, along with food, water, a chew toy, and most importantly, his travel bed. He sniffed it several times, then curled up for his first nap of the day. With Killer finally settled, she worked on the setup of the inside of the booth, including adding a skirt around the table to give Killer a mini-tent. The privacy gave him the security that she knew he needed to take a nap. It was all about the dog.

Shirley arrived with four coffees and a box of pastries just as Archer brought in the last box. She handed Jack her keys. “Go grab the two bags of ice and lock my car, please? And hurry so your coffee does n’t get cold.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be right back. And thank you.” Jack grinned at Shirley. As he left the tent, he called out, “I claim t he bear claw.”

“That kid is always hungry,” Archer said as he set the box on the last table. “I think this is everything. I’ll come back Sunday evening right after I clean out my booth and move eve rything back.”

“Thanks, Archer.” Rarity was setting up the cash box and the register. “I appreciate all the help this morning. From you and Jack.”

“My pleasure. Shirley, thanks for the coffee. Tell Jack I’ll meet him over at our booth.” Archer left the tent as Killer came out and watc hed him leave.

“That was extremely civil between the two of you,” Shirley commented as she set up the children’s table. “I don’t think we need air conditioning in this tent as long as you two stay inside.”

“Hush, we’re being nice.” Rarity had felt the chill too but didn’t know how to fix it.

Jack came in and dumped the ice on top of the water bottles that Rarity had already taken out of their plastic. He tossed Shirley’s keys to her. “Okay, I thin k you’re set.”

Rarity relayed the message from Archer and thanked him again for his help.

As he grabbed his coffee and bear claw, he grinned. “I’m here to serve. Literally. Dude put me on the clock at five this morning when I helped him with the bus. And he works around my training schedule. He’s paying for my tuition to go back to school and get my business degree. Don’t tell Archer, but he’s the best boss I’ve had in a while . Maybe ever.”

Shirley was unloading the last box of best-sellers when the first customer arrived. The festival might not be fully open, but there were people already there. Rarity pulled back the front flaps on the tent a few minutes after she’d collected all the boxes and stacked them at the back of the tent behind her table. One more escape route closed off, in case Kill er got frisky.

They stayed busy until about eleven when the food trucks opened. Malia walked in a few minutes later with a bag. She put it on the table. “Lunches, and I tucked a few cans of soda in the bag too. Just in case you needed something b esides water.”

“I’m starving and my feet are barking. We’ve had quite the morning.” Shirley started pulling out the wrapped sandwiches and sodas. She grabbed the napkins and tucked the sodas away in the rapidly melting ice. “Is Katie comi ng for lunch?”

Malia grabbed one of the chairs and sat down. “No, that third sandwich is for me. I don’t have to be at the Garnet until noon. I wanted to tell you about some people I had at my statio n last night.”

Rarity found her sandwich, turkey with avocado on a wheat roll, and sat down, grabbing a cola to go with it. “Please don’t tell me Archer was out with someone.”

“What? No. And what’s the story there, anyway?” Malia opened her vegetarian wheat bread sandwich. Shirley had the combo that had a little bit of everything. They all spent enough time together that they could order their friends’ meals without asking, even though Malia always did. She’d called Rarity last night to let her know she would be bringing lunches for her on all three days and to see who wou ld be working.

Malia was k ind like that.

“No story, and I shouldn’t have asked that.” Rarity waved away the question. “Okay, so who did you see?”

“Lizzy from the nursing home. I guess she was on a day pass with her sister and her husband. They live in Flagstaff.” Malia glanced over at Shirley, probably to see if she was upset. “Anyway, she acted completely normal. Like she was out with friends for the day. Wei rd, isn’t it?”

“That her sister would take her out? The nursing home isn’t a prison, dear.” Shirley got up and got a lem on-lime drink.

“No, that she’d be normal. Didn’t the nurse call her Tizzy Lizzy because she was always upset?” Malia set her sandwich down and grabbed some chips. “Even the night we took the dogs into the rooms, she was acting weird. She and the bookkeeper lady got into it because Lizzy kept going into the admin offices.”

“That’s McKenzie Jones. I swear that woman is a saint. She’s so good with the finances. When I moved George into the home, she walked me through the process at least three times. You would have thought I was the one needing to be admitted. I just couldn’t deal with all the paperwork.” Shirley sat down at the end of the table with Killer watching her sandwich. “She works so hard. I see her car there a lot of nights when I check on George with the nursing staff.”

“Well, Tizzy Lizzy was a different person last night. Calm, attentive. I even heard her sister say that maybe she could come and live with her.” Malia squeezed mustard out of a little packet onto a napkin and dipped her sa ndwich into it.

Shirley set her sandwich down on the flattened paper bag. “I’m sure you misunderstood. When I finally got George into the facility, he had such an extreme degree of memory loss I couldn’t keep him at home anymore. He’d go wandering off at all times of the day or night. Maybe she was havin g a good day.”

Malia looked thoughtful. “I guess. But looking at her yesterday, I’d swear she was a diff erent person.”

Rarity was so hungry that she was devouring her sandwich while letting the others talk. She hadn’t had breakfast, and although she’d packed Killer his food, she’d forgotten to pack any snacks. So besides the pastries that Shirley had brought, Rarity hadn’t eaten today. Besides, at least the subject wasn’t h er and Archer.

Shirley was still trying to convince Malia she must have misunderstood Lizzy’s behavior. “There are medical screenings to get into the facility. Especially the ward that George and Lizzy are on. There is no way she could come back from that level of dementia and live on h er own again.”

Something about what Shirley had said was ringing bells for Rarity, but she wasn’t sure what she was missing. Killer put a paw on her l eg and whined.

“I need to go walk Killer. Malia, can you hang around for a bit in case Shirley gets swamped?” Rarity grabbed Killer’s leash and snapped it on his collar. When Malia answered, she headed out the flap to see who was in the other booths. She could see a local souvenir shop directly in front of her tent, but other than that one and Archer’s booth, she didn’t know who else was a t the festival.

Rarity wandered through the row of booths, pausing to let Killer sniff when he got a notion. When she turned the corner, she found that Sedona Memory Care had a booth. A woman in a bright pink sleeveless dress smiled as she paused, holding out a flyer and a bottle of hand sanitizer. “Do you have a family member in need of care?”

Rarity shook her head but took the offered goodies. “I was at your facility recently. I was with the pets from the hu mane society?”

“Oh, Gretchen’s group. We love the puppies coming in. The next day, that’s all the residents can talk about.” She reached out her well-manicured hand with red nails. “I’m Cindi Kennedy. I’m the marketer for the facility. My job is to find everyone in town who needs our help. One festiv al at a time.”

Rarity shook the woman’s hand and introduced herself. “I own the local bookstore, the Next Chapter. So do you mostly find residents at festivals?”

Cindi laughed and swung back her hair with a twist of her head. “Oh, heavens no. This is mostly community PR. You know, to keep our name out there so if something happens they think of us. I also visit church groups and community charity events. Sadly, most of our referrals come from the hospitals. Grandma falls and has been living alone, and we find out she has a hundred cats with her. Those sorts of situations. I’m good friends with all the local so cial workers.”

Rarity could see Cindi acting like she was someone’s friend, even if it was a bit of a transactional relationship. “I had one question after visiting Sedona Memory Care. Do people get bett er and leave?”

Now Cindi looked sad. The woman had a ton of emotion showing on her face and seemed to switch from one to another like she was trading masks. “Hardly ever. We have a strict screening process. We don’t want families warehousing our senior population. So they’re pretty well into their diagnosis by the time they land with us. However…”

Cindi paused, and Rarity could see she was thinking about something or someone. Was she going to verify Malia’s story?

“Sorry, I need to work my magic.” An older woman walked by, and Cindi grabbed a flyer and bottle from the table. “Good afternoon. Have you heard about Sedona Memory Care?”

Rarity had been dismissed, and Killer was pulling on his leash away from the booth. He wanted to continue their walk. She tucked the flyer and sanitizer into her pants pocket and kept walking.

Maybe Malia had found a clue.