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“We’re here to chat with Marsha Graves if she has a moment,” Shirley said when they walked up to the front desk. “I’m looking at a possible transfer fo r my husband.”

The woman’s eyes lit up, and she stood. “Are you sure you don’t want to chat with our marketer? Rose usually does our intakes.”

“No, I know Marsha and I’d feel more comfortable chatting with her if you don’t mind.” Shirley pointed to the conference room near the doors. “Is that the a ctivity room?”

“It’s the next door down. Go ahead and I’ll let her know you’re coming.” The receptionist sat and hit a few buttons on her phone.

As Shirley and Rarity walked in through the double doors, Rarity looked around. “This is set up differently th an Sedona is.”

“A little. This one has group rooms and a cafeteria near the front of the building. The patient rooms are behind these rooms.” Shirley pointed areas out to Rarity. “Sedona has more of a lockdown feel since they do more memory care.”

“So would they even take George?” Rarity worried that their cover story wasn’t going to work.

“The lockdown wing is at the back and has its own cafeteria and activity room. A lot smaller, but those rooms are inside the locked wing.” Shirley nodded to the activity room. “The social worker’s office is usually a ttached here.”

Rarity had to admit that Shirley knew a lot about long-term care facilities. She wished her friend hadn’t needed to learn the setup and lingo quite so quickly or for the re ason she knew.

The room was empty, except for a woman in a wheelchair reading a magazine at a table and Marsha Graves, who was walking toward them. “Shirley, I’m surprised to see you here.”

Shirley accepted the hug and then turned to Rarity. “This is my friend, Rarity Cole. She runs the bookstore where I’m working.”

“I think we met at the festival.” Rarity held out her hand and shook Marsha’s. “You were standing in for y our marketer?”

“Cindi’s always late. I think she parties a lot, but Sally loves her. So what can you do.” She grinned at Shirley. “I never said that, if Sally asks. Anyway, h ow can I help?”

Rarity decided to take a chance and veer away from their cover story. “William Jully worked here before getting the job at Sedona. Why did he leave?”

Marsha glanced at the woman who was reading, then pointed to a sofa and chairs. “Sit down and we’ll talk. We won’t both er Elizabeth.”

The woman waved a hand of dismissal toward the group as they sat down. “No one ever says anything important, but it’s all so confidential. Like we don’t know we’re all d ying in here.”

“Thanks for your support, Elizabeth.” Marsha laughed as she sat down. “Elizabeth was an attorney before she retired. She’s seen all the games. So you want to know about William? He was a jerk. He never did the reports he was assigned. And I guess you heard about him becoming a beneficiary for at least one patient’s will. All he cared about was lining his pockets. There are people like that in the elder care field all the time. Con me n. And women.”

“So was that why he left here?” Rarity knew everything Marsha had told them so far. And if she knew it , so did Drew.

“Actually, no.” Now Marsha did lower her voice. “He was accused by a patient’s family of having a relationship with a woman. She didn’t have money, but her sister was loaded. Rumors were floating around that he was going into her room at night. She thought he was going to marry her and take her out of the facility. She’s i n Sedona now.”

“Lizzy Hamilton,” R arity guessed.

Marsha nodded. “Lizzy insisted her sister move her once he was hired there. Then she latched on to George. I think their relationship was a ruse to keep her sister from knowing that she was still se eing William.”

“William Jully is a cad who used to visit several women at night here at the home. He came into my room one night and I hit him with my cane where it hurts. He never came back,” Elizabeth said without looking over at them. “When he left, it was goodbye to bad rubbish.”

Marsha shook her head and smiled. “Elizabeth knows everything that goes on around here. She only pretends she doesn’t.”

“I don’t give my counsel for free,” Elizabeth responded. This time she turned and looked at the women. “Except in this case. Men like that should be locked up. They think they can get away with anything. I showed him.”

After they left the facility, the duo stopped at a Chinese restaurant for lunch and to compare notes. Rarity took in the smell of the spices and sauce from the dish that had been set in front of her. “Well, that was revealing. Marsha was more up front than I’d expected. I don’t think she was the woman Sally was talking with about Ruth Agee’s file. If she was, why would she tell us that he was her beneficiary.”

Shirley shook her head as she used her chopsticks to eat her kung pao chicken. “She didn’t specifically say it was Ruth Agee. She said we knew about the inheritance. Maybe there was m ore than one?”

Rarity set down her fork. “We should have followed up on that. I just assumed it was Ruth.”

“It might be, but she never said Ruth. I think facilities have to report deaths to a nursing board or something. I’ll call my friend over at the state. She helped me find a nursing home for George when he first entered Sedona Memory Care. If there’s been a lot of women dying, we can at least have Holly check for their probate records.” Shirley took another bite. “This is so good. I haven’t eaten here in years. George and I used to come after we’d go into town t o go shopping.”

Rarity waited a moment, then decided to ask anyway. “If this is too hard, you know you don’t have to be part of the sleuthing. You can sit out one investigation. No one will think less of you.”

“I would think less of me.” Shirley pushed a plate of spring rolls toward Rarity. The look on her face sent a message. The subject was closed. “Try one of these, the y’re so good.”

When they got back to the shop, Rarity sent both Shirley and Katie home, saying she’d finish up the shift herself. Archer hadn’t called, so she didn’t know if she would be home alone or not, but she assumed she would be. Maybe Sam would want t o have dinner.

Jonathon was still writing after the women left. Rarity watched him as she settled onto the stool behind the counter. They were the only two people in the shop. “You can leave too if you want.”

“I’m fine,” he said as he finished typing a sentence. Then he looked up at her. “So what did you find out?”

Rarity told him about why Jully was fired from the Flagstaff facility. And she told him about Elizabeth. “So we know he was trying to romance the women with money in the facilities. Shirley said he was the one who asked her not to come so much. Especially at night. I think he didn’t like having anyone around who might catch him. I wonder what the night supervising nurses th ought of him?”

Jonathon tapped his fingers on the desk. “If I were in charge of this investigation, I’d be asking myself why Terrance was hired to fix a security break. Maybe Jully didn’t think Terrance would find out why the computers kept shutting down. I think my conversation with Drew tonight is going to be interesting.”

“Just don’t tell him you got the information from our book club investigations. You know he hates that.” Rarity stacked some book club books on the side o f the counter.

Jonathon chuckled. “Is your beau coming to walk you home tonight, or may I have the pleasure? I walked in from Drew’s this morning.”

Rarity tried not to shrug. Instead, she glanced at her phone. “I haven’t heard from Archer, so I’d appreciate the company. However, you know Killer and I could walk home all by ourselves.”

“You have quite the attack dog there,” Jonathon said. Killer, somehow knowing he was being talked about, lifted his head from the bed near the fireplace. He looked at the two humans watching him, then sensing they weren’t going anywhere, lay back down.

Rarity laughed. “Give him a break. At least he knows his name. Besides, he didn’t sense any threats. You should see him when the postman comes in with the mail. He ’s ferocious.”

“If you say so. Did I tell you that Edith’s agreed to go to the humane society with me when I get back to Tucson? I’m afraid to take her since most of the dogs there are a little larger, but we’ll see what’s available. I know she wants a little ankle biter like Killer.” Jonathon glanced at his watch. “If I focus, I might be able to finish this chapter before you close up.”

“I’ll stop bothering you, then.” Rarity walked over to the pile of mail that had come in. She sorted out the junk mail and made a pile for bills and community event information. Then she opened the package that was on the bottom. The book inside had been wrapped in paper and then again in plastic bubble wrap. When she finally got to the book, it wasn’t an advance copy from a publisher or an independent author who was self-publishing and trying to get her attention, hoping that she’d carry the book in her store. This book was old. As she turned it over, she saw it was The Fellowship of the Ring . And probably the third book taken from Marilyn Ender.

“And we have another one,” Rarity said aloud. When Jonathon looked up, she flushed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your work. I’m thinking this is one of Marilyn Ender’s books. What do you think?”

Jonathon held his hand out and opened to the copyright page. “It’s not a first edition. The one missing from the Ender’s house was a f irst edition.”

When he handed the book back, Rarity sat it on the counter and stared at it.

Finally, Jonathon looked up, sitting back from his laptop. “Tell me what you’re thinking. I can hear the wheels turning in your he ad over here.”

“What if the person who sent this also sent the other books?”

Jonathon shook his head. “It’s not the book tha t was stolen.”

“You know that, but what if they don’t? They just know it was an old copy?”

“So they assumed, when they found the book, it was the stolen one.” Jonathon nodded. “It’s a theory. A good one. Call Drew and have him meet us here before you close. I’ll still walk you home, especially after that ar riving today.”

When Drew came into the bookstore, Rarity had the book and the envelope sitting on the counter. There was no postage on the envelope. She had called Shirley, who’d said she hadn’t noticed it until the mail arrived. She thought the mailman h ad brought it.

Rarity relayed all that information as Drew looke d at the book.

“You’re sure the missing book was a first edition?” He look ed at his dad.

“I’ll have to review a copy of the file, but I’m sure that’s what the insurance claim said.” Jonathon tapped a pen on his notebook. “Unless the y were wrong.”

“Archer told me his grandmother had several first editions. She explained to him what that meant and showed him the copyright page. It was his first lesson that books are different and some are valuable.” Rarity shook her head. “The family shouldn’t have made a mis take on that.”

“I wish I could chat with Archer’s dad.” Drew ran his hand through his hair. Frustration oozed out of him. “Maybe I could call his mom.”

“He’s bad?” Rarity assumed things weren’t going well since Archer had to take off last night.

Drew nodded. “Archer called me late to talk. I’m not sure his dad would even wake up or understand if I went over to ask him questions. Anyway, can I take the book? Let’s make sure it’s the book from the E nder robbery.”

“Of course.” Rarity tucked the book back into the envelope along with the packing material, and Drew put it in a plastic evidence bag. “Not to change the subject, but what’s going on with George?”

“He’s off the suspect list, if that’s what you’re asking. And no, Terrance isn’t cleared yet.” Drew wrote on the outside of the evidence bag the time and date and the Next Chapter’s address. “It’s horrible when my job is all about looking for evidence that would convict my friends. Or friends of friends. You all seem to think I take pleasure in raking people ov er the coals.”

“I don’t think that at all.” Rarity assumed he was referring to his issues with Sam and her brother. “I just know Terrance couldn’t have killed anyone. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.”

“But he does have a need to protect others.” Drew held up a hand as Rarity started to object. “I’m not debating this with you. Besides, my dad said you found out some things about Jully that might open up some other suspects in his death.”

“I think so.” Rarity told Drew what she and Shirley had heard at the nursing home. “If he was killing off wealthy women, maybe someone got wise to his game and stopped him.”

“Possible. And with the file that Sally threw away, I have at least circumstantial evidence that the administrator knew more than what she’s telling me. I’ve got an interview with her tomorrow before the funeral. Are you or any of your sleuths attending? I’d love a snapshot of the guest book if they have one and maybe a list of who you see at the funeral.”

“You laugh at our investigative techniques then you use us for the grunt stuff,” Rarity responded, sha king her head.

Drew shrugged. “If you want to play detective, why not keep you guys out of harm’s way by giving you safe things that need to be done anyway? I’d rather have you doing this than interviewing people about Jully’s past. That could have be en dangerous.”

Rarity thought about his statement. “We had a cover story; since Sedona Memory Care was threatening to kick out George, Shirley had a reason to be there. But when Marsha started talking, it seemed like she wanted to tell us everything. And we had the patient, Elizabeth, who supported the story. William Jully was a bad egg. He deserved t o be stopped.”

“And that’s why Terrance isn’t off the suspect list. He saw the same things.” Drew glanced at his watch. “Dad, we have dinner reservations at the Garnet tonight at six. I need to shower and change. Sam’ s joining us.”

“I told Rarity I’d walk her home, so I’ll meet you there.” Jonathon turned toward Rarity. “Of course, you’re more than welcom e to join us.”

“I think I’ll pass.” Sam needed some time with Drew and his dad to clear the air and make their relationship a little more normal. Besides, Rarity had an itch to cook tonight. She always thought better when she was doing something. “I’ve got an urge t o make pasta.”

“Sounds yummy,” Jonathon said as he packed up his laptop. “I see why you all walk everywhere. You eat amazing food.”

Drew left and Rarity closed up the shop. She and Jonathon made small talk as they walked through the subdivision to her house. As she dug out her keys, Jonathon waited by the driveway. She turned to him after unlocking the door. “Am I seeing you tomorrow?”

“I’m here for the duration. Unless this goes past Easter, then I’ll let you know. You should come down to Tucson with Sam for Easter dinner.” He reached down and pulled a weed out from the front flower bed that she’d fill ed with mulch.

“That’s nice of you, but Easter’s for family,” Rar ity protested.

“Dear, if you haven’t noticed by now, you and Archer are part of our family.” Jonathon handed her Killer’s leash. “And this rug rat, of course. I might even have a playmate for him by then.”

Rarity went into her kitchen to make sure she had what she needed for dinner; then after pulling everything out, she decided to take a quick swim first. It would give her chicken breast some time to thaw.

As she got into her suit, she thought about Jonathon’s offer to visit him and Edith in Tucson for Easter. She looked at the old picture of her mom and dad. Easter had been important when she was a child. She and Mom would go shopping for new dresses and shoes. One year she even got a new coat. Her basket would be filled with colored eggs they’d made the day before and tons of candy. Enough sugar to put her into a coma as they attended ch urch services.

She hadn’t thought about her parents or Easter for a long time. Maybe it was time to allow family back into her life. She touched her fingers to her lips, then pressed a kiss on her parents’ picture. Yes, mayb e it was time.