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The video didn’t show anyone that Jonathon recognized. Still, after he reviewed it several times, Jonathon asked Rarity to send him and Drew a copy of the video. Especially last Monday’s front door ins and outs. After he finished reviewing the security tape, Jonathon waited around until she was ready to leave. As they walked toward her house, Jonathon asked her, “So are you and Arc her fighting?”

Rarity had been waiting for the question. “Not really. We had been talking about moving to the next step. I thought we were there, based on what he’d said earlier. Now, he doesn’t want to even be seen with me.”

“I’m sure that’s not even close to what’s going on. Drew’s holding Archer’s secrets as tightly as his current investigation.” Jonathon sighed as he buttoned up his coat. “It’s ch illy tonight.”

“Good conversational changer.” Rarity picked Killer up from where he was standing in front of them. “Killer’s feet are freezing. I’m going to have to buy him some of t hose booties.”

“Or keep him home on long days.” Jonathon pointed out ano ther solution.

“I used to have people to help me watch him. Terrance would take him walking or sit and watch movies with him. Or Archer would chat him up while he was making dinner. Now I have nobody.”

“That’s not true. You may feel lonely, but you have people.” Jonathon pulled her closer. “You always have me and Edith. We may not be blood, but we’re family, Rarity Cole, you need to know that.”

Hearing his words made her feel better. If just a little bit. Jonathon waited until Rarity was inside her house and had locked the doors. She watched as he turned around and went up the street so he could cross over to Drew’s house. As much as he’s here, she thought, he should get his own place.

She had wondered when someone would ask Jonathon about leaving Edith alone in Tucson so much like the book club had tonight. Edith was made of granite and steel. Rarity didn’t think anything ma de her flinch.

Rarity heated a batch of soup on the stove and reviewed the notes she’d taken from tonight’s sleuth club. She didn’t know what to think about a twenty-year-old murder, so she opened her laptop and tried to figure out the current victim and who he was. By the time dinner was over, she’d found out next to nothing on William Jully.

Or at least, nothing that he hadn’t carefully curated about himself. He had a Facebook account with about a hundred friends. From what Rarity could tell, they were all families and friends of the memory care home residents. And his account had only started last year. If Rarity had to guess, she bet it was right about the time he took the job at Sedona Memory Care. So why now? Why had he felt a need to become virtual ly social now?

She tried to find any mention of where he’d come from. If he’d had the same type of job in another city, they were being tight-lipped about thi s information.

Rarity’s phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID and then answered the call. “Good eve ning, Archer.”

“I was checking to see if you got home all right.” Archer paused. “Drew said that Jonathon would w alk you home.”

“I’m home. No problem at all. Thanks for asking.” She hated the stiffness in her voice. She tried to warm it a little by smiling as she asked, “What a re you doing?”

“Getting ready for bed. Were you in Flagsta ff on Monday?”

The question startled her. He knew she had been since they’d locked gazes. She was itching for a real fight, so she answered the question. “I went to an old bookstore. It ha s rare books.”

“I know. We were checking to see if Arthur had seen the Alice book. Maybe sold it to someone. He denied even knowing about it, which I know is a lie since Grandma used to take all her books to Arthur to be validated when he owned the Sedona shop. I used to go with her. She worked for him for years.” A woman’s voice called out, and Rarity could hear a mumble as he held his hand over the microphone on his phone. “Look, Rarity, I’ve got to go. Stay safe, please?”

She would have answered him, but he’d already hung up the phone. So whoever had been in his Jeep yesterday when he went to the bookstore was still at his apartment. Maybe it was a family member. His sister, Dana? W as she in town?

Whoever it had been, the connection was strong enough for him to end the call and come running. Rarity reached for the mystery murder book and opened it up to notes on the cold case. She added Arthur Wellings to the list of suspects and a paragraph on who he was and the bookstore he’d owned in Sedona. Had Jonathon investigated him and his connect ion to Marilyn?

Then she turned back to her laptop. Maybe she’d been thinking about Marilyn Ender’s murder wrong. She keyed in “Sedona bookstore,” and after filtering out articles and mentions about the Next Chapter, she found a couple of long articles about the rare manuscript bookstore. One was on the store’s relocation plans and the other seemed to be an earlier piece on how to establish if a book was a first edition. A picture of a much younger Arthur Wellings standing near a shelf of books accompanied the first article in the Sedona Press . She printed out both and put them in her notebook.

Killer barked to go outside, and Rarity realized it was after eleven. She’d been researching for several hours. Plus she’d been working from nine that morning until the book club ended. Her eyes felt heavy as she opened the back door to let Killer out. He didn’t go far, and Rarity used the flashlight she kept by the door to sweep over the yard and pool area. Just in case.

It was way past time to ca ll it a night.

* * *

Shirley was already at the shop when Rarity came in the next morning. She jerked her head toward the back room. “Coffee’s on and there’s a coffee cake and a dozen cookies in there as well. I didn’t sleep wel l last night.”

“Why are you here? I thought you’d be off this week?” Rarity took Killer off the leash and he ran to Shirley, who picked him up an d cuddled him.

“Kathy is driving me crazy. She acts like I’m a hundred years old and won’t let me out of her sight. I swear, she thinks I killed that Jully character myself.” Shirley kissed Killer on the head and then tucked him into one of his beds, which were scattered all around the shop. “Anyway, I told her she was welcome to stay but I was going to get back to my life. Then I got re ady for work.”

“I bet she didn’t like that.” Kathy had made a fuss when Shirley had wanted to stay at the book club last night. Having Shirley back in the world was probably freaking her daughter out to no end.

“Not in the least. I guess I should be glad I raised a strong, independent woman who knows how to say what she thinks. Instead, I’m worried she’ll say something and hurt one of my friends or get George riled up. Can you imagine how upset his girlfriend will be if she discovers he has kids with me? She already hates that I’m his wife.”

“You realize how crazy this all sounds, right?” Rarity went into the back and poured herself a cup of coffee. When she came back, she also had a cookie in her hand. It must have jumped on board for t he short walk.

What? That was her story.

“So what’s going on with you and Archer? Why didn’t he come to walk you home?” Shirley sipped her coffee as she watched Rarity’s face. “And don’t tell me he was hiking. You and I both know that wasn’ t the reason.”

“We’re…” Rarity shook her head and started over. “No, he’s having second thoughts about our relationship. So we’re on a b reak. I guess.”

“Well, that wasn’t what I expected to hear.” Shirley reached over and rubbed Rarity’s back. “Men, they m ake us crazy.”

“Definitely. I’m so glad you’re here today. With the spring festival coming up this weekend, we’ve got stuff to get ready for our booth. And we haven’t finished stuffing those stupid eggs. I’d forgotten about them.” Rarity had gotten a call from Heidi that morning to see if the project was done. “So that has to be finished no later than tomorrow night. Heidi’s coming over Thursday and picking up the eggs.”

“I hate to say this, but I’ll call Kathy and have her come down. We should be able to finish today w ith her help.”

“Tell her I’ll buy her lunch.” Rarity didn’t know if that would entice Shirley’s daughter or not. But the eggs needed t o be finished.

Shirley made the call and then came back to the counter. “She’ll be here in twenty minutes. What do you want me t o start with?”

“The boxes in the back. Most of the books are for the event, but there are a few special orders we need to cull out.” Rarity handed her a list of the orders. “Can you go through the boxes, pull out these books, and then mark the ones that are ready to go in some way?”

“How are we going to get all of these over to the park?” Shirley asked. “I wish I still had my soccer van. That thing could carry an entire team with luggage.”

Rarity shook her head. She hadn’t thought about that detail. “Archer was going to move us with his bus, but I think he’s busy on another project. Maybe I can ask Terrance to help on Friday morning? I’m closing the store while we’re over at the festival.”

“I’m not calling Terrance.” Shirley took the list and scanned the titles. “Do you want them all up here at the front?”

“Please. And you don’t have to call Terrance. I’ll check with Archer first, in case he’s free; then I’ll ask Terrance. And if that doesn’t work, maybe Jonathon can borrow Drew’s truck.” The problem with local festivals was that everyone in town was involved in them and busy. Maybe she’d have to think about trading in her car for a bigger one. A vehicle that could haul boxes every on ce in a while.

Rarity started a festival to-do list. She found that if she had a step-by-step list, she forgot fewer things that she needed. Of course, each festival was different. She needed some candy for the booth too. Which meant a trip to Flagstaff tonight or t omorrow night.

As she was finishing that up, Jonathon came through the door. “Good morning, book people.”

Rarity waved him over. “Just the person I was wa iting to see.”

“That can’t be good.” He glanced around the bookstore, which was currently empty of customers.

“I need you to watch the front while I stuff plastic eggs. Kathy is coming in as well, so send her back when she gets here. And if someone wants to buy a book, pull me out and I’ll ring them up.” Rarity tucked her notebook under the counter. Once she got the egg stuffing done, she would worry about the rest of the festival tasks. And maybe she’d think twice about volunteering for every project t hat came along.

Jonathon sat at his normal table and opened his laptop. “Sounds suspiciously easy. What ’s the catch?”

“I’ll buy you lunch. And maybe you can help stuff plastic eggs later?” Rarity wanted this chore to be off t he list today.

He nodded and studied the screen. “I’m on call for whatever you need. Maybe my muse will be quick to give me today’s words since I might be called out of play at any time.”

“I live to serve,” Rarity answered as she headed to the back room.

She and Shirley quietly worked on their assignments in the back. “Hey, I have a question. Were you here when Archer’s grandmother was murdered?”

“No, we moved here a few years after it happened. I heard about it at church, though. I guess she was attacked in her home. She was supposed to be out that night with her son and daughter-in-law to see the youngest, Dana’s, play. But she had a migraine and stayed home.” Shirley moved the last box over to the door. “Everyone was freaked out about home invasions for year s after that.”

“So she wasn’t supposed to be home. Maybe it was a robbery gone bad.” Rarity filled another plastic egg and put it into one of the laundry baskets that Heidi had brought to put the completed eggs into when they were finished. They were stuffing the candy for the five-to-seven-year-old hunt. “I wonder who knew she owned the rar e Alice book?”

“I’m not sure why anyone would have stolen a book. It had to be someone who knew its value. Is there even a black market that deals in stolen books?” Shirley glanced out the window, where the hills surrounding the town were barely visible. “Especia lly out here?”

“All good questions for our resident crime expert. But I hate to bother him if he’s writing.” Rarity nodded to ward the front.

Jonathon tucked his head in the door. “Not writing, but I need coffee to bribe my m use. Any made?”

“Sure, let me get you a cup.” Rarity stood and filled a large cup. She walked the coffee over to where Jonathon stood, watching the front door. “You know the bell will ring if anyone comes inside.”

“Habit. I’ve been put on watch, and watch is what I’m going to do. What question did you two want to ask me?” He sipp ed his coffee.

Rarity glanced over at Shirley. “I guess you heard us.”

“Part of it. Go on and ask, you won’t hurt my feelings.” He met her ga ze and smiled.

“Okay, so Marilyn wasn’t supposed to be home. Was this a robbery gone bad? Who knew she had such a valuable book? And is there a black market fo r such items?”

He blinked several times. “I need to think a minute. That’s not one good question, they’re all good. So we looked at the idea that the killing was bad luck for Marilyn. A robbery gone wrong was our theory, except we scoured the local pawn shops and talked to reputable book dealers. No one had heard about an Alice coming up for sale. I kept in touch with several book dealers over the years, but it never showed up. Until you found it in y our restroom.”

Rarity nodded. “But were there other books taken?”

“Some, but none of them were as rare or valuable as the Alice in Wonderland . I have a complete list in my case file copy at the house. I’ll have Edith scan it and send it to me.” The bell over the door sounded, and Jonathon nodded. “I’ve got to go back to work and look like a real bookseller. I’ll let you know if they want to b uy something.”

Shirley and Rarity went back to stuffing eggs. The bell on the door kept ringing, and Jonathon called Rarity up to help several times. When Kathy came into the back room at about eleven, she gasped. “Did the Easter Bunny thro w up in here?”

“No, we’re just his helpers.” Rarity stood and motioned to her chair. “You take this spot. I’m going to go grab lunch for everyone. What do you w ant, Shirley?”

After Rarity had gotten everyone’s lunch order called in, she still had about a half hour before the food would be ready and she’d have to leave. Instead of going back to the back room to stuff more eggs, she walked around the bookstore and straightened books. She reshelved those that had been left somewhere besides their shelved spot when the customer had discarded them and chose n another book.

A book sat by a reading chair on a table. Rarity picked it up and immediately noticed the age of the cover. She’d been left another offering. She sat down in the chair and gently opened it to the title page. She didn’t know what to look for as far as it being a first edition, but the book, a hardback copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , s at on her lap.

She appreciated someone trying to do the right thing by returning the books, but she didn’t know why she was the middleman between the Ender family and the original thief. Or if he wasn’t the thief, he at least had another clue in the discovery of who stole these books and from whom.

Rarity took the book to the table where Jonathon was working. He didn’t look up from his typing. “Sorry, Rarity, I’m in a flow. I figured out what I want the detective to say when he comes up on t he dead body.”

She held up the book. “Look what I found.”

“The wording is a little on the nose, don’t you think? But thanks for the suggestion. Maybe something like that but with a little mystery.” Jonathon finally looked up and saw what she held. “Where did you find that? That’s one of the books stolen from Marilyn’s house that night. Or it’s a red herring. If that is actually Marilyn’s book, someone clearly wants these to go back to Arc her’s family.”

“Come hell or high water,” Rarity added.