Well, Bren said finally, I have to get going. Im sure you do, too, Poppy. Good luck to you.
Same back.
And that was that, Poppy thought. She stashed the infamous box on the passenger seat of her mint-green VW and headed out of townwhich only took a couple of minutes. Righteous was built in the curl of a hillside, with three main streets curved in a semicircle. Past Cal Ashers office and the short sweep of stores, came the Baptist church, then Righteous Academya parochial high schooland then zip. Open road.
Two miles out of town, tucked in a nest of curly maples, was the sign for Critter Care. Webs house stood a few hundred yards beyond the clinic. He could have walked to town, but the nature of the property made the place look secluded and protected.
Conscience nagged at herthe attorney was probably right about her needing to see a jeweler or at least to put the jewelry in some kind of protective place. But when Poppy climbed out of the car, she just felt stubborn about the whole thing. You couldnt drop a bomb on a womans head and expect it to gently sink in. At least, nothing ever sank into her head that easily. She needed a few minutes to take it in, think about what it all meant. Besides which, she was already twenty minutes late for an appointment with Bubba.
An extraordinary number of dogs in Virginia were named Bubba. This one happened to be a thirteen-year-old black and tan with a really mean case of arthritis.
Heaven knew where the receptionist wasLola Mae seemed to need a cigarette break every fifteen minutesbut Web was bent over the front desk when she charged in. Typically he looked as if hed just wakened from a tryst with a loverhis jacket was wrinkled, his shock of dark hair rumpled, his chin haphazardly shaved. He shot her one of those Gods-gift-to-women grins. Poppy didnt waste time taking offense, because Web couldnt help looking like a George Clooney clone.
Its been hell on wheels around here since you left, Poppy. So what was the deal with the lawyer?
I cant wait to tell you. It was just unbelievable. But she could see at a glance there was a crying cat and a bluetick hound waiting for him, and her plate was just as full. Ill catch up with you later, okay?
She headed straight in, past the reception desk. Her two rooms were off the left, with an outside entrance. Four years agoafter his second divorceWeb had plucked her from a life of misery behind a desk in an insurance office and conned her into being a part-time groomer for him. Hed kept adding hours as the clinic grew and her skills with it. Heaven knew, she had no formal education or training the way he did, but shed long felt secure that she was a valued part of the clinic team. Primarily she focused on grooming, training and rehaband jumping in whenever they had a difficult critter to handle. She loved the tough ones. And Web kept raising her salary, until she didnt have time to spend the salary she had.
Truth was, Poppy had realized for some time that she loved animals more than people. More than herself, when it came down to it. And Web gave her a ton of freedom and encouragement to try things that worked. In this case, what worked for Bubba was a treadmill under water.
The contraption looked like a bathtub set below floor levelbecause she couldnt very well lift the heavier animals. Bubba was a love. This was his third time, and initially hed liked standing in the lukewarm water. Getting him to walk on the underwater treadmill was a way of giving him exercise without putting any pressure or weight on his old hips. It worked like a dream to limber him up.
The only slight problem was that most dogs couldnt be coaxed into doing it until she got in the water with them. She didnt exactly mind. But ten minutes into the session with Bubba, she was wetter and stinkier than he wasand that wasnt too complimentary, considering how much stinky hound was in Bubbas genetic heritage.
Web stopped by a few minutes later but just to chortle in the doorway. Tell me againwhos that exercise pool for, you or the dog?
She ignored the insult. She was used to it. Look how good hes doing!
Web stepped in then and hunkered down at the dogs level to watch how Bubba moved in the water. I never thought this was going to work when you made me build the damn thing, he admitted.
I dont know why you keep doubting me. Ive told you and told you that Im always right. Though she easily teased him back, Web wasnt on her mind. The dog was. Damn, but the old love was able to move with so much more ease in the water. Bubba was even wagging his tailwhich contributed mightily to Poppy and the floor being extra wet, but it wasnt as if she gave a damn about irrelevant stuff like that anyway.
You have a helluva gift, Poppy, Web murmured seriously.
Sometimes she thought she did. Animals made so much more sense to her than people. A critter never stood you up and rejected you or made you feel like dirt. Give an animal love, they gave back.
When she glanced up, Web had gone back to his other patients. She did the same, finishing with Bubba, then taking on a Jack Russell named Sergeant. Sergeants owner had been bringing him in weekly for grooming. The dog didnt need grooming, he needed training. But since his owner couldnt face up to admitting failure, Poppy called it grooming and just did the job.
Sergeant was smarter than most mennot that that was any exceptional accomplishmentand he took pleasure in testing all the humans in his realm to the far reaches of their patience whenever possible.
Poppy could outpatience him with no sweat, but she was whipped when her hour with him was over. By then it was two oclock, and she was close to death from starvation.
If anyone had asked, shed have claimed that the box locked in her car trunk hadnt given her a moments worry. But it had. She yanked on a clean long-sleeved T-shirt, because she was too disreputable to be seen in publiceven by her own loose standards.
Then she drove back into town, taking Willow Street, past all the blue-and-silver banners at the high school, past Petes Pharmacy and Clunkers Shoe Store and Baby Buttercup Clothes for Tots. Links was next, one of her favorite takeouts because it had great fresh deli.
She was still munching on a pastrami-on-rye when she pulled into the parking lot next door, behind Rubys Rubies. The name was hokey, but the owners last name was actually Ruby, so it wasnt his fault. And of the three jewelry stores in town, everyone seemed to inherently know that Rubys was the best.
That wasnt why shed chosen the place, though. Anonymity was. One of her younger brothers was a sheriff deputy and the other volunteered with the fire departmentwhich meant they heard all the Righteous gossip almost before a juicy story could even happen. When Poppy wanted to do something on the Q.T., she had to be sneaky enough to slip under their radar.
She was already known here, although heaven knew, not because shed ever purchased any jewelry.
She popped in the front door, the box under her arm. The bells jangled over the door, but initially she saw no one and called out, Hey, Ruby!
Ruby was a one of a kind. Agewise, he had to be somewhere between forty and a hundred. He had a nose so hooked it could have caught fish, hair that streamed down his back in wiry strings and quiet gray eyes. Hed never cracked a smile that Poppy had ever seen, but he had a framed photograph over his door. It said Natures Most Savage Predator and showed a five-week-old orange-striped kitten peeking fearlessly over the side of a wicker basket.
Poppy had met Ruby when hed brought the kitten in to the vet for the first time. Shed seen how he acted with the baby. Didnt have to know him better than that to know he was a trustworthy kind of guy.
His store, though, was an alien planet. Two rows of counters gleamed with baubles and glitter. Lots of watches. Lots of wedding rings. Lots of rainbow-colored junk to dazzle the eye. Poppy heard a womans voice in the back room and realized Ruby must have a customer back therebut before she could duck out the door, he suddenly showed up in the workroom doorway.
She opened her mouth to say what she needed, when he simply said, Come on back, as if he already knew.
He couldnt, but she really didnt want to display the contents in the public front of the store anyway, so she trailed him into the back room. And then lifted her eyebrows in surprise.
Bren Price was already there. Her jewelry goodies were spilled out on a velvet scarf, where Ruby had obviously been studying her pieces.
I had to know, too, Bren said as if theyd been carrying on a conversation.
I can do this via separate appointments if you want, Ruby said in his deep, quiet baritone. But Im guessing you both have similar kinds of questions. I can do a short, cursory appraisal for you both right nowat least, if were not interrupted by customers.
I dont know what questions either of us have. But Im okay with your handling us together, if thats all right with Bren, Poppy said frankly.
Its all right with me, Bren affirmed.
After that, neither woman spoke for quite a while. Poppy figured she wasnt that surprised to find Bren there. They were both women, after all.
No female alive could survive a major dose of curiosity indefinitely. Although Poppy couldnt believe this could possibly be a serious financial legacyand probably neither did Brenshe just plain had to know what all that gaudy jewelry was worth so she could put her curiosity at ease.
Clearly Ruby had been working for some time on Brens cache of sparklers, because there was stuff all around himpaper, pencil, a monocle, some kind of fancy microscope. Once he went back to concentrating, Poppy could see a pattern emerge. He kept looking at the jewelry, then his instruments, then Bren. Jesus, he said.
And then, Jesus, he repeated.
By the time he spun his stool to Poppys stash and dived into her mother lode, he seemed to have that mantra down pat. The only variance in his vocabulary seemed to be an occasional, Jesus, Mother and Mary.
Poppy asked once, Hows the Lion, Ruby? referring to Rubys kitten, but he completely ignored her. Truth to tell, he didnt seem to give a particular hoot if either woman was in the room.
That didnt bother Poppy, but even for an irreverent antichurch person like herself, his choice of words started to get to her. Eventually she had to interrupt. Look, I couldnt care less if you use four-letter words until the cows come home, but you know Brens a ministers wife, right? I mean, I realize she isnt objecting, but Id think
He just whispered, Jesus, again in an awe-filled tone, as if the two women werent even there.
A customer came inall of them heard the bellbut Ruby jogged out to the storefront, said something, ushered the customer out and hung up his Closed sign.
In Righteous, no one turned down customers. Business was never that good.
All right, Poppy said finally, youre scaring me, assuming you arent scaring Bren. I sure as hell dont want to interrupt your concentration. The sooner this gets done the better. But if you could just give us some idea whats going on here?
He couldnt be rushed. Poppy kept looking at her watch. Bren kept looking at hers.
Finally Ruby lurched off his stool and stood up, knuckling the ache at the small of his back as he gave them the bad news. He started with Bren, going through the handfuls of jewelry piece by piece. Now all these beads here, they likely came from a five-and-dime at best. But then you see the yellow one? This one? Thats a blond diamond.
I never heard of a blond diamond.
Thats because most folks in these parts dont tend to shop on Fifth Avenue. And you see this brooch?
The one with all those rhinestones and the strange peach stone shaped like a tongue?
The brooch in question was Brens, but Poppy leaned closer to get a look, too. It was almost as ugly as the stuff in her hoard. The weird pink stone really did look like an animals tongue hanging out.
That aint a tongue, Ruby said. Its a conch pearl. And those rhinestones are diamonds. I need some time, but at first guess I believe that brooch is worth somewhere near a hundred grand.
Excuse me? Brens voice was as faint as a mile-away whisper.
A hundred thousand dollars.
Excuse me?
Then there are these long earrings here. The ones with the pink tourmaline and black gold and peridots and diamonds and all He held up the trashy, flashy things. I cant give you an exact price until Ive studied em more, but off the cuff Id say theyre worth in the ballpark of fifty grand.
Excuse me?
Ruby said to Poppy, You best get her a chair before she falls over.
Poppy went chasing after another stool. As an afterthought, she rolled a third stool over from the back of the store for herself.
Bren plunked down on hers, looking as pale as if shed been stung by a wasp and was experiencing the first waves of shock.
Well give her a minute to breathe, Ruby said to Poppy and then started playing with her stash. I cant say I care for this particular pin. Its as big as a padlock, for Petes sake. Just dont know where a woman could wear it. But the platinum and diamonds are something else. I never seen anything like her. Im not committing it to paper until Ive studied it more, but dont think theres any question were talking around a hundred and fifty grand.
Say what? Poppy said.
And this cuff bracelet. Lots of those little stones are just chips, nothing thats gonna save the farm, so to speak, but those two big stones at the end are kunzite. Good kunzite. Dont know much about the stone, but anybody can see theyre really good quality. Id throw out twenty-five thousand for an initial guess.
Say what?
The tanzanite beaded necklace, now, isnt quite as good as youd think
Trust me, Ruby, Im not thinking.
Im just saying. People know of tanzanite being rare, so they generally assume its more valuable than it is, when tanzanite is too soft a stone for a lot of applications. This ones in a protected setting, though. Its all right. Good stones. An interesting piece, but I still have to say I dont think itll be worth more than ten K.
Say what?
Look, ladies. I need time with pieces like this to give you a true appraisal. And Im not too proud to admit, I may have to consult with some other jewelers, check the market. Not like Im regularly exposed to pieces like this. But offhand Im guessing you each have jewelry valued somewhere in the two-hundred-thousand-dollar price range.
CHAPTER 3
Two hundred thousand dollars. Bren stood at the gas pump, filling the church van before she headed home. Typically almost everyone stopping for gas was a face she knew, so she waved and smiled and did some chitchat. But her mind was still roller coastering up and down the mental hills of two hundred thousand dollars. Two hundred thousand dollars. Two hundred thou. Two hundred K. Two hundred grand.