Sue ended the call. “He didn’t ask,” she told Vanessa. “He just wanted someone to run past his house and make sure his back door was locked.”

“Thank you for not volunteering…” She waved her hand around the shop.

“Yeah, well, I hope I can count on you to give me a good reference when he finds out we were here when he called.” Sue shook her head and walked outside.

Gus motioned Vanessa over to the counter he’d just finished dusting. “I thought the glass would be stripped of prints but I found quite a few smudges and a few good prints, one a partial palm print. I’ll run them through the records when I get back to the station. Meanwhile, I’ll get your prints now.”

One by one, he dipped her fingers in ink, then pressed each onto a card.

“Will this wash off?” she asked.

“Sure,” Gus told her. “Eventually.”

Not sure if he was kidding or not, she went into the powder room and proceeded to scrub at the ink. When she was satisfied she’d gotten off all she was going to get that night, she came back out to the shop floor. Carl was near the cash register, pulling on a pair of thin rubber gloves.

“Vanessa, I need to ask you to prepare a list of what you think is missing,” he told her as he squatted down.

“I have no idea how much the sales were from today. I’ll have to call Cathy Williams and ask her.” She looked over the counter and saw he was picking up a pile of receipts. “Those would help. May I see them?”

He tossed her a pair of gloves and she slipped them on.

“I’m going to want her to stop by tomorrow so I can take her prints as well. She might be able to help you figure out what was sold as opposed to what was taken.” Gus glanced up from his work on the contents of the jewelry case.

“Cathy was only here for a few hours. Nan Silvestri was here most of the day, and several days this week. She’s away until tomorrow night, though.”

“We’ll catch up with her.” Gus picked carefully through the broken glass. “You think you could tell what jewelry might be missing?”

“Not without knowing what was sold today. It’s mostly costume, not fine jewelry. The best pieces I have are silver with some semiprecious stones. Nothing real expensive, certainly nothing rare. No gold. No platinum. No precious gems.” She looked over each receipt, touching them only on the edges to lift them or turn them over. Even wearing the gloves, she felt as if she were doing something she shouldn’t be doing. “Do you need to know everything that’s missing tonight?”

“No.” Gus shook his head. “But the sooner you can get it together, the better.”

Vanessa stripped off the gloves.

“Vanessa, have you noticed any strange activity lately? Customers who acted peculiar? Anyone hanging around the store?”

She shook her head. “No, no one strange. Gus, if you don’t need me anymore, then I think I’d like to leave now.”

“Go on home. We’ll call you if anything comes up,” Gus told her without looking up from his work.

Grady was still leaning against the doorjamb. She walked over and said, “We can go.”

“Do you want me to run down and get the car and come back for you?”

“No.” She took his hand. “I want to stay with you.”

He nodded and they walked out of the shop and across the street. The town was pin-drop quiet, the only sounds the tap-tap of her heels on the pavement. There was a fine silver mist rolling in off the Bay that made her skin feel damp. She wanted to go home and take a very hot shower and she wanted to take him with her. She was tired and worn out and dispirited and she felt sick. Bling was everything to her, and someone had trashed it. She’d have to close for God only knew how long and she probably was out hundreds of dollars’ worth of her carefully selected merchandise. The day that had begun so perfectly had turned out to be perfectly awful.

They went through the dark area off Charles Street and passed under the streetlights that marked the end of the municipal building’s lot. Across the road was the lot where Grady had left the car. Before her, the walk through the unlit lot appeared endless. Their shadows, cast by the lights from the municipal building, grew longer and longer as they walked farther and farther into the lot. Finally, they were at the car and Vanessa let out a breath she hadn’t been aware she’d been holding. She’d never been afraid of the dark, but tonight, on the heels of the break-in at Bling, she felt spooked.

At first, Vanessa thought the loud crunching she heard was the sound of the oyster shells in the lot crushing beneath their feet. But something sharp stabbed through the sole of her shoe and she cried out.

“What?” Grady caught her arm as she stumbled.

“Something went right through the bottom of my shoe.” She stopped and stood on one foot. She removed the shoe, and when she touched the side of her foot, she felt something wet and thick. “I think my foot is bleeding. I must have stepped on a piece of broken glass.”

Grady started toward the car for a flashlight, but after he’d taken two steps closer, he began to curse softly.

“What?” she asked. “What is it?”

“Do you have a tissue in your bag?” he asked.

“I think so. You never go to a wedding without tissues.” She opened her bag and felt around inside until her fingers closed around one. “Here you go.”

He reached out in the darkness and took it, then walked to the car, using the tissue to cover the handle as he opened the car door and reached inside to turn on the headlights.

Vanessa stared at the ground, then at the car door. “Grady, is that…”

“Yeah. Glass. Someone’s broken all the windows out of the car.”

“What…?” She stepped closer.

“Don’t. I don’t want you to step on anything else.” He held a hand out to stop her. “Let’s go back to the police station and get someone over here.”

“I can’t believe this.” She felt stunned. “This whole night has turned into one big nightmare. My shop, your car…”

“My rental car.”

“This is such a quiet town, this is just crazy, that someone would break into Bling and someone else would vandalize your car.”

They were nearing the edge of the lot, and in the dim light, she could see him shaking his head.

“I’m not so sure it was someone else,” he told her.

“You think the same person did this? The shop and the car?”

He nodded.

“Damn. That is the most bizarre coincidence, isn’t it?”

“Stop and think, Ness. First your shop, then the car you were riding in? Uh-uh.” His jaw was squared, and for the first time since she’d met him, he was angry. “No coincidence there, babe. I think someone’s trying to send you a message.”

He opened the front door of the municipal building and held it for her to enter.

“What’s that supposed to mean? What kind of message?”

“I’m not certain, but I’m guessing it isn’t a love note.”

“You’re scaring me.”

“You should be scared,” he told her. “You have every reason to be scared.”

“Maybe you’re wrong. Maybe it isn’t what you think. Maybe it’s kids, just out causing mischief.”

“What happened in your shop is more than mischief. The smashing up of the car? Coming immediately after the break-in? I don’t think this is the work of mischievous kids. Whoever did this is angry, and that anger is being directed at you for some reason. You must have really pissed off someone.” He took her by the hand. “Which way is the police department?”

She pointed to the hall on the right. As she did so, Sue walked out of one of the offices. Seeing them, she said, “Did you forget something?”

“No. We’re here for round two,” Grady told her.

“Round two?” Sue raised her eyebrows.

“Someone took a sledgehammer or something equally heavy and knocked out all the windows of my car while we were at the shop.”

“Son of a bitch…” Sue’s eyes grew wide. “What are the chances of that?”