“Ladies,” he said after we parked and got out to talk to him. “What brings you back to our charming little town?”
“I lost an earring the last time we were here,” I said. Though I rarely wore jewelry, I was counting on the police chief not to know that.
“Funny, but you’re not wearing any now,” he said.
“That’s because I’m not a pirate. I took the other one off as soon as I noticed that its mate was missing. It’s true that I don’t wear them that often, but that’s what makes them so special.”
He clearly didn’t believe me, but he evidently didn’t know me well enough to come right out and call me a liar. “Did you find it, by any chance?”
“No, I’m afraid it’s a lost cause. Just out of curiosity, how did you know that we were here?”
The chief pointed all around us at the businesses and homes interspersed on the block. “They have a decent neighborhood watch around here. Someone called me, so I decided to come over here and check it out for myself.”
“Well, then, that’s one mystery solved,” Maddy said. “Now, if you don’t mind moving your cruiser, we’re going to be late prepping the pizzeria for our customers today.”
“I’ve never eaten there,” he admitted. “Is your food any good?”
“It’ll do in a pinch,” I said, refusing to be baited by the question.
“Boy, you really know how to sell it, don’t you? I’ll see you there sometime soon, and that’s a promise.”
Chief Hudson got into his squad car, and as he did, Maddy reached in back as nonchalantly as she could and covered the recycle bin with a blanket I kept in back.
We waved to him as we drove past, offering smiles we didn’t mean.
“Boy, I’m really glad we didn’t use that rock,” Maddy said.
“I’m happy he didn’t look in the back of my car. What would he have said if he’d caught us stealing a recycling bin?”
“Not as much as he would have if we’d broken into the office. That was a good call there, by the way. Things could have gotten dicey. And the lost earring story? Brilliance, sheer brilliance. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so proud of you in my life.”
I thanked her for the compliments, and then I said, “What can I say? I was on a roll.” I looked in the back and said, “I’m not looking forward to going through that mess, though.”
“Pull over,” Maddy said as she pointed to an empty parking lot.
“What’s wrong? Did something just happen that I missed?” I asked as I did as I was told.
Maddy got out of the front passenger seat and hopped in back. “I’m going to use our time wisely while you drive. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Be my guest,” I said. “Let me know if you find anything interesting.”
By the time we got to the Slice, Maddy was disgusted. “There was nothing in there that gave me any idea of what Maine has been up to. What a waste of a morning this has turned out to be.”
As I parked my car in back of the restaurant, I said, “Maddy, you know as well as I do that most of the leads and ideas we follow up on don’t pan out. All we can do is keep swinging and hope we find something that we can use.”
“I know,” she said as she pulled out the bin. “It’s still disappointing. What should I do with this?”
“Just put it by the back door,” I said. “We’ll deal with it later. Are you sure there was nothing of value to us there?”
“You’re welcome to go through it all yourself,” she said.
“No, thanks, at least not until I’m really desperate,” I said. “For now, let’s go get ready to make some pizza.”
It was nearly eleven when Paul came by with our sandwich rolls. He made them fresh for us every day at the bakery and gave us a huge discount as well. Usually, it was a bright spot in our day when he came by, but he was clearly distracted by something when he showed up.
“Paul, what’s going on?” I asked as he put the bread on the racks we’d installed just for him. “Is something wrong?”
“What? No. I’m fine.”
“My dad always used to say that ‘fine’ was a bad answer to any question but what grit of sandpaper you wanted. Come on. You can talk to us.”
Maddy piped in. “Think of us as the sisters you never had.”
“Older sisters at that,” I said.
“Hey, speak for yourself, Eleanor. If he wants to think of me as his younger sister, I’m not about to try to stop him.”
“Maddy, he doesn’t need our comedy act. Something is clearly wrong.”