Dearly Depotted by Kate Collins Page A

nothing to do with his integrity and everything to do with his devil-may-care attitude. I worry about you when it comes to matters of your heart. I know how shattered you were after Pryce broke your engagement.”
    “Yes, but didn’t that turn out to be a blessing in disguise.”
    She picked up her cup and sipped quietly, her gaze straying to the bay window. “When my husband died, I didn’t think I’d ever meet another man who had as much integrity and charm as he had, and I certainly wasn’t about to settle for less. When I met Richard I felt a new glimmer of hope that perhaps I wasn’t destined to live the rest of my life alone. Yet for months I resisted his offer of friendship, fearing I’d be disappointed. But he’s a persistent man, so I finally let him into my life. Now I can’t help but think it was a mistake. Look what has happened to him because of me.”
    Grace looked so racked with guilt and sadness that my heart ached for her. How many times had she consoled me, and there I was without even one good quote to cheer her up. The best I could come up with was, “You can’t blame yourself for this.”
    “But you can ask Abby for help,” Lottie said. She was standing in the doorway, a shrewd gleam in her eye. No one could raise four boys without gaining a little shrewdness. Obviously Grace had filled her in on the events of the night before.
    “I’ll bet you any money that Abby can figure out who killed Jack Snyder,” she said.
    I glanced at Grace, preparing myself for her resounding “Absolutely not.” She hated when I poked around in police business. To my astonishment she lifted an eyebrow, as if she were actually considering it.
    One thing I’ve learned about Grace: if I wanted to convince her to do something, I had to take the opposite stance. “I’m not sure I’d be of much help,” I said to Lottie. “Reilly won’t tell me a thing anymore. He gets feisty when I ask him questions.”
    “Forget Reilly,” Lottie said, playing along. “You’ve got a better source—that hottie Greg Morgan in the prosecutor’s office. He owes you for standing you up at the wedding.”
    Morgan hadn’t actually stood me up, but her point was well taken. Not only did he have access to police records, but he had also developed an interest in me that I milked whenever I could. It was payback for all those snubs I’d gotten from him in high school.
    I looked at Grace to see how our ploy was working and thought I detected a glint of hope in her eyes. It was time to toss more fuel into the fire. “There was another person at the wedding who Jack had wronged and, as it happens, he left early, too. He’s a butcher at the Meat Market. It wouldn’t be hard to check out his story.”
    “And since you’re practically family, you can pay a visit to Jillian’s uncle Josiah to fish around there,” Lottie added.
    I didn’t rush to agree. It would take a better sportsman than me to pull a tuna out of that pond.
    Grace finished her tea and took her cup to the sink behind the bar. She was humming a flat tune, which meant she was doing some serious deliberating. The more carefree Grace felt, the livelier her tunes became. Lottie gave me an encouraging wink.
    The phone rang in the shop and Lottie went to answer it. “Abby, it’s Trudee DeWitt,” she called a moment later.
    Oh, no. I’d forgotten to make arrangements to have the carnations removed from her backyard. I jumped up and ran to the other room. “Trudee? Hi. I’m so sorry I didn’t call you.”
    “That’s okay,” she said in her perky voice. “I just wanted to let you know that your cute little helpers are here.”
    “My cute little helpers are at your house?” I said, glancing at Lottie for confirmation, but she shrugged, as if it was news to her.
    “They’re loading a pickup truck now. They want to know where to dump the flowers.”
    I was amazed the quads had thought to do that all on their own. “Tell them to take the flowers to the park