Treasured Past (13 page)

I rubbed my eyes again and let out a long sigh. I had to do something about work, but I didn’t even know where to start. I knew that I had to find some balance, that it wasn’t healthy to be investing so much of myself into Annie.

Annie. I smiled when I thought of her, and how much she had changed my life in such a short time. To hell with Donald Gold, I decided. He and his law firm had little to do with my future.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I couldn’t make sense of what I was looking at. The description in the ledger next to the February 12 entry said
RC Plat F.D. REPL — $??.
I knew I’d seen the same phrase
RC Plat F.D.
somewhere else, but couldn’t remember where. To make matters worse, it didn’t even look like Annie’s handwriting, which I’d gotten rather good at deciphering.

I had no idea what an
RC Flat F.D.
was, or how much to enter as the sale price for the item, and I was growing frustrated. Normally I would have kept going and moved on to the next item, except that I’d already moved past it twice and was ready to reconcile the month. Annie was out at an auction, and I was irritated that I wouldn’t be able to finish. So far I’d completed every other month through June, and February was the only thing that got in the way of completing the project. I wanted so badly to be able to finish up and begin to show Annie how to keep track of things going forward.

“Ah.” I actually said the word aloud as I knelt down and searched the shelves below the counter. Annie kept copies of all the receipts in shoeboxes under the counter. All I had to do was find the copy and enter in the amount. Simple enough.

Except that the receipt number wasn’t in its proper place. So I had to go through each receipt from the box marked February, until I finally found the copy near the bottom. Thirty-eight dollars. Mission accomplished, I put the box back where I’d found it and turned back to the computer and typed in the amount. A few button pushes and mouse clicks later, I ran some reports and was surprised by the results. I was off by thirty-eight dollars.
Dammit
.
The cash-register receipts didn’t match up to the entries in the ledger.

“Hi.” I heard Annie’s voice at the same time that I heard the jingle of the bell above the door.

“Hi.” I wasted no time in rounding the corner and pulling her into a big hug. “How did it go?”

She groaned in reply. “A waste of time, really. Everything was in such lousy shape, and I just don’t have the time or the energy or the patience to do any major restoration work.” She kissed me quickly.

“So you’re empty handed?” I asked.

“Afraid so,” she sighed. “How’s it going with you? Have you tamed the beast yet?” We had begun to refer to the project that I’d undertaken as simply
the beast.

“I’m almost done.” I had to temper my enthusiasm. “I’ve got everything balanced except for February. Do you think if I showed you something you might be able to figure it out?”

“Does it have to do with math?” she mocked, and I laughed.

“Only a little bit,” I assured her. “There’s just this one entry that I’m having trouble with.” I walked to the other side of the counter and turned the ledger around so that she could read it. She leaned in for a close inspection as I began to ramble.

“Number twenty-three-fourteen, see?” I pointed to the entry. “There’s no price beside it, and so I dug up the pink copy.”

She raised her eyes to mine quickly, all traces of the previous smile now gone. “Did you find it?”

“Yeah.” I squatted down and lifted the lid from the shoebox, removing the receipt. She took it from my hands and stared at it hard.

“Thirty-eight dollars.” Her voice sounded hollow.

“Yeah. So I thought I was all set except that after I entered the amount, I was off for the month by thirty-eight dollars.” I watched the steady frown grow on her lips, and I wished I hadn’t brought any of this up.

“It’s no big deal, really. Your cash deposits are just off by thirty-eight dollars for the month. That’s all.” I tried to sound lighthearted, but knew that my attempts were failing. Annie was upset. Her facial expression and body language were screaming volumes.

“Annie. It’s only thirty-eight dollars. No big deal.”

She was ignoring me, the anger on her face something I don’t think I had ever seen before.

When she finally spoke, her voice was tight and even. “It’s a lot more than that, I’m afraid.”

I watched her for several moments, not believing that she could be getting so upset over such a small amount of money.
Finally she nodded toward the cash register, and I followed her gaze.

It had been there for a very long time. A white copy of a sales receipt that had been taped to the side of the cash register. I’d glanced at it many times but had never known its significance or why it was there. Receipt number twenty-three fourteen. Now I reached out and carefully pulled it down as I studied the writing.

RC Plat F.D.— $2100.00.

“Twenty-one hundred dollars?” My voice was high. What in the hell did all this mean?

“Exactly.” Annie’s voice was heavy as she took the receipt and laid it next to the yellow copy on the counter. Except for the amount they were identical—
alnost
. Annie was shaking her head.

“Annie.” I felt suddenly very far away from her. “What’s going on? What does all of this mean?” My concern was growing.

“It’s a long story.” She looked defeated, all brightness vacant from her features. “Awhile ago,” she began, then corrected herself. “February twelfth to be exact, my ex-husband came roaring in here saying that he had found someone who was looking for a replica of a Royal Copenhagen platter. Flora
Danica
, to be exact. Apparently he had noticed that I had one here and said he was doing this guy a favor and picking it up for him.” She stopped and shook her head. “I should have known better.”

I continued to stare at her, not understanding.

“He made a big deal about filling out a receipt and entering it into the ledger, and I just wanted him to get the hell out, so I told him to leave. He had never left any money, and I never bothered to make up the thirty-eight dollars.”

Her husband was a prick. I’d already figured that out. Beyond that, I didn’t really understand what all this meant. Now she was shaking her head again as she stared at the receipts. Her smile was sour as she looked at me again.

“See the difference here?” She pointed to the receipts. On the store copy, it says REPL, which stands for replica. “On the original, there’s no such notation.”

I saw the difference between the two, but still had no idea what she was so upset about. I stared at her dumbly.

“A gentleman returned the platter about a month ago. He said that my husband had represented it as an original Royal Copenhagen. He’d thought he was getting a bargain for only twenty-one hundred dollars.”

The light was beginning to go off in my head.

“Your husband sold a replica as an original?”

“Exactly.” She dropped her hands to the counter. “And he pocketed over two thousand dollars in the deal. Two thousand dollars that I had to come up with to reimburse the guy that he sold it to.”

“But you weren’t the one that sold it to him!” I was livid.

“No. But the receipt that he had has Treasured Past’s logo on it. He thought he was making a purchase from a reputable dealer. I had to pay him to keep my reputation.”

I was shocked. What kind of a son of a bitch would do such a thing? “Annie, we have to do something to get your money back.”

She was shaking her head.

“We can file suit.”

She was waving me aside.

“Annie,” I pleaded, my voice rising. “I’m a lawyer. Let me go after this guy.”

“I have a lawyer, Kate.”

“But I...”

“How would it look to have my lover represent me against my ex-husband? Now that would go over well.” She sounded unreasonable.

“But, Annie, this isn’t about us. It’s about theft and —”

“I have a lawyer, Kate.” She practically screamed the words, stopping me in my tracks.

“Okay, Annie. I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I was just trying to help.”

“I know.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry I raised my voice. I’m just so frustrated.”

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted so much to put a plan into action. My logical mind was already scripting the suit that we should file. But it was painfully obvious that she didn’t want my help in the matter. I couldn’t understand why. Why would she be protecting him like this?

The sadness in her eyes made me forget my own questions. Without another word, I circled the counter and held my arms open. She had never held me tighter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“Tonight was wonderful.” Annie murmured the words against my ear as she snuggled deeper against my neck.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” I told her while reaching up to smooth her hair.

“Beth is so sweet. Do you think she had fun?” Annie raised her head just enough so that our eyes could meet.

“I know she did,” I told her. We had invited Beth and her son over for a barbeque, using the excuse that we wanted her to see what we had done to the great room. Beth had no idea that we were really celebrating her birthday. And if she
had
been suspicious, she never let on.

It felt good to have Beth and Annie in the same room, even though they’d teased me mercilessly about everything and anything imaginable. Privately, Beth had pulled me aside to tell me how happy she was that Annie and I had gotten together.

“The two of you are wonderful together, Kate.”

“Do you think so?” I’d asked, suddenly insecure.

“Absolutely,” she’d insisted. “Everything that I’ve seen tonight tells me that the two of you are so happy together. The way you laugh and interact. You’re both so attentive to each other.” She grinned and rolled her eyes. “It’s a little sickening, actually, the way you two moon over each other.”

I slapped her arm playfully.

“We don’t moon,” I insisted.

“Yes you do. You
both
do. But it’s very sweet.”

I tried to muster up a snarl but failed. Beth’s face sobered.

“It’s good to see you happy like this, Kate. And it’s quite obvious that Annie cares for you.”

Now I smiled as I remembered Beth’s words.

“Beth said that it’s obvious that you care for me,” I told Annie. She was busily twining her fingers through mine.

“She thinks so, eh?”

I couldn’t see her eyes, but could tell by the sound of her voice that she was feeling lighthearted.

“That’s what she said,” I told her.

“Hm.” Annie pulled away again to look into my eyes. “And what do you think? Do you think it’s obvious that I care for you?” She studied my face while her fingers continued their dance with mine.

Her question made me nervous. “I can only hope that you do,” was my reply.

She seemed surprised by my response. “It’s not obvious to you?”

I suddenly felt shy. “Well,” I began, searching for the right words. “We never really talk about us, do we? It seems like we’re always so busy
doing
things together that we never really get many quiet moments like this.” I watched for her reaction, but her face was carefully blank. “Don’t get me wrong, Annie. I love the time that we spend together. But you must admit that we keep very busy.”