Wild Goose Chase by Terri Thayer Page A

about her poor sense of direction, Sean go out his portable GPS unit and started talking about geocaching. Pulling out the family albums, I could clear the room in six seconds.
    “She was going to sell the shop to Claire,” I said, but the phone was dead. “I found her body,” I finished although I knew no one was there.
    The door to my office opened as I was hanging up. Vangie was framed in the doorway.
    “Whoa, Dewey. I was shocked to hear your voice. We were so busy out front, I didn’t know you were here,” she said.
    Evangeline Estrada, Vangie, had started working at the store several years earlier as a high school kid, part of a work/study program. After graduation, she’d left QP and drifted, getting in with a bad crowd, doing drugs and getting caught. She’d spent time in custody, but when she got out, Mom had hired her back, convinced her innate goodness would win over her addictive personality. So far, so good. She knew as little as I did about quilting, but she knew computers.
    She was relentlessly honest—it was what kept her to her straight path. I relied on her to tell me the truth.
    I leaned back in my chair. “Everyone gone?”
    “Yup, we had a great day.”
    Her chocolate eyes flashed with pride as she held up the bulging deposit bag she had readied from the cash register up front. She had thick brown eyebrows that matched her long curls.
    I held up the mesh bag Kym had left. “Looks like the booth did okay, too. Trouble is I don’t have the laptop, so I’m trying to balance the old-fashioned way.”
    “Where’s the laptop?”
    “In police custody.”
    “Get out! Did you have Kym arrested for something?”
    I laughed but sobered up quickly when I realized she didn’t know I’d found Claire’s body and spent the afternoon with the police. Vangie harbored a deep-seated resentment of authority figures.
    “You heard about Claire, right?” I asked.
    “Yeah, I couldn’t believe it. First Kym called and then of course the customers were yammering on about it all afternoon. Her death was the number one topic of conversation.”
    “Well, I found her, and I left my backpack in her hotel room. The cops took it as evidence. The laptop was in the backpack.”
    Vangie’s gaze unfocused. “What were you doing in Claire’s room?”
    My turn to tell the hard truth. “I went to talk to her about buying the shop. Vangie, my mother was planning on selling QP to her.”
    She looked away. “I knew that.”
    “You knew?” It was my turn to be shocked.
    “Yes, but I thought it was a moot point once your mother died. Until today, I figured Claire had given up.”
    “Vangie, we’ve got to keep this between us. No one else knows.”
    Vangie glanced up at me quickly, her expression giving her away. I grabbed her hand. “Come on, Vangie. Spill.”
    “Kym knows. She saw you talking to Claire this morning,” she said quickly, trying to soften her words with speed. “She called here and caught me off guard. She asked what Claire would want with you and I told her about the shop sale.”
    I said, “Well, if she was trying to change my mind about selling, trashing the laptop was not the way to do it.”
    Vangie turned pale. “Did you decide to sell?”
    I nodded.
    She put on a brave face. “No worries. I’ll find a new job.”
    I curled back into my chair, a knot forming in my stomach. In my haste to get out from under Kym and her machinations, I hadn’t considered what would happen to my employees. Selling the store would mean putting people out of work. I’d have to make sure that didn’t happen. I felt the weight of my responsibilities pressing on my shoulders, and I shrugged to release the tension.
    “You found the copies of the checks?” Vangie asked.
    I nodded. “Yes, thanks. I looked at them but I still don’t know why we’re paying WGC that money each month.”
    “What does WGC stand for anyhow?” she asked.
    “I don’t know. Warm Gouda Cheese?”
    “Wacky Girl Consortium,”