Part 28 (1/2)

I chuckled. ”Eric. I saw it on his nameplate at the dealers.h.i.+p.”

We finished walking the rows of scarecrows, more than fifty, when I saw Werner and took my turn at the microphone to introduce and thank the judges.

”Since, we don't want them consulting with each other,” I said, ”councilman, could you start at the end of the rows? Mrs. McDowell, start in the middle, and Detective Werner, start at the beginning?”

The McDowells complied. Werner saluted.

”Entrants and friends,” I said, ”please wait until the judges are finished before you view your neighbors' works of art. While you wait, you'll find refreshments on the tables behind me.”

As soon as I got off the riser, Eve pulled me into the shop and shoved her cell phone into my hand. ”I got a message from Vinney.”

”Shut. Up! What did he say?”

”You have to listen. I'm not sure, but I think he said, 'You're a b.i.t.c.h.' ”

Thirty-nine.

I want to invent new ways of making clothes in new materials, with new shapes and fas.h.i.+on accessories that are up-to-date with the changing ways of life.

-MARY QUANT I listened to Eve's voice mail. ”I think he's saying, 'Y'all's a bi-' He doesn't finish the last word, does he? Is he southern?”

”No. Maybe he thinks we're both b.i.t.c.hes.”

”Can you amplify the sound?” I asked.

”No, that's as loud as it gets.”

Each of us listened to it several more times.

”Can you hook it up and amplify it with a computer?”

”Not at home,” Eve said. ”But I'll try in my computer lab at the university tomorrow.”

”Judging is finished,” my father said, coming inside.

”My prize certificates?” I asked Eve.

”I put them behind the counter.”

I grabbed them. ”I'd better get out there.”

”Not until the ballots are tabulated. Sherry has the score sheets I made.”

”Eve, what would I do without you?”

”You won't have to find out if you don't let Vinney near me. Should I call him back?”

”Not in this crowd. Wait till I'm with you, 'kay? His tone skeeved me out. It's so dramatic then . . . end.”

”Mad, we have the winners,” Sherry called.

”Go,” Eve said. ”I'll wait.”

Back at the podium I took the mike. ”First prize goes to number thirty-three, Vanessa Vancortland, for her bride scarecrow.”

The crowd gave an audible ”aw” when Cort, her grandfather, held up the three-year-old so she could accept her certificate.

”Vanessa, this is going to buy you a lot of bee-utiful purses.” Sherry's flower girl and niece, Vanessa, was a handbag connoisseur who even had a sleep purse in which she kept Duck Duck, her bedtime buddy.

”Second prize goes to number twenty-five: the Oscar Norton family for their baby-rocking granny scarecrow. And last but certainly scariest, number six: our own Tunney Lague for his b.l.o.o.d.y, meat-cutting vampire scarecrow.”

Laughter accompanied the applause.

When Tunney accepted his certificate, he took the mike from me. ”Let's give a big round of applause to Maddie and friends, who gave us such a wonderful day.”

After the awards, people looked at the scarecrows for a while, but most of the crowd left when the food ran out.

At Sherry's request, Justin went across the street to Mystic Pizza and brought back pizza and sandwiches. The best.

Justin, Eve, and I sat on the steps. Dad, Fiona, and Sherry each got a folding chair from Justin's trunk. The wind had died down and the air warmed a bit as we ate, waved to neighbors as they collected their scarecrows, and generally babysat the dwindling a.s.sortment.

”How many do you think are left?” Eve asked.

”Fifteen or twenty,” I said.

”If you do this again next year, I might enter. Let's go look at them.”

I followed, certain she was antsy. We didn't stop until we stood in the middle of the scattered scarecrows.

”I'm dying to call Vinney,” she said. ”I'm scared, but I have this gut-instinct need to do it.”

”No reason to be afraid. You're surrounded by people who love you.”

”Suppose he knows that I was the one who hit him that night outside McDowell's guesthouse, and he is saying, 'You're a b.i.t.c.h.' Maybe it's a threat.”

”He can't hurt you over the phone.”

She hit speed dial and listened, again, but I was distracted by the faint sound of slot machines behind me. ”Do you hear a slot machine?” I asked.

”That's not funny!” She snapped her phone shut.

”I didn't mean it to be, but don't worry, it stopped.”

Eve got a sick look on her face and hit speed dial again.