People crowded past them, and Rarity unfroze enough to reach down to pick up Killer so he didn’t get mixed up in the crowd. When they were gone, she turned back to Darby, who looked like she was still in shock. “You all right?”
Darby shook her head. “Because you saved me. What is up with people today? And look, now we missed the walk light.”
“We can wait for another light. I just want to make sure you’re okay.” Rarity looked up and saw the red-light camera on the light pole. She was going to call Drew and make sure the driver of the black truck had a really bad day. Someone needed to besides her and her staff.
At the tent, she let Katie and Darby set up the new books and used Killer as an excuse to leave the tent. As soon as she was outside of earshot, she called Drew.
“I told you ten. Not eight fifteen,” he said.
“I’m not calling about that.” She heard a dog barking in the background and knew he must be at home. Jonathon and Edith had recently adopted the dog from the humane society where Jonathon had just started volunteering. “I didn’t know Jonathon brought Romeo. He can bring him to the bookstore while he’s there, I must have told him that.”
“My father has been a little distracted. Besides, he thought Mom was coming, but then Shirley shut her down. Why are you calling me then?”
Rarity told him about the speeding black truck that ran the red light. “I know your crew is running thin this weekend, but that guy’s going to kill someone. He would’ve killed Darby if I hadn’t stopped her from stepping off the curb. He was way too close to the sidewalk too, now that I think about it.”
Drew was silent for a moment, and she assumed he was writing what she’d told him down. “Rarity, you don’t think he was actually trying to hit her, do you?”
After the call, Rarity was still thinking about Drew’s last question when she ran into Marc Billings heading toward the start of the race. She waved at him. “I won’t keep you since they need you to start the race, but thanks for sending Darby flowers. It really made her feel appreciated.”
A frown came over his face. “I didn’t send her flowers, but I should have, right? She’s been so great helping me with this signing, I should have thought about that. Sorry, I need to run, but I’ll fix my error as soon as this race is done.”
Rarity watched him run off and then sighed. Killer looked up at her. “Let’s get back to the tent. I think there’s something going wonky around your friend, Darby. Now I’m freaking out.”
The tent was busy with customers when she got back, and Rarity fell into place after tying Killer up to the leg of the table next to his bed. She didn’t have a chance to pull Darby aside to ask about the flowers until a few hours later. The race had started to have winners announced as they came back from the trail ride. The local radio station was live streaming the race, and she watched Darby smile as she listened to Marc talk about the different leaders.
When the tent emptied out, she pulled Darby aside. “What made you think Marc sent the flowers? Did he sign the card?”
Darby had just restocked the kids’ section and looked up at her from where she was kneeling on the ground, tucking the box back under the table. “No, it was from what he said. He thanked me for watching out for him. It’s what he said when he first arrived and you told him I’d be helping. Remember? He said that he needed someone to watch over him.”
Rarity did remember now, but instead of it sounding romantic like it had on Wednesday, now it had an ominous tone. “You need to tell Drew. Marc didn’t send the flowers.”
Rarity called Drew.
“Seriously, you need to give me some time,” he groused as he answered the phone. “The autopsy ran late and I don’t have the report yet.”
“It’s not that. It’s about Darby. We think she got flowers from the stalker guy.” Rarity turned away from the front as a few customers walked inside. She walked over to the back table, pretending to move around books.
“You think?” Drew asked. “Isn’t it a yes or no question? Did she get flowers or not?”
“She got flowers with an unsigned card. She thought they were from Marc, but he just told me he didn’t send flowers. Is there any way you can come over and talk with her? She’s freaking out a bit.”
“I’ll be there in ten. I’m over at the winner’s circle watching the racers come in. Your new friend Marc is a very entertaining moderator.” He hung up the call and Rarity turned to the sales table, just as someone came up with several racing books, including Marc’s.
“I never thought I’d like watching bike racing, but this was a blast. We’re here for the film festival this week. We were over at your bookstore last night. What a creative way to get people to a signing. Mason is a legend in the indie horror community. I’m glad my new film isn’t in his category. He can be vicious when he wants to win.” The woman, dressed in linen shorts and a silk tank, handed Rarity her credit card. Her blond hair was cut in a straight bob and made her face even narrower. “You should come to my showing tonight. It’s over at the Sedona Pix at six. I’m telling everyone since I probably won’t get a lot of buzz from the festival organizers. It’s all about the OGs like Mason at this festival, but I still wanted to come and see how the film’s received. Here’s a card about it. It’s a love story.”
Rarity handed her the credit card receipt and looked at the card. It listed the movie and the producer’s name matched the one on the credit card. Miranda Vail. “Mountain Valley Meet-Cute? It sounds fun, Miranda. Thanks for the invite. I’ll try to get over there.”
“I know, everyone’s busy. But you and your staff really should come. Especially after seeing Mason’s movie. Mine’s so much better than that one ever dreamed of being.”
Katie came up to the table with a pile of books for the next customer. She picked up the card that Miranda had left and read the blurb as Rarity handled the purchase. After the customer left, she held out the business card. “I saw this woman at the movie last night. She put one of these on every seat before the movie started. She’s very smart with her marketing.”
“She’s definitely focused on marketing. I thought the racers would be our competitive group this weekend, but it seems like the movie producers are that way too.” Rarity looked at the flyer. “Maybe we should go to a few of the movies this week. It’s been a little crazy around here. A movie might be fun. I’ll bring it up at book club. This one will already be done, but I bet we could get some tickets for Wednesday or Thursday.”
Katie was already on her phone. “There are three in the evening on Wednesday. We’d probably want the early slot, right? Should I just get ten tickets? That’s the max for one order.”
Rarity counted up the numbers of regulars plus Archer and Drew. Then she had to add Terrance, if Shirley went. She wondered how long Jonathon and Kathy would be in town. “Right now, I have eleven on my mental list. But if Kathy goes, Terrance probably won’t, so ten should be enough. If we have more, we’ll try for additional seats on Tuesday. Thanks for doing that.”
“No problem. I’m going to at least two movies a day from now until next Saturday night when they announce the winners. Jared’s studying movie production.” Katie’s face turned red.