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he’d learned his lesson. He and his family moved away shortly after anyway. But before they left, that young man came by my office to tell me he was actually grateful we caught him when they did. Said it gave him the motivation he needed to stop cross-dressing once and for all. At least that was his story.”
    Mamie Crumpton, the buxom, opinionated half of the town’s wealthiest spinster sisters, then spoke up in that imperious manner of hers. “All this talk of cross-dressing impresses me as unseemly. I don’t think we have anyone who does that here in Cherico now.”
    Voncille Nettles Linwood, the town genealogist and Mamie’s long-time rival, eyed her with disdain. “And how would you know that, Mamie? Have you been peeking into a few closets around town with a flashlight? You could have passed some woman on the street and not even blinked, never knowing that you were actually looking at a man in drag. Maybe that person even stole the tips from The Twinkle.”
    â€œPlease, Voncille, don’t start anything,” Locke Linwood said, gently grabbing his wife’s arm.
    Mamie bristled, her nose turned up sharply. “Yes. Is this conversation really necessary, Voncille? You always were such a know-it-all. And you run your ‘Who’s Who in Cherico?’ meetings like a mad genealogist. You make things up about our families and think we’re all just going to sit there in our seats and take it like we were a bunch of those impressionable students you taught.”
    â€œLadies, please!” Maura Beth said, resuming her customary role as peacemaker. “We’re here to let the sheriff guide us, not argue with one another!” Respecting Maura Beth as they did, the two women quickly obeyed and with downcast eyes went thankfully silent. “I appreciate your cooperation very much. Now, Sheriff Dreyfus, will you please continue?”
    â€œI just wanted to emphasize that all of you need to be the eyes and ears of Cherico,” he began, a hint of amusement in his voice following the last exchange. “Over the years, Cherico’s not had too much of this kinda thing—certainly not anything we couldn’t handle. This time, no one seems to have seen or heard anything about the stolen money, and that’s unusual. Yet, those tips just didd’n get up and walk out by themselves. I assure you, they had help of some kind.”
    â€œDid they ever!” Periwinkle cried out impulsively.
    The sheriff wrinkled up his nose a couple of times, and his mustache did a passable imitation of a big gray caterpillar wiggling underneath. “Miz Peri—you knew your two customers who left those tips, and after that, neither you nor your waitress were around to see what happened. But we’ll get to the bottom of this sooner or later before it escalates into something worse.”
    Once again, Mamie Crumpton joined the exchange with gusto. “This sounds like it could even end up being a tad bit dangerous. You’re certainly right, Sheriff. I don’t recall anything like this before, and I’ve lived here all my life, as you all know. Of course, I had no idea about the cross-dressing thing. But maybe being the person who catches this awful person would be exciting.”
    â€œNow, Miz Crumpton,” the sheriff said, boring into her with his eyes, “we don’t want you or anybody else to take any chances, ya hear? I don’t think the role of vigilante really suits you. As you said, this could be a dangerous proposition, and we don’t want anyone hurt out there. If you or your sister, Marydell, spot something suspicious, you just call us up, and you let that be the end of it.”
    â€œOh, will do,” Mamie told him as she clasped her hands with a certain thrill evident in her voice.
    Then Mr. Place’s mother, Ardenia, waved her hand back and forth. “Sheriff, I just want to say that my son won’t let me get out