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to decision time, everyone paused for a deep breath. Ed the landlord was the first to break the silence. “I would appreciate it, Tom. I don’t expect my tenants to be one big happy family, but when you’ve got one that upsets everyone else, it can be a big problem. I don’t have quite enough to kick him out, but sometimes I’d like to.”
    Ginny summed it up. “In the end, it’s up to you, Tom.”
    DiAndreo looked around the room. “Okay. I’ll stop in over the next couple of days sometime. I don’t want it to look like I’ve come directly from all of you guys. Does that work?”
    There were murmured thanks and a general sense of relief. After Tom DiAndreo got back into his cruiser, everyone talked for a few minutes before returning to their respective shops.
    Mark Horner thanked Ginny for arranging the meeting, and said with complete sincerity, “You know you gals can always call any of us at the Bowl any time you need us. I’m serious. We’ll come right over and jump on him if we have to.”
    The thought sparked one of Elsie’s silly moods. “I can see it now,” she giggled. “One outraged gorilla—that’s Jemmie—two little froggies, and half a bushel of quahogs. And me and Sue with shards of glass in our hands!”
    They laughed. “Who needs glass?” Sue said. “We have razor blades, X-Acto knives, box cutters. Even fallouts from beveled mats are sharp enough to cut skin.”
    “Not to mention my kitchen,” Mark added. “Chopping blades, paring knives, and a meat slicer could do lots of damage.”
    Ginny nodded. If someone wanted to do harm, there were plenty of deadly weapons to choose from, ready to hand. She shivered.

Chapter Six
    April turned to May; the daily routine of Brush & Bevel was busy enough to prevent Ginny, Sue, and Elsie from spending too much energy on any one problem. The Berger painting—though never forgotten—faded into the background behind the Jemmie incident and the wedding rush. Every year, it seemed, it became more popular to have a photo of the happy couple displayed at the reception in lieu of a guest book, with an extra-wide mat for guests to pen their best wishes and sign their names. Brush & Bevel now stocked an assortment of precut mats and ready-made frames for the convenience of harried brides, or more likely maids of honor or mothers of the bride, who never seemed to remember the memento until the last moment.
    Besides the routine framing, there were always the unusual objects customers wanted to preserve. May often meant souvenirs of First Communions, christenings, and gifts for teachers. This year a dance school wanted to honor a retiring teacher by framing a pair of her ballet slippers, and an equestrienne brought in a bronzed set of her horse’s shoes. The staff always enjoyed the creative challenge such items entailed.
    Sunny returned one day to finalize her mat choice. She also brought along a handful of stones that had been fitted with snug coats of felt in swirls of bright colors. Her idea was to set them in the frame as if they were part of the beach. Ginny, her lips twitching, dissuaded her by pointing out the stones were way out of proportion. “Well, can you paint the frame? In swirls like the felt?” the irrepressible woman asked.
    Ginny hid her amusement as best she could and thanked the stars Sue was downstairs at the moment. “We could, Sunny, but you’re artistic. Why don’t you do it? Then it would be exactly what you want.”
    The red-dyed hair bobbed as Sunny nodded. “Do you really think I could?”
    “Of course,” Ginny assured her and rubbed her nose. Sunny danced out the door on clouds of elation.
    A week after Sunny’s visit, in mid-May, Jenna Rudolph returned at last to Brush & Bevel with the painting they all believed was a Jerry Berger. Her round, pleasant face was quite serious as she entered. Sue and Elsie started to excuse themselves, to allow Ginny to complete the agreement in private, but Jenna asked them to stay.