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My relief when she moved into the other room was outweighed by my irritation at Rick Gladstone.
    For some reason, his attitude had lit the fuse on my infamous temper. I took a deep breath, trying to focus on the things my sensei had taught me about self-control.
    “Do you have an address for her in Arizona?” I asked, a little more politely. “I really would like to return it personally.”
I smiled, even though I didn’t feel like it. “We’re old friends.”
    “And you are?” Rachel mimicked my earlier question.
    I was pretty sure it was deliberate, and I added her to my list of irritants.
    “This is Georgiana Neverall. She works for me.” Barry interrupted our little hissing match. He’d clearly had enough drama for one afternoon and he was also clearly putting himself in charge.
    “We found the brooch in the warehouse.”
    Somehow, the information that it had been in the drain suddenly seemed important, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell them exactly where we’d found it. I noticed Barry avoided giving any more details, too.
    I thought of Miss Tepper, and I could see her in the library, behind the tall counter with its spinning rack of stamps, the brooch on the lapel of her jacket in the winter, or the collar of her shirt in the summer.
    There was no reason that brooch should be here.
    That woman would have moved heaven and earth to find it if she’d lost it. It was my responsibility to get it back to her.
    “Here’s my card.” Barry handed each of the Gladstones a business card with the office phone number on it. “You can just call the office with Miss Tepper’s new address.”
    “Well,” Rachel said slowly, “if you’re sure.” She glanced at her husband. “I think we have her new number back at the office. We’ll get it to you as soon as we can.”
    Rachel looked over at me, and gave me a little smile. “She probably didn’t even realize it was gone.”
    “Has she asked about it?” I said.
    Rachel shook her head. “It’s so hard to keep track of everything when there’s so much going on, I’m sure she just hasn’t missed it. We haven’t talked to her for several days, but I’m sure everything’s fine.”
    Rick nodded. “If you’ll excuse us, we came out to check a couple things, but we really need to get back to the office.”

    Rachel made a show of checking her watch, and sucked in a big breath. “I had no idea it was so late.”
    The two of them hurried out without checking anything, and a moment later I heard a car drive off.
    Somehow, I wasn’t reassured. They hadn’t talked to Martha Tepper in several days. Something could have happened in the meantime, and they wouldn’t even know.
    There really could be something wrong here.
    It was time I started looking into this for real.

2

    something smells here
    To keep your garbage disposal odor-free, run a citrus rind—orange, lemon, grapefruit—through it about once a week.
     
—A Plumber’s Tip from Georgiana Neverall

chapter 5

    “I’ll check with Paula at lunchtime,” I said, and dropped the brooch into the pocket of my coveralls. “Maybe I can get Miss Tepper’s new address from her.”
    Mom came back in from the dining room, shaking her head. “I don’t think anyone has it, except the Gladstones.”
    The Gladstones were old friends of Miss Tepper’s. They were handling all the paperwork on the sale of the properties, and I knew Gregory and my mother had been working closely with them.
    Still, I was the one who had found the brooch and rescued it from the pipe. It was my responsibility to return it to its rightful owner.
    Mom held out her hand, as though to take the brooch back, but I just shook my head and left the jewelry in my pocket. After a few seconds, she let her hand drop.
    She’d learned a few things about me over the years, too.
    “You don’t think Mr. Whitlock has the address in the real estate records?” I asked.

    “I really don’t know. I guess he might have it.” Her expression