Hot Rocks

condition.”
    “It might work in our game room.” She looked at her husband. “What do you think?”
    “A little steep for a novelty piece.”
    All right, Laine thought. She was supposed to bargain with the husband while the wife looked around. No problem.
    “You’ll note the double spiral pedestal. Perfect condition. It’s really one of a kind. It came from an estate on Long Island.”
    “What about this?”
    Laine walked over to join his wife. “Late nineteenth century. Mahogany,” she said as she ran a fingertip over the edge of the display table. “The top’s hinged, the glass beveled.” She lifted it gently. “Don’t you just love the heart shape?”
    “I really do.”
    Laine noted the signal the wife sent her husband. I want both, it said. Make it work.
    She wandered off, and Laine gave Jenny the nod to answer any questions she might have over the collection of wineglasses she was eyeing.
    She spent the next fifteen minutes letting the husband think he was cutting her price to the bone. She made the sale, he felt accomplished and the wife got the pieces she wanted.
    Everybody wins, Laine thought as she wrote up the sale.
    “Wait! Michael, look what I found.” The woman hurried to the counter, flushed and laughing. “My sister loves this sort of thing. The sillier the better.” She held up a ceramic black-and-white dog. “There’s no price.”
    Laine stared at it, the practiced smile still curving her lips while her pulse pounded in her ears. Casually, very casually, she reached out and took the statue. An icy finger pressed at the base of her spine.
    “Silly’s the word. I’m so sorry.” Her voice sounded perfectly natural, with just a hint of laughter in it. “This isn’t for sale. It’s not part of the stock.”
    “But it was on the shelf, right back there.”
    “It belongs to a friend of mine. He must have set it down without thinking. I had no idea it was there.” Before the woman could object, Laine set it on the shelf under the counter, out of sight. “I’m sure we can find something along the same lines that will suit your sister. And if we do, it’s half off for the disappointment factor.”
    The half off stilled any protests. “Well, there was a cat figure. Siamese cat. More elegant than the dog, but still kitschy enough for Susan. I’ll go take another look at it.”
    “Go right ahead. Now, Mr. Wainwright, where would you like your pieces shipped?”
    She finished the transaction, chatted easily, even walked her customers to the door.
    “Nice sale, boss. I love when they keep finding something else, adding it on.”
    “She was the one with the eye, he was the one with the wallet.” It felt a little like floating, but Laine got back to the counter, lifted the dog. “Jenny, did you shelve this piece?”
    “That? No.” Lips pursed, Jenny walked over to study it. “Sort of cute, in a ridiculous way. A little flea market for us, isn’t it? It’s not Doulton or Minton or any of those types, is it?”
    “No, it’s not. I imagine it came in one of the auction shipments by mistake. I’ll sort it out. Look, it’s nearly five. Why don’t you take off early? You covered for me for more than an hour this morning.”
    “Don’t mind if I do. I’ve got a craving for a Quarter Pounder. I’ll swing by the station and see if Vince is up to dining at Chez McDonald’s. I’m as close as the phone, you know, if anything else pops to the surface and you want to vent.”
    “I know.”
    Laine shuffled papers until Jenny gathered her things and headed out the door. She waited another five full minutes, doing busywork in case her friend doubled back for any reason.
    Then she walked to the front, put up the CLOSED sign, locked the door.
    Retrieving the statue, she took it into the back room, checked those locks. Satisfied no one could walk in on her unexpectedly, she set the statue on her desk, studied it.
    She could see the glue line now that she was looking for it, just a hint of it around the little cork shoved into the base. It was good work, but then Big Jack was never sloppy. Beside the cork was a faded stamp. MADE IN TAIWAN.
    Yes, he’d have thought of little details like that. She shook it. Nothing rattled.
    Clicking her tongue, she got out a sheet of newspaper, spread it on the desk. She centered the dog on it, then walked to the cabinet where she kept her tools. She selected a small ball-peen hammer, cocked her head, swung back her arm.
    Then stopped.
    And