The Big Cat Nap

handled, she wondered what hoops Yancy had to jump through to keep his store running. While for the most part Harry trusted people, for some reason she couldn’t put her finger on, she didn’t trust Yancy. Maybe it was because he presented himself as so squeaky-clean.
    As she reached her old truck in the parking lot, she realized she didn’t want to live without trusting others, even in the face of murder. She should be alert, pay attention to character, but she didn’t want to become a cynic, even as she knew she was living in cynical times.
    To perk herself up, she drove down to Keller & George, the elegant jewelry store that had been in Charlottesville since 1875.
    She pushed open the glass door. Gayle Lowe looked up, as did Bill Liebenrood.
    “Hey, I came to visit my pearls,” Harry greeted them.
    Bill smiled. “I bought my granddaughter her first pearls before she was one week old. You need to catch up, girl.”
    Gayle walked behind the lit case wherein resided the 9mm double strand of pearls that Harry had been coveting for more than two decades. Each time the pearls would be sold, Bill would call to relay the sad news. Then in about six weeks another double strand of beauties would arrive.
    “Your pearls came in today. They’re awesome,” Gayle would tease her with a phone call.
    Elbows on the case, Harry lovingly stared down at her self-adornment dream. Gorgeous, quiet, those pearls reminded her of her mother’s dictum: “Wear the best that you can afford and don’t draw attention to yourself. Flash is always new money.”
    Fat chance Harry would ever be new money or old money, but her mother’s urging to not show off had stuck.
    Before Bill could come over to tell Harry she should just try on the pearls, the door opened.
    “Harry,” Victor Gatzembizi greeted her, smiling. “I’m giving way to temptation.”
    “Oh,” came her weak reply.
    Bill momentarily disappeared into his small office, returning with a package. He opened a green Keller & George box, removed a necklace that could blind one, and placed it on an unfolded black velvet cloth.
    Victor beamed. “Harry, come here and be my model.”
    Harry walked over, looked down at the pear-shaped diamond on the platinum chain, and gasped. “Oh, my God. I’ve never seen a diamond so big.”
    Bill came around from behind the counter, artfully putting the necklace on Harry. “Divine.”
    Victor, hand on chin, murmured, “Even with your T-shirt, Harry, a diamond becomes you. I can’t wait to give it to my wife and see it just above her cleavage.”
    Gayle, Harry, and Bill smiled without a word. Of course the diamondwould be spectacular, and of course that’s where a woman would wish it to fall, but best to keep that to yourself.
    Victor wasn’t worrying about such niceties. He was so thrilled with the diamond that he became ever more expansive. “I told myself that when she reached her fortieth birthday, I would make it the best birthday of her life. ‘You’re beautiful,’ I tell her. ‘Forty is nothing.’ ” He looked again at the necklace, nodded, and Bill removed it from Harry, whose hand flew to her neck.
    “For two minutes, I was a diva!” she enthused.
    Bill put the diamond back in the green box. “Would you like this wrapped?”
    “No. I’m going to surprise her by placing it around her neck as she puts on her makeup to go out to dinner tonight. You didn’t fail me. The diamond is a perfect pear.”
    As Victor left the store with his gift, Gayle called out, “Warn her that if she wears that in the daytime she’ll cause car wrecks.”
    He stopped at the door. “Gayle, she’ll stop traffic no matter what.”
    As the door shut, Harry opined, “Love.”
    “And money.” Bill winked. “Then again, this could be to make up for past sins.”
    “Oh, Bill.” Gayle rolled her eyes in mock disgust.
    “Do you all really think forty is that big a deal? I didn’t.” Bill folded his hands, resting them on the counter.
    “How do you know I’m forty?” Gayle lifted a shoulder.
    “Had your firstborn at five, did you?” He needled her.
    Howard Hyde, the miracle jewelry repairman, pushed open the door from his workshop, heard and saw his two co-workers, smiled at Harry, and disappeared back into his workroom.
    “Bill, I know you too well.” Gayle nodded toward Harry.
    “Don’t let me stop you. I’m ready to hear all your sins and forgive you.” Harry loved it when her friends carried on.
    Blair Bainbridge walked