The Heirloom Murders - Kathleen Ernst [51]
He didn’t. Instead, he parked behind her car and walked down the path to join them.
Dellyn stood to meet him. “Hi, Mr. Petty.”
“Hello, Dellyn.” The site director turned to Chloe and added coolly, “Miss Ellefson.”
Chloe flashed him her brightest, most chipper smile. “Actually, I prefer Ms.”
Ralph Petty frowned at her. “As you know, Miss Ellefson, the auditors arrive in a few weeks. You will likely be drilled on procedures and policies. I just left in your mailbox a memo containing several random accession numbers from our collection. It will be good practice for you to check your records and verify the location of each artifact.”
Chloe ground her teeth together. Didn’t she have enough to do without Petty’s petty make-work projects?
“Leave the results in my mailbox,” he was saying. “In a timely manner.”
Prick. “Okey-dokey,” Chloe said. She flashed another smile, just to throw him off balance.
The director turned back to Dellyn. “I haven’t had a chance to tell you how sorry I was to hear about your sister.”
“I appreciate that.”
“I also wanted to tell you how wonderful the gardens look.” He gave a broad gesture, indicating that he meant all of the site’s many gardens, not just those at the Hafford House. “You’re doing a wonderful job, Dellyn. Truly wonderful.”
“Thanks,” Dellyn said a little dubiously. Ralph Petty wasn’t inclined to give effusive praise. Or any praise, for that matter.
Chloe tried the mental-signal thing again, this time aiming it at her friend: Don’t bring up the fair. Don’t bring up the fair. She didn’t want a more prolonged conversation.
Her telepathy didn’t work any better than it had the first time. Dellyn added, “Plans for the Garden Fair are coming along nicely. I’ve spent several days working through old newspapers from the counties our farms came from.”
“I applaud your incentive, Dellyn. That’s exactly the spirit we need around here.” Petty looked at Chloe.
Yeah, yeah, Chloe thought, as she nodded in agreement.
“Chloe’s helping with the collections stuff,” Dellyn said quickly.
“Good. Nothing can happen without teamwork. Keep up the wonderful work, Dellyn. Miss Ellefson.” He strode back down the walkway, mounted his cycle, and roared away.
Chloe looked at her friend. “You’re making me look bad, Dellyn. You know that, right?”
“That was not my plan.” Dellyn looked troubled. “I’m sorry Petty’s taking this audit stuff out on you.”
“Don’t worry. He just doesn’t like me.”
“I heard that he tried to fire your butt.”
“Well, yeah. He did.” Chloe spread her hands. “But the powers that be intervened. I’m still here.”
“Your life might be easier if you didn’t go out of your way to antagonize the man.”
“It’s just so instinctive!”
“I don’t want you to get fired.” Dellyn’s voice quavered.
Chloe felt absurdly touched. “Hey, I’ll try harder with Petty, OK?” she said. “Look, I like my job. I need my job. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Sorry. I get weepy over everything these days.”
“It’s OK, really,” Chloe said. “But, um, listen, Dellyn? You look exhausted. You’ve laid the groundwork for the fair. Maybe you should leave things to your volunteers, and the interpreters—”
“I don’t want to leave things to other people. I need a break from going through the things in my parents’ house. I need a break from my own thoughts. I need something to keep me so busy I can actually sleep at night.”
Chloe watched a metallic green beetle lumber across the gravel path. She knew better than to think she understood how Dellyn felt, or what was the “right” way for her to deal with her problems. “I’ll help you, OK?” she said at last. “We’ll get it done.”
_____
Roelke answered a couple of minor calls that afternoon, and got back to the station twenty minutes before Marie left for the day. The chief’s door was closed. Marie was preparing paperwork