Dyer Consequences by Maggie Sefton Read Free Book Online Page B

and chef’s knives and cleavers were standing on end, dug into the wooden chopping block as if they’d been thrown there.
    “What a mess,” Kelly said, feeling guilty somehow. The vandals had targeted her, and she’d led them to their new targets. “We’ll help you clean up, Pete. Everyone will pitch in, and the sooner we do it, the sooner you can open the doors again.” She spied Eduardo still standing outside the front door, explaining to customers what had happened as they arrived.
    Pete gazed wistfully out the window at his disappointed and disappearing customers. “I don’t know how soon that will be, Kelly. Wait till you see the shop. That will take quite a while to fix. Mimi and the others will have their hands full.”
    Kelly grimaced. The sight of the trashed café made her momentarily forget the knitting shop. “How bad is it?” she asked, heading down the hallway that led to the interior of the shop.
    “Pretty bad. I didn’t see much stuff broken, but everything’s in huge piles,” he said, following her.
    Kelly turned the corner into one of the yarn rooms and stared. Pete didn’t exaggerate. The shelves that lined the walls and were usually filled with colorful fat cones of novelty yarns sat empty. Everything was on the floor. A huge multicolored pile of yarn. Cones of yarn, skeins of yarn, spools of yarn. All mixed together. Scattered on top were various knitted items—shawls, long fringed scarves, fluffy eyelash scarves, mittens, hats.
    “Oh, what a mess.” Glancing to the large loom in the corner of the room, Kelly didn’t see any obvious damage. Neither did she see any bottles or liquids poured on the floors or over the yarns. “At least they didn’t pour wine over it.” She tiptoed around the pile and through the doorway into the next room, trying not to step on the gorgeous fibers.
    This time, she saw no discernible pile. Instead, skeins of yarns and knitted garments were scattered everywhere, covering the floor entirely. At least a foot deep in yarns. The baskets and bins lining these walls gaped at her—empty. She could see through the arched doorway ahead into the main room and the library table—the gathering place. The table and floors were now filled with books, which the vandals had swept from the shelves.
    She tried to step carefully through the foot-deep blanket of yarn covering the floor. “This will take days for them to sort through. You and Mimi both have insurance, don’t you?”
    Pete didn’t answer, because Mimi burst through the front door into the foyer, her coat open and red knitted scarf dangling. She came to a halt. “Oh, no !” she wailed, hands to her face. “Look at this . . . it’s . . . it’s awful !”
    “I don’t think the yarns are hurt, Mimi, just thrown on the floor,” Kelly offered, picking up several fluffy bundles of sherbet colors.
    “Why would anyone do this?” Mimi said as she bent to pick up skeins that littered the foyer. “I never have understood vandals. Pete, did they hurt the café?”
    Pete nodded dolefully and Mimi sucked in her breath, hand to her mouth. “Ohhhh, noooo! What did they do?”
    “Threw food and wine all over the place,” Kelly said. “It’s a mess. Spaghetti sauce, wine, beer, smeared over everything. It’s nasty.”
    “Yeah,” Pete said, releasing a discouraged sigh as he turned toward the café. “I’d better go and call that insurance agent. I’ll see you later.”
    “Ohhhh, Kelly, this will take forever to clean up.” Mimi shook her head, staring balefully as she surveyed the rooms. “Oh, look at all the books on the floor. And patterns, too. I hope they’re not torn.”
    Rosa charged through the door then, and her eyes popped wide at the scene. “Madre de Dios,” she said softly, scanning the wreckage. “This is terrible!”
    Kelly started clearing a path through the yarns, picking up skeins and tossing them into the corners, creating a walkway. “How’d they get in, Mimi? Did they