WCHB Chapter 14: Here Comes The Neighborhood
"Where should we start?" Giles asked, directing the question towards Jenny. The four of them was standing on the sidewalk outside of Sue Reynolds house.
"We should split up, much faster that way," Jenny reasoned, "Willow, Cordelia why don’t you start talking to people on this side and Rupert and I can visit the houses across the street."
"Okay," Willow eagerly agreed while Cordelia shrugged her shoulders.
Jenny and Giles made their way across the street heading for one of the houses at the end of the street.
"Do you think Willow can handle Cordelia on her own?" Giles wondered.
"She’ll manage," Jenny assured him, then added with a wry grin, "better than you for sure."
He blushed slightly at her teasing, "Yes, well… I’m afraid that my experience dealing with cheerleader routines and the latest fashion is fairly limited."
"I’m shocked."
"Are we sticking with our former cover story? Antic collectors?"
"Probably best, in case Sue Reynolds mentioned us to anyone."
"Somehow I doubt it, she didn’t appear to… thrilled, with our visit."
Arriving at the first house Jenny rang the doorbell, almost immediately the door opened. They where greeted by a severe looking man who looked them up and down with a sneer on his face and drawled out a, "Yes?"
"Hello, I’m Jenny Calendar-"
"What do you want?" the man barked at her causing Jenny to involuntarily take a step backwards.
Simultaneously Giles took a step forward and said in an low ominous voice, "Watch your tone."
"Rupert," Jenny gently reprimanded him before addressing the man again, "We where just wondering if you attended a garage sale held by your neigh-"
"I do not attend garage sales," the man harshly interrupted her while glancing apprehensively at Giles.
Refusing to be discouraged by the mans rude behavior Jenny pressed on, "Perhaps someone else in your family-"
"My family would not participate in something as degrading as a garage sale. Good day," the man spat out before shutting the door.
"I don’t suppose this will change your mind about our current investigation technique?".
"No."
He let out a resigned sigh, "Didn’t think so."
At the next house a young woman opened the door but before they had a chance to so much as introduce themselves she slammed to door shut in their faces causing them both to jerk backwards slightly.
"Nice neighborhood," Jenny dryly commented.
"I knew this was a bad idea," Giles complained, taking his glasses of and polishing them vigorously.
Jenny sighed impatiently, "You’re the one who said we need to find out exactly which amulet it is we are looking for. How else to you suggest we do that?"
"W-Well it… would be easier to have a look inside their house, without their knowledge."
Jenny came to an abrupt halt and looked at him in bewilderment, "Are you seriously telling me you’d rather break in to these people homes instead of just talking to them?"
"Heavens no…" he insisted, then smiling slightly he added, "Buffy would be the one who breaks in."
Jenny unsuccessfully tried to hide her grin as she told him, "Because of that, you get to take the next house."
"Fair enough," he concluded as they made their way on to the porch of one of the smaller houses of the neighborhood located directly opposite the Reynolds house.
This time it was an elderly woman who opened the door. "Hello," she greeted, looking at them with friendly curiosity over her half-moon glasses.
"H-Hello. I’m Rupert Giles, this is my… my colleague, Ms Calendar."
"Hi," Jenny inserted.
"We are searching for a pendant that your neighbor, well, former neighbor Sue Reynolds used to own and we whe-"
"Oh, did you know Sue?" the woman interrupted in surprised delight.
"We meet her, somewhat briefly…"
"It was so tragic what happened, that poor woman. Oh, but do come in," the woman insisted, waving her hand to indicate that they should step inside.
Giles gave Jenny a satisfied smile and declared, "It appears you where right Jenny, this was a much easier way of going about this matter."
Jenny simply rolled her eyes at him and stepped into the house.
They followed her through a narrow hallway into a small kitchen, the house appeared neat and tidy but with a lot of ornaments and old photographs lining the walls.
The woman sat down at a small table in the center of the room and gestured for them to have a seat on the opposite side.
"Would you like some coffee? Or perhaps some tea?" she offered.
"No, no thank you," Giles was quick to assure her. "We won’t take up much of your time Mrs…" he trailed of realizing they had yet to learn the woman’s name.
"Oh, forgive me. Where are my manners, I’ve completely forgotten to introduce myself. I’m Rose Bernard, it’s a pleasure to meet both of you."
"Likewise, Mrs. Bernard."
"Oh please, call me Rose."
"Rose, then. As I mentioned we are looking for a amulet that Mrs. Reynolds sold at her garage sale. Did you by any chance attend?"
Mrs. Bernard looked at him in obvious surprise, "Heavens no, I haven’t heard about any such thing. When was this suppose to have taken place?"
"Well, we’re not entirely sure," Giles admitted, giving Jenny a uncertain glance.
"It would have been sometime during the last two years. After her husband died," Jenny stated.
"I don’t know what to tell you, I’ve never heard of a garage sale taking place here, and if there had been one I can almost guarantee I would have heard of it. A lot of people in these parts frown upon such things, and gossip tends to spread fast around here. Whatever you want to hear it or not." Mrs. Bernard paused for a moment, "Who exactly told you of this garage sale?"
"As a matter of fact Mrs. Reynolds told us about it herself," Giles replied.
"Really? How odd."
"Yes, yes it is," he agreed.
"I suppose it could have been a private sale she held, to try and avoid gossip. I had heard she was in a bit of tight spot, financially, after George passed away."
"Really? How so?" Giles inquired his interest instantly sparked.
"Well, according to Mrs. Almond, she lives two houses down, such a sweet girl. She helps me with my grocery shopping every week and she always-"
"Yes, but about Mrs. Reynolds financial status…" Giles interrupted, eager to hear what she knew.
"Oh yes, anyhow, she had heard from her cousin Mary who runs a beauty saloon on Pine Avenue, that Sue had been seen several times going in to the pawnshop across the street. And people said a lot of her things had started disappearing. Why she used to have this beautiful garden statue on the lawn, she always bragged about how George had won a huge bidding war at some auction, and then a few months ago the statue wasn’t there and I tell you-"
Just then the phone rang, startling all three of them.
"Oh, excuse me, I’ll be back in just a minute," Mrs. Bernard assured them as she went to answer.
A long silence followed as they listened to Mrs. Bernard chatting excitedly with whoever was on the other side of the phone.
It was Giles who finally spoke, "Well this has certainly been…" he paused as he searched for a suitable word, "informative."
"I’m just glad someone was willing to talk to us." Jenny said. "So what do you think? That she actually sold the amulet at this pawnshop and was… to embarrassed to tell us?"
"It’s possible I guess… I’d say worth checking out."
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"I’m sorry I couldn’t be of any help," a tall young man apologized for the second time while beaming at Cordelia.
"That’s okay, thanks for your time," Willow replied, but he hardly seemed to hear her as he was busy looking after Cordelia would had already turned and was making her way towards the sidewalk.
Willow hurried to catch up with her.
"This is hopeless," Cordelia complained, "We’ve already been to five houses and not a single one know anything about this stupid garage sale."
"We should keep trying," Willow insisted. Trying to cheer the other girl up she added, "Maybe we should look for Giles and Ms Calendar? See if they have had any luck."
"Whatever." Cordelia mumbled.
They started making their way back towards Sue Reynolds house, after a few minutes of silence Willow worked up the nerve to tentatively ask, "So... what's up with you and Xander?"
"Nothing," Cordelia answered shortly. Another brief silence followed before she exclaimed, "It's just that he can be such an idiot sometimes."
"Look, I know Xander probably isn't the smoothest of guys, but he means well. Not everyone has rich parents. I think maybe you should cut him some slack."
Cordelia snorted, "Right. What would you know about relationships."
Instantly Willow felt her chest constrict and she desperately tried to hold back her tears.
One look at Willows stricken face and Cordelia realized her blunder and instantly regretted it, "Oh god I'm sorry... I didn't mean..."
"It's okay." Willow tried to assure her, doing her best to manage a smile, "Really."
Cordelia let out a deep sigh and another long silence followed. They both stopped when they reached the house but with Giles and Ms. Calendar not being anywhere in sight they had no option but to wait as the tense silence seemed to stretch indefinitely.
Cordelia was becoming desperate to say something to try and smooth over her hurtful comment and ended up blurting out. "It's not like I'm asking for a diamond ring or anything. At first I even thought going to the movies sounded kind of romantic, I just don't want to go see L.A. Confidential on my birthday."
"He took you to see L.A. Confidential?"
"Yeah," Cordelia affirmed, her voice reveling her irritation.
"Oh..." Willow contemplated that for a moment, "Well, maybe you should wait a little while longer before you forgive him."
"Yeah, I was thinking one more week."
Just then Willow spotted Giles and Ms Calendar exiting the house opposite the street, "Oh, there they are," she alerted the other girl and started waving her hand to catch their attention.