Deadly Greetings Part 2

"I will," I said as I touched his shoulder lightly. At that moment, his radio crackled. "Boss, we need you here on Cargill."

"What happened?" he asked, his face suddenly taut.

"No big deal, but a couple of rubberneckers watching the tow truck rammed into each other."

"Can't you handle them, Wayne?" I'd recognized the voice as belonging to one of my brother's deputies. Bradford had a blind spot when it came to Wayne Davidson, but I knew he was a total creep, and I did everything in my power to avoid him.

"Well, I could, but seeing how one of them's the mayor, I thought you might want to trot on back and take care of this one yourself." Bradford rolled his eyes, then said, "I'll be right there." Then he turned to me. "Sorry Jen, but I really It need to be there."

"I'll be fine," I said. "Go."

By the time Lillian came back five minutes later, I'd repaired my makeup, but my heart was still in bad shape. If I tried, I could almost hear Maggie's laugh, and it was a sound that should have given me comfort, but couldn't anymore.

"Child, what happened?" Lillian asked as she, dropped two bags from Hurley's on the counter. Hurley's was an upscale pub that served some of the best to food in Rebel Forge.

"Maggie Blake is dead," I said, not meaning to blurt it out like that.

Lillian shook her head sadly and asked softly, "Was it her heart?"

"No, she had a car accident on Cargill Road. Why, did she have heart problems?"

Lillian frowned. "Not that I know of, but it's a likely suspect when folks get to a certain age."

I decided not to say anything about my aunt's years. I didn't want to even think about her mortality. "I'm going to miss her," I said, managing to hold in my tears, though barely.

Lillian accepted it a lot more readily than I did. "She was a bright light, wasn't she?" Then my aunt turned to the food. "I've got hamburgers here just the way you like them. I'm afraid Granville's isn't going to make it till Christmas."

I couldn't believe how cavalier my aunt was being. "I can't possibly eat anything now. A friend of ours is dead, Lillian. Don't you care?"

My aunt's voice was stern as she said, "Jennifer, when you get to be my age, losing people is something you must accept with all the grace and dignity possible. Maggie had a good, full life, and from the sound of it, she didn't suffer much in the end, not like other friends of mine have. I'll miss her too, but there's nothing either one of us can do about it. Starving yourself won't bring her back." Lillian must have realized how callous she sounded. Her tone s.h.i.+fted as she added, "The best memorial we can make to the ones who've gone before is to live our lives to the fullest. Are you certain you don't want this?"

She unwrapped the burger and handed it to me. Lillian was right, but it was tough to act as if nothing had happened. My stomach rumbled again, and I decided to follow my aunt's advice. We ate in silence, every one of Lillian's attempts at conversation dying in the air between us. I'd have to make the best card I was capable of in Maggie's memory, but I didn't know who I could possibly give it to.

After our meal, I told Lillian, "If you don't mind, why don't you work the front. I want to inventory our stockroom."

"Jennifer, are you really in the mood to crawl around those dusty and dirty shelves counting stock today?"

"Grunt work is exactly what I need right now. If you run into any problems, just call me."

As I worked, I tried to put Maggie's death in perspective. While it was true that Lillian had been confronted with the loss of family, friends and loved ones a lot more than I had over the years, I'd lost both my parents, two people I loved with all my heart. Losing them had been a blow, and maybe the fact that they'd been killed in a car accident too made Maggie's death a little tougher for me to take. I heard the front door chime, but I didn't think anything about it until a head poked into the back room. "Hey, any chance you haven't had lunch yet?"

Gail Lowry, my best friend since the third grade, was standing there. I didn't want to cry again, but seeing her suddenly brought it all out. She was dressed tier in a suit that was worth more than my car and I was covered with dust, but Gail didn't even hesitate to hugging me. "What happened?" she asked finally as I wound down and pulled away.

"One of my favorite customers in the world just died in a car wreck."

"I'm so sorry," she said. "Is there anything I can do?"

I looked at her smudged suit. "Oh no, look what I did. You're a mess."

She brushed a few bits of dust off her jacket. "Don't worry about this. I wanted an excuse to skip out this afternoon anyway. I don't even know why I'm working. I already made my sales quota for the month, and then some. Anything I make from here on out will just go to taxes."

My best friend was extremely successful selling heavy equipment to construction companies. Her startling blue eyes and thick black hair got their attention, but her brains were what persuaded them to buy, and keep on buying. One of the things I liked best about her was that she didn't try to hide her extra twenty pounds, having her suits tailored to show off her curvy figure, enhancing instead of disguising.

Gail said, "Listen, why don't you play hooky with me? We can catch a movie or something."

I was tempted, but there was no way I could afford the time away from the shop. In all honesty, I wasn't even certain I could cover the cost of the ticket. "Thanks, but I've got to work."

"Suit yourself," she said, knowing better than to offer to pay. "While you're slaving away, I'm going to get lost in a movie star's eyes."

"Tell him I said hi," I said.

"I'll do no such thing. When I'm in the theater, they only have eyes for me."

I felt much better after talking to Gail. It was time to stop worrying so much about myself and think about how the other members of our club would deal with our loss. We'd have to do something special in her memory at the next meeting. Then I wondered if anyone knew to call the rest of the group and break the news to them. Our new club consisted of Hilda Bunting, Dot Crane, and Betty and Howard Hudson, seniors all. While I'd hoped to get a few folks under sixty to join, I was still happy with my group. Even Howard, Betty's husband and an ex-war vet, had thrown himself into card making, though from what I'd heard, Betty had blackmailed him into attending with her at first. I decided I needed to call them myself before they read about Maggie's death in the newspaper.

When I picked up the phone to call Hilda, instead of getting a dial tone, the line was open. "h.e.l.lo?" I said, wondering what was going on.

"That was fast," Hilda said. "I barely finished dialing your number."

"It didn't even ring," I said. "I was just calling you."

Hilda paused before replying. "That's odd, isn't it? I'm guessing we're calling about the same reason. You heard about Maggie too, huh?" That really caught me off guard. My brother had just told me, and if Hilda had a better pipeline to the police department than I did, I wanted to know what it was. "I just found out. To be honest with you, I'm surprised you know already."

"Don't be. I've got a police scanner. I've been sitting here listening to them in a state of shock. Poor Maggie."

"It's terrible, isn't it? Should we cancel our meeting this week?" I wasn't sure I could face everyone so soon after losing one of our members.

"It's up to you-you're in charge-but what do you think Maggie would say?"

I thought about the card crafter and how much she loved our get-togethers. Maggie had inst.i.tuted a refreshment policy that required everyone to take turns with a dessert, even Howard. He'd had the rotation in during the last session and had brought Rice Krispies Treats. Betty swore he'd made them all by himself, following the recipe on the box.

Suddenly I knew exactly what our friend would say. "We'll have the meeting, just like we always do."

Hilda said, "That's the spirit. Maggie would be so proud."

"Have you already called everyone else in the club?" I asked.

"No, you're the first one on my list. Would you like to call the others yourself?"

I thought about it, then said, "Why don't you take Dot and I'll call Betty and Howard?"

"I can do that," she said softly.

"Thanks, Hilda, I appreciate your help."

"Hey, she was quite a gal, wasn't she?"

"She was." I hung up the phone, then dialed Betty and Howard's number. If I was going to get through this without crying, I needed to make that phone call fast. I was hoping Howard would pick up, but Betty answered instead.

"Betty, I'm afraid I've got some bad news."

"You're not canceling the meeting this week, are you? I just read about a new technique I've been dying to try."

I fiddled with a calligraphy pen, not sure how to break it to her. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Maggie Blake is dead."

While I wasn't expecting Lillian's calm reaction to the news, I still wasn't prepared for Betty's shriek. As I heard the phone hit the hardwood floor, I felt helpless listening to her wail. In the background I could hear Howard trying to comfort her. A minute later he picked up the phone. "h.e.l.lo? Who is this?"

"Howard, it's Jennifer Shane from the card shop. I'm so sorry I caused this."

His voice grew tense. "What did you say to her?"

"I told her that Maggie Blake was dead."

There was enough silence on the other end of the phone that I wondered if I'd killed them both. "Howard, are you still there?"

"I'm here," he said, his words barely above a whisper. "Thanks for calling." And then he hung up on me.

I was suddenly very glad I didn't have to make any more telephone calls, and hoped that Hilda had better results with Dot than I had with the Hudsons. I was about to go back to my inventory when the telephone rang. As soon as I answered it, I found myself wis.h.i.+ng that I'd just let it ring.

Chapter 3.

"Jennifer Shane, it appears that I gave you more credit than I should have. Explain yourself, young lady."

It was my sister, Sara Lynn, and as greetings went, As I wished I could say that this one was more abrupt than her usual manner, but if I did, I'd be lying. "Do you really have the time for that particular conversation? Because I know I don't."

"You know perfectly well what I mean. I just heard from Bradford. I cannot believe you had the shortsightedness to rent that apartment."

I took a deep breath, then said, "Sara Lynn, I've got more problems than you can imagine. My housing situation is the least of my worries. If you want to scold me, you're going to have to wait till later. I don't have the time or the heart for it right now. Good-bye." Then I startled myself by hanging up on her.

It felt good cradling the telephone back in its base, my even though I fully realized that I'd pay for it later. I knew my sister meant well, but that excuse for her was abrupt manner only went so far, and I was in no frame of mind to be on the end of one of her scoldings. I wasn't in the mood to work on the inventory anymore, so I dusted off my jeans and tried to make myself presentable enough to wait on customers, if we had any.

Lillian was waiting on a handsome man in his mid-thirties, his dark hair already beginning to dust with touches of silver. Of course she got to help him. No doubt my next customer would be a third grader working on a school project or a ninety-year-old man with wandering eyes. Sometimes life just wasn't fair. I tried to look busy at the counter, sneaking a peek every now and then at Lillian's customer. To my surprise, she caught me looking, and I could see a smile barely crease her lips as she called out to me, "Jennifer, could you come here a moment?"

I started to stick my tongue out at her when her customer turned in my direction. "I'd be happy to."

I joined them, fighting the urge the entire time to smooth my hair and brush off my jeans yet again. "How may I help?"

He said, "I'm looking for a present for someone, and it has to be perfect."

"What's the occasion, if I might ask?" I didn't see a ring, so hopefully he wasn't buying an anniversary present for his wife.

"My mother's turning sixty-five in a few days, and I'm at a loss what to get her."

"We've got just the thing." I led him to our selection of gift baskets and wondered why Lillian hadn't taken him there first.

He frowned. "I've seen these already. They just won't do, not for my mother."

"Okay," I said. "Perhaps we can do a custom basket designed exclusively for her."

"That's what I need, something unique for the perfect woman," he said as he smiled.

I'll say this for him: the man knew his mother's every whim and taste. After I talked to him for five minutes, there was no doubt in my mind that there was room for only one woman in his heart, and he'd known her all his life. I pitied any woman he dated, knowing that they would never measure up to the standard he'd set in his mind. We worked together for half an hour, and when there was a choice to make, he always opted for the most expensive item I had to offer. I felt a little bad taking advantage of him. but the man was screaming for it, and I didn't have the heart to deny him. As I rang up his considerable purchases, I said, "If you'd like, we offer a special delivery service for our most exclusive clientele." We did nothing of the sort, but I wasn't ready to let him off the hook yet.

"No, thank you. I want to deliver this myself. You've done a remarkable job on it."

I gave him my best smile. "That's why we're here."

Ten seconds after he was gone, Lillian and I burst out laughing. "Can you believe that man?" I asked.

"You're the one I can't believe. Jennifer, that bill was atrocious. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"Lillian, I just gave the man what he wanted. Think how proud he'll be when his mother gets her present."

My aunt shook her head in amazement. "Right now all I can think about is how he'll react when his credit card statement comes."

"Are you kidding me? It's for his dear precious mother; he'll pay it without batting an eyelash. Suddenly I'm feeling better about the world."

Lillian scowled as she looked over my shoulder. "Sorry, but I have a feeling it's not going to last very long. Sara Lynn's almost at the door, and from the sour look on her face, she's about to ruin that smile. Quick, duck out the back way and I'll stall her."

"Thanks, but I can handle Sara Lynn." While that wasn't even remotely the truth, I knew it was better to deal with her than to run away. Well, maybe just a little better.

Before she could say a word, I said, "Sara Lynn, I'm sorry I hung up on you, I'm sorry I didn't consult with you about my new apartment, and I'm sorry you can't seem to lose those last five pounds you've been battling." That final shot was complete farce, since my older sister was barely as big as a hummingbird. I grinned as I said it, and though I could tell she was fighting it, she matched my smile with one of her own.

Finally, she said, "I don't know how you manage to do it, but I can't stay angry with you."

"Hey, when you get into as much trouble as I seem to, it's a skill worth cultivating. I really am sorry."

Sara Lynn spied the credit card receipt still on the counter. I'd meant to put it in the drawer, but I kind of enjoyed seeing it out there. "My, I don't need to ask how business is, do I?"

I nonchalantly opened the register and put it inside. "We're managing. How's business on your end of Oakmont?"

"Fine, adequate, tolerable-take your pick. Jennifer, I'm not here to discuss the status of our enterprises. Are you really moving into Whispering Oak?"

"I am. Would you like to help? I could use an extra hand. Bailey's invited, too. He can bring his pickup." While I wasn't crazy about the running commentary from Sara Lynn that I was sure to get, I could use her husband's strong back and especially his Ford truck.

Sara Lynn bit her lower lip before she spoke. "I'm afraid Bailey's gone."

"Sis, what happened? I didn't know you two were having problems." Of all the married couples in the world, my sister and her husband were the most married I knew. I couldn't imagine the circ.u.mstances that would split them up.

"We're not divorcing, you nit. He's out of town on business. As a matter of fact, I've been looking for something to keep me occupied. I'd be delighted to help you move."