Murder And Salutations Part 5

Bradford slammed his palm down on my worktable. "She's got to get it through her head that I'm trying to help her. I swear, she's more stubborn than you and Lillian put together."

"I doubt that," Lillian said. "Let us talk to her, Bradford. You can come along if you'd like."

"No thanks," he said, shaking his head firmly. "I'm I going back over there and I'm not leaving until I get some answers from her. Thanks for the pep talk, though."

Grady Farrar, owner of Farrar Hardware and now interim president of the Rebel Forge chamber of commerce, came into the shop as Bradford was leaving, he was holding a paper bag in his hand as if it contained something valuable.

"Did I miss something?" Grady asked.

"Nothing that matters," I said. "What brings you here, Grady? Are you looking for a card for that lovely wife of yours?"

"Jennifer, if I brought a card home to Martha, she'd think I was up to something. No thank you, trouble like that I don't need."

Lillian said, "So if you're not here for a card, to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?"

He held the paper bag out to me. "I forgot all about this in the excitement last night. Here, this belongs to you."

I took the bag and opened it. Inside was the golden anvil I'd won last night just as Eliza's body had been discovered.

I tried to hand it back to him as I said, "I can't take it."

"Now, Jennifer, don't make me scold you in public. You won it fair and square; it belongs to you. About that speech I made last night," he added softly, "those were Eliza's words, not mine. I'd never have read them if I'd realized how hurtful they were going to be. She had no right to go after your sister like that." Grady looked fl.u.s.tered. "And here I am speaking ill of the dead. It was a long night and a short sleep for me, but that's no excuse. If you ladies will pardon me, I'll be heading back to my hardware store."

After he was gone, I put the paper bag on the counter. Lillian asked, "Aren't you even going to take it out of the bag? Let me see it, Jennifer. I'm curious about it, even if you're not."

"They never should have given it to me in the first place," I said. "And I have a sneaking suspicion they wouldn't have if Eliza hadn't seen it as a way to take a jab at Sara Lynn."

Lillian ignored me and took the anvil out of the bag. "Nonsense, it's your award. Where should we put it?"

"How about back in the bag?" I suggested.

"It needs to be displayed," Lillian said, ignoring me completely. "I know. Let's have a shelf installed for it above the register. That way everyone will know you won it."

"Lillian, let me have that."

She reluctantly handed the anvil to me, and I put it in the display counter under the cash register.

"Jennifer, you can hardly see it there."

"Lillian, if I catch you moving it, you're fired, and I mean it."

My aunt took in my stern stare, then said somberly, "We can't have that, can we? I don't know how I'd manage to squeak by without my salary from the shop."

After a second, we both burst out laughing. Lillian could buy and sell my shop a dozen times over, and we both knew it. Besides, she didn't draw a dime in pay, if I didn't include the supplies she freely used.

"So when are we going to Heaven Scent?" Lillian asked. "I'm going crazy just hanging around here."

"Okay, you wore me down. Let me hang the sign on the door and we'll go." I'd invested in a sign that offered the adjustable hands of a clock and set it for an hour's time. It would be enough time to talk to Addle, and hopefully I wouldn't lose too many customers while we were gone. Business had really picked up since I'd first opened the card shop, but I knew that I could fail at any moment if I ignored the clientele I'd fought so hard to build. Summer was coming, and with it an influx of tourists who would hopefully keep me in the black for the year, and I knew I wouldn't be able to leave the shop as easily as I could now. That was how I justified my sketchy hours from time to time, knowing how busy I was going to be very soon. If Sara Lynn's shop Forever Memories was any indication, I'd probably have to hire a few part-time college kids to help me keep up. I knew just who I'd like to hire, too. I'd babysat for Corrine Knotts a long time ago, and she'd grown into a very capable and friendly young woman now in college. I'd have to ask her mother for her phone number so I could hire Corrine before somebody else nabbed her. It was just one more item for my to-do list.

"Honestly, Jennifer, let's go."

"I've never seen you this eager to go anywhere in your life," I said as I put the sign up on the door.

"I'm worried if we don't do something soon, your brother's not going to have any choice. If he has to arrest Sara Lynn, I doubt she'll ever speak to him again. We all have our differences from time to time, but we're all the family we've got, and I won't see our bonds destroyed."

"Hang on a second," I said when we were outside. "I forgot something."

"Jennifer, is it absolutely necessary?"

I grinned at her. "It's going to be hard to give her a sympathy card if we don't take it with us."

I grabbed the card, and then dead-bolted the shop door. Heaven Scent was just down the block, so at least we didn't have far to walk. It was a good thing, too, because as we made our way down Oakmont, it started to rain. Though the day had been warm enough, the raindrops were chilled and stung as they hit. We made it to Heaven Scent just in time. As Lillian and I rushed into the store, the sky opened up and we were in the middle of a full-scale rainstorm.

"Where did that come from?" Lillian asked me as we caught our breath.

"I'm not sure," I said as I looked around the shop.

I'd been in Heaven Scent a few times in the past, but the mixes of aromas were stronger than I'd remembered. The shelves were lined with bath soaps, fragrances, candles and batches of potpourri. If it contained a scent and a tourist might want it, Heaven Scent was bound to carry it. There were also wind chimes and dream catchers hanging in the window, along with a vast selection of stained-gla.s.s trinkets that must have caught the sunlight and spread it around the room. If there'd been any sunlight, anyway. Eliza also ran an accounting service on the side from the back room of the store. She'd approached me about keeping my books when I'd first opened, but I could keep track of my corporate a.s.sets with a checkbook and a calculator. At the time, Eliza had told me that she ran the small operation mostly just along with a vast selection of stained-gla.s.s trinkets that must have caught the sunlight and spread it around the room. If there'd been any sunlight, anyway. Eliza also ran an accounting service on the side from the back room of the store. She'd approached me about keeping my books when I'd first opened, but I could keep track of my corporate a.s.sets with a checkbook and a calculator. At the time, Eliza had told me that she ran the small operation mostly just to keep her hand in her former profession, but scents and aromas were her first and true love. to keep her hand in her former profession, but scents and aromas were her first and true love.

There were no customers in the shop when we walked in, and I was beginning to wonder if Addie was there herself. "h.e.l.lo?" I called out, hoping to get someone's attention.

"One second," I heard someone shout from the back room. Hanging out in the empty store, I was suddenly glad for every customer I'd ever had. I knew business would pick up for all of us once the summer started, but how in the world did anybody survive the other nine months of the year?

Addie Mason came out of the back room, brus.h.i.+ng some of her frizzy red hair out of her face as she put a folder bulging with papers on the counter. Her eyes were red, and I wondered why she'd come to work so soon after losing her business partner. She looked even thinner than normal to me in her emerald green pantsuit, and I pondered, not for the first time, exactly how much she weighed. Actually, I didn't want to know. It would probably just depress me. a folder bulging with papers on the counter. Her eyes were red, and I wondered why she'd come to work so soon after losing her business partner. She looked even thinner than normal to me in her emerald green pantsuit, and I pondered, not for the first time, exactly how much she weighed. Actually, I didn't want to know. It would probably just depress me.

Addie looked surprised when she saw that Lillian and I were her customers. She said curtly, "Don't tell me you're out in this mess shopping."

I held my card out to her. "We just wanted to come by and tell you how sorry we are about Eliza."

She took the card, but didn't open it. "I should probably thank you for the thought," Addie said, "but to be honest with you, I'm kind of surprised to see you both here."

"Why? Can't we visit you to express our sympathy?" Lillian asked.

Addie frowned. "Don't pretend we all don't know who did it. Sara Lynn didn't try that hard to hide it."

"My sister didn't kill your partner," I said.

Addie didn't answer, but her eye roll was enough for me.

"Come on, you know Sara Lynn isn't capable of doing that."

She said, "You're wrong. There's no doubt in my mind that she did it."

The blunt callousness of her words shocked me. Without thinking, I said, "What makes you think the police aren't looking at you as a suspect?" Lillian touched my arm. "Jennifer, that's enough."

I pulled away. "She started it. Sara Lynn didn't kill Eliza."

Addie nearly shouted, "You're her sister, I understand why you'd take up for her, but I'm not about to let anybody pin it on me. I'm innocent." There was real anger in Addie's eyes as she stared at me.

"So you say." I gestured around the room. "Who gets her share of the business now? Does it all go to you?"

Addie blushed-an easy giveaway, considering her pale skin. "So what if it does? That doesn't mean I killed her. Your sister had a lot more reason to want Eliza dead than I did. Since it's pretty obvious you didn't come here to buy anything, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"I wouldn't dream of staying somewhere I wasn't welcome," I said.

I'd started for the door when she called out, "You forgot something."

She held the card out to me, but I wouldn't take it. "Whether you believe it or not, the sentiment in there is real," I said.

"I don't need your sympathy," Addie said. Then she tore the card I'd worked so hard on in half, and dropped both pieces on the floor. I started toward her, but I couldn't break through Lillian's restraining grip.

"Come on, Jennifer. Let's go."

My aunt practically dragged me out of the shop onto the sidewalk. The rain had lessened some, but it was still coming down at a good clip.

"Where do we go now?" I asked.

"Back to the card shop," Lillian said as she stormed off, and I had little choice but to follow her.

We got back to Custom Card Creations and I unlocked the door. By the time we got inside, the rain had practically stopped. Lillian grabbed a few towels from the back and threw one to me.

"That went well, wouldn't you say?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"She started it," I said.

"What are you, in third grade? We went there to get information, not start a common brawl."

"We found out what we wanted to know," I said. "She practically admitted that she would inherit Eliza's share of the shop. What else do we need to know?"

Lillian thought about it a moment, then said, "Let's see, I wanted to ask her if she had an alibi for last night, if she knew anyone else who might want her partner dead, if Eliza had any family she was close to, who was handling the estate . . . little things like that. Jennifer, if you're going to keep looking into this, you're going to have to learn to control your temper."

"I'm sorry," I muttered, hating every second that Lillian was right. I'd lost it when that woman had accused my sister of murder, and by blowing up, I'd cut us off from a possible source of information.

"I can fix this," I said softly.

"I don't see how. Give me a second to think this through." Lillian paced around the shop as I dried my hair with the towel. It would be frizzier than I liked, but I didn't have time to mess with it at the moment. I was just glad I'd already planned to go back to my apartment before dinner tonight.

"I've got an idea," Lillian finally said.

"Tell me. I'll do whatever it takes."

She shook her head. "I don't think so. If I bring you in there right now, it will be like throwing gasoline on a bonfire. But if I manage to get seven words in, I think I can smooth things over with her."

"I can't imagine what those seven words could possibly be," I said. "Just let me worry about that," Lillian said. "This might take some time."

"Take all you need," I said, regretting again the way I'd blown up. After Lillian was gone on her mission of reconciliation, I tried to put myself in Addie's place. Not only had she lost a business partner, but she and Eliza had been close on a personal level. And what did I do? I waltzed in there like I'd owned the place, and started in on her. Not good, Jennifer. Not good at all.

I tried to distract myself with card making, but for one of the few times in my life, I just wasn't in the mood. A customer or two would have been great, but just my luck, the brief rainstorm earlier had evidently kept the shoppers at home. When the chime finally announced a visitor, I was willing to give away half the store to keep them there.

Then I saw that it was Greg Langston, probably the only person on earth I didn't want to see at the moment.

Chapter 5.

"Does your girlfriend know you're here?" I asked, immediately regretting my harsh choice of words. Somehow Greg brought the worst out in me lately, and I couldn't seem to stop myself from firing verbal shots at him. All in all, I was not having a good day dealing with people, and I wondered if I should just go home-while I still had one-lock my door, take my phone off the hook, and pull the covers over my head until this att.i.tude of mine pa.s.sed.

Greg let my snippy question slide. "Stephanie would have a fit, but this isn't about her, it's about you. What's going on?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said as innocently as I could manage.

"Come on, I saw the way you stormed past my shop earlier. You weren't out on a social call."

I looked at the clock. "Greg, that was almost half an hour ago. What took you so long, if you were worried about me?"

He suddenly got the guiltiest look on his face, and I knew why he hadn't come over.

"What's the matter, were you too busy giving her private lessons? Don't tell me, your new girlfriend suddenly developed a strong interest in pottery. Or is it just the potter?" Even as I said it, I wondered where that had come from.

"Jennifer, do you honestly think you have the right to ask me that? You're the one who didn't want me anymore, remember? You can't act jealous now if I happen to be seeing someone else."

It didn't help my temper knowing that he was right. "You know what? That's absolutely true. In answer to your question, I'm fine," I said. "Thanks for stopping by."

"You're not going to brush me off that easily," Greg said. "Just because we're not together doesn't mean I don't still care about you."

"Do it from your shop then, would you? I've got cards to make." I walked to the door and held it open for him. After a few seconds, he took the hint and left, but not before saying, "Be careful, Jen. You have a tendency to get into things too deep before you realize what you're doing."

"Thanks for the advice," I said. I wanted him out of there before I said anything else I'd come to regret later.

He shook his head, then walked away.

I cried out in frustration once he was gone as I swept a box full of custom-made paper off the counter. Just my luck, the seal came loose in midflight, and an avalanche of paper wafted down to the floor. Why did I let him get to me like that?

Lillian walked in as I was trying to collect the errant papers. "I'm sorry I missed the parade. It must have really been something if that's the size of the confetti. Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"No, I can't afford to have you disappointed in me twice in one day. I had a little tantrum, but I'm all better now. What did Addie say?"

"Well, it took some time and a little feather stroking, but I finally convinced her that we meant well with our visit. In fact, she wanted me to tell you that she was sorry she destroyed your beautiful card. I helped her piece it back together, and she really was touched."

I shook my head. "I don't know how you do it, but I'm hoping you're willing to teach me. I thought it was hopeless when you said you were going back in there."

Lillian squatted down and helped me gather the rest of the paper. "You actually might have helped more than you realize. I had the distinct impression Addie needed to blow off some steam before she came apart, and you just happened to be handy."