Murder And Salutations Part 25

Bradford clouded up for a second, but he finally said, "I give up. You two can listen, but not a word out of either one of you, I expect your promises."

After they both pledged their solemn oaths, Bradford looked at me, and said, "Go ahead."

"Do you want to hear what happened, or how I figured it out?" I asked, "Why don't you start with your reasoning, and I'll interrupt if I have to. And Jennifer, make it as succinct as you can,"

I looked at him and said, "Kaye Jansen killed Eliza and Bailey, then tried to kill me. Thad shot her before she could do that, though."

He shook his head. "I know that much."

"You said to be brief," I reminded him.

"Okay, then," he said as he ran a hand through his hair. "Let's hear the long version."

"Kaye was cheating her father-in-law by falsifying the books and failing to ring up sales. Eliza must have caught her doing it while she was working on her fraud, and gave Kaye time to make rest.i.tution. She started stealing from the store to make up the money, and Eliza probably called her on it. Kaye killed Eliza, and for some reason she thought Bailey witnessed it. Maybe she saw him leaving, or just thought she did. I don't suppose we'll ever know. Anyway, for whatever reason, Kaye tracked Bailey down, found him at Whispering Oak, then she killed him." I glanced over at Sara Lynn, but she looked like she was taking the news as well as could be expected. "Kaye thought I was upstairs, so she started the fire to take care of both of us. When I confronted Kaye about the theft, she tried to kill me, then Thad stepped in."

"But how did you know she'd been stealing?" Lillian asked, then immediately clapped a hand over her mouth.

Bradford didn't say a word, so I answered. "She was wearing a diamond necklace when she came to ask me for money, and Kaye was always complaining about how little money she had. Then when I went by to talk to her one day, I noticed that she failed to ring up a sale, and a pretty large one, at that."

"That wasn't much to go on," Bradford said.

"I know it wouldn't be enough to bring to you, but it was good enough for me. I honestly never thought Kaye would try to shoot me."

"No, why would you think that?" Bradford asked. "After all, she'd just managed to kill two other people to hide her secret. What on earth made you think she'd stop with two?"

"I just didn't think, I guess," I said.

Sara Lynn stepped up and hugged me. "Thank you, Jennifer."

"I didn't really do anything," I said.

"You found my husband's killer," she said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a funeral to plan." And then Sara Lynn broke down. I'd never heard her cry so fiercely. A doctor poked his head through the curtain as Bradford wrapped her up in his arms. He waved the doctor away as Lillian and I joined them in a familial embrace. It was time to mourn, now that Sara Lynn knew the truth, and we'd do the best we could to help her through it. After all, when it came down to it, that was what family really was all about.

CARD-MAKING TIPS.

One of the techniques mentioned in this book is quilling. It's amazing what you can do with a quilling needle, some paper and your imagination. By wrapping thin strips of paper tightly and then manipulating them, you can easily make circles, ovals and many other shapes. Besides creating the three-dimensional flowers and hearts that Jennifer and Lillian make in this book, you can fabricate wreaths, balloons, clouds or even automobile tires! You can cut your own strips, but it gets tedious, and besides, most craft stores sell precut, multicolored strips ready to work with.

Have fun, and don't be afraid to experiment. That's one of the real advantages of card making. Most of the supplies are inexpensive enough to play with, and some of my favorite techniques and designs have come about because I achieved different results from what I was originally trying to create.