Murder And Salutations Part 6

"Hey, what can I say? Everybody needs a special purpose in life. So what's your gut reaction? Did she do it?"

Lillian paused a moment, then said, "She could have. When I asked her about her alibi, there were at least ten minutes she couldn't account for. She claims she ducked out of Hurley's to get her inhaler from Heaven Scent, but n.o.body saw her go, or, more importantly, come back. The store's worth quite a bit, despite their low sales at the moment. The two of them owned the building outright, and it all goes to Addie now. The only person left alive with any family connection to Eliza is Luke Penwright, and once they were divorced, she made sure to change her will. Addie said Eliza couldn't wait to disinherit him."

I couldn't believe the flood of information. "How did you manage to get all that out of her in just half an hour?"

"That just took five minutes," Lillian admitted. "Your little tirade loosened her up, and by the time I walked in, she was dying to tell someone how wrong you were."

"So what do we do now?"

Lillian looked at the clock, then said, "I'm going to take a long lunch, and when I get back an hour before closing, I'm going to take over so you can go to your apartment and get ready for your date tonight."

"It's not a date," I said automatically. "I was talking about the case."

Lillian shrugged. "I've got a few calls to make, but they can wait. Jennifer, you can't let this ruin your evening. If nothing else, I don't think Gail would ever forgive you."

"I still think we should keep digging," I said. "Proving that Sara Lynn is innocent is more important than my social life this evening."

"That's where you're wrong," Lillian said. "You don't get out nearly enough, and I won't let you cancel this. We can investigate more tomorrow, I promise, but just for tonight, I want you to concentrate on having fun. Okay?"

"Okay," I agreed reluctantly.

Lillian nodded. "Then I'm off."

She was gone again before I could stop her. I hadn't eaten yet, either, and I didn't want to wait until four o'clock to have my lunch. I should have known she'd realize that, though. Thirty minutes later, a waiter named Tommy from Hurley's showed up with a hamburger and fries. As I offered to pay him, he said, "It's taken care of, and the tip, too. I don't know how you managed it, but I didn't even think we delivered our food."

"I'm special," I said as I slipped him a five despite his instructions. Tommy was in college-I'd heard Jack saying something about it the night before-and while he put up a token protest about taking more money, I managed to convince him just the same.

I felt worlds better after I'd eaten, but the threatening skies kept things quiet in the shop, and I couldn't bring myself to make any more cards. I finally just gave up and grabbed the paperback mystery I'd been reading during my spare moments, from where it was stored safely away in my purse.

Dame Agatha Christie herself couldn't hold my attention as I kept thinking about Eliza Glade's killer. Someone had to have had the guts of a second-story man to kill her with all those potential witnesses just on the other side of the door. Had the perpetrator planned to kill her with the letter opener from the start, or had it been a weapon of opportunity once the murderer was on-site? I knew Bradford thought that anybody could be a killer given the right circ.u.mstances. I couldn't imagine being able to bring myself to do it, and I hoped I never would.

The next few hours felt like an eternity until Lillian finally showed up again.

"How was lunch?" she asked as she took off her coat.

"It was great. Let me pay you for it," I said as I reached for my purse, "Please, it was the least I could do," she said. "Have you had many customers since I left?"

"For all the good I did, I might as well have gone home right after you left."

"Don't worry, Jennifer, soon enough we'll be longing for the good old quiet days."

"I hope you're right," I said as I straightened the counter displays for the fourth time in two hours. "If you'd like, why don't we just shut the shop down an hour early and you can go home, too."

Lillian shook her head. "I don't mind working until five," she said.

"Really, I'm fine with it. In fact, I'd feel better if you took off, too."

"That's nonsense. I have nothing else I need to do."

Something was going on. Normally my aunt would jump at the chance to go home early, even though she was only a volunteer and could come and go as she wished. "What is it? What aren't you telling me? You're not having a man meet you here, are you?"

"Jennifer Shane, I have enough places to entertain my gentleman friends without using your store as a rendezvous point."

"Then what is it? I'm not going until you tell me."

She frowned, then finally said, "If you must know, I've made a few telephone calls, and I'm hoping I get some answers before we close."

"Is there anything I should know about?" I asked.

"I won't know that until I get my answers," Lillian said plainly.

I held her hands in mine. "You didn't do anything silly, did you? I won't have you taking unnecessary risks, Lillian."

"You worry too much," she said as she withdrew her hands. "Now go. Have a lovely evening."

"Be careful," I said as she ushered me out of the door of my own shop.

"I'd say the same thing to you, but it might just do you some good to take a chance tonight. I expect a full report in the morning, Jennifer."

"You're overly optimistic about a blind date," I said.

"I thought you said it wasn't anything like that."

I was outside by that point. "So I lied. I'll see you tomorrow."

Oggie and Nash were waiting by my door when I walked into my apartment. They both looked too smug for my taste, so I looked around, and sure enough, someone had been foolish enough to slide a note to me under my door. Short of a roomful of catnip, there was nothing my cats loved more than shredding paper. I found remnants spread throughout the apartment, and to their credit, my roommates had been terribly efficient. There wasn't even enough of it left to read the handwriting, a monumental feat given the required level of destruction.

"So who came by?" I asked. "Did you happen to see enough of the handwriting to tell who it was from before you shredded it?"

They both stared at me as if they were fascinated by my discourse, but I knew better. Most likely they were waiting for dinner. Of course, they were waiting for dinner at most times of the day or night.

"What am I going to do with you two?" I asked as I knelt down to stroke Nash's coat. Oggie, normally not one to seek out attention, joined us, weaving in and out between my legs. After a few minutes, he grew tired of the maneuver and plopped himself down in front of the cabinet where I kept the cat food. Nash would have allowed me to spoil him all night if I'd been so inclined, but I only had so much time, and I had to shampoo my hair as well. After I fed them, I took a quick shower and was ready a good five minutes before it was time to leave. I'd changed into my nicest dress for the occasion, a burgundy number that made me look sleek and graceful, as hard as that was for most of the people who knew me to believe. I'd given up eating lunch out for a month to afford it, but it had been worth every missed bite. When I wore it, I felt good. What more could I ask from a dress?

One of my downstairs neighbors was just coming in as I walked out the door. Barrett was a handsome man about my age, but he had a problem with an ex-girlfriend that I found irritating. Namely, he refused to let her go, and she constantly kept popping in and out of his life at the most inopportune times.

His eyes widened when he saw me, and I swear I could hear him suck in some air. "Jennifer, you look lovely this evening."

"Thanks," I said. "I've got a date." Hey, a blind date counted, didn't it?

"I'm not surprised. Have you found a new place to live yet?"

"I just got the note yesterday," I said. "We've got a week, don't we?"

He shook his head. "You must not have read the latest from our ungracious landlady. We now have three days to move, if we expect to get our security deposits back. She's so eager to evict us, she even offered to return last month's rent as a bonus. It seems she's got a rather eager buyer lined up ready to take possession of the property."

"Can she do that?" I asked. "Surely we've got to have some recourse. What does Jeffrey say?"

"Our friend has already left the premises," Barrett said. "I'm surprised he didn't say good-bye."

"I got a note from someone," I admitted. "I'm just not sure who it was."

He looked at me quizzically, and I almost left him in suspense, but I didn't want anyone in Rebel Forge: to think I was any crazier than I actually was. "My cats shredded it. They do that."

He nodded sympathetically, and I found myself drawn to him again, even though I knew he was bad for me. I'd have to be a little kinder to Oggie and Nash. There were more kinds of catnip than the one they were addicted to. "So where will you go?" he asked.

"I'll land on my feet," I said. "How about you?"

He didn't want to tell me-I could see it in his eyes-but he finally admitted, "Penny's asked me to move back in with her, and we've decided to give it another try."

Penny was the aforementioned girlfriend who would never quite go away. "I wish you both the best of luck," I said, then I got out of there before I told him t how I really felt.

As I drove the Gremlin toward the outskirts of town to the house where I was meeting Gail and her boyfriend, I found myself wondering what attracted me to certain men and not others. For the life of me, I couldn't find a yardstick or a general rule that explained my attractions in the past. Maybe I was better off not knowing. That way I'd always be surprised. When Gail had told me her boyfriend lived in a large house, I'd expected a two-story Victorian with a large front porch. Instead, I found a gated entrance off the road, and followed a winding path through a small field of gra.s.s before I saw a mansion that must have been a hundred years old. The gray stone structure was ma.s.sive, almost the size of a castle. I couldn't imagine paying the heating bill for it, let alone what the property taxes must have amounted to. I parked the Gremlin in the looping front driveway, not sure if I wanted to get out or not. I looked as silly parked there as an elephant in tap shoes. But what could I tell Gail-that the structure itself intimidated me? I was still debating what to do when the ma.s.sive, weathered oak door in front swung open and Gail herself stepped out.

Despite my earlier misgivings, I got out of the Gremlin as Gail approached. She was wearing an emerald green c.o.c.ktail dress that looked elegant and cla.s.sy. Gail's auburn hair had been expertly styled, and she looked exactly like royalty should look. We weighed nearly the same, though I was a good six inches taller than she was, but somehow Gail managed to convey the image that she was the perfect size, while I always felt like I could stand to lose a pound 1 or twenty.

"Wow, you clean up pretty good," I said.

"Look who's talking. I'm going to have to be diligent tonight or you're going to steal my boyfriend without even meaning to."

"Let's just admit that we both look fabulous, and I move on," I said. "Are you sure about this?"

"Positive," she said as she locked an arm in mine. Was it that obvious I'd just been considering flight? "Let's go. Reggie and his mother are waiting for us." "Let's go. Reggie and his mother are waiting for us."

When we walked in, I was astounded to see a huge formal entryway, complete with a chandelier and an Oriental carpet. "This is one heck of a first impression."

Gail smiled. "Mostly we go in and out through the side door, but I wanted you to get the full effect tonight."

"It's really something," I said.

"We're right through here," Gail said as she led the way. I wasn't sure what Reggie Bloom's family had done to be able to afford such an expensive place, but I was willing to bet it had been done generations ago. As we entered what was surely the formal dining room, I saw a man about my age talking with a cla.s.sic- looking older woman. The man-who had to be Reggie-was sandy haired and had the build of a football player. Did I know him? Our area wasn't that big, so I didn't doubt I'd seen him around, but something else nagged at my mind. I'd seen him, and recently, too. I wouldn't have said he was handsome until he turned toward us and smiled. It was amazing how it transformed his face. Before that, he'd been brooding, as if he and his mother were repeating an argument they'd had many times before. The mother, a striking, pet.i.te woman in her mid-fifties, showed where Reggie had inherited his smile as she greeted me.

As she took my hand, she said, "You must be Jennifer. You look absolutely lovely tonight."

"So do you, Mrs. Bloom," I said. It was true, too. She was dressed in a simple gray outfit that was no doubt worth more than four or five of my cars, and that didn't even begin to approach her shoes or the diamonds she wore as embellishments.

"Please, call me Helena," she said. "I'm afraid my father had delusions of grandeur when it came to naming his children. If you can believe it, he actually wanted to call my younger brother Zeus, but my mother put her foot down."

"So what did they finally settle on?"

"Troy, if you can imagine it. We all called him T, though, by his wish, as soon as he learned to talk. I miss his laugh."

"I'm so sorry," I said, not sure what else to say.

"He led a good life, one he enjoyed to the utmost- a lesson we would all do well to follow," Helena said, "She grasped my hands tightly as she added, "Jennifer, I'm afraid I've got some bad news."

"I'll tell her, Mother," Reggie said. "After all, it's my responsibility."

"Yes, but it's my home. Jennifer, I'm afraid your date had to cancel at the last second. Something about 1 an unexpected business trip," she added as she raised one eyebrow at her son. "I wish I had a camera, so I could take a picture and show the young fool just what he missed tonight."

"Thanks for the sentiment," I said as I started for the door. "If you all don't mind, I'd just as soon not be a fifth wheel tonight."

"Now where on earth do you think you're going?" Helena asked me. "Just because Claude can't make it, that's no reason we should be deprived of your company."

As a single woman in her thirties, I'd been in enough situations where I was the odd person out, and it never got any easier. Even with Helena and Gail urging me to stay, I still felt uneasy about it, but then I decided to have dinner with them after all. How many times was I willing to dress that fancy for an evening meal, anyway?

When I agreed, Helena said, "Let me call Martin and we can begin."

"Is Martin your husband?" I asked innocently enough.

Before Helena could answer, Reggie said, "No, he's just a friend of the family. My father's sick, so he won't be joining us."

"We're among friends," Helena said. "You can tell the truth. I'm afraid it's a bit more serious than that. Peter is dying. He has been for the last ten years, the poor dear, but he wants this house filled with food, friends and laughter, and I mean to abide by my husband's wishes."

What had Gail gotten me into? I looked over at her, and I could see that she was as uncomfortable as I was with the declaration.

An older man with graying temples soon joined us, and the five of us sat down to dinner. The food was delightful-lobster and filet mignon were among the choices-and I soon forgot that I had actually been stood up.

As we waited for dessert to be served, Martin said, "Did you all hear about the murder in town last night? Tragic event, that."

I wasn't about to admit that I'd been there, and when I saw that Gail was about to say something, I gave her a short burst of my "shut up" look.

When no one rose to the bait, Martin continued, "I understand a shop woman did it. Seems her husband was stepping out on her with the victim. They were having some tawdry affair. These commoners have no more morality than alley cats."

I tried to keep my mouth shut, honestly I did. So n.o.body was more surprised than I was when I said, "The woman you're referring to is my sister, and while it's true that Eliza was having an affair with her husband, Sara Lynn did not kill her."

I felt my cheeks burning from the statement, but there was nothing I could do about it now. I was certain that same conversation was going on around dinner tables all over Rebel Forge, but that didn't mean I had to sit and listen to it while I was eating. I stood up and put my napkin on my plate. Reggie looked at me with real venom in his gaze, but Helena's look was pure sympathy. "How dreadful for you," she said as she stood, too. "I think a walk around the grounds would be excellent before we tackle dessert. Coming, Jennifer?"

I wanted to storm out of there in righteous indignation, but my hostess had been so gracious throughout the evening, there was no way I could say no to her.

Reggie and Gail stood as well. "We'll join you. Mother," he said.

Helena waved a hand in their direction. "No, Jennifer and I need some time to get acquainted. You two can stay here." Then she looked at Martin. "You, on the other hand, have my permission to leave."

He protested, "I didn't mean anything by it. I was just making conversation."

Helena didn't say a word. She just stood there staring at him until he finally pushed away from the table.

"I'm afraid I'll have to leave after all. Got a pile of work on my desk, you know. Thanks for the meal, Helena. It was lovely, as usual."

He excused himself, and Helena and I left. My shoes weren't exactly designed for hiking, but they worked perfectly for strolling on the carefully manicured grounds.

"Forgive him, my dear, he's a boor at times, but Martin can be a dear friend."

"You didn't have to throw him out on my account," I said.

"I don't have many joys in my life at the moment. Surely you wouldn't rob me of that?"

I matched her grin. "Well, I wouldn't want to do that."