A Flower Girl Murder (9 page)

The truck came to a stop at the outer edge of the village green. Sage tried to console herself that there was no way the boy knew she was suspecting him of murdering Natalie. She tried to look at him with different eyes now, but it was strange, since he seemed so well-behaved and just plain nice.
First impressions can be deceiving
, she reminded herself. Just take Derek. She’d been fooled by the man for years. Who was she to judge a person from knowing him for only a few minutes?

“We just need to take down the potted flowers from the arch and the benches,” she said as they walked down the grassy square towards the stone terrace. The hydrangeas didn’t look too salvageable when they approached them, but Prim could still do her magic to revive them.

“It feels like it happened ages ago,” Trevor sighed as he took the scissors and started cutting the pots down from metal frame. Sage was surprised he was the one who started the topic, but she welcomed it.

“I was thinking the same thing!” she said, “It must have been really hard on you.”

“On me, sure, just like on anyone else who knew her well.”

“Oh, sorry,” Sage said, “I thought… Anyway, my mistake.”

“You thought what?” Trevor asked curiously.

“I must have misunderstood. I’m new in town, but I thought that she was your girlfriend.”

“For a while, yes, but that was a long time ago. We didn’t work out as a couple. We were just good friends, which, of course, doesn’t make me any less sad that she passed.”

“Of course not,” Sage said.

All the pots were now down and the two of them started loading them on the fold-up cart that Prim kept in the truck. Trevor was extremely efficient, even if this was a made-up task and Sage doubted Prim would be happy to see two dozen pots of dead hydrangeas delivered to her front door.

“Maybe…” Sage started, but she was afraid she might be going a bit too far, “Maybe I was confused because I saw you guys here yesterday morning and thought you might be in a fight.”

Trevor froze for a moment in the middle of what he was doing.

“You
saw
us?”

“Yeah, by accident. I was here helping my sister set up for the wedding and I saw you guys arguing.”

“That’s not possible,” Trevor declared and started rolling the cart quickly towards the truck.

“Why not?” Sage asked, vouching to herself that this would be her last push. She didn’t want to enrage him.

“It just isn’t,” he said simply.

Sage tiptoed to the sofa and lightly blew in her sister’s face. Prim wrinkled her nose for a moment and went back to sleep. Sage took a strand of strawberry blond hair that fell over Prim’s shoulder and tickled her nose with it. Prim waved her hand as if to chase away an annoying fly.

“Prim,” Sage finally whispered gently.

“What?” Prim jumped right up, her head still muddled from the nap, “What’s going on? What time is it?”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Sage tried to soothe her. She pushed the cup of tea into her sister’s hands. In the end she’d decided to brew a concoction of a little bit of everything. Even if Prim thought it was horrid, she didn’t say anything. She simply made a purring sound of appreciation and sipped on.

“I’ve never passed out like this,” she said, “What did you do while I was sleeping? Did Trevor come? Did we get more orders?”

“Yes, he was here, and no, no more orders, so you can relax. But Prim?”

“Yes?”

“I think I know what really happened to Natalie,” Sage said, hardly hiding the excitement in her voice, “I think I know who killed her.”

Sage brought out her notebook and started from the very beginning. She guided her sister through all they knew so far, straightening out all inconsistencies, giving plausible explanations to all the question marks, explaining all the motives and means. Prim listened fascinated. It was becoming quite clear to her now that Sage was right. She had taken the whole ‘case’ with a grain of salt so far, mainly because she didn’t want to discourage her sister from getting out of the house, but now that she saw the facts laid out like this, there was little doubt that they were faced with a real murder.

“Should we tell Ben?” she asked once Sage was done.

“I think we should, but there’s one more thing we need to confirm before we go to him. I don’t want all this to look like just a bunch of convenient coincidences.”

“You are right, plus he won’t be home before eight. What do you have in mind?”

“We need to see the body,” Sage said calmly.

“Sage!”

“That’s the only way to know for sure. I know it’s not pleasant, but you don’t have to do it. I’ll examine her myself.”

“Do you know what you should be looking for?”

“I’m a biologist, I know enough. It’s not that difficult to spot it if it’s there. Only, do we know where the body is right now?”

“It’s with Cathy. She’s getting her ready for the funeral tomorrow.”

“Hm, that would be tough then.”

“Not really,” Prim said with a conspiratorial smile, “I was headed there anyway. I need to deliver those carnations, remember?”

“But you have no carnations.”

“I’ll take tulips. Everyone deserves a bit of beauty at their funeral and tulips are humble, yet beautiful.”

“Great then! I’m coming with you.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

White Tulips and a Body

The sun was nowhere near setting at seven o’clock, but the air was already cooler and easier to breathe. People were slowly crawling out of their dark, air-conditioned holes and returning to life. Main Street was bustling with traffic. Housewives were sorting through the wrinkled produce put out for display outside the grocer’s, trying to fish out a cucumber that hadn’t gone bad in the sun. Groups of kids were storming in and out of the candy store, clutching plastic bags of assorted bonbons and gummy snakes and bears. Older ladies were taking a stroll or waiting their turn at the hair salon, chatting at the bench in front of its windows.

It was odd that the two sisters were on such a dark mission, while the world around them seemed so positive and serene.

Prim was nodding and greeting everyone, while Sage took in the whole scene as if she’d stepped through the looking glass. This idyllic little town really looked like Wonderland with its quaint storefronts and smiling residents. She’d always thought that small town life would be incredibly boring and wondered why Prim had chosen this lifestyle without even tasting the different flavors of the world.

Now that she herself had traveled so extensively, Sage realized that it wasn’t the thrill of the new that made this place so attractive. On the contrary, it was the feeling of security and familiarity, the tight sense of belonging and the history of many generations back that made people in Rosecliff so devoted to their town.

Could she imagine a life for herself here? She wasn’t sure yet.

The two sisters turned onto a residential lane with big, clapboard houses, and judging by the signboards in almost every front yard, most of these homes also housed various businesses. There was the seamstress and the chiropractor, the therapist and the real estate agent. Finally Prim and Sage reached Cathy’s home, which also had a tasteful sign board announcing her services and decorated with painted cherubs and white lilies.

Cathy appeared at the door only seconds after they rang the doorbell. She’d been expecting them.

She looked even more spectacular than last time Sage had seen her at the cafe. With her bright purple satin blouse and a frilly emerald skirt, she looked like a proud peacock. Not to mention she actually had peacock feather earrings on. Her outfit only brought out the fire in her massive red hairdo and crimson lipstick. Sage wondered if the woman spent that much time on her looks every day or this was a special occasion look just because they were visiting.

“If that isn’t the lovely sister I’ve heard so much about!” Cathy squealed and lunged forward to take Sage in a tight embrace. Sage felt squashed in the woman’s ample bosom, but it felt nice to be greeted so warmly.

“Nice to meet you, Cathy,” she managed to breathe out.

“Let me look at you, honey,” Cathy said, finally drawing back and examining Sage from head to toe. “So, you say you two have the same father, huh? Gorgeous! I mean
gorgeous
!”

Sage smiled. Cathy was definitely not someone who kept their thoughts to themselves.

“Please, please, come in,” Cathy ushered them in, “I can’t breathe in this heat another minute!”

The two sisters followed her inside and Sage had the immediate sensation that she’d stepped back in time. Cathy’s home was like a time capsule and artifacts from long past times were staring back at Sage from every corner. Oil paintings, a collection of paper fans, a smaller, but impressive collection of china dolls, a huge standing cuckoo clock, and a myriad of vintage photographs in sepia were just some of the curiosities they encountered as Cathy led them towards the back of the house, where she’d already served tea and cake.

The kitchen table was overflowing with cans full of brushes, make-up cases and catalogs. It was a bit unnerving for Sage, knowing what all these were used for, but she wasn’t squeamish by nature, so it didn’t spoil her butterscotch cake. It seemed everyone was feeding her cake today, but how could she mind?

“How are the preparations going?” Prim asked and shot Sage a meaningful look.

Sage caught on and downed her tea at once.

As Cathy was starting to describe the stages she’d already completed, Sage suddenly clutched her stomach.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I think I drank this a bit too fast. Can I use the bathroom?”

“Oh, sure, honey! Down the hall and to your left.”

Cathy seemed oblivious to their little scheme. She continued going into detail about her work on Natalie’s body and the last Sage could see before she left the room was a calm-looking Prim, who looked completely engrossed in the odd subject, nodding along.

Prim had described Cathy’s floor setup in a lot of detail before they arrived, so Sage was confident she was going the right way, when she opened a door right off a storage room and went down a flight of stairs to the basement. It’s where Cathy did most of her work and where she kept the bodies. Her studio was in sharp contrast with the chaos upstairs. It was clinically clean and the metal surfaces and sets of tools shone with a subdued gleam.

Sage knew she needed to hurry before her absence got suspicious.

“So?” Prim asked impatiently as soon as Cathy’s door shut behind their backs. “How did it go?

“We were right, Prim,” Sage said, but for some reason she wasn’t as triumphant as she’d been on the way here. Maybe there had been a small part of her that still hoped that Natalie had not been in fact murdered. “We need to speak to Ben as soon as possible.”

When they returned home, Ben was already in. He was rummaging through the fridge, taking out plastic containers and piling them on the kitchen counter. When he heard the two sisters come in, he turned around and his face was miserable.

Prim hurried to hug and kiss her husband. She knew what that face was all about. There was no dinner and little was left over from last night and lunch. Ben wrapped his hands around his beautiful wife and didn’t say a thing. If his wife hadn’t had the time to make dinner or set the table, it must have been a real hectic day for her.

“Where have the two of you been?” he asked, “Have you been up to trouble?” He smiled playfully.

The two sisters looked at each other guiltily and there was no need to confirm his guess. They’d been in more trouble than he suspected and, most of all, they had ignored his plea not to meddle. Sage realized she was to blame for everything, since she’d started the whole thing, so it was only fair that she would be the one to tell him.

“Ben, we need to talk to you. Something’s happened,” she said, taking a seat at the kitchen island.

Prim tore herself from Ben’s embrace and went to stand by her sister’s side.

“What’s wrong?” Ben said, closing the fridge door, “It’s not the boys, is it Prim?”

“No, no,” Prim was quick to assure him, “The boys are fine. They are probably still out on the beach with their buddies.”

“It’s about Natalie,” Sage said.

“Not that again,” Ben said, exasperated. “Why wouldn’t you just let it go? I told you my hands are tied there.”

“Yes,” Sage went on, “And we are sorry we went against your word, but you said you couldn’t investigate a murder based only on what I heard that morning at the beach.”

“Right, I can’t,” Ben agreed, “Then why are we still talking about it? I’m starving. Maybe I can take you two out for a nice dinner.”

“Not before you hear this, honey,” Prim jumped in. “The thing is, we know it
was
murder and we know who did it and how. We’ll need your help, though. We can’t just storm in people’s houses and arrest them.”

“Alright,” Ben said, “let’s hear what you’ve got, though I doubt it can make a difference. The funeral is tomorrow and I think people already want to put the whole thing behind.”