Death of a Dapper Snowman (21 page)

He tapped away at his keyboard, ignoring my attempted theoretical bribery.

“Oh, that’s not good,” he said. “Another witness has come forward to testify about the altercations between your father and Mr. Michaels.”

I groaned. “Nobody’s denying they had altercations. But my father didn’t harm the guy. You’re not really going to bring him in, are you?”

Tony was silent. I wished I could see his face so I could tell how he was feeling.

His voice cold and business-like, he said, “I have to go. We’ll talk soon.”

“We’ll talk plenty if you come after my dad.”

There was a pause, and then he said, “Be careful.” He ended the call.

I put my phone away and rubbed my arms. The car had gotten chilly during the short time I’d been parked with the engine off.

As much as I joked around with Tony and acted tough, I was worried. If Finnegan Day was the prime suspect for this murder, that meant either he did it, or someone else was determined to pin it on him. Either way, things were liable to get messy.

I took a deep breath, mentally prepared myself for a good day of staying busy and taking care of business, then stepped out of the car.

Even though I had other errands planned, I wanted to stop in first at my gift shop to check on things.

My employee, Brianna, greeted me cheerfully and assured me she had everything under control.

I hadn’t been to the store in a few days, and I could see a few waybills on the counter that should have been filed away, but when customers walked in the front door, they were cheerfully greeted, and that was the most important thing. Plus she laughed at my jokes.

“Did you call everyone with special orders?” I asked.

“Yes, boss.” Brianna bobbed her head, her straight brown hair swinging around her round face. Brianna was twenty-one, but she was so petite that when she wore minimal makeup, she looked about fourteen. It was hard for me sometimes to reconcile the fresh face in front of me with the idea of someone doing my job of running the gift shop almost as well as I did.

“Did you set out the recycling?”

She grinned. “Yes, boss.”

“Order more cash register rolls?”

“Yes, boss.”

“Grow five inches so you can dust the top shelves without a ladder?”

She laughed. “Working on it.”

“Did you get that tattoo you were talking about getting?”

She laughed. “Not yet.” Her eyes widened. “Wanna come with me?”

“Let me get back to you on that.” I pointed to the counter and started walking to the back of the store. “I’ll take care of the coins since I’m here and I have the key.”

“Sounds great.” She went back to organizing a display table full of Christmas gift ideas.

A few minutes later, the door jingled, and I heard Brianna call out, “Good morning, sir!”

I was kneeling behind the counter refilling the lockbox with rolls of coins, so I couldn’t see who’d come in, but there was something about this customer who got her flustered.

“Is it still morning?” she asked with a giggle. “Sometimes I say that all day, even after it’s past lunch time. There should be another greeting that you can just say all the time.”

“Hello,” the man said.

“Hello, yourself,” she said.

“I mean you can say hello all day long, morning or evening.”

She tittered in response.

“Are these for curtains?” the man asked.

“They’re for napkins. Those are napkin rings, but you could use them for anything you like. I think you could use them with a curtain rod, if you got the right hardware. Is that something you’re looking for? We mostly carry gift items, but we can do special orders.”

The way Brianna was talking got me curious. She was usually attentive and friendly, but not like this. Either she was trying to get a raise, or the guy was attractive.

I straightened up just enough to peer over the top of the counter.

It was a man in an attractive, gray suit. A handsome man.

It took me a few seconds to realize this customer was actually Logan, my new tenant who didn’t know he was my tenant. He’d recently trimmed his mountain man beard to look refined and fashionable. He looked so different in a suit, and not dressed how he’d been when I met him, in a woolly old ski sweater and threadbare jeans.

Thankfully, he hadn’t seen me, so I could continue to stare at him in wonder.

“Why do napkins need these beaded twirly things?” he asked Brianna. “Do napkins have a habit of getting all unruly?”

She let out a torrent of giggles and twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

He continued, “Do I need these if I’m having people over for a dinner party? If the napkins are just bare naked and allowed to do whatever they do, will I be judged for being a dumb bachelor guy who doesn’t know anything?”

“You don’t look dumb to me. Aren’t you that new lawyer guy?”

He grinned down at her, like he was excited to be recognized. “That’s me. Do you need a lawyer? Do you find yourself getting into trouble a lot, here in the bustling metropolis that is Misty Falls?”

“We’re not that boring!” she squealed. “We had a real murder last week. Technically, they think the murder happened two weeks ago, but the body was frozen inside a snowman.”

“I did hear about that.” He glanced around the shop and continued browsing, moving over to the cloth napkins and tablecloths.

“My boss found the body,” she said.

“Really? Then your boss must be my new landlady. You and I have something in common.” He chuckled. “We both live under her iron rule. Does she put up a lot of bossy signs around here, too? There’s one in the shared laundry room, about not leaving wet clothes in the washing machine, because it makes the whole house smell like mildew.”

Still in my hiding spot behind the counter, my jaw dropped open in protest.
Not fair!
The bossy sign in the laundry room had been there when I bought the place. Sure, I agreed with it, which was why I hadn’t taken it down, but give me a break! I wasn’t that bossy, was I?

My employee kept giggling. “I can’t really talk about her while she’s here,” she said in a hushed tone. Then, louder, she said, “Stormy is a terrific boss, though. I’m extremely grateful to be working here. Yes, Stormy is very nice, and totally cool for a lady in her mid-thirties.”

I thought my jaw couldn’t drop open more, but it did. Mid-thirties? Excuse me. Thirty-three was early thirties, not mid.

“So, she’s my age,” he said in a musing tone. “From the stories, I imagined someone much older. Do you know where she is? I’ve been keeping an eye out for her at the duplex, so I can properly introduce myself, but she hasn’t been around.”

“I’ll get her for you. I think she’s in the office.”

They both turned in my direction, so I ducked back down again.

“Not if she’s busy,” Logan said. “I don’t want to disturb her.”

“It’s no trouble. I think she takes naps in the office when she’s here.” She let out a laugh. “I’m just kidding about that, by the way. Stormy is not the kind of lady who takes a nap. You’d have to give her warm milk and sleeping pills to get her to slow down.”

Brianna walked past the counter, not noticing me, then opened the door of the office and called my name.

I didn’t respond, because that would give me away. She would see me when she came back, though, unless I hid better.

The space under the counter was a hodgepodge assembly of cabinets and scrap wood. There was a curtain to hide the mess, but we always kept the curtain open for easy access. Still crouching, I inched my way back, huddled up, and squished myself into the cupboard. I pulled the curtain across to hide myself, but it got stuck and wouldn’t quite go all the way.

“Stormy?” she called into my office. “Your tenant is here. Come say hello, or good morning, or whatever. Are you hiding?”

I smiled in my hiding place.
Who, me? Hiding? Don’t be silly.

A moment later, she walked past me again, still not looking down to see me huddled up in the nook below the store’s counter, half hidden by a curtain.

“Stormy must have slipped out the back,” she said apologetically. “Do you want to leave a note or something?”

“No, but I will buy some of these napkins and the beaded things that keep them from becoming unruly. Can you help me pick out a good color? I’m actually color blind.”

“Aww, you poor thing,” she said, which made him laugh.

“It’s just blues and greens that are hard to tell apart. That’s why I wear brown suits and brown ties.”

“Um. Your suit and tie are gray, sir. A blueish gray.”

He chuckled. “I know that. I was just testing you.” He reached for the napkin holders with the red and gold beads. “I’ll take these ones if you think they’re okay. And I should get going back to work right away.”

“Excellent choice, sir. I’ll ring these right up.”

As she returned to the counter, I pushed myself back and huddled into the cupboard next to the computer and extra rolls of receipt paper. What if she yanked open the curtain and screamed? I closed my eyes, hoping that would help make me invisible.

I should have stood up as soon as they’d started talking about me, but now it was beyond awkward. Of course, by crawling into a cupboard, I was only making things worse, but I couldn’t think of anything better.

My employee rang up the purchase and said, “That’s with the family discount, since technically you live with the store’s owner.”

He laughed. “We’re living together now? Watch out. That’s how rumors get started.”

“You’ll like Stormy,” she said. “Just don’t make her mad, and you’ll be fine. Laugh at her jokes, too. She likes that.”

“She makes jokes? I find that hard to believe, given what I’ve heard.”

“Oh, she does. And she is funny, and smart, and generous, and kind.”

At the sound of her compliments, my cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Did Brianna mean what she was saying, or did she know I was under the counter? Either way, I appreciated her playing me up to Logan.

“You can’t give me a family discount,” Logan said. “I insist on paying the regular amount. I absolutely insist.”

Objects clattered on the counter over top of my head.

“My boss will appreciate that,” Brianna said.

“Does your boss have a boyfriend?” Logan asked.

My eyes widened and I held my breath as I waited to hear what came next in this conversation.

“No boyfriend that I know of,” she said. “You should ask her out! You two would make a cute couple.”

He laughed. “I was only asking because I wondered where she’s been spending her nights. As far as dating, I already have my eye on someone else.”

“Really? Do tell!”

I kept holding my breath.
Yes, Logan. Do tell. Is it the charming, pixie-haired cat lady you met at the veterinarian?

“It’s probably nothing,” he said. “Which is for the best, because I don’t have time for a relationship anyway. We’re getting this new law practice up and running, and that’s my top priority.”

“Sounds smart,” she said.

“And when I do get time to throw a dinner party, at least I already have my napkins and the rings to control them.”

They finished up the transaction without noticing me, to my relief.

He finally left, and once my employee was distracted with another customer, I opened the curtain, crept out from under the counter, and slipped away out the back door.

Chapter 28
 

On the walk
over to the costume shop, I kept glancing around to see if I was being followed. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Logan was somewhere nearby, watching me.

Something seemed off about his visit to the gift shop. What kind of man goes out on his lunch break and buys napkins and napkin rings when he’s busy with work and doesn’t even have a dinner party planned?

He might have been checking out his new landlady, or…

Maybe he’s not straight
, I thought.

That would be interesting. An attractive, gay lawyer would certainly add some more personality to the town.

I chuckled and chided myself for stereotyping Logan based on him buying napkin rings. Sure, some of my gay friends were into decorating and dinner parties, but not all of them.

I reviewed the few conversations we’d had. Recently, he’d tried to get me to buy a drink for him at the Fox and Hound. And, before that, he’d said he landlady needed a night with a real man, but he hadn’t said she needed a night with him.

Maybe Logan really was gay.

I stopped and looked at my reflection in the big mirror on the corner. I ruffled up my spiky hair, unbuttoned my new wool jacket, and looked over my outfit. I wore the same brown cords as the day before, but paired with a turquoise blue cowl-neck sweater. My figure looked appealing these days. I’d gotten thin during my time in the city, working too hard and eating over the sink. Now, thanks to some delicious lunches at the diner up the street, plus pastries from the two wonderful bakeries, I had some meat on my bones, and I liked how I looked.

I hadn’t put on much makeup that morning, but the chilly winter air in Misty Falls made my lips and cheeks look rosy and youthful.

As I leaned in toward the mirror, I suddenly remembered that it was also a window, and Ruby could be sitting on the other side having a cup of tea.