Harrowing Hats (13 page)

Yes!
Just the place I needed to go if I wanted to talk to Beth.

The other things were more personal. He wanted scented oil from Cupid’s Arrow where my good friend, Adora, sold love potions, lingerie, and incense. He also wanted me to pick up jewelry at Our Lady’s Gemstones.
Eww!
That meant I’d have to face the twins again.

There was no getting around it. I started along the cobblestones toward Stylish Frocks first. I’d probably visit the gemstone shop last even though it was next door to Beth’s shop. Maybe if I did it last, it wouldn’t be so bad.

Stylish Frocks made costumes for the entire Village. Residents wore their garments every day. Visitors bought their costumes for elaborate prices and paraded them around the Green. Every costume imaginable, from fairies to dragons, horses, and elegant ladies and gentlemen, was created here. Beth Daniels was at the heart of it all. She was amazingly talented. I’d seen her look at a picture of a wedding gown and create one exactly like it. She always seemed tireless and had a good sense of humor.

But not today. Beth stood in the middle of twenty-five seamstresses whose sewing machines were always humming. If Andre’s Hat House was messy, Stylish Frocks was always neat. There was never any excess material lying around. Not even a colored thread would dare be out of place.

Today, there seemed to be some problem with a multicolored gown that had sixty layers swirling with lace and satin. Beth was frowning as she looked at it with the seamstress who was putting it together. “This sherbet color can’t go here,” she told the other woman. “It has to be blue here.”

“That’s not what they gave me,” the seamstress objected. “It’ll take me the rest of the day to rip it out.”

“Then you better get started,” Beth snarled.

Was this the result of a guilty conscience? I wondered. I’d never seen her this way. I hated to even catch her attention and tell her what Andre needed. She was carrying a pair of large scissors in her hand as she walked toward me. I hoped they wouldn’t end up in one of my body parts.

“Hello, Jessie,” she greeted me nicely enough. “What can I do for you?”

“Hi, Beth.” I dragged out my words, wishing I didn’t have to say them. “I need some material you’re holding here for Andre.”

Her face contorted. If ever I could imagine a look from someone who wanted to kill a person, this would be it. Of course, she hadn’t killed her ex-lover. Could she have killed Cesar to set him up?

“That slimy little weasel.” She threw her scissors down on a perfectly organized worktable. “He should’ve come himself. I’d like to have the chance to give him a piece of my mind. But every time I go to look for him, he seems to vanish. Or at least that’s what his assistants say.”

Without the scissors, Beth just looked tired and sad. She raked her hand through her short red hair and adjusted her multipocketed coat that was always full of buttons, needles, and thread. She wasn’t exotic like Eloise or even particularly attractive. She looked like she’d had a hard life without much happiness in it.

“If you went over there yesterday, he was probably at the police station.” I offered the information carefully like I was giving food to a wild animal. I watched her face and waited for her response.

“The police?” She sighed. “What did he do now? Did he start running after a fairy who reported him?”

“They were questioning him about Cesar’s death.” There it was. On the table. What would she do with it?

“
I
need a cigarette,” Beth said. “I gave it up this year, but that was before Andre decided he could live without me. Want to come outside?”

We stood near the back door where smoke wouldn’t go inside but Beth could see what was happening. I could see the mermaids flirting with passing visitors. They could seriously become more obnoxious than the fairies even though they were trapped in their lagoon. I smiled as I imagined them dragging their colorful tails through the Village streets to pursue one of the knights or a Merry Man.

“I’ve known Andre for years,” Beth said between puffs of smoke. “You think you’re safe with someone like that. I even thought with all of the hunky men in the Village, the girls would leave him alone. Not a chance.”

I didn’t want to point out that Eloise hadn’t pursued Andre. He just fell in lust with her like so many other men. “It’s only physical.” I tried to help her feel better. “Andre probably still loves you.”

“Well, he’s got an odd way of showing it.” She threw the cigarette to the ground and crushed it with her foot. “So they think Andre killed Cesar so he could be the only man in Eloise’s life. Is that about right?”

“That’s the working theory, I guess.” I cautioned myself against saying anything about the other murder Andre might be involved in. If Beth told me about it, I’d know that she knew.

Beth laughed. “Waste of time, huh? Somebody needs to enlighten them. Andre would have to kill off half the Village to get rid of all the men who want Eloise, including
your
man. Don’t think Chase is above eating a piece of that pie.”

It was a zinger I wasn’t expecting. It was mean-spirited for her to bad-mouth Chase just because Andre had dumped her. I knew she was in pain, so I pretended not to notice. “The police decided Andre wasn’t guilty anyway.”

“Even with the hat pins in Cesar’s eyes?”

So she knew, at least about that part of it. I guess that answered one of my questions. “It was only one hat pin. Of course, that made him a good suspect. But it could also make other people in the Village suspects. Andre isn’t the only person who uses hat pins.”

“You’re right,” she agreed, staring at the mermaids. “I can come up with at least a dozen people, not including all of the nobility. But you weren’t talking about them, were you, Jessie? You were talking about
me
.”

Well, since you mentioned it—“
I suppose in an odd sort of sense, you could be a suspect. I mean, you could’ve wanted to make Andre look guilty for killing Cesar.”

“Honey, if I were gonna kill someone, it would be Andre. I wouldn’t mess around trying to make him look bad. I’d flatout put my scissors in his chest. Or maybe lots of hat pins in his eyes. I’d hurt him like he’s hurt me. What good did it do to kill Cesar? That just left the field wide open for Andre to continue doing what he wants.”

I admitted that she made sense. I’d feel the same way about it—except with a sword instead of scissors. “I don’t think Andre killed Cesar. He really believes Eloise loves him and would choose him over anyone.”

“He’s a snake, Jessie. Watch out he doesn’t decide he’s in love with
you
.” She smiled halfheartedly. “I have to go back in now. We’re running full blast with a lot of crazy complicated costumes this summer. And now with Livy being pregnant, she’s going to want all new clothes.”

I went back in with her and picked up the material Andre needed. I wasn’t sorry I’d talked to her. I felt even more strongly that she hadn’t killed Cesar. Just the passion in her face when she talked about killing Andre was convincing. I could see her envisioning Andre lying dead at her feet. A woman doesn’t feel that kind of emotion and settle for framing a man.

I dreaded it, but the gemstone shop was staring at me when I walked out of Stylish Frocks. It would be stupid not to go there next, then drop both items off with Andre before continuing on with my other errands. I clutched the emerald green taffeta closer, like a shiny shield, and advanced into the shop.

It was disorienting again, going inside, but this time I knew what to expect and didn’t bother looking around at the gemstones. I told Rene that I was there to pick up Andre’s purchase. He nodded and disappeared behind one of the dark curtains.

I didn’t notice that Eloise was also there (it takes a few minutes to see anything in the dark after coming in from the bright sunlight), but her laugh caught my attention. She was sitting at a table with Bernardo, trying on jewelry. He was inspecting the necklace around her throat while his eyes dropped to her cleavage. Renee was saying how wonderful the ruby necklace looked on her, no doubt encouraging a lucrative sale.

And the police took
Andre
in for questioning? Obviously they didn’t realize that at least two of the Three Chocolatiers had been seeing her. Probably Marco, too. I knew that didn’t make them guilty of killing their brother, but their alibis must’ve been the best in the world for Detective Almond to dismiss their involvement so quickly.

Eloise, like she could feel my eyes on her, looked up and smiled brilliantly. “I think this will do nicely, Bernie. You have the best taste. And I’m not just talking about your chocolate.”

They giggled in a disgusting manner that made me want to strangle both of them, and I had no emotional investment. Imagine how disgusted Andre would be if he knew.

“Here it is.” Rene returned with a wrapped package. “It’s a piece of art, really. We should have charged much more. But since it was for Andre . . .”

Which implied some kind of more personal relationship between the twins and the hatmaker. Or he was just a good customer. I wanted to stay and chat but I could feel Eloise and Bernardo listening intently. I didn’t want them to know what I was thinking, even if it meant I had to wait until later to talk to him.

“Thank you.” I gave him a brief but respectful head nod.

“I’m glad you came in to pick this up,” Rene continued before I could make my exit. “I thought we might have gotten off to a bad start when you were here last.”

“What makes you say that?” I didn’t want to be the focal point for the evil twins. The idea was frightening.

“Renee just had a feeling that you had some problem with us,” he said. “She’s a little fey, you understand. She gets impressions from people.”

Great! They look like vampires and read people’s minds. What else?
“No. No problem. I was surprised to finally meet you. I hadn’t been in here since Captain Jack left. You’ve done wonders with the place. I was seriously thinking about applying here to be your apprentice.”

I was babbling. I knew it, but I couldn’t stop. It’s kind of my reaction to stress. Rene didn’t interrupt me, just waited patiently for me to tell him my whole life story. When I was finished, he smiled a little and said, “We would love to have you apprentice with us, Lady Jessie! It would be our pleasure to teach you what we know of the fine art of gemstones.”

“You would be most welcome here.” Renee joined us and added to the conversation even though she’d been across the room only a moment before.

I shivered and tried to keep my response short and to the point. No way was I ever going to get that involved with them. The idea was terrifying. “Thanks! That would be great.”

I didn’t mean it. It’s just what came out of my mouth. I seem to have little control of that at times like this. I hoped it didn’t involve writing my name in blood on some old parchment.

“We hear the police questioned Andre about Cesar’s death,” Rene said. “Do they think he is responsible for what happened?”

“I’m not sure.” I managed to keep my mouth mostly shut on this one. “But they let him go.”

Renee made a hissing sound, not unlike a snake. She stared at her brother. “The hatmaker is lucky—
again
.” She glided back to Bernardo and Eloise, leaving a trail of questions I wanted to ask.

“My sister isn’t feeling well,” Rene said. “She didn’t mean what she said.”

Even his ghostly demeanor couldn’t hide the fact that he was lying. They obviously knew about the first murder.

I walked back out of the shop consumed by the tiny bit of information. I was so busy turning it over in my mind that I didn’t even notice the rather large black horse with an equally large knight on it until I was almost under them.

The Templar Knight was a good horseman—he was able to pull the horse up quickly and avoid crushing me under its hooves. Just the thought of lying on the ground, broken and bleeding, drew me out of my Holmesian trancelike state. I realized I’d dropped my packages and bent to retrieve them.

“Have you no regard for your own personal safety?” the dark, helmeted knight demanded.

I recognized the husky voice from the night before—or at least I thought I did. My heart skipped a beat. “I was blinded by the sunlight, Sir Knight.” I curtsied low to show him that I was sincere. “You have my thanks for saving me from your horse.”

Of course, our conversation began to draw a crowd. Anything could be a play for visitors. They reacted by taking photos of everything they saw and posting them on the Internet. It was our job to keep the fantasy going.

The knight inclined his head stiffly in my direction. The helmet wouldn’t allow him to do any more. I wondered why he didn’t at least pull up the visor so he’d be able to breathe in there—and I could see his face.

“Your pretty apology is accepted, Lady Jessie. Pray thee be more careful in the future.”