Murder and Salutations (Book 3 in the Cardmaking Mysteries) (11 page)

Unfortunately, I’d become pretty adept at
packing in the past few years, so I had a good idea about how to
approach it. After I changed into sweats and an old T-shirt, I made
a note to get more boxes at the grocery store. As I started
jettisoning unwanted items into a trash bag, there was a knock on
my door.

I grabbed my aluminum softball bat before I
went to the peephole to see who was visiting me. Though Bradford
had arranged for a stainless steel door to be installed, I still
never answered without some kind of protection, and the bat had
served me well in the past.

It was Lillian. I unbolted the door and
stepped aside so she could come in.

She looked at me critically, then said,
“Jennifer, if you greet all of your callers that way, I can see how
you might have trouble attracting a young man.”

“
This is the best repellent
I know for the bad ones,” I said as I locked the door behind her.
“You’re out awfully late.”

“
And unfortunately you’re
not. What happened to your mystery man?”

“
He’s going to remain one,”
I said. “He stood me up.”

Lillian frowned. “So now they’re rejecting
you before you even meet? That certainly cuts down on the stress
level, doesn’t it?”

“
It’s not all bad,” I said.
“I found a new place to live.”

“
I can’t imagine how that
came about.”

I told her about my new arrangement, but she
wasn’t as happy for me as I’d hoped. “You should be thrilled,
Lillian. My problems are over.”

“
Or are they? Jennifer, you
haven’t had much contact with people like the Blooms in your life,
have you?”

“
Just because they have
money doesn’t mean they’re different,” I said.

“
Nor does it mean they’re
better,” she replied. “Remember that.”

“
I didn’t care for Reggie
Bloom, but I found his mother delightful. She’s a cat lover,
too.”

Lillian shook her head. “And that’s all you
need to vouch for someone else’s character, isn’t it?”

“
I’ll admit it goes a long
way,” I say. “You should see this place, Lillian. It’s a beautiful
cottage near the main garden, and it’s completely separate from the
house. Oggie and Nash are going to love it.”

“
So you haven’t taken a room
in their home?” Lillian said, acting a little surprised.

“
Are you crazy? No, it’s all
by itself. There’s no way I’d be a roomer somewhere, no matter how
nice it was. Have you ever been inside the house? It’s
incredible.”

“
No, but I dated Peter Bloom
at one time, though his name was Bradbury then.”

“
What are you talking about,
Lillian?”

Lillian frowned. “So you don’t know
everything about your hosts. Their family tradition is that the
head of the household is a Bloom, regardless if it’s a man or
woman. When he married Helena, one of the things Peter had to agree
to was to abandon the name Bradbury forever and take his wife’s
name.”

“
How odd,” I
said.

“
In this culture, perhaps,
but it’s not without precedent in the world. That was just the
beginning of the changes he was forced to make.”

“
Well, I like Helena, and
the place is perfect for me,” I said.

Lillian shrugged. “I take it you’ve made up
your mind, then. You know you can still come live with me if you’d
like.”

“
Thanks, Lillian—I really do
appreciate it, but I think it’s better for everyone this
way.”

She nodded, then clapped her hands together.
“Then the least I can do is help you pack. I wish Hester was in
town, I’d give her a tongue lashing like she’s never had in her
life. I still can’t believe she’d kick you out into the street like
this.”

“
It’s all for the best,” I
said. “I wasn’t all that taken with the other people living
here.”

“
They were both less than
satisfactory, weren’t they?”

As Lillian helped me sort through some of
the things I’d accumulated since moving to Whispering Oak, I said,
“So what brings you by here tonight? I know you’ve got better
things to do than to check up on me and my dates.”

“
Actually, I have some
progress to report on our investigation,” Lillian said.

“
Don’t keep me in the dark,”
I said. “What did you find out?”

“
Nothing concrete as of
yet,” she said. “But I did make an appointment with Polly
Blackburn. I told her I was thinking about putting my house on the
market, and she jumped at the chance to talk to me.”

“
Doesn’t she realize they’ll
have to blast you out of there with dynamite to get you to
leave?”

Lillian frowned. “I don’t know if that’s
necessarily true anymore. There are times I envy your lifestyle,
Jennifer. You change places more often than I change fabric
softener. There must be some real advantages to keeping your roots
shallow.”

I looked at the mess I was in the middle of.
“It’s not as positive as you think. I hate packing and unpacking,
but it’s a part of moving.” I looked around the attic apartment.
“I’ve grown quite fond of this place,” I said. “I’ll miss it.”

“
How about your cats? Will
they miss it too, do you think?”

“
As far as Oggie and Nash
are concerned, as long as their meals come on time and they have
one of my pillows to sleep on, they couldn’t be more content.” I
put a few more books on the pile, then said, “What about Luke
Penwright? How are you going to get him to talk to you?”

“
Actually, we’re having
lunch tomorrow at Hurley’s. I was going to suggest The Lunch Box,
but he surprised me by asking me to meet him where his ex-wife was
murdered. I find that rather odd, don’t you?”

“
I think he’s crazy,” I
said.

There was another knock on the door, and I
told Lillian to be quiet.

I retrieved my bat from the couch, then
asked, “Who is it?”

“
Jennifer, it’s me. Use your
peephole.”

I unbolted the door and let my brother in.
He nodded to Lillian, then bolted the door behind him. “Good girl.
I’m proud of you for watching out for yourself.”

“
I learned my lesson,” I
said, remembering the time recently when someone had broken into my
place. “I don’t answer the door without my softball bat. So what
brings you out this late? Cindy’s going to have your hide.”
Bradford’s wife liked him at home.

“
I’m working. She
understands it’s about family.”

I nodded. “So, have you had any luck
clearing Sara Lynn’s name?”

“
Jennifer, that’s why I’m
here. Do you have any idea where Bailey is right now?”

I didn’t even have to think about it. “No,
not a clue. How about you, Lillian?”

My aunt shook her head. “He could be in New
York by now, for all I know.”

“
What makes you think he’d
go there?” Bradford asked.

“
It was just a figure of
speech. I could just as easily have said San Francisco.”

“
But you didn’t,” Bradford
pushed. “You said New York.”

“
Perhaps I said it because
I’ve been thinking of going back sometime soon. Fifth Avenue is my
Mecca, you know.”

Bradford shrugged. “I’ll take your word for
it. I just wish I knew where he was.”

“
Did you hear he stole Sara
Lynn’s money before he took off?” I asked, instantly regretting the
slip when I saw his face.

“
She didn’t say a word to me
about it, and I was with her three different times today. What
happened?”

“
You know what? Maybe I was
mistaken,” I said, trying to backpedal as fast as I
could.

“
We both know better than
that,” he said. “Now tell me.”

Lillian stepped in before I could tell him.
“If you must know, Sara Lynn noticed that he’d taken five hundred
dollars from their emergency fund and left an IOU. Sara Lynn
couldn’t be sure when he’d taken the money. Most likely it has
nothing to do with what happened last night.”

“
Lillian, I might not be
your biggest fan, but I know you better than to think you’re
stupid. Do you honestly expect me to believe the money vanishing
isn’t tied into Bailey’s disappearance?”

“
I don’t expect anything
from you,” Lillian said. “I’m just giving you a plausible
alternative to the conclusion you just jumped to. It could just as
easily have happened that way.”

He shook his head. “If you don’t mind, I’ll
ask Sara Lynn if that’s the conclusion she reached as well.” His
hand was on the doorknob when he said, “Oh, and do me a favor.
Don’t call her. I’d like to see what her honest reaction to the
theft is without you coaching her.”

Lillian shook her head. “I wouldn’t dream of
it.”

After Bradford was gone, my aunt reached for
my phone. “Who are you calling?” I asked.

“
Your sister, of course,”
she said.

I reached over and hung up the
telephone.

She stared at me and asked, “Jennifer, have
you lost your mind? I need to tell Sara Lynn he’s on his way.”

“
Lillian, stop a second and
think it through. Do you honestly think Bradford’s going to be able
to get Sara Lynn to tell him anything she doesn’t want to? She’s
more stubborn than you are.”

Lillian nodded. “I still think we should
warn her that he’s coming.”

“
And I think we’ve done
enough already. I can’t believe I told him about the missing
emergency cash.”

“
Jennifer, you’re just
trying to help. So why do you think Bailey ran like that? It
certainly makes him look guilty, doesn’t it?”

“
Do you think he’d actually
do it?” I couldn’t imagine my brother-in-law doing anything of the
sort.

“
People stopped surprising
me ages ago,” she said.

“
Okay, let’s see if we can
help Sara Lynn out a more constructive way. You’re talking to Polly
and Luke. Should I tackle Kaye Jansen while you’re doing that, or
should I tag along with you?”

“
Honestly, I don’t know if
either one of them would talk to me if you’re right there. After
all, your sister is the prime suspect, and we don’t want any
repeats of today.”

“
Hey, I already said I was
sorry,” I said, remembering my confrontation with Addie. “I can
keep my mouth shut. I promise.”

Lillian appeared to think about it a few
seconds, then said, “I suppose you could be in the other room when
Polly comes by to talk about the house. Short of slipping you in as
a waitress, I don’t know how I can get you close enough to my lunch
date.”

“
Leave that to me.” I knew I
could work it out with Jack Hurley so that I’d be seated right
behind Luke Penwright at the restaurant the next day. “So what do
we do about Kaye?”

“
We’ll tackle her later if
our other two leads don’t work out,” Lillian said as she stifled a
yawn. “Now what can I do to help here?”

“
You can go home and get a
good night’s sleep,” I said. “We’ve got a busy day
tomorrow.”

“
I don’t mind staying,
honestly, I don’t.”

“
Good night, Lillian,” I
said as I pushed her toward the door. “I’ll see you
tomorrow.”

“
Fine, I can take a hint,”
she said as she left. I loved my aunt to death, but I didn’t need
her helping me pack. After all, I’d be the one putting everything
away in my new place, and to do that, I needed to know where
everything was in the boxes. I worked another half an hour before I
found myself yawning, too, so I decided to call it a night. Oggie
and Nash were curled up on my pillows, both of them sound asleep. I
just wished I could drop off as quickly as they could, but I had a
lot more on my mind than they did. As I finally nodded off, our
suspects’ faces were swirling around in my head, with one
disturbing addition. Every now and then Bailey’s face would pop up,
only to fade away again. At least I hadn’t seen Sara Lynn’s face in
the whirlwind. I would have never gotten to sleep then, if my
subconscious mind was willing to admit what I wasn’t ready to say
out loud: that Sara Lynn surely had the required motive, means and
opportunity to do away with Eliza Glade.

I felt like a criminal the next morning as I
hid in Lillian’s pantry waiting for Polly Blackburn to show up.

“
Jennifer, can you hear me
all right?” Lillian asked.

“
I can hear you just fine,”
I said, “but I won’t be able to see her face. I need to see her
expressions if I’m going to be able to tell if she’s lying or
not.”

“
Sorry, I don’t have any
one-way glass for you to peek through. You know, that might not be
such a bad idea. I could duck into the pantry and see what my
guests are really up to behind my back.”

“
Lillian, could you be
serious for one second?”

“
Jennifer, I’ve never been
more serious in my life.” The doorbell rang, and she said, “Not a
word out of you. I’ll keep the door ajar so you can hear our
conversation, but unless she’s trying to strangle me, I don’t want
to see you come out of that pantry, do you understand? No matter
how provoked you feel, you’re going to have to keep your mouth
shut. Can you do that? If you don’t think you can, tell me now and
you can slip out the back door.”

The doorbell rang again. “Just let her in.
I’ll be quiet.”