Murder and Salutations (Book 3 in the Cardmaking Mysteries) (8 page)

There were no customers in the shop when we
walked in, and I was beginning to wonder if Addie was there
herself. “Hello?” I called out, hoping to get someone’s
attention.

“
One second,” I heard
someone shout from the back room. Hanging out in the empty store, I
was suddenly glad for every customer I’d ever had. I knew business
would pick up for all of us once the summer started, but how in the
world did anybody survive the other nine months of the
year?

Addie Mason came out of the
back room, brushing some of her frizzy red hair out of her face as
she put
a folder bulging with papers on
the counter. Her eyes were red, and I wondered why she’d come to
work so soon after losing her business partner. She looked even
thinner than normal to me in her emerald green pantsuit, and I
pondered, not for the first time, exactly how much she weighed.
Actually, I didn’t want to know. It would probably just depress
me.

Addie looked surprised when she saw that
Lillian and I were her customers. She said curtly, “Don’t tell me
you’re out in this mess shopping.”

I held my card out to her. “We just wanted
to come by and tell you how sorry we are about Eliza.”

She took the card, but didn’t open it. “I
should probably thank you for the thought,” Addie said, “but to be
honest with you, I’m kind of surprised to see you both here.”

“
Why? Can’t we visit you to
express our sympathy?” Lillian asked.

Addie frowned. “Don’t pretend we all don’t
know who did it. Sara Lynn didn’t try that hard to hide it.”

“
My sister didn’t kill your
partner,” I said.

Addie didn’t answer, but her eye roll was
enough for me.

“
Come on, you know Sara Lynn
isn’t capable of doing that.”

She said, “You’re wrong. There’s no doubt in
my mind that she did it.”

The blunt callousness of her words shocked
me. Without thinking, I said, “What makes you think the police
aren’t looking at you as a suspect?” Lillian touched my arm.
“Jennifer, that’s enough.”

I pulled away. “She started it. Sara Lynn
didn’t kill Eliza.”

Addie nearly shouted, “You’re her sister, I
understand why you’d take up for her, but I’m not about to let
anybody pin it on me. I’m innocent.” There was real anger in
Addie’s eyes as she stared at me.

“
So you say.” I gestured
around the room. “Who gets her share of the business now? Does it
all go to you?”

Addie blushed—an easy giveaway, considering
her pale skin. “So what if it does? That doesn’t mean I killed her.
Your sister had a lot more reason to want Eliza dead than I did.
Since it’s pretty obvious you didn’t come here to buy anything, I’m
going to have to ask you to leave.”

“
I wouldn’t dream of staying
somewhere I wasn’t welcome,” I said.

I’d started for the door when she called
out, “You forgot something.”

She held the card out to me, but I wouldn’t
take it. “Whether you believe it or not, the sentiment in there is
real,” I said.

“
I don’t need your
sympathy,” Addie said. Then she tore the card I’d worked so hard on
in half, and dropped both pieces on the floor. I started toward
her, but I couldn’t break through Lillian’s restraining
grip.

“
Come on, Jennifer. Let’s
go.”

My aunt practically dragged me out of the
shop onto the sidewalk. The rain had lessened some, but it was
still coming down at a good clip.

“
Where do we go now?” I
asked.

“
Back to the card shop,”
Lillian said as she stormed off, and I had little choice but to
follow her.

We got back to Custom Card Creations and I
unlocked the door. By the time we got inside, the rain had
practically stopped. Lillian grabbed a few towels from the back and
threw one to me.

“
That went well, wouldn’t
you say?” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“
She started it,” I
said.

“
What are you, in third
grade? We went there to get information, not start a common
brawl.”

“
We found out what we wanted
to know,” I said. “She practically admitted that she would inherit
Eliza’s share of the shop. What else do we need to
know?”

Lillian thought about it a moment, then
said, “Let’s see, I wanted to ask her if she had an alibi for last
night, if she knew anyone else who might want her partner dead, if
Eliza had any family she was close to, who was handling the estate
. . . little things like that. Jennifer, if you’re going to keep
looking into this, you’re going to have to learn to control your
temper.”

“
I’m sorry,” I muttered,
hating every second that Lillian was right. I’d lost it when that
woman had accused my sister of murder, and by blowing up, I’d cut
us off from a possible source of information.

“
I can fix this,” I said
softly.

“
I don’t see how. Give me a
second to think this through.” Lillian paced around the shop as I
dried my hair with the towel. It would be frizzier than I liked,
but I didn’t have time to mess with it at the moment. I was just
glad I’d already planned to go back to my apartment before dinner
tonight.

“
I’ve got an idea,” Lillian
finally said.

“
Tell me. I’ll do whatever
it takes.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. If I
bring you in there right now, it will be like throwing gasoline on
a bonfire. But if I manage to get seven words in, I think I can
smooth things over with her.”

“
I can’t imagine what those
seven words could possibly be,” I said. “Just let me worry about
that,” Lillian said. “This might take some time.”

“
Take all you need,” I said,
regretting again the way I’d blown up. After Lillian was gone on
her mission of reconciliation, I tried to put myself in Addie’s
place. Not only had she lost a business partner, but she and Eliza
had been close on a personal level. And what did I do? I waltzed in
there like I’d owned the place, and started in on her. Not good,
Jennifer. Not good at all.

I tried to distract myself with card making,
but for one of the few times in my life, I just wasn’t in the mood.
A customer or two would have been great, but just my luck, the
brief rainstorm earlier had evidently kept the shoppers at home.
When the chime finally announced a visitor, I was willing to give
away half the store to keep them there.

Then I saw that it was Greg Langston,
probably the only person on earth I didn’t want to see at the
moment.

Chapter 5

“
Does your girlfriend know
you’re here?” I asked, immediately regretting my harsh choice of
words. Somehow Greg brought the worst out in me lately, and I
couldn’t seem to stop myself from firing verbal shots at him. All
in all, I was not having a good day dealing with people, and I
wondered if I should just go home—while I still had one—lock my
door, take my phone off the hook, and pull the covers over my head
until this attitude of mine passed.

Greg let my snippy question slide.
“Stephanie would have a fit, but this isn’t about her, it’s about
you. What’s going on?”

“
I don’t know what you’re
talking about,” I said as innocently as I could manage.

“
Come on, I saw the way you
stormed past my shop earlier. You weren’t out on a social
call.”

I looked at the clock. “Greg, that was
almost half an hour ago. What took you so long, if you were worried
about me?”

He suddenly got the guiltiest look on his
face, and I knew why he hadn’t come over.

“
What’s the matter, were you
too busy giving her private lessons? Don’t tell me, your new
girlfriend suddenly developed a strong interest in pottery. Or is
it just the potter?” Even as I said it, I wondered where that had
come from.

“
Jennifer, do you honestly
think you have the right to ask me that? You’re the one who didn’t
want me anymore, remember? You can’t act jealous now if I happen to
be seeing someone else.”

It didn’t help my temper knowing that he was
right. “You know what? That’s absolutely true. In answer to your
question, I’m fine,” I said. “Thanks for stopping by.”

“
You’re not going to brush
me off that easily,” Greg said. “Just because we’re not together
doesn’t mean I don’t still care about you.”

“
Do it from your shop then,
would you? I’ve got cards to make.” I walked to the door and held
it open for him. After a few seconds, he took the hint and left,
but not before saying, “Be careful, Jen. You have a tendency to get
into things too deep before you realize what you’re
doing.”

“
Thanks for the advice,” I
said. I wanted him out of there before I said anything else I’d
come to regret later.

He shook his head, then walked away.

I cried out in frustration once he was gone
as I swept a box full of custom-made paper off the counter. Just my
luck, the seal came loose in midflight, and an avalanche of paper
wafted down to the floor. Why did I let him get to me like
that?

Lillian walked in as I was trying to collect
the errant papers. “I’m sorry I missed the parade. It must have
really been something if that’s the size of the confetti. Do you
want to tell me what happened?”

“
No, I can’t afford to have
you disappointed in me twice in one day. I had a little tantrum,
but I’m all better now. What did Addie say?”

“
Well, it took some time and
a little feather stroking, but I finally convinced her that we
meant well with our visit. In fact, she wanted me to tell you that
she was sorry she destroyed your beautiful card. I helped her piece
it back together, and she really was touched.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know how you do
it, but I’m hoping you’re willing to teach me. I thought it was
hopeless when you said you were going back in there.”

Lillian squatted down and helped me gather
the rest of the paper. “You actually might have helped more than
you realize. I had the distinct impression Addie needed to blow off
some steam before she came apart, and you just happened to be
handy.”

“
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 nobody 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 circumstances. I couldn’t imagine being able to
bring myself to do it, and I hoped I never would.