Murder and Salutations (Book 3 in the Cardmaking Mysteries) (9 page)

The next few hours felt like an eternity
until Lillian finally showed up again.

“
How was lunch?” she asked
as she took off her coat.

“
It was great. Let me pay
you for it,” I said as I reached for my purse, “Please, it was the
least I could do,” she said. “Have you had many customers since I
left?”

“
For all the good I did, I
might as well have gone home right after you left.”

“
Don’t worry, Jennifer, soon
enough we’ll be longing for the good old quiet days.”

“
I hope you’re right,” I
said as I straightened the counter displays for the fourth time in
two hours. “If you’d like, why don’t we just shut the shop down an
hour early and you can go home, too.”

Lillian shook her head. “I don’t mind
working until five,” she said.

“
Really, I’m fine with it.
In fact, I’d feel better if you took off, too.”

“
That’s nonsense. I have
nothing else I need to do.”

Something was going on. Normally my aunt
would jump at the chance to go home early, even though she was only
a volunteer and could come and go as she wished. “What is it? What
aren’t you telling me? You’re not having a man meet you here, are
you?”

“
Jennifer Shane, I have
enough places to entertain my gentleman friends without using your
store as a rendezvous point.”

“
Then what is it? I’m not
going until you tell me.”

She frowned, then finally said, “If you must
know, I’ve made a few telephone calls, and I’m hoping I get some
answers before we close.”

“
Is there anything I should
know about?” I asked.

“
I won’t know that until I
get my answers,” Lillian said plainly.

I held her hands in mine. “You didn’t do
anything silly, did you? I won’t have you taking unnecessary risks,
Lillian.”

“
You worry too much,” she
said as she withdrew her hands. “Now go. Have a lovely
evening.”

“
Be careful,” I said as she
ushered me out of the door of my own shop.

“
I’d say the same thing to
you, but it might just do you some good to take a chance tonight. I
expect a full report in the morning, Jennifer.”

“
You’re overly optimistic
about a blind date,” I said.

“
I thought you said it
wasn’t anything like that.”

I was outside by that point. “So I lied.
I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Oggie and Nash were waiting by my door when
I walked into my apartment. They both looked too smug for my taste,
so I looked around, and sure enough, someone had been foolish
enough to slide a note to me under my door. Short of a roomful of
catnip, there was nothing my cats loved more than shredding paper.
I found remnants spread throughout the apartment, and to their
credit, my roommates had been terribly efficient. There wasn’t even
enough of it left to read the handwriting, a monumental feat given
the required level of destruction.

“
So who came by?” I asked.
“Did you happen to see enough of the handwriting to tell who it was
from before you shredded it?”

They both stared at me as if they were
fascinated by my discourse, but I knew better. Most likely they
were waiting for dinner. Of course, they were waiting for dinner at
most times of the day or night.

“
What am I going to do with
you two?” I asked as I knelt down to stroke Nash’s coat. Oggie,
normally not one to seek out attention, joined us, weaving in and
out between my legs. After a few minutes, he grew tired of the
maneuver and plopped himself down in front of the cabinet where I
kept the cat food. Nash would have allowed me to spoil him all
night if I’d been so inclined, but I only had so much time, and I
had to shampoo my hair as well. After I fed them, I took a quick
shower and was ready a good five minutes before it was time to
leave. I’d changed into my nicest dress for the occasion, a
burgundy number that made me look sleek and graceful, as hard as
that was for most of the people who knew me to believe. I’d given
up eating lunch out for a month to afford it, but it had been worth
every missed bite. When I wore it, I felt good. What more could I
ask from a dress?

One of my downstairs neighbors was just
coming in as I walked out the door. Barrett was a handsome man
about my age, but he had a problem with an ex-girlfriend that I
found irritating. Namely, he refused to let her go, and she
constantly kept popping in and out of his life at the most
inopportune times.

His eyes widened when he saw me, and I swear
I could hear him suck in some air. “Jennifer, you look lovely this
evening.”

“
Thanks,” I said. “I’ve got
a date.” Hey, a blind date counted, didn’t it?

“
I’m not surprised. Have you
found a new place to live yet?”

“
I just got the note
yesterday,” I said. “We’ve got a week, don’t we?”

He shook his head. “You must not have read
the latest from our ungracious landlady. We now have three days to
move, if we expect to get our security deposits back. She’s so
eager to evict us, she even offered to return last month’s rent as
a bonus. It seems she’s got a rather eager buyer lined up ready to
take possession of the property.”

“
Can she do that?” I asked.
“Surely we’ve got to have some recourse. What does Jeffrey
say?”

“
Our friend has already left
the premises,” Barrett said. “I’m surprised he didn’t say
good-bye.”

“
I got a note from someone,”
I admitted. “I’m just not sure who it was.”

He looked at me quizzically, and I almost
left him in suspense, but I didn’t want anyone in Rebel Forge: to
think I was any crazier than I actually was. “My cats shredded it.
They do that.”

He nodded sympathetically, and I found
myself drawn to him again, even though I knew he was bad for me.
I’d have to be a little kinder to Oggie and Nash. There were more
kinds of catnip than the one they were addicted to. “So where will
you go?” he asked.

“
I’ll land on my feet,” I
said. “How about you?”

He didn’t want to tell me—I could see it in
his eyes—but he finally admitted, “Penny’s asked me to move back in
with her, and we’ve decided to give it another try.”

Penny was the aforementioned girlfriend who
would never quite go away. “I wish you both the best of luck,” I
said, then I got out of there before I told him t how I really
felt.

As I drove the Gremlin toward the outskirts
of town to the house where I was meeting Gail and her boyfriend, I
found myself wondering what attracted me to certain men and not
others. For the life of me, I couldn’t find a yardstick or a
general rule that explained my attractions in the past. Maybe I was
better off not knowing. That way I’d always be surprised. When Gail
had told me her boyfriend lived in a large house, I’d expected a
two-story Victorian with a large front porch. Instead, I found a
gated entrance off the road, and followed a winding path through a
small field of grass before I saw a mansion that must have been a
hundred years old. The gray stone structure was massive, almost the
size of a castle. I couldn’t imagine paying the heating bill for
it, let alone what the property taxes must have amounted to. I
parked the Gremlin in the looping front driveway, not sure if I
wanted to get out or not. I looked as silly parked there as an
elephant in tap shoes. But what could I tell Gail—that the
structure itself intimidated me? I was still debating what to do
when the massive, weathered oak door in front swung open and Gail
herself stepped out.

Despite my earlier misgivings, I got out of
the Gremlin as Gail approached. She was wearing an emerald green
cocktail dress that looked elegant and classy. Gail’s auburn hair
had been expertly styled, and she looked exactly like royalty
should look. We weighed nearly the same, though I was a good six
inches taller than she was, but somehow Gail managed to convey the
image that she was the perfect size, while I always felt like I
could stand to lose a pound 1 or twenty.

“
Wow, you clean up pretty
good,” I said.

“
Look who’s talking. I’m
going to have to be diligent tonight or you’re going to steal my
boyfriend without even meaning to.”

“
Let’s just admit that we
both look fabulous, and I move on,” I said. “Are you sure about
this?”

“
Positive,” she said as she locked an arm in mine. Was it that
obvious I’d just been considering flight?
“Let’s go. Reggie and his mother are waiting for
us.”

When we walked in, I was astounded to see a
huge formal entryway, complete with a chandelier and an Oriental
carpet. “This is one heck of a first impression.”

Gail smiled. “Mostly we go in and out
through the side door, but I wanted you to get the full effect
tonight.”

“
It’s really something,” I
said.

“
We’re right through here,”
Gail said as she led the way. I wasn’t sure what Reggie Bloom’s
family had done to be able to afford such an expensive place, but I
was willing to bet it had been done generations ago. As we entered
what was surely the formal dining room, I saw a man about my age
talking with a classic- looking older woman. The man—who had to be
Reggie—was sandy haired and had the build of a football player. Did
I know him? Our area wasn’t that big, so I didn’t doubt I’d seen
him around, but something else nagged at my mind. I’d seen him, and
recently, too. I wouldn’t have said he was handsome until he turned
toward us and smiled. It was amazing how it transformed his face.
Before that, he’d been brooding, as if he and his mother were
repeating an argument they’d had many times before. The mother, a
striking, petite woman in her mid-fifties, showed where Reggie had
inherited his smile as she greeted me.

As she took my hand, she said, “You must be
Jennifer. You look absolutely lovely tonight.”

“
So do you, Mrs. Bloom,” I
said. It was true, too. She was dressed in a simple gray outfit
that was no doubt worth more than four or five of my cars, and that
didn’t even begin to approach her shoes or the diamonds she wore as
embellishments.

“
Please, call me Helena,”
she said. “I’m afraid my father had delusions of grandeur when it
came to naming his children. If you can believe it, he actually
wanted to call my younger brother Zeus, but my mother put her foot
down.”

“
So what did they finally
settle on?”

“
Troy, if you can imagine
it. We all called him T, though, by his wish, as soon as he learned
to talk. I miss his laugh.”

“
I’m so sorry,” I said, not
sure what else to say.

“
He led a good life, one he
enjoyed to the utmost— a lesson we would all do well to follow,”
Helena said, “She grasped my hands tightly as she added, “Jennifer,
I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news.”

“
I’ll tell her, Mother,”
Reggie said. “After all, it’s my responsibility.”

“
Yes, but it’s my home.
Jennifer, I’m afraid your date had to cancel at the last second.
Something about 1 an unexpected business trip,” she added as she
raised one eyebrow at her son. “I wish I had a camera, so I could
take a picture and show the young fool just what he missed
tonight.”

“
Thanks for the sentiment,”
I said as I started for the door. “If you all don’t mind, I’d just
as soon not be a fifth wheel tonight.”

“
Now where on earth do you
think you’re going?” Helena asked me. “Just because Claude can’t
make it, that’s no reason we should be deprived of your
company.”

As a single woman in her thirties, I’d been
in enough situations where I was the odd person out, and it never
got any easier. Even with Helena and Gail urging me to stay, I
still felt uneasy about it, but then I decided to have dinner with
them after all. How many times was I willing to dress that fancy
for an evening meal, anyway?

When I agreed, Helena said, “Let me call
Martin and we can begin.”

“
Is Martin your husband?” I
asked innocently enough.

Before Helena could answer, Reggie said,
“No, he’s just a friend of the family. My father’s sick, so he
won’t be joining us.”

“
We’re among friends,”
Helena said. “You can tell the truth. I’m afraid it’s a bit more
serious than that. Peter is dying. He has been for the last ten
years, the poor dear, but he wants this house filled with food,
friends and laughter, and I mean to abide by my husband’s
wishes.”

What had Gail gotten me into? I looked over
at her, and I could see that she was as uncomfortable as I was with
the declaration.

An older man with graying temples soon
joined us, and the five of us sat down to dinner. The food was
delightful—lobster and filet mignon were among the choices—and I
soon forgot that I had actually been stood up.

As we waited for dessert to be served,
Martin said, “Did you all hear about the murder in town last night?
Tragic event, that.”

I wasn’t about to admit that I’d been there,
and when I saw that Gail was about to say something, I gave her a
short burst of my “shut up” look.

When no one rose to the bait, Martin
continued, “I understand a shop woman did it. Seems her husband was
stepping out on her with the victim. They were having some tawdry
affair. These commoners have no more morality than alley cats.”

I tried to keep my mouth shut, honestly I
did. So nobody was more surprised than I was when I said, “The
woman you’re referring to is my sister, and while it’s true that
Eliza was having an affair with her husband, Sara Lynn did not kill
her.”