Strung Out to Die (8 page)

I didn’t have enough time to take Willow off her leash before Flora was there, standing outside, talking on her phone—as usual. Her wavy hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail at the nap of her neck.

She waved, and I waved back. Knowing she was there made me feel a little more at ease, and I was able to go in the storage room and retrieve the Divas’ bead boards.

I jumped over the spot where I’d found Doug and opened the door. On the far wall, was shelving where Cheri had stored all their projects.

Carefully, one by one, I took each project down, making sure the beads didn’t roll off and into an
Under
.

I smiled at Flora’s bohemian chandelier earrings. They reminded me of the one thing I’d wanted in my divorce from Sean. His grandmother had given him the most beautiful chandelier. A real chandelier; not just any old light. It was adorned with the most beautiful crystal beads in all shades of pink and red. I had no clue about its monetary value. I just knew that I loved it because of its beading elements.

I lowered my standards and begged him to let me have it for the shop. I even went as far as offering to let him off the hook for alimony for six months, but he refused. He said I could have it when I pried it out of his cold, dead fingers. The beautiful heirloom was sitting in a box in his family room. It would’ve looked perfect hanging in the middle of my shop.

Anyway, I tried to talk Flora out of making those chandelier earrings since they would be pressed up against that damn phone of hers all the time. I even suggested she get rid of the dang phone, but she gave a resounding, “Hell no!”

Flora was already sitting at the table, chatting it up with Cheri and Bernadine, when I walked back into the shop.

I stopped and looked. For a moment, everything seemed normal, but it wasn’t.

“Do you need some help or a hug?” Cheri’s beret was sitting sideways on her head. I tried to straighten the crooked hat. She pulled away. “Stop. It’s supposed to be that way.”

“I’ll take the hug.” I wrapped my arms around my upstairs tenant.

I was grateful that Cheri hadn’t been home when the murder occurred. She’d been spending long hours at the library preparing for her upcoming exams.

Cheri bent down and scratched behind Willow’s ears. Willow’s tail whirled around in excitement. She loved Cheri, because Cheri was always taking her on quick walks when I was working long hours in the shop. It was a good excuse for Cheri to take a break from studying.

“You’re looking fit.” Flora commented on Cheri’s toned arms.

Cheri flexed. We laughed.

“I’ve been going to a self-defense class, and it’s getting me into shape.” She flexed her muscles. “You gals should think about it. Especially now, with a murderer on the loose.”

She did have a point. It was something I was going to have to seriously think about. Not only for self-defense, but the toned arms was something I’d always dreamed of having.

I did my little hop over Doug’s dead spot and went back to get Cheri’s project. It was a stretchy bracelet made from all sorts of different colored glass beads. Nothing too fancy, but she didn’t have time to get too involved because of her commitment to school.

When I came back in, I sat her board down and I noticed Marlene helping Agnes up the shop’s two front steps. Agnes was smacking Marlene’s hands away like she didn’t need Marlene’s help, when she clearly did.

“Hi, Agnes. You look great.” I tried not to focus on her blue hair.

I quickly went back and got another bead board while they got settled in and put Agnes’ children’s beads on it. It would be a simple single strand of all wooden beads. The package contained beads of various colors, as well as plain, unpainted wood. I’d let her choose which ones to use.

Agnes Pearl was rarely seen without her purple turban, but today she was just sporting her cotton candy blue hair. In fact, I was pretty sure if a child came into the shop, she might try to eat Agnes’ hair.

“Thank you, Holly.” She pushed her glasses up on her nose. “I thought you looked like you’d lost weight, but it was just the way my glasses were sitting.”

“Nice to see you.” I smiled politely, setting the board down in front of her.

Without anyone noticing, I slipped my finger back to my elastic waistband to make sure I wasn’t delusional from the lack of sleep this morning when I noticed slack in my yoga pants.

Sigh.
There was still a little extra space. Although it was small, it was still there.

There were a lot of unflattering things I could have said in reply to Agnes, but I kept my mouth shut. You never know what could happen if she turned up dead. Then I’d be a suspect in two murders. Or better yet, she’d murder me.

I jumped over Doug’s dead spot again to grab Marlene and Bernadine’s projects. There wasn’t any sense in bringing out Ginger’s. There’s no way she’d come to the Divas impromptu meeting. I’d left her a message when she hadn’t answered her phone.

I just hoped she didn’t think I killed her brother.

“I think it’s so good how you gals got this group together. Those men can be jerks.” Agnes sure wasn’t wasting time starting the bashing session. It probably would’ve been a good one, but with dead Doug weighing on everyone’s mind, nobody even answered Agnes.

Bernadine carefully laid out her Swarovski crystals in a pattern. She’d been working in this for the last three weeks, since we started this new project. Our projects usually take about a month to complete, and then we move on. Each Diva had picked out a new technique for the current project, which meant it was going to take us longer than normal to complete.

“What do you think?” Bernadine asked, referring to her project.

This was the third pattern she’d laid out. Some with ornamental Bali beads and some she’d replaced with sterling silver.

“I think you set me up!” I said as I glared at Bernadine.

She was crazy if she thought I was going to let her off the hook after the stunt she pulled only an hour before at Food Watchers.

“Me?” Her wide-eyed innocence was merely a smoke screen. “You’re the one who jumped up and got the attention of…”

I interrupted her, “Ms. Food Watcher!”

All the other Divas looked at us.

Cheri was the only one brave enough to ask, “What happened?”

After I told them the quick story about the nutty scene that had taken place at Food Watchers, a wave of laughter rippled through the group. When the laughter quieted down for a second, Flora couldn’t resist.

She stood up and walked over to Bernadine. She bent down and to examined Bernadine’s cardigan. “Well, where’s that new bell pin, Angel?”

Flora threw her head back and cackled. It was contagious and everyone started laughing all over again.

“Okay.” I had to get the Divas back in line. I looked over Bernadine’s shoulder at her bracelet. “I like it.”

Of course I liked it. I liked anything beaded.  My opinion really didn’t matter anyway. She was going to take it apart a million more times before she put the final crimp on it. Most of Bernadine’s time was taken up by organizing and reorganizing. That was her specialty.

“Have you talked to Ginger?” Marlene asked as she handed me her project.

She had the gauge wire wrapped around her finger instead of the fake gem I’d given her to use. Gently, I reached over to help pull it off and show her how to wrap from the beginning…again.

I wish she’d tell the other Divas about the rare yellow Spinel diamond she wanted to wrap into a new creation so she could wear it. She said it wasn’t anyone’s business but her own, and it wasn’t my story to tell, even though it would’ve been a wonderfully juicy gossip topic for the Divas to discuss.

“No.” I watched over Marlene’s shoulder to make sure she was rewrapping the fake gem correctly this time. “I left her a message, but she hasn’t called back.”

“How do you know she hasn’t called? You don’t have a cell phone and you’re not home to see if she’s called,” Flora chirped from the other side of the table.

“No thank you. I don’t need a cell phone.” I reached over Marlene’s shoulder to help her with the wire twist. “Besides, I have the shop phone.”

Ginger had never hesitated to call the shop before.

“Do they know who killed him yet?” Marlene asked.

“No, but I think Noah suspects me,” I said, thinking this was a great time to begin my nonchalant line of questioning about Marlene and her night at The Livin’ End.

After all, she was the last one seen talking to him that night.

Marlene dropped the wire and the fake gem on the bead board. Several 6mm sterling silver beads flew up in the air.

I watched the beads fall to the ground as if in slow motion.

“No!” I fell to my knees and reached out on the floor to stop them. “Damn that Spinel!”

It was too late. The beads had bounced right into
The Under
.

“Spin what?” Agnes asked as she tucked her hair behind her ear, exposing her lime green hearing aids. She nudged Marlene. “Can you turn this dang thing up? I can hardly hear the gossip.”

Marlene glared down at me. I’d completely let it slip, and leave it to Agnes Pearl to actually hear it.

Marlene hadn’t told the other Divas about her rare yellow Spinel diamond yet. She was determined to cover the gem with a wrap. There was no way I was going to risk her scratching it, so that’s why I had her working with the fake one.

“Sorry, Holly.” Marlene bent down and looked into
The Under.
“I’m sure you can get them later.”

She leaned in close to my ear. Her leopard print pencil skirt seams were taut and looked like they were about to rip.

“Keep your mouth shut,” she whispered through her gritted teeth.

Marlene got up and straightened her skirt before she eased back into her chair.

“What did she say about a sep something?” Agnes asked again.

Damn, she wasn’t going to let it go.

“What?” I played dumb. “Oh, let me fix that.”

I took her shoestring and knotted the end around one large bead so the rest wouldn’t fall off as she added more beads. Agnes’ hands shook as she tried to steady a green wooden bead.

“Why do they make these darn things so small?” She held it right up to her glasses.

I hadn’t realized how bad Agnes’ eyesight had become. She was always so fun to be around. She still looked exactly the same as she had twenty years ago, except for the blue hair.

“Where did you get your hair done?” I held one of the big beads up for her to put the shoestring through the hole. “It looks nice.”

“Marlene, dear.” Agnes smiled as the bead glided down the string.

“What did you do?” I mouthed Marlene’s way.

“She made me buy that hair color at the drug store.” Marlene shook her head. “I tried to tell her, but she wouldn’t listen.”

“I pay you to take care of me. That means my hair and what I want.” Agnes attempted another bead, this time on her own.

I moseyed over to check on the chandelier earring project, but Flora had been too busy catching up on the latest gossip from her sister.

Everyone was working away and silent. Doug was weighing heavily on all our minds.

“Do you think we should take some food over to Ginger’s?” I asked, breaking the silence.

It wasn’t unusual in Swanee for friends and neighbors to help out by providing food for the family when there is a death. Everyone made sure the family was fully stocked up on food. It was one less thing the family would have to worry about.

“I thought we could all meet up and pay our respects.” I touched the beautiful crystal selection on Bernadine’s bead board.

I had to see Ginger, and the Divas might be a good excuse for me not to go alone.

“You want to go?” Cheri cocked her head to the side and looked at me like I had two heads. “I mean, he was found dead here in your shop.”

“I didn’t kill him. And yes, I want to go see my best friend,” I confirmed.

Was it that unreasonable to want to go? Did Ginger really think I could’ve killed Doug?

“All Cheri is saying, is that it might not be the right time to show up if you haven’t talked to her yet.” Bernadine rearranged the silver and Bali beads on her board for the umpteenth time.

“You don’t think I killed Doug?” I placed my hand on my chest.

It’s a question I didn’t think I had to ask my friends, but evidently, I couldn’t be sure. Why would they even be here if they thought I was the killer?

“Why would I kill him?” I begged for an explanation. “And if I did, why would I leave him here? Give me a little more credit, would you”

I had to admit that I’d killed Sean in my mind quite a few times, but I’ve never left him anywhere that would make me the suspect.

Agnes sat straight up and chimed in. “Well, if Doug was dead, Sean would get more work and your alimony would be paid up and on time.”

I was floored. My mouth automatically shot open and then closed. I had called the impromptu meeting to pick Marlene’s brain, not for my friends to accuse me of murder.

Chapter Ten

“Don’t move,” Cheri said suddenly. “I swear I just saw someone looking in the window.” She had turned as white as a sheet and she was visibly trembling.

She was pointing towards the front windows with the hand that was holding her bracelet. Her hand was shaking so much that we could hear the beads clicking together.

Right away, we all turned to look out the windows.

“I said not to look.” Cheri picked up her pliers as if she was going to stab someone.

“Are you sure you saw someone?” Agnes squinted as if she could really see out into the dark night.

I had to give her an “A” for effort to fit in.

“Always be aware of your surroundings.” Cheri said as she walked cat-like toward the window. “Eek!”

When a shadow popped up and looked in the window, Cheri’s pliers went flying through the air and she ran in the opposite direction. No words were spoken as Bernadine, Flora, Marlene, and I frantically raced to the storage room, leaving Agnes behind.

“Get Agnes,” I said through gritted teeth to Marlene. “You’re supposed to be taking care of her.”

“Call the cops!” Flora screamed at the top of her lungs.