The Final Arrangement (5 page)

Well I needed something, so I called.

CHAPTER FOUR

The butterflies that had made acquaintance with my stomach earlier in the day came flying back when I heard Alex’s knock.  I opened the door to a perfect pair of jeans with a man poured into them.  He wore an un-tucked, cornflower blue, button-down shirt that made his brown eyes look like melting chocolate.  Heat flashed up my neck and I swallowed hard while I felt my heart beating in my chest.

“Hi, Alex.  Thanks for coming over so soon.  I realize it’s late.”  I waved him in to the living room hoping he hadn’t noticed my unintentional impression of an excited cartoon character with eyes springing three feet out of her head accompanied by the sound of an old-fashioned car horn.

“It’s not late.  Besides, I wouldn’t want to miss my chance at seeing the aftermath of a flaming bag of dog excrement.  You don’t see too many of those anymore.  Classic old school prank.  Anyway, its way better than sitting home alone watching TV.”

“You seem pretty impressed.”

He shrugged.  “I can’t help it.  I’m an adult male and therefore I’m impressed by juvenile behavior.  It’s the rule of the Stooges.”

Allie walked in from the kitchen. 

“Alex, this is my sister Allie.” 

“Hey Allie, nice to meet you.”  He shook her hand and then looked around the room.  At which point she looked at me wide eyed mouthing the word “Hot!” while his head was turned.  I gave her a quick glare. 

“So, not that I mind it, but why call me instead of the on-duties at the station? What makes me so special?”  I could feel the heat from the blush from my sternum up to my scalp. He looked at me with a crooked smile, and while I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, I think he smiled at me knowingly, having seen Allie’s tactless miming.

“Well you did tell me to call if I needed anything.”

“Absolutely.  I meant it.”  

“Okay.”  I couldn’t help grinning like a fool. 

The three of us sat down and we filled Alex in on as many details as we could.  We told him about our suspicions concerning Brad.   I didn’t know Alex well enough to know if I could trust him, but Alex was the best alternative we had short of doing nothing at all. 

“This Brad guy sounds like a real prize.  But I’m not completely sure he’s the one who did this.”

“You’re not?” Allie said.

“There’s been a lot of vandalism going on lately, especially in this part of town and we think it’s the same group of kids that’s been doing it.  What I can do is check tomorrow to see if anyone else has reported anything similar in this neighborhood.  Kids tend to be stupid and hit more than one house.  I bet we’ll find them out soon.” 

Allie nodded her head in agreement.  Alex had a calming influence about him, but I wasn’t so sure he was right. 

“What if it wasn’t a bunch of teenagers?  What if Brad is out there right now watching us?” I asked. 

Allie glanced at me with pleading eyes. Her mouth straightened into a taught single line.  She turned to look at Alex.  “He can’t know we called you,” she said, “he told me he would kill me if I ever told the police.  He’s probably still outside watching us.”

“He won’t know I’m with the police.  I’m fairly new to this area, and I don’t think I’ve been here long enough to pop up on his radar.  I’m not in uniform, and I drove the Scout over.  I only bring her out on special occasions.  I don’t ever drive her to work.  He’ll probably think I’m here to see you, Quincy.  That is… if you’re not already with someone.”

My cheeks felt like I was standing next to a bonfire.  “Uh, yes.  I mean no. No, I’m not seeing anyone, currently.”  It could have been his eyes, or the cleft in his chin, or those broad shoulders, but something about him put me under a spell whenever he was near.  

“Well I just wanted to make sure…for your sister’s sake of course.”

“Of course.  Yes then, I’m single.”

“Good.  This will be perfect then.”

“What will be perfect?”

“I’ll start coming over periodically, just in case this guy is crazy enough to be watching your place.”  He turned to Allie.  “He’ll think I’m Quincy’s new boyfriend.  Does Mr. Psycho have a job?”

“He’s a stock broker in Salt Lake, so he works all day,” Allie said. 

“Good, so at least he’ll be occupied during the day.  I’ll have my buddies who are out on patrol drive by the house occasionally just to check on things.  Like I said, there’s been some vandalism in your neighborhood lately, so a police drive-by won’t be too unusual.” 

“Oh my gosh Alex, are sure you want to do all of this?” Allie asked.

“Yeah,” I added.  “Why would you do all of this for us?”

He stood to leave.  “Well I get a new girlfriend out of it, so that’s a pretty good pay-off.”  He looked at me with a hypnotic smile and winked.  My face must have looked like a beet with large green eyes.

He started toward the door, and I looked at Allie and jerked my head to the side, indicating she should go with me to see him out.  She sat on the couch and pretended not to see me.  I followed Alex to the door.

He stopped in the small alcove leading to the front door and said quietly, “Don’t worry about the fire tonight, Quincy.  I don’t think your sister’s boyfriend did it.  But I’ll help you and Allie however I can.  That includes helping you fix the damage to the porch.” 

“You don’t have to do that.  I’m pretty handy.  I’m a real do-it-yourself kind of girl.”

“Yeah, I kinda gathered that the first time we met.  But we want to keep up the charade in case the low life really is keeping tabs.  I’ll call you later to see when I can come help
you
to fix it.  Does that sound empowering enough for you?” 

I gave him a sarcastic scowl.  “Alex, there is one more thing I should probably tell you before we pretend to get too involved.”

“What is it?”

“I think I might be tangled up in…well there’s a slim chance that I’m kind of… considered to be a suspect in a murder.”

“Oh, is that all?”  He swept the air with his hand as if being a murder suspect was an insignificant detail. 

“Alex, I’m serious!”

“I know a little bit about the case you’re talking about.  I wouldn’t worry about that too much.  Trust me.”  His eyes could have hypnotized a snake charmer.

“Okay, if you say so.”  I realized then that I would believe nearly anything he said.  He had a way of making me feel all warm and cozy and safe without knowing anything about him. 

He stood in the doorway for a moment without saying anything. 

“Is…there anything wrong?” I asked.

“Oh no, nothing at all.  I was just waiting for a goodnight kiss from my girlfriend.”  He wore a mischievous grin, and had a twinkle in his eyes.

“How about a goodnight kick in the pants?” I offered.

“I’ll just take the goodnight part.”

“Okay then, goodnight, Alex.”

“Goodnight, Quincy.”  He began to leave but turned back.  “Oh, one more thing.”

My heart leapt to my throat. “Yes?”

“
Love
the socks.”

I went to bed with the taste of mortification on my tongue.

CHAPTER FIVE

Allie came to work with me the morning after the fire.  We stood outside the flower shop and while I went through the key jiggling routine, I told her about Derrick and his death.

“Well if this Derrick is dead, who’s going to sell flowers to the mortuary now?” Allie asked.

“You, dear sister, are brilliant.  I bet if I jump right on this, I could catch them before they make a decision.”

“But didn’t you say you would never do business with Hansen Mortuary again?  Oh, and won’t it look kind of desperate for you to go swooping in like a vulture when the body is barely cold?”

“Funny you should use that description.  I’m just trying to take advantage of an opportunity.  Things have changed, and I’m adapting.  Besides, I’ll admit that I’m easy…when it comes to flowers.  Not with men, but flowers.”

I finally felt the lock tumble and we made our way inside. 

“Speaking of men,” Allie said as we filed into the shop, “Alex is a hottie.  And he’s hot for you.” 

“Whatever.”

“Are you kidding?  He hardly looked anywhere but at you the whole time last night.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”  Why did my face feel like I was sunburned after a day in the Wasatch Mountains?  “Besides, I don’t need a man in my life.  If I learned anything from my marriage it was that I don’t ever want to be in another one.  You’re so lucky things didn’t get worse for you with Brad, Allie.  Maybe you’ll find someone else, but I’m not willing to endure what I suffered with Randall ever again.”

“Don’t say that.  You should give Alex a chance.  You two would be great together.”

“What do we even know about the guy other than he looks
fantastic
in a pair of jeans? Besides, what if he turns out to be just like Randall or Brad?  Everyone said how great we’d be together, and look how great it was?”

“Quincy, not all guys are like that.”

“With our experience, I don’t think we’re the best judges of men.”

“You’re probably right,” she said. 

We spent the next twenty minutes re-orienting Allie with the store.  She used to work for Aunt Rosie in the afternoons after school.  Rosie always said Allie was the best designer she’d ever had.  As we made our way around the shop, a couple of orders were called in for the day.  We started filling those when Cindy arrived for her shift.  Surprisingly, her outfit was nondescript and almost
appropriate
.  Must have been an off day.  She looked at Allie with a suspicious glare, posturing at the sight of a new designer.  Every shop seems to have its pecking order.  With any new arrival, the hens start ruffling their feathers and the clucking usually happens behind the new bird’s back.

“Cindy, you’ve never met my sister Allie, have you?”

She relaxed slightly and her demeanor became less vicious.  “No, I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“I have two actually.  Allie used to work here.  Long before I did.  She managed the store for a while.”

“Nice to meet you.”  Allie went over to Cindy and shook her hand.  “I’m here to help you out.  So feel free to tell me what to do.  I’m pretty rusty.”  Allie had a way of melting the ice faster than anyone I knew.  It was one of her many talents.

“Sure.  We could get the standing orders out together.”  Cindy got the recipes out for the arrangements and began directing Allie on which containers to pull. 

As the two of them worked and laughed together, I figured I could work on the sales end of the business.

“Cindy, would you be cool with me leaving for a couple of hours?” 

She shrugged indifferently. 

“Nick should be here soon.  Oh, and I guess he’ll need a van to drive.”  The Astro van was my only mode of transportation.  When Nick first hired on, I told him the van was my baby and that he should drive it like he would drive his own car.  That’s what made me so angry with him when I thought at first the hit-and-run was just a Nick-and-run. 

I borrowed Allie’s car and left the two of them to bond over horrible boss stories.  Allie is the little sister in the family, after all, so they had something to which they could relate.

I drove to Danny Barnes’ shop first.  I paused to look at his exquisitely designed display window before entering the store.  A panel of luxurious black and white damask fabric hung in the background. In front of that, a crystal curtain rod hung from the ceiling on which were attached staggered lengths of multi-shaped, faux diamond garland.  Some of the lengths almost touched the floor.  In front of the garland curtain three arrangements of permanent botanicals in hot raspberry and shocking lime colors spilled into one another for the focal point.  It all must have cost a thousand bucks.

A person couldn’t help but be jealous of a place like his.  As soon as you walked in, all five senses were tempted.  Fragrance filled the air, not only from fresh florals—which I was no longer able to distinguish due to working with them all of the time, but from scented candles and room sprays.  Beautiful classical music floated through the background, and vignettes in every square foot of available space contained an array of gifts of every variety, grouped by color and theme. 

Danny always told me I shouldn’t be jealous, that I had a lovely shop.  He was right, I did have a lovely shop, but it was hard not to leave his place feeling just a little bit small-time.  Of course sometimes it was a great place to get some inspiration, which was precisely the point of my visit. 

“Hello Lola!  What can I get for you today?” 
Wait for it,
I thought.

He didn't disappoint, singing the famous song from a Broadway play. 

“Hi.  I’m here to ask you something.”

“Anything for Lola.”

“Let me preface this by saying that, given the time frame, and the nature of the question, I’m feeling a bit like another vulture swooping around the road kill right now.”

“Yes…” He said with interest.

“Is it too soon do you think to find out…”

“Oh my heck!”  His interruption startled me a bit.  “You want to know who’s doing the flowers for the mortuary!”

“Well, yeah.  Is it wrong for me to wonder?  Is it completely diabolical and disrespectful?"

“Of course it is, and it’s also smart.  You’re just lucky you beat me to the punch.  Otherwise I’d be knocking on the mortuary door right now.  You’d better hurry up before someone else gets there first.”

“So I guess you don’t have any idea who would be next on the list of providers?” I asked.

“No, but I would drive directly to Greg Schilling’s office right now.  Don’t call ahead, his secretary screens the calls.”

“Okay, I’ll get going.”

“Oh, and Quincy,” he said, “don’t you dare offer to give them a cut.  You see what they have in mind and talk them down from that.  They’re not in a position to play hardball with anyone right now.  They were just caught with a dead florist in their mortuary, and they don’t have anyone to replace him.” 

It’s become standard procedure for a florist who receives a referral from the mortuary to let the mortuary keep a certain percentage of the flower sale to cover the time and expense of the consultation service the mortuary performed instead of the florist.  How much had Derrick been giving them, I wondered?