Dead Men Don't Lye (Book 1 in the Soapmaking Mysteries)

by Tim Myers

  “What’s up?”

  Jeff whispered, “The great mind’s at work. Grab a doughnut and join the gallery.”

  “No thanks, I already ate.”

  Jim said, “So did we, but Bob actually cracked open his wallet and paid for these himself. Are you going to let an opportunity like that go to waste?”

  My brother Bob was notorious for his tightwad ways. I grabbed a doughnut, then said, ‘They taste better when somebody else is buying, don’t they?”

  Bob kept muttering to himself, erasing a line one place and redrawing it somewhere else.

  I asked Jim, “How long do you think he’ll be at it?”

  “You know how he is when he gets like this. It could be hours.”

  I started for the door that connected the line area to the shop. “Hey, where are you going?” Jim asked.

  “I’ve got some work to do upstairs. Come get me when you’re ready for me.”

  I walked up toward my office, but hesitated when I got to the shelves filled with essential oils. It was just as it had been in my dreams, so real I could read the labels. I scanned the bottles, counting them off in my mind as I reached each one. There were vials of almond, castor, coconut, lemon balm, olive, and palm, the bottles went on and on. And then it hit me. I backed up to one of the bottles I’d passed by, grabbed it, and held it tightly in my hand. The oil I held had a common name, one we rarely used in the shop. I suddenly realized what my dreams had been trying to tell me. I knew who had really killed Jerry Sanger, and it hadn’t been Monique White.

  I rushed out the front door, forgetting to stop long enough to tell my brothers where I was going. I had to know if my hunch was right.

  I found my suspect putting a for sale sign in her store window, and I knew I’d guessed right.

  “I didn’t know you were actually serious about selling your business,” I said.

  She replied, “It’s been getting too much for me, and to be honest with you, I’m in the mood to do something different.”

  I followed her inside, suddenly unsure of my hunch. No, I had to follow it through. It was the only way I’d know for sure what had really happened. One of the herbs found at in Jerry’s pant cuff hadn’t gotten there by accident. Someone had left it there as a calling card, a way of admitting to the world exactly what she’d done. It wasn’t until I saw the name on the bottle again that I’d realized the leaf pattern was one I was familiar with. I can’t imagine why it took me so long to see it.

  The common name for lemon balm, one of the leaves I’d found in Jerry Sanger’s pant cuff, was Melissa.

  I put the vial on her counter without saying a word. She stared at it a beat too long, then said, “What are you doing with that?”

  “You were too smart for your own good,” I said. “Leaving lemon balm on him was your marker, wasn’t it?”

  “Ben, have you been out in the sun too long? I don’t have a clue as to what you’re talking about.”

  “Save it, Melissa, I know. You had access to lye; my brother told me you leached it yourself. It must have been pretty strong, the way it burned him.”

  She hesitated, then her shoulders slumped. “I didn’t mean to kill him. Honestly, it was an accident. I was just trying to frighten him.”

  I felt a wave of relief flood through me as she spoke. I had been right after all.

  Melissa asked meekly, “What happens now?”

  “We go over to Molly’s office and you tell her everything. I’m sure she’ll take it easy on you once you tell her the truth.” I wasn’t sure of that at all, but it had to help if Melissa came in and confessed on her own.

  Melissa stared at me a few seconds, then said, “You never would have known if that tramp hadn’t been selling drugs for him. You can’t imagine how angry I was when I found out what he’d been doing behind my back.”

  “So you didn’t kill him because of the drugs?”

  Melissa snorted. “Come now, Ben, if I’d known he was involved in such a rotten business, I wouldn’t have gone near him in the first place. He told me he loved me, and that was something I never thought I’d ever hear again. Then I found out about your sister. She had to pay, Ben, you see that, don’t you?”

  Her calm demeanor was slowly starting to fade. “Is that why you killed Jerry at our shop?”

  Melissa said, “I followed him there and confronted him. He laughed at me. Can you imagine it? When he tried to get up the stairs to your shop, I blocked his way from the top. He fell; I swear I didn’t mean to kill him.”

  “How did the lye get on him then?” I asked.

  “I had some with me, but it was just supposed to be a threat. The lid came off accidentally. When it hit him, it sizzled. He tried to push past me and he tripped. Yes, that’s exactly how it happened.” Melissa was testing versions as fast as she could think them up, and I wondered if we’d ever know what had really happened.

  She said, “But you’re too smart for me, aren’t you? I know when I’ve been beaten. It’s over now, isn’t it? Let me grab my purse and I’ll go with you.”

  I should have been suspicious when she reached down behind the counter, but it never occurred to me that she would try anything, not when I had her dead to rights.

  Instead of her purse, Melissa came up with a jar of lye in her hands; there was no mistaking it, and there would be no pretense this time of a lid coming undone by accident.

  It was already off.

  “Come on, Melissa, you don’t want to do this.”

  She said, “Move away from the door, Ben. I don’t want to hurt you, honestly I don’t. This won’t kill you, but it will give you a nasty burn.”

  I couldn’t let her just walk past me. “They’ll catch you, Melissa; you realize that, don’t you?”

  “Oh no, I’m much too clever for them to do that. I never should have left that balm on him, but someone had to know what I’d done, that I’d struck from love and not deceit.”

  She edged closer to the door, and I moved away. I knew what lye could do to flesh, and I was in no hurry to see a personal demonstration. I fully believed Molly would catch up with her before she could cross county lines.

  I raised my hands, and Melissa said, “Honestly, I’m not going to hurt you unless you try to stop me.” She pulled the telephone off the wall, then said, “Don’t follow me, Ben. You’ll regret it if you do. I promise you that.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  She was at the door when she paused and said, “You have one of those cellular telephones, don’t you?”

  I admitted it, and she held out her hand. “Let me have it.”

  She took my phone and threw it on the floor. I half expected her to douse it in lye, but instead she ground it under her shoe.

  “There, you won’t be able to make any calls with it now.”

  She went out the door, and I started after her. I wanted to keep an eye on where she was going. Melissa saw me following her as she was halfway across the road. She turned in anger and started back for me, brandishing the lye and preparing to throw it on me as a floral delivery truck struck her head-on. An image I’ll never be able to wipe from my mind was the jar of lye drenching her face as Melissa flew past from the impact.

  There was only one thing I could do. I went next door to the pet groomer and borrowed his telephone. Then I did something that I should have done as soon as I’d gotten an inkling about what had really happened.

  I called Molly and told her everything I’d just seen and heard.

  Molly was nicer to me than I had any reason to expect when she showed up. The ambulance had arrived a few minutes before she got there, but there was nothing anybody would ever be able to do for Melissa Higgins again. I’d warned the EMTs about the lye, and they’d approached her with suitable caution.

  Molly watched them cart the body away, then said, “You should have called me.”

  “I know that,” I said. “It wasn’t about being in danger; I just had to know if I was right.”

 
“And it could have killed you,” she said.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Molly said, “I know you are, and I shouldn’t be beating you up about it. What’s done is done. You know, I’d like to think I would have discovered this on my own, but I’m not so sure I would have been able to. I have to admit I was just starting to believe that Monique was telling the truth about not murdering Sanger. She was too ready and willing to admit enough things to make your skin crawl.”

  “It’s kind of ironic, but if Jerry Sanger had just been a lothario and not a drug dealer, nobody would have ever found out what had really happened. I can’t imagine how Melissa must have felt when we kept digging into his past.”

  “You’re the one who kept digging,” Molly said. “You would have found the truth soon enough. You’re good at it.”

  “The truth?” Molly mused. “I quit looking for the truth a long time ago. I deal with facts, with evidence, and with confessions. I’m willing to leave what’s true and what’s right to the philosophers and judges.”

  A white truck passed us as we talked. Molly said, “By the way, thanks for that.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Everywhere I go now I see white trucks. It’s like they’re haunting me or something.” I didn’t know what I could say to her. I had just added another ghost myself.

  I headed back to Where There’s Soap and told my family en masse what had really happened. No one could believe it at first, and Louisa broke down sobbing at the news. I felt like a heel telling her like I did. Mom, Cindy, and Kate wrapped her up in their arms and they comforted each other as only they could. Jeff, Bob, and Jim wanted me to see the new layout, albeit in chalk, no doubt trying to distract me, but I had a telephone call to make first.

  Kelly’s secretary put me right through, and I said, “I wanted you to hear it from me first.”

  Kelly said, “Sorry, but I was at the courthouse when that call came in. I found out fifteen minutes ago. Ben, are you all right?”

  “I’m a little shaken by how close I came to getting face full of lye, but I’ll be fine.”

  “How did Louisa take the news about what really happened?”

  “She started crying all over again, but she’s in the middle of a sea of Perkins women, and that’s more comfort than anybody can stand. She’s going to be fine.”

  Kelly said, “If you’re up to it, I’d like to take you to lunch today.”

  “Do you think Annie would approve?”

  Kelly said, “I had a long talk with my daughter this morning before school, and we settled quite a few things.”

  I hesitated, then said, “She doesn’t like me, does she?”

  Kelly said, “Give her time, she’ll come around. For now, can you be satisfied with knowing that I do, and quite a lot?”

  “I guess that will have to do,” I said, then matched Kelly’s laugh.

  She asked, “So are you free for lunch?”

  “I’ll pick you up in an hour,” I said.

  As I walked back from my office, I saw that Louisa had’ dried her tears, done some kind of magic with her makeup, and looked perfectly normal again.

  “You look great,” I said.

  Louisa shrugged. “I’ve got to let go. Having everybody around helped.”

  “Listen, I’m taking Kelly out to lunch, but you’re free to join us.”

  Louisa said, “Thanks for the offer, but no, I can’t.”

  “What, are you worried about being the third wheel? We’d love to have you.”

  Louisa said, “No, that’s not what I meant. I’ve got plans.

  I made them this morning before... before everything happened, and it’s too late to cancel now.”

  “So who will you be lunching with?”

  “If you must know, John Labott’s coming by.”

  “So he finally called you.”

  “Not exactly. I took the liberty of asking him out myself, and after he got over his surprise, he agreed.” Louisa smiled as she added, “He wanted to make it breakfast, but I told him I couldn’t face anyone that early in the morning.”

  She glanced at her watch, then said, “In fact, if I’m going to get there in time, I should go right now.” She kissed my cheek, then dabbed at her lipstick. “Thanks again, Ben. I’m going to be fine now.”

  “I know you are, and you’re most welcome.”

  After Louisa was gone, Cindy approached me. “Do you want to kiss me, too?”

  “Hardly, but I would like to talk to you.”

  “What’s up, littlest sister?”

  Cindy said, “You’ve got another melt-and-pour class next week, don’t you?”

  “Absolutely. I’m counting on you to pitch in.”

  “I don’t want to help,” she said levelly.

  “Come on, Cindy, don’t back out on me now. You’ll love it, trust me.”

  “I don’t want to help,” she repeated. “I’d rather teach the whole thing myself. On one condition, though.”

  “Anything, just name it,” I said. “You monitor me from the back, and jump in if I need you. It’s the only way I’m going to have the nerve to do it.”

  I hugged her. “You’ll be fine. I’m proud of you.”

  “Well, I haven’t done anything yet.”

  “Don’t kid yourself. Making the effort is half the battle.” I was feeling pretty good about the world again when I heard a familiar pair of bickering voices coming from the kit section.

  “Herbert, you should be home resting.”

  “Constance, you heard the doctor, he told me I needed a new hobby to ease the stress in my life.”

  Constance said, “What stress? All you do is hang around the house all day.”

  “And you don’t think that’s stressful?” Herbert said.

  Constance answered, “Shh, there he is.”

  They spotted me and walked over. “We want a refund on the classes we missed,” Herbert said.

  Constance retorted, “Herbert Wilson, that’s not what we agreed on at all. We want to take the class over. We’ll pay for it, naturally.”

  “We’ll pay for half,” Herbert said. “We’ve got two classes coming to us.”

  That’s when I realized that things at Where There’s Soap were truly back to normal.

  Soapmaking Tips

  Soapmaking is great fun to do. It is easy to master, and has the added benefit of producing something useful that’s also very attractive. I like to start with the basic soapmaking kits readily available at craft and hobby centers. Don’t forget, soapmaking is a good project to try with children and grandchildren, too. It’s also an excellent way to make sure they wash up

  There are several basic ways to make soap at home. For this book, I’ve used the melt-and-pour method. It begins with a basic soap foundation and allows you to enhance it with colors, scents, abrasives, antioxidants, and more. By the time you’ve customized your own soap, you’ve got a result that is unique and your very own.

  For example, lavender, clary sage, chamomile, tangerine, rose, and lemon verbena all help make a relaxing soap, while rosemary, peppermint, lemon, lime, and jasmine are good for energizing you. There’s even a soap for insomnia, using chamomile, orange, and lavender. The possibilities are endless.

  To begin making soap with the melt-and-pour method, melt the base in a pan on the stove top or in the microwave per instructions on the package. Once your base is melted, add the ingredients you want to make your own special soap.

  Once the mixture is customized with scents and color, it is ready to pour into molds. There are many molds available in a variety of shapes.

  Because this soap is transparent, it offers countless opportunities to play. Objects that are resistant to heat can be imbedded in the soap once it is poured into a mold. This makes it special fun for children as they use their soap to get to the prize inside. Hard plastic toys, seashells, even coins make good additions to your soap.

  Remember, as with any craft, the most important thing i
s to let your imagination free and have fun

  And now a peek at the next Soapmaking Mystery, A Pour Way to Dye.

  A POUR WAY TO DYE

  By Tim Myers

  Prologue

  For a man named Joy, there was clearly none left in his lifeless body. Lying on the floor near the tub—one arm outstretched before him—he clutched a scented bar of soap in his left hand. It wasn’t Dove or Lifebuoy or Dial, but a handcrafted cleanser, wrapped with the label, Where There’s Soap, which was made in the shop that abutted his jewelry store’s property. Though it is true that more accidents happen in the bathroom than any other room in the house, this was no accident. Someone had clubbed him from behind with the iron bar from a towel rack and then left him for dead.

  After the attack, Joy had only a little life remaining—not enough to call for help or even to linger more than a few moments—so he had to act quickly while he still could. He grabbed the only thing within reach that might help name his killer, if only the police were smart enough to discover the clue he was leaving behind.

  Chapter 1

  The Day Before

  I had to slam on my Miata’s brakes to keep from plowing through a chain-link fence as I started to pull into the back parking lot of my family’s soap factory and boutique, Where There’s Soap. I wasn’t being reckless or driving impaired; that fence hadn’t been there when I’d left the night before. I somehow managed to stop before I rammed into the thing, but just barely. As I shut off the engine, I tried to slow my pounding heart. What kind of foolishness was this? Then I saw the sign wired to the eight-foot-high fence. It told me everything I needed to know. Earnest Joy was at it again, only this time he’d gone too far.