“You bet we’ll tell you,” I said. “I appreciate you checking in with us even after you had already checked with our mother. We’ve always been a stickler for keeping the shop clean, but some of that deep cleaning wasn’t our favorite job to do.”
She nodded. “It never is. And that’s why I’m here. My crew and I will handle all the nasty stuff that you hate to do so you can get on with your business.”
“We appreciate that,” Christy said. “As long as we can focus on the candy making, and you all keep up the cleaning standards you’ve already set, I know this is going to be a great partnership.”
Harper chuckled. “You’ve got my word on it.” She glanced around the room, then took a couple of steps closer to us. “Is it true that someone else died in this very ballroom? I don’t want to be nosy or anything, but that’s the rumor going around town.”
“It is true,” Ethan said hesitantly. “But I can assure you that the Pumpkin Hollow police department is working hard to find the culprit.”
She nodded. “That’s what I want to here. My faith is in you all to catch the killer and put them behind bars.” She looked at me. “Is this cutie the guy that you’re dating? Because that’s going around Pumpkin Hollow too.”
I glanced at Ethan and couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, that’s my cutie.” I had no idea it was going around Pumpkin Hollow, or that anyone would even care enough to notice, but it really shouldn’t have surprised me. As small as Pumpkin Hollow was, news spread quickly, good or bad. And this was exceptionally good news.
Ethan smiled, and if I wasn’t mistaken, his cheeks turned a bit pink. He shook his head and continued working on putting the Christmas tree together.
Harper laughed heartily. “We don’t want to embarrass him, but he is cute,” she said and gave me a wink. “Now, I think I’m going to dig in and help put some Christmas decorations up. But then I’ll have to run. I’ve got a couple more cleaning jobs to take care of today.”
“I’m sure the help is greatly appreciated,” I said to Harper. “Angela Peterson is in charge of work assignments.”
“Got it.” She headed off in search of Angela Peterson.
“Tada!” Ethan said.
Christy and I turned to see Ethan had finally gotten all four sections of the tree together. He stood next to it proudly.
“I think the top needs to be moved over just a little to the left,” Christy said, eyeing the tree.
She was right. The section was leaning just a bit. Ethan reached up and straightened it.
“That looks good,” I said.
“Hello,” a voice came from behind us. We all turned to look and saw Laura Bostwick approaching us. She had a cane in one hand to help her walk. I thought that was odd as I’d never seen her with a cane before.
“Hello Laura,” I said. “How are you doing?”
She nodded. “I’m doing fine. I just thought I’d stop by and see how the Christmas decorating was going. Ellie wanted to come and see the play, you know,” she said. “It’s a shame she’ll miss it.”
“It really is a shame,” I said glancing at Ethan. “Laura, did you hurt yourself?” I indicated the cane she had in her hand.
“Oh this?” she said waving the question away. “No, it just helps to keep me steady some days. I don’t use it most of the time, but once in a while, I need it.”
“Well I’m glad you’re okay then,” I said.
She nodded, then she looked over her shoulder and turned back to Ethan, placing both hands on the head of the cane to lean on it. “Say Ethan,” she whispered, “can I have a word with you about something?”
Ethan nodded and stepped closer to her. “What is it?”
She looked over her shoulder again to where Harper was helping to hang greenery. “You need to keep your eye on that Harper Casper.”
She didn’t take her eyes off Harper and Ethan glanced in her direction. “Why do you say that?”
She turned back to look at Ethan now. “I think she murdered Josh Tate.”
“Why do you say that?” Ethan repeated.
“I saw the two of them arguing out behind the grocery store less than a week ago,” she said, nodding. “It was a terrible argument too, if you ask me. I don’t know what they were doing behind the grocery store in the first place.”
I wondered what Laura was doing behind the grocery store, but I didn’t ask.
“Did you hear what they were arguing about?” Ethan asked, keeping his voice low.
“She said she wasn’t going to take the blame for something. I didn’t hear what that something was, but she said that Josh owed her, and he was going to pay up, or else.” Her eyes went big. “Wouldn’t surprise me one bit if she killed Ellie, too.”
“Why do you think she would kill Ellie?” Ethan asked.
Christy and I stepped in closer so we could hear the conversation better. “Because Ellie didn’t like her. Harper used to do some housecleaning for us sometimes, but she did a terrible job. She never could clean the grout in the shower, and she forgot about cleaning the stove hood. Have you ever heard of somebody not cleaning the stove hood?” She shook her head. “It was more than I could ever imagine.”
“Did she and Ellie ever have any disagreements?” Ethan asked her.
“Oh, yes. Ellie didn’t think the service she provided was worth the money she charged. Ellie told her she wasn’t going to pay her as much as they had agreed upon because Harper didn’t do as much work as she promised. I can’t say as I blame her at all. Who wants to step into a shower when the grout is still dirty?” She shook her head again.
“What did Harper say when Ellie said wasn’t going to pay her?” I asked.
“She got real angry. I tell you, her eyes flashed when Ellie said that. She said Ellie didn’t have a choice about it, but once Ellie got a thought in her mind, she wasn’t going to back down. She paid her less than the price Harper quoted us.”
I wasn’t sure I believed that Harper hadn’t done a good job cleaning. We had all been impressed with the work she had done at the candy store. Of course, some people were hard to please and were never satisfied. But we had high standards at the candy store, and they had been met.
“But Harper just accepted the money that Ellie said she was going to pay her?” Ethan asked her.
“Yes, she took the money Ellie gave her, but Harper said she would never work for us again. Except, she did. She came back over and over even though Ellie wouldn’t pay her as much as she wanted. I told Ellie we just needed to get somebody else. Somebody that would work harder and do a better job.”
It didn’t make sense to me that Harper would return if she wasn’t being paid what she had asked for.
“Is there anything else you think I should know about Harper?” Ethan asked, thinking over what she said.
She nodded. “When she worked for us, things disappeared. Small things, like a mop or a broom, some cleanser, and finally, a watch. That was the last straw. Ellie fired her. Harper’s an alcoholic, you know.”
“Did Ellie file a police report?” Ethan asked, ignoring the comment about Harper being an alcoholic.
“No, Ellie said she couldn’t stand to do it. She was dating harper’s father at the time.” She sighed. “Ellie was a soft touch.”
Ethan glanced at me. “Well, I appreciate you letting me know. I’ll keep it in mind.”
She picked up the cane in one hand and waved it. “Mark my words, Ethan Banks, Harper Casper is a murderer.”
She said the last part louder than she should have and people glanced in our direction. After a moment Harper glanced over her shoulder, and when she saw Laura, she narrowed her eyes at her, shook her head, and then went back to work hanging greenery.
“What do you make of that?” I asked Ethan when Laura had left.
“I don’t know. If Ellie never filed a police report, it’s Laura’s word against Harper. I’ll keep it in mind though.”
“Maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t see Harper stealing a wat
ch or anything else from Ellie. If it was true, Ellie would have filed a police report.”
It wasn’t that I thought Laura wasn’t telling the truth. It did make me wonder about Harper, but there was nothing concrete. I remembered what Charlie had told me about Ellie dating Harper’s father. She told him Harper was an alcoholic. Had Harper held a grudge against Ellie for that and killed her? I hoped not. I liked Harper and didn’t want to think of her as a killer. But maybe Laura didn’t like Harper and thought she had killed Ellie simply because Ellie thought she was stealing.
Chapter Twenty-One
It didn’t take as long to decorate the ballroom as I thought it would. After a while, more people showed up, and by ten o’clock we had twenty people decorating. The volunteers were greatly appreciated, and we were excited by how pretty the room was when we were done.
Afterwards, I dropped by the flower shop and picked up a poinsettia to take to Emily Tate. She and her unborn baby had been on my mind ever since Josh’s body had been found at the ballroom. I felt terrible for her. Not only was she facing raising her baby alone, but her husband had been murdered. The fact that it happened right before Christmas made it seem worse in some way. I couldn’t imagine a more difficult situation to be in.
Ethan went back to work, and Christy went back to the candy store to see if she could help Mom with candy orders. It would only be a few more days before we cut off the Internet Christmas orders, but there were still plenty coming in that needed to be shipped before Christmas.
Emily opened the door and looked at me with surprise, then she gave me a sad smile. “Hello Mia, how are you?”
“Hi Emily, I just wanted to stop by to tell you how sorry I was to hear about Josh. I’m just so sorry. I brought you a poinsettia,” I said.
Tears came to her eyes and she nodded. “That’s so sweet of you, Mia. That poinsettia is beautiful. Won’t you come in?”
“Yes, of course,” I said and followed her into the house. Her Christmas tree was set up in front of the living room window and she had ceramic Christmas villages set up around the room. It made me sad thinking about her having to take all these things down and pack them away. Josh had probably helped her put them out, and I imagined it would be crushing, thinking about him as she packed them up.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet,” she said, sitting on the loveseat across from me. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without him.” I set the poinsettia on the coffee table.
I nodded. “I can’t imagine how hard this has to be,” I said. “I’m just so sorry.”
“On the day he died, he said he was going to the party house. Phil wanted him to do some painting. He said he would be back in a couple of hours. I was cooking dinner and waiting for him to come through the door. When he’d been gone four hours, I began to worry. Shortly after that, Ethan showed up to tell me what happened.” She blinked back tears and her gaze went to the poinsettias. “You never expect something like this.”
“No, of course you don’t. I’m so sorry,” I said. “Emily, are you sure he said he was going to do some painting?” Phil had said Josh wasn’t able to do the painting.
She nodded. “Yes, Phil had asked him to do it the day before, but we were supposed to have family arriving and I wanted him to stay home. But then it started snowing in Idaho and my family didn’t want to chance getting stuck, so they decided to wait a few days until things cleared up.”
“Did he tell Phil that plans had changed, and he was able to do the painting?” I asked. Why had Chris done the painting if Phil knew Chris was available?
“I don’t know if he told him or if he just went and did the painting.”
It was possible he hadn’t told Phil and that was why Chris had done the painting. “Will your family be arriving soon so they can be with you?”
“Yes, they’re due to be here in the morning.” She looked at me and smiled sadly again. She had long dark hair and olive skin. Her baby would be lovely, like her. “I go from thinking I can’t imagine who would want to kill him, to thinking maybe I do know who killed him.” Her countenance went from grief-stricken to angry as she spoke.
“Who do you think might have killed him?” I asked.
“Harper Casper,” she said nodding. “I just can’t get it out of my mind.”
Harper’s name had been tossed around a couple of times, and as much as I liked her and was impressed by the work she was doing at the candy store, it was beginning to make me feel a little uneasy. “Why do you say Harper?”
She bit her lower lip. “Josh couldn’t stand her. He had hired her to clean up job sites. Not all job sites you understand, but for the bigger jobs. Like when people wanted a complete remodel of a room or new construction on their house. She came in with her crew and they would clean things up so the homeowner wouldn’t have a mess on their hands and Josh could focus on the work itself.”
“She recently started cleaning my mother’s candy store. She’s done a really good job,” I said, crossing my legs. I couldn’t imagine anyone finding fault with her work, although Laura and Ellie apparently had.
She nodded. “She does do a good job. In fact, a month ago I had her come in and do a deep clean on my entire house. I thought it would be nice to have all of that done so that when I give birth, I can concentrate on the baby.” She put her hand on her swollen belly and looked down at it for a moment.
“If Josh couldn’t stand her, why did you ask her to do that?”
“I guess I really didn’t understand how much he disliked her,” she said, looking at me again. “When he came home, and she was in the house cleaning, I could tell by the look on his face that he was really angry. He held it in until she was finished and left. When she did leave, he blew his top.”
“Really? What did he say about it?”
“He said he couldn’t believe that I had had clean our house. He said he never wanted to see her again and he couldn’t believe that he walked into his own home and saw her there.” She shrugged, looking puzzled. “I had no idea he felt that way.”
“Did he say why he didn’t want to see her again?” I would have thought that if Josh felt that strongly about Harper, he would have expressed that to Emily at some point.
She nodded. “He said she was unreliable, and he had lost a job because of her. She didn’t show up when she had promised she would. He just assumed she would be there to clean up after him like she promised, and he went home. When he got back to the job site the next day, everything was the way he had left it, and the homeowner was angry. They had a toddler that wandered into some construction debris and even though the baby wasn’t hurt, they were mad at him for it. They fired him on the spot.”
“I guess I can kind of see why he wouldn’t want anything to do with her, then,” I said. “I couldn’t blame the homeowners, either.”
She nodded. “I felt terrible. I don’t know why he never told me about it.” Tears sprang to her eyes and she looked away, struggling to regain her composure. Then she looked at me again. “But there’s more. I found texts he sent her on his phone a couple of weeks ago.” She stopped and swallowed hard.
I was afraid to ask, but I had to. “What kind of texts?”
She swallowed again. “He said he was done fooling around with her. He said he didn’t want anything more to do with her and for her to quit blaming him for her own mistakes. Then he warned her not to contact me.”
“Fooling around how?” I wasn’t sure if that meant what I thought it meant. “Did he say anything more explicit?” The fact that he hadn’t wanted Harper to contact Emily was telling, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with business.
She shook her head. “I think he had deleted most of the messages and there were only three of them left. All sent on the same day. It was the part about not fooling around with her anymore that got to me. I confronted him about it, and I asked him exactly what that meant. He said it didn’t mean anything at all.”
I could see the pain in her eyes, and as
much as I hated to continue along this line of questioning, I had to. “You think he was having an affair with her?”
She made a choking sound, and a tear trickled down her cheek. She nodded. “I do. He denied it and swore there was nothing to it other than business. And I tried to believe him, but I just don’t know. I never in a million years would’ve thought he would do something like cheat on me, and maybe I am just jumping to conclusions. But I just don’t know.”
I really liked Emily and I wished there was something I could do or say that would make her feel better, but I didn’t know what that might be. Seeing texts like the ones she had seen on her husband’s phone would lead a lot of wives to believe their husband had been unfaithful. I hoped it wasn’t true, but now that Josh was dead there might not be any way of knowing for sure.
“Maybe he really did just mean he didn’t want to do business with her anymore. Sometimes people use that term, ‘fooling around’, to mean that they just want nothing to do with a person.”
She nodded. “I told myself the same thing, but I just don’t know. I suppose there’s no use in worrying about it now, is there? Except that there’s more. I ran into Laura Bostwick after I found the texts and she said she saw Josh and Harper arguing behind the grocery store,” she said weakly.
I stared at her. “Did you ask him about it?”
She nodded. “He said he went behind the store to pick up some old discarded cardboard boxes to keep in the back of his truck so he could put tools in them to keep them from sliding around in the truck bed. Harper saw him, followed him back there and asked him to hire her to clean more of his construction sites. He refused and she got angry about it, accusing him of being unfair. He said Laura must have seen them, and then tried to make me think it was something more.”
Confectionately Dead Page 12
