by Lyndsey Cole
Leona, sitting next to Scarlet in the back seat, elbowed her. “Yeah, right? She’s my age for crying out loud. Going on thirty five.”
That comment made everyone in the car scream with laughter except Scarlet. Her brows were furrowed in confusion.
Annie filled her in. “Add about ten years, if you’re wondering why we’re all in hysterics.” She turned to her mom. “What information do you want to share with Trisha?”
“The idea is still forming in my head, but what if we get the word out that your gown is in the bridal suite at the Heron Inn. Harold and Milly are staying there and one of them might be tempted to have a look.”
“That’s brilliant, Mia.” Leona patted her sister’s shoulder. “Great idea. We could set up a secret camera and record who goes in and out or stake out the room or—”
“Slow down, detective, don’t get ahead of us here.” Mia slowed down and parked in front of Curl Up and Dye. She turned toward Annie. “What if we actually plant a gown but something that you aren’t going to wear? Something plain and maybe a bit old fashioned and ugly. After all, how would you get a beautiful gown on such short notice?”
“Even better plan,” Annie said. “I like where this is going. Trisha will be so cocky that she foiled my day, she’ll have to come to the wedding to see everyone’s reaction.”
“She’ll drop dead from shock when she sees how beautiful you look in the identical gown she thinks she so cleverly stole.” Leona couldn’t contain the excitement in her voice.
“I love it when a plan comes together.” Annie opened the car door and swung her legs out. “Trisha won’t know it’s not the original. When she checks on where she hid the gown,” Annie flicked both hands in the air, “voilà! She’ll lead us to where the original gown is hidden. And then maybe Tyler will finally take the theft of my wedding gown seriously.”
Annie straightened, turned around, and found herself looking down slightly into Detective Christy Crank’s reflecting sunglasses. That wasn’t fair, Annie thought. It made her nervous to see her own reflection instead of reading anything from Christy’s gaze. Although Christy’s wide stance and folded arms, along with her hair pulled into a tight bun, certainly didn’t give an air of friendliness.
“Theft of your gown?” Christy asked Annie. “Sounds intriguing. Care to fill me in?”
“Well, I, um, have a hair appointment.” Annie glanced at the time on her watch.
“Right,” Christy said. “I checked and you still have about ten minutes so let’s hear all about your wedding gown. Tyler just didn’t get it. I guess it’s more of a girly thing.”
Right, Annie thought. And Christy Crank was so not a girly girl. She squared her shoulders. “Where do you want to talk?”
Christy tilted her head toward her cruiser. “In my car. Everyone else can wait for you inside Curl Up and Dye.” She dismissed the others without even a backward glance.
Christy’s plan appeared to be divide and conquer but there wasn’t anything Annie could do about it at the moment. She’d have to make a decision on her own as to exactly what she felt she could share. She followed Christy to the police cruiser.
Christy opened the passenger door for Annie. “Make yourself comfy,” she said before she jogged around to the driver side, slid in, and slammed her door. “Okay. Spill it.”
“It’s simple. Someone stole my wedding gown,” Annie said, choosing her words carefully without revealing anything more specific.
“When? Where? I need all the details.” Christy held a small notebook and looked at Annie.
“Sometime between four and five yesterday. Scarlet took Roxy for a walk when I went to The Enchanted Florist to talk to Posey.”
“This girl, Scarlet, who you barely know, and has an ax to grind with Trisha Fitch, was alone at Cobblestone Cottage? With your gown? Doesn’t sound like much of a mystery to me about who stole the gown.”
Annie stuck her chin out. “Yes, Scarlet was alone, but I don’t know what you mean by an ax to grind with Trisha Fitch.”
Christy sighed. “Come on, Annie. Trisha fired her from Dazzle Design. It’s not too big of a leap to see she could have stolen the gown so Trisha would get blamed. And, from what I’ve been told, Trisha, her mother, and her father have made several generous attempts to offer to trade that gown for a new style.”
“Listen to me, Detective Christy Crank.” Annie dropped her voice to a low deadly level and continued, “I think you have been dazzled by Trisha Fitch and her la-de-dah sweet talking lies. First, Scarlet didn’t get fired, she quit. Do you know why?”
Christy crossed her arms, shook her head, and settled comfortably in her seat. “But I’m sure you’ll fill me in.”
“Trisha was trying to steal Scarlet’s sketches to keep the designs and call them her own. Just like Trisha did thirty years ago to Leona. My wedding gown? That is a gown Leona designed but Trisha is trying to convince everyone it’s an original Trish Designs. There’s a pattern of her hiring young designers and stealing the designs since she has no talent of her own.” Annie’s voice got louder and louder. “That’s why Scarlet quit.”
“And second?” Christy asked.
“Second, Steve Fitch knew about all this and was actually a big part of why Trisha still has Leona’s original drawings, including my wedding gown design. She doesn’t want me to wear that gown and expose her as a fraud.”
Christy tapped her pen on her chin. “You’re saying the murder is connected to your wedding gown?”
“And possibly Scarlet’s sketch pad.”
“No wonder Tyler dismissed your story as some type of hysteria. I can’t even pretend to understand the whys, but I do think you could have a plausible theory. A small maybe. But here’s what I’ll add: the stormy night when Steve Fitch was bashed over the head with a branch?” Christy looked over the rim of her sunglasses. “Outside the house where you were partying with your mother, aunt, and friends?”
Annie felt a cold shiver travel from her toes to her fingertips. Was it from the memory of falling on Steve Fitch’s body? Or fear of where Christy’s comments could be headed?
“It would have been easy for one of you, maybe Leona who held a grudge for all these years,” she paused, “to slip out, confront Steve, and the rest of you rallied around to protect her.”
Annie clenched her jaw and glared right back at Christy’s piercing eyes. “Or someone followed Steve Fitch, hidden by the storm and the darkness,” Annie shot back at Christy. “Smacked him over the head with a branch to get him out of Trisha’s life and business once and for all. Doesn’t it seem odd to you that his widow and in-laws showed no grief over his death?”
“I’ll agree that’s a bit odd, but if one of them did kill him, I think it would be likely that they would fake their grief.” She tapped her cheek with her finger. “Why was he going to your house that night anyway?”
Annie pursed her lips. “I wish I knew. I think he wanted to make it right with Leona.”
Camilla tapped on the cruiser window.
“More drama,” Christy said and rolled her eyes.
Annie put her finger up for Camilla to wait. “One more thing, Christy. You might want to investigate where the inventory for Dazzle Design has been going. Boxes were going out the back door loaded with dresses. That trail might lead you to the murderer.”
Christy leaned closer to Annie. “How do you know about that?”
“I listen to what people tell me. And I believe them.”
Christy held Annie’s arm. “That has always been a problem of yours. That blindly believing people, following your feelings. I have to work with facts. Here’s a fact for you—those boxes of dresses ended up in a warehouse. Do you know whose name the warehouse lease was under?”
Annie’s throat tightened. She could barely force enough air into her lungs to ask the question, “Who?”
“Scarlet LaFave.” Christy let go of Annie’s arm and sat back. “Now, what do you think of your skinny, blond, fashion designer fr
iend? That little morsel of information certainly puts her in a new light, doesn’t it? You’ve got to learn to be more discerning about what you believe about people, Annie Fisher. Do you still think she’s the victim of Trisha Fitch’s shenanigans? I hope you don’t turn your back on her.”
“I have an appointment I can’t be late for,” Annie blurted out as she grabbed for the door.
She had to get out of the car.
Her lungs needed fresh air.
Her head was spinning.
She couldn’t process what Christy just revealed about Scarlet.
What was Scarlet up to?
Annie stumbled from the police cruiser and leaned against Camilla. Could there be another explanation? It didn’t add up in her confused mind.
Chapter 20
Camilla wrapped her arm around Annie’s waist and they walked together toward Curl Up and Dye. “What happened in there with Detective Crank?” Camilla whispered.
Annie stopped and waited for the police cruiser to pull onto Main Street and disappear before she turned to her friend. “You spent yesterday at Dazzle Design; did you hear anything about Scarlet?”
“Heck yeah.” Camilla raised one pierced brow. “She’s all everyone could gossip about when they had a chance.”
“And?”
“Well, I assumed it was all lies. Isn’t she on our side?”
“I thought so, but Christy just told me something about those boxes of dresses you saw. They were being shipped to a warehouse.”
“That makes sense.”
“The lease is in Scarlet’s name.” Annie waited for that to sink in. “Could she have been stealing from Trisha?”
Camilla’s hand flew to cover her mouth. “I did hear Trisha and her dad talking about taking care of something but I didn’t hear any details. Maybe they were talking about Scarlet?”
Annie shook her head. “It could be anything. Didn’t you tell me that the labels on the boxes you saw at Dazzle Design were being sent to SF Design? Which you thought referred to Steve Fitch? Were Steve and Scarlet working together?” Annie moved closer to the door. “I’ll figure out a way to ask Scarlet. I still don’t believe she’s involved. There has to be another explanation.”
Camilla held the door closed. “Maybe you just don’t want to believe she’s involved, Annie. Have you missed something?”
“I keep asking myself that exact question. You have that knack for reading females, Camilla. Scarlet is here too. See what you think.”
Camilla pulled the door open and waited for Annie to enter first.
“Finally!” several voices rang out as she walked inside.
“We thought Christy Crank took you to jail or something,” Leona teased. “What did she want?”
Annie waved her hand, dismissing the question. “Nothing I want to talk about now,” she said but kept her eyes on Scarlet’s face which only showed enjoyment.
Tess, the owner of Curl Up and Dye, directed the women to a private room with two stations. “I’ll get you set up here.” She counted. “I wasn’t expecting five of you but, no worries, we’ll manage. Of course Annie will be first.”
Leona opened a box from the Black Cat Café and arranged scones, muffins, and dainty sandwiches on a tray. “I have yummy food if anyone is hungry.”
“I’m starving.” Camilla made a beeline for the tray. “Anything to drink with this?”
Magically, a bottle of wine appeared in Leona’s hand. “Is it too early to have a tiny sip of wine to start the pre-wedding celebration?”
Annie held her empty hand out. “Wine with lunch? Sounds good to me. But make mine bigger than tiny.”
Everyone laughed, Leona poured small glasses of wine and Tess got set to work on Annie’s curls.
Annie sat forward. “Before you start, tell me your plan. I don’t want you to turn me into some unrecognizable person.”
Tess rolled her eyes and ran her fingers through Annie’s beautiful curls. “Shampoo, trim, and I’ll try to get this unruly mass of strawberry blond curls into some kind of order.”
“Okay, but nothing too dramatic. Can you manage to pull it all to the back and let the curls just do their thing?”
“Sure. That will be easy. To be honest, with hair like yours, it would be a crime to not let them do their thing.”
“Also,” Annie reached into her bag and pulled out a box, “I want to wear this in my hair.”
Tess opened the box and took out the beautiful silver and pearl hair comb that Camilla had given Annie. “This is gorgeous.” She held it against the side of Annie’s head. “It will be perfect, but you should wait to put it in until after you have your gown on.” Tess lowered her voice. “I heard some chit chat in the main room this morning that your gown was stolen?”
Annie whipped her head around to stare at Tess. “Who did you hear that from?”
“Some new people in town. I think they said they’re here for your wedding. Trisha and Milly? It was odd because the two women were snickering when they were talking about your gown.”
Annie settled back in her chair. “I bet they were, but don’t worry, I’ll be having the last laugh about his.”
Leona kept the wine glasses filled as her delicacies dwindled from the food tray. The room was filled with chatter and laughter. Annie relaxed into the chair and gave herself over to Tess’s experienced hands.
Tess brought Annie to the sink, washed her hair, did a trim, and sculpted the curls into a cascade at the back of her head. She twirled the chair around. “Take a look, everyone. What’s the verdict? Is she beautiful or is she stunning?”
Annie saw tears in the corner of her mother’s eyes.
Leona’s smile couldn’t have been wider.
Camilla held the silver and pearl hair comb up to finish the effect.
Scarlet clapped her hands and squealed.
Stunning was the unanimous verdict.
The food disappeared and a second bottle of wine was opened and emptied by the time everyone’s hair was done.
As the group, slightly tipsy from the wine, left the private room, Annie heard a voice that she tried to ignore.
“Annie, you look lovely,” Milly said as she tucked her book under her arm and walked closer. She gently let her hand settle on Annie’s arm. “I hope there are no hard feelings between our families. Harold talked sense to Trisha and we will be at your affair after all. We have that beautiful room at the Heron Inn anyway.”
Annie stepped on Leona’s foot when it appeared that Leona was about to let something escape from her mouth. She knew it would not be complimentary and, at this point, Annie wanted to appear to smooth things over for the sake of working their trap.
“Ow. What did you do that for?” Leona asked. She pulled her foot away and Mia managed to distract Leona and get her out of Curl Up and Dye. Scarlet and Camilla followed.
Annie forced her mouth into a wide smile. “That would be lovely, Milly. Of course there aren’t any hard feelings.” Annie dropped her arm and Milly’s hand slid away. “I couldn’t be more excited, especially for everyone to see my lovely gown.” Annie tilted her head and made her smile wider.
Milly’s smile stayed on her face but Annie didn’t miss the brief flash of a crease that appeared between her thin eyebrows. “Yes, of course, your gown. And Trisha can’t wait to see how, um, beautiful you’ll look walking down the aisle.”
“I’m sure she can’t,” Annie said through clenched teeth.
Milly started to walk away.
“One question, Milly.” Annie’s voice stopped her great aunt dead in her tracks. She was itching to set the trap. “A friend of mine found an interesting pile of papers and a sketch pad. I’m wondering if they could be something that Trisha lost.”
Milly’s face hardened. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe you should discuss that with Trisha or Harold. We’ll all be at the Heron Inn this afternoon.”
“I’ll keep that in mind when I get to the inn to get dressed. All of
our gowns and flowers are waiting for us in the bridal suite but there are a few little details to finish up at my house first.” She waved her hand. “You know how Leona is, always has some surprise or another up her sleeve and she insisted we had to stop at my house first. It shouldn’t take long. Are you heading to the inn now?”
Milly nodded and smiled at Annie. “I’ll be there shortly. I still have a couple of errands.” She patted her newly permed hair. “I’m glad we had this little talk.”
Annie returned the smile as she thought to herself, I’m sure you are, Meddling Milly. Who will we find in the bridal suite?
Annie waited for Milly to leave before she walked into the sunshine and joined the others.
Fortunately, Mia only had a sip of wine while they had their hair done and she sat behind the steering wheel waiting for Annie. Leona, Scarlet, and Camilla were squeezed into the backseat. Annie got in the front and slammed the door.
“That was interesting,” Annie began. “Trisha and her parents will be at the wedding after all, and,” she turned around to make eye contact with those in the back seat, “I mentioned that I would be at the Heron Inn later to get dressed. All the information is planted. I could see the wheels in Milly’s brain turning when I mentioned my gown was already at the Heron Inn. We’ll give her a head start before we pop in.”
Mia pulled out. “Where to?”
“My house,” Leona blurted out. “I have the perfect fake gown to plant in her bridal suite.”
“Second stop is Cobblestone Cottage,” Annie said. “I need to get my new gown and I want to fill Jason in if he’s there.”
What Annie left unsaid was that she wanted to go to the Heron Inn without the whole entourage but she hadn’t figured out how she would slip away.
Yet.
