The Iced Princess

by Christine Husom

  “Whether you do or don’t isn’t the issue now, is it? Most people back then did. I’d say she changed her name and moved to our fair city to escape those who believed she was guilty.” Clint looked at his watch. “We stopped by her house to talk to her before we came here, but it was dark. Do you have her scheduled to work today?”

  “Actually, no. She told me last night that she had to leave early this morning to go stay with a friend who needed her.”

  Pinky’s mouth dropped open. “Cami—”

  “Sorry, Pinky, I meant to tell you, but I was thinking about Molly, and it slipped my mind.”

  Clint leaned closer. “Do you have her friend’s name, her address?”

  “No, I—”

  “How about a phone number?”

  “No, when I asked Emmy for her cell number she said she didn’t have one and that she’d call me.”

  Clint narrowed his eyes. “Did it seem at all suspicious to you that she was leaving so abruptly?”

  “A little, but I had no reason to think that—”

  Clint turned to Mark. “It looks like our number one suspect has flown the coop.”

  Pinky reached over and grabbed my hand. Hers was shaking as much as mine was.

  Clint moved in close to me and held up a finger in front of my face. “If Emmy calls, find out where she is and then get ahold of me right away. Understand?”

  “Yes. Sir.”

  With that, Clint and Mark left without so much as a cup of coffee or even a good-bye.

  Pinky swung her body around so we were face-to-face, and she put both of her hands on my shoulders. “That man can be so intense at times.”

  “Tell me about it. I was the one three inches away from him. The irises of his eyes got so dark they were nearly black.”

  “Under different circumstances, I wouldn’t mind one little bit if he looked into my eyes with that much passion. But seriously, this is scary stuff, and it sure doesn’t look good for Emmy. I mean, she poisoned her husband and now Molly got poisoned when Emmy was with her. It seems like too much of a coincidence if you ask me.”

  “First of all, Clint said there was not enough evidence against Emmy, and second, why would she kill Molly?”

  “She got away with it once, so she did it again.”

  “But why?”

  “I don’t know. Why do people do bad things?”

  —

  I helped Pinky with a flurry of customers until after eight o’clock then headed into Curio Finds. “Hey, Pinky, since the sun is out now and you’re feeling better, I’m going to turn off my overhead lights so people don’t think the shop is open and wonder why the doors are locked. I’m going to use the time to get some bookwork and stocking done.”

  “Hey, you’re the one in there, not me. Go for it.” She went back to cleaning off her serving area.

  I sat down at my checkout counter and looked around at the shelves filled with snow globes and other unique items. Yesterday, Molly and Emmy had been there, dusting and getting familiarized with the merchandise, and now they were both gone. Emmy certainly had not done herself any favors by disappearing, as far as the police were concerned. It was understandable that her checkered past had raised red flags for them. Clint was right; I had known something was off when I saw the suitcase on Emmy’s bed and she said she was leaving to help a friend. She’d acted strangely, and I thought it was because the police had just dropped the bad news bomb about Molly, and because Emmy was torn about leaving town. Now it seemed like there might be a different reason altogether.

  I went into the storeroom, and the first thing I noticed was the small pile of trashy clothes Molly had taken off and left on the floor. The sight of them caught me off guard and stopped me in my tracks. I grabbed one of our sales bags, picked up the items, and dropped them in it. Dressing down had a very different meaning for Molly than it did for Pinky and me. I set the bag on a shelf and decided to ask the police what to do with it. Molly had the clothes for less than a day, so her husband wouldn’t want them. He’d be more shocked than the rest of us if he’d known she had shown up for work in that outfit.

  I heard a noise in the shop and left the storeroom to see what it was. A woman was standing at the checkout counter with an envelope in her gloved hand. She was wearing a quilted black jacket and a black stocking cap pulled down to cover all but her mouth, nose, eyes, chin, and a little of her cheeks. Sunglasses completed the disguise. It took me a second to realize who it was. “Senator, what are you doing?”

  Her eyes were somewhat visible behind the glasses and opened wider than I’d ever seen them. Her jaw dropped, and the envelope fell out of her hand. “Camryn, why are you here?”

  “That’s a silly question.”

  “Well, I mean your shop isn’t open. And the morning news said a woman died here yesterday, so I thought . . . I mean . . .”

  “What are you getting at, and what possible reason brought you back after what you did here yesterday?”

  “You saw me?” She pursed her lips.

  “I sure did.”

  She picked up the envelope. “I wanted to give you this.” And with that she dropped the envelope on the counter then scurried through the archway and out Brew Ha-Ha’s door.

  It took me a minute before I was able to utter a sound or move any part of my body. “Pinky!”

  She came running in, holding a knife in her hand. “What is it?”

  “Didn’t you see who just ran out of my shop and out your door?”

  “No, I didn’t. I was washing dishes and had my back to the archway. When I heard the ding, I looked that way, but all I saw was a woman’s back.”

  “It was Ramona Zimmer.”

  “No. What in the heck was she up to this time?”

  I walked to the counter. “She delivered this.” I pointed at the envelope.

  Pinky dropped her knife-wielding hand to her side and stepped in beside me. We both stared at the suspicious object. “Are you going to open it?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m a little worried.”

  “You’re right. I would be, too. It might have, um, what is the name of that powdered poison that senators were getting in their letters a while back?”

  “Anthrax, but some got letters laced with ricin, too.”

  “That’s right. And we did have a poisoning here yesterday.” She took a step back from the counter.

  “Now you’ve really got me nervous.” I stepped away, too.

  “I think you better call nine-one-one and ask them about it.”

  “You think so? It might be better if we called the police department instead. Maybe Mark would check it out for us.”

  “We can do that.”

  “Do you want to call?”

  “The letter is on your counter, left by your former employer for you.”

  “Maybe it’d be safer to go into your shop and make the call.”

  We looked like our sides were glued together as we turned and slowly walked into Pinky’s shop. When we got to the counter, she stepped ahead, picked up her phone, and handed it to me. I shook my head. “My cell phone is in my pocket, and I have Mark on speed dial.”

  “Take it out.”

  “What?”

  “Your cell phone. Cami, you are acting like a space cadet.”

  “I can’t help it. I just thought of something bad.”

  “Like what?”

  “I can’t talk about it right now, so I’ll tell you later when I can.”

  “Cami, you’re scaring me.”

  “Pinky, I’m scaring me.”

  “Do you want me to call Mark?”

  “Yes. Please.”

  Pinky broke the spell by hitting numbers on her cordless phone. “Mark, it’s Pinky and Cami. Can you come down here, as soon as possible, like right now? . . . You’r
e never going to believe this, but Senator Ramona Zimmer was here and left an envelope on Cami’s counter, and we want to make sure there’s no ricin or anthrax in it. . . . Okay, thanks.” She pushed the off button. “He’s on his way from the station.”

  “Good.”

  “So tell me your bad thought.”

  “I have to process it awhile first.”

  “You know I am way too snoopy and can’t stand the suspense.”

  “I do know that. And you know that I need to think about big things for a while before I can talk about them.”

  Pinky lifted her hand up. “Truce?”

  “Truce.”

  She smiled, lightening the mood a little bit. “But hurry up thinking through whatever it is, will you please?”

  I smiled back. “I will try. Oh, and when Mark gets here, remind me to give him Molly’s bag of clothes.”

  Pinky frowned. “You mean her trampy outfit? Why give them to him?”

  “It’s up to the police to decide what to do with them, not me. I’m actually surprised they didn’t take them yesterday. They must have looked through them when they were doing all their searching around here.”

  “You’d think. Cami, I hate to ask you this, but are you going to try to get your clothes back, the ones Molly was wearing?”

  I shook my head. “And you know what I realized during the night when I couldn’t sleep? It was the same outfit I was wearing when Ramona Zimmer came in and found her sleazy husband’s hands all over it.”

  “No.”

  “I should have given it away then.”

  “Holy moly, that is one bad-luck outfit. You wore it and lost your job. Molly wore it and lost her life.”

  My heart felt like it dropped to my stomach. “Pinky, I felt guilty enough before.”

  “Sorry.”

  The bell on Brew Ha-Ha’s door dinged, and both Mark and Clint rushed in like they were on a lifesaving mission. And maybe they were if the envelope in question contained a deadly ingredient. They were carrying vinyl gloves and pulled them on.

  “Where is it?” Clint asked.

  We went into the curio shop then stopped a few feet back from the counter and I pointed. Mark pulled a plastic bag marked “Evidence” from his back pocket. Clint moved up to the counter. “Camryn, you saw the senator lay this here?”

  “I did.”

  “What did she say? Did she explain herself?”

  “No. She was surprised I was here, because she knew what time our shop opens. She must have been watching Pinky and snuck in when she was in her back area. Or maybe the senator came in with other people. She was dressed so she wouldn’t be recognized.”

  “Was she wearing gloves?”

  I envisioned Ramona’s hands. “Actually, she did have black leather gloves on.”

  Clint picked up the envelope. “It’s addressed to you, Camryn.”

  I knew that.

  “Mark, open that evidence bag, will you?” When Mark did so, Clint dropped the envelope in. “We’ll get this over to Buffalo County and see if their crime lab can do an analysis. If not, they’ll send it to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.”

  The nightmare continued.

  “Are you going to arrest Senator Zimmer for trying to poison Cami?” Pinky said.

  “First we have to find out what’s in that envelope,” Clint said.

  “You could arrest her for breaking one of the snow globes in here and not paying for it,” Pinky said.

  Clint focused on me. “You mentioned that last night, Camryn. What was the value of the snow globe?”

  “Around fifty dollars. It wasn’t one of the older, more expensive ones.”

  Clint looked at Pinky. “No, we wouldn’t arrest the senator on a petty misdemeanor charge. I could issue her a citation, however.”

  I held up my hands and shook my head. “No, please don’t. It’s not worth it. I’m much more interested in what the crime lab people find in that envelope.”

  “Cami’s right. If there is poison in it, she will be in serious trouble, and we’ll slap a list of felony charges against her,” Mark said.

  “Let’s get this over to the county,” Clint said. He started for the door then stopped and turned around. “I guess you know this, but as a reminder, keep on the lookout for any more unusual activity.”

  Mark nodded his agreement.

  I raised my hand. “Before you leave, we have something of Molly’s to give you.”

  “That’s right, I was supposed to remind you about that, Cami.”

  Clint frowned. “What is it?”

  “The outfit she wore here to work.”

  “But it was bad, and Cami gave Molly one of her own spare outfits to wear instead,” Pinky said.

  “We didn’t know what to do with it,” I said.

  “We’ll take it and check for possible evidence,” Mark said.

  I retrieved the pants and top from the store room, and handed them to Clint. His nose twitched, no doubt due to the mothball smell that clung to the clothes, but he didn’t comment.

  They said a final good-bye and left with Mark carrying the questionable envelope, and Clint carrying the discarded clothes.

  “I can’t handle any more unusual activity.” Pinky’s body straightened and stiffened like she was a missile ready for takeoff.

  Her visible tension helped me to refocus. “Pinky, look at me. Hey, remember what we did when we were kids and got scared, or thought we were in trouble?”

  “Yeesss.”

  “Okay. First let’s shake our hands.” We backed away from each other to avoid accidental slaps and shook away. “Now our feet.” We circled one foot then the other. “All together now.” We sang a little song as we moved: “Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. And eyes and ears and mouth and nose. Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes.”

  When we stood up, there were two older women standing in the archway staring at us. Pinky’s headband had slipped down to her eyebrows. “Oh, um, just getting in some exercise between customers.” She fixed her clothes and pushed her band higher, gaining some control over her wild curls.

  One of the women smiled slightly, but her companion wore a pained expression. I had to wonder if they were thinking Brew Ha-Ha put less emphasis on “brew” and more importance on “ha-ha.” No matter. With Pinky running the show, that was often true. Pinky left to help her customers. When I heard one of them order a muffin, my stomach groaned, reminding me I hadn’t had breakfast. I went to the serving counter for a cup of coffee and a raspberry scone.

  —

  Our teacher friend Erin stopped by after school ended. “What a day it was with my fourth graders. Even the kids who are usually angels had ants in their pants. I only had time to think about Molly about a hundred times.” She blew out a breath of air and sat down at Pinky’s counter. She looked at me then at Pinky. “How are you guys doing? You both have funny looks on your faces. And where is Emmy—was she too freaked out to come back to work?”

  “Golly, Erin, you will not, not, not believe what I am about to tell you.” I sat down beside her. Pinky stayed behind the counter and served Erin a decaf with milk.

  Erin’s mouth hung open through the entire account of Emmy’s past—and how she had gotten out of town just before the law caught up to her.

  “Sweet little old Emmy? I can’t believe she’s been living a secret life right here in Brooks Landing under an assumed name. Oh my gosh.”

  Then Pinky launched into the story of how Senator Zimmer had left an envelope addressed to me, and how we were waiting to find out about the lab results.

  Erin grabbed my hand. “Forget about what I said about my day. It was a breeze compared to what you’ve been going through.”

  There was no one else in eit
her shop, so it was a good time to tell Pinky and Erin what had me on edge all day. “Do you want to hear what I think might have happened to Molly?”

  “What?” they said in unison.

  I looked around to confirm no one had come in. “This is really bad. And if it’s true, I don’t know how I’ll ever make it up to Molly’s husband.”

  “What in the world are you talking about?” Erin said.

  “I think it was the Zimmers.”

  “The Zimmers what?”

  I lowered my voice. “I think it was the Zimmers who poisoned Molly.”

  “Cami, you are not making sense,” Pinky said.

  “The Zimmers knew Molly?” Erin said.

  “No, not that I know of.”

  Erin raised her palms. “Then why would they kill her?”

  “Okay, I’ll back up. I don’t think they actually did it themselves. I think they hired someone and he got the wrong woman.”

  “A hit man? You’re talking about a hit man?” Erin said.

  “In Brooks Landing? Holy moly.” Pinky came around the counter and sat down next to me.

  “You are not saying what I think you are, are you?” Erin said.

  I shrugged. “Pinky, when we talked about it earlier, I told you it was bad. Think about it, first Peter Zimmer stops by for a visit. Actually, he wanted more, but that’s too disgusting to talk about right now. Then Ramona Zimmer shows up at Curio Finds and has an evil eye on Molly.

  “Molly was helping a customer with her back to Ramona. I think she thought Molly was really me. On top of it all, Molly was wearing my clothes. Ramona’s mad at me and loses it for a minute. She creates a little scene—maybe accidentally, maybe on purpose—and then takes off before anyone can stop her. The senator is no sprinter by any means, but she knows I can’t run to save my soul. So once she was out of the store, she was home free.”

  “Cami, I hate to say it, but Molly did look a lot like you yesterday, especially after she’d changed into your spare outfit. I did a double take a few times thinking it was you, but it was really Molly,” Pinky said.

  “Really?” Erin sounded like she was trying to envision it.

  Pinky nodded. “I wasn’t going to bring it up, but it was kind of freaky. It’s not that Cami’s and Molly’s features are that much alike, but their hair color and style, their height, and the way they’re built is very similar.”