I froze as well, a mirror of her in more ways than one.
After a few seconds, I finally released the breath I had been holding.
She had the same short, still blonde but with streaks of silver, curly hair that flew out a little wildly from her head. And she wore the same bright beads around her neck and wrists. I narrowed my eyes and squinted at the blue and yellow bracelet, trying to figure out if it was in fact one of my own designs.
"Who are you?" the woman asked, stunned.
But looking closer at her, there were some differences as well as the striking similarities. Up close, we had entirely different noses—hers a short button, mine longer and more European. And she had freckles where I had none.
I let out yet another long sigh of relief. She wasn't my long lost twin. And she wasn't a ghost. She was, indeed, flesh and blood. Just a curious look-a-like.
"My name is George," I said, taking a step nearer to her. "I'm a little new in town, so I don't know many people. I just thought I'd say hello."
"So your way to make new friends is to chase them through the woods, shouting at them to freeze?"
I laughed a little. "I'm not always the most socially apt," I said with a little wink. "It just struck me how similar we look to each other." I looked her up and down. "I thought it was a little curious, that's all."
"Yes, it is a little curious," the woman said, flipping her hair back out of her face, returning the same curious stare back at me.
"Your name isn't George too, is it?" I asked with another small laugh.
The woman shook her head. "No. It's Caroline."
She was a little short with her words. She also looked like she was ready to run away at any second. I couldn't blame the poor woman. After all, I had just chased her through the woods. And I did look almost exactly like her.
But if she was going to run, there was only one way to head—straight up the hills.
"I have to ask," I said, nodding at the hills. "This is an area of town that most people tend to avoid. What are you doing here?"
The question was a little direct, and I knew it was really none of my business. But hey, that had never stopped me from asking questions before. I had a habit of sticking my nose into matters that were none of my business.
Caroline glanced behind her at the hills, which again seemed to move out of the corner of my eye, only maintaining their shape when I stared straight at them. Her answer surprised me. "To be honest, I'm not really sure myself. Now that you've stopped me, I think I might have lost my nerve altogether."
"Sorry," I said, walking over to her. We stood side by side and stared up the hill together, looking at Gem's small cottage at the top. I gasped a little when I saw a face peep out from behind the curtain for just a second, before the curtain was quickly pulled back.
"Looks like we're being watched," I said.
Caroline nodded. "It was stupid of me to come here. I almost want to thank you."
Time to be direct again. "Were you here to visit someone? It's not such a great day for a casual walk through the most dangerous part of town."
Caroline nodded. "Yes. Well, not visit exactly. The person I was visiting isn't a friend of mine. I don't think I've ever spoken to him."
I waited a second before I asked, "Is that person one of the Dawes?"
"Yes." Caroline took in a deep breath and shivered inside her coat. "Gem Dawes."
Okay. That was interesting. "Why have you come to visit Gem Dawes?" I asked. Okay, I have to admit, I jumped to the worst conclusion first. I thought maybe Caroline was somehow caught up in one of Gem's schemes. Maybe she was buying stolen good from him? I glanced down at the beads that looked so familiar.
They really do look like my creation, I thought, but I didn't remember Caroline ever coming into the store to buy them. And there was no way that I would have forgotten serving a woman who looked exactly like me.
Caroline shivered even more as she finally answered. "I wanted to ask him a few questions. About the death of my sister, Julie."
Chapter 6
"It is uncanny," Caroline said as she stared at me from across the other side of the restaurant table. She sat her glass of white wine down and shook her head. "How long did you say you've been in town?"
A waiter sat Caroline's plate of pasta in front of her and the smell of the creamy white sauce, hot and fresh and filled with chopped herbs, made me wish I'd ordered that instead of the crab salad that the waiter sat before me.
"About two months now," I answered as I chomped down on a mouthful of salad, still dreaming of pasta. Was it too late to switch my order? Caroline and I definitely weren't genetic twins of any kind if she could regularly eat creamy pasta and keep her figure.
Caroline swirled her fork in the noodles. "I suppose it's a little strange that we haven't run into each other before," she said. "But I travel a lot for work. I sell medical supplies. I only came home this weekend because of...well, you know," she said quietly before she took a long sip of wine.
"I'm sorry about your sister," I said, placing my fork down. Truthfully, it was for more reasons than one, but it wasn't the right time to tell Caroline that both myself and my ex-husband, who was living with me, were being accused of her sister's murder. She might very well lose her appetite at hearing that.
"So you only arrived in town after your sister...died?" I asked, trying to choose my words at least somewhat carefully.
Caroline looked a little startled at the question. "Yes," she said quickly. "Why on earth do you ask that?"
I picked up my knife and fork again. "No reason. I apologize." I offered her a wide smile. "Were you and Julie close?"
Caroline nodded. "Extremely."
I took a sip of my own wine, though mine was red. "I have to ask. What did you intend to do if and when you actually knocked on Gem Dawes's door?"
Caroline laughed and went back to her pasta. "I'm not even sure," she said, shaking her head as she slurped on a long noodle. "I don't know what I was thinking. Taking matters into my own hands like that. I probably would have lost my nerve even if you hadn't turned up."
I poked around at my salad. "Do you think Gem Dawes had something to do with your sister's death?"
Caroline folded her hands. "Do you mean do I think he killed her?" Okay, so it seemed that Caroline was someone I could—and should—be direct with.
"Yes," I answered. "Did he know Julie at all? Is there anything you have to go on besides his reputation?"
Caroline looked a little unsure. "Not really, no. But a witness did say that she thought she saw him at the scene of the crime."
I let out a very low laugh. "Yes, well, a witness also said she saw ME at the scene of the crime, when I was nowhere near it." I shook my head and laughed again, louder this time. "Maybe it was just someone who looked exactly like..." I suddenly stopped. Both speaking and laughing. It didn’t seem funny anymore.
Well, that was awkward. I suddenly become very interested in my salad hoping that Caroline either didn't hear what I had said or would choose to politely ignore it in the name of forging a new friendship.
"I just told you," Caroline said icily. So, not ignoring it then. "I only arrived back in town after my sister's death."
I nodded quickly. "I didn't mean anything by it. I really didn't mean what I was saying. It was a joke." I tried another laugh. "Maybe it was a third mysterious woman who looks like both of us." Okay, that was stretching believability a bit.
Caroline's fork scraped angrily against the bottom of her plate. The noise made me shudder involuntarily. "I think perhaps this witness was just mistaken."
"About Gem Dawes too?" I asked.
Caroline looked up at me warily. "You’re very interested in this Gem Dawes person," she said. "I'm surprised you even know who he is." Caroline narrowed her eyes. "How did you even know he lived in the hills, anyway? How did you know what I was doing there?"
I placed my cutlery down. "Because I went to visit him yesterday. Because, Caroline, I am
also investigating the death of your sister."
"I don't think I've ever made a friend and lost a friend so quickly," I said, checking the time on my watch. "All within the space of half an hour."
Adam seemed to find this funny while he sat the table. To make his earlier behavior up to me, he'd offered to cook. I almost wanted to hug him when I'd arrived home and discovered he'd made pasta.
Almost.
"It is a little strange though, isn't it?" Adam asked as he petted a very eager Jasper, who was climbing all over him and licking his face. "You would have thought she'd be grateful that someone was trying to figure out who killed her sister."
"Yes. Unless she has something to hide."
"And you think she does?"
Jasper jumped onto the table and stole a bread roll.
I sighed. "Brenda did say she 'saw me' at the scene of the crime. What if it wasn't me she saw—which, well, I know it wasn't—but Caroline instead?"
"Didn't you say that Caroline said she was out of town at the time?"
I threw Adam a look. "But people do tend to lie about where they were at the time of the crime."
Adam sat the food down heavily in the center of the table along with the serving spoons. "You still think I'm hiding something?"
I didn't want to answer. I poured us each a glass of wine and quickly drank mine.
I finished the glass and groaned as something hit me. "So does this mean I have to apologize to Brenda?" I could think of nothing worse. "I mean, technically, she did think she actually saw me. She thought she was doing the right thing."
Adam shook his head. "No way! She should be the one apologizing to you! She accused you when it was clearly not you!" He sat up straight and Jasper bounced away. "Don't let her off the hook for this one, Georgie."
I shook my head, unable to help the little smile that crept onto my lips. This was the Adam I had fallen in love with all those years ago. The one I had married. The one who always had my back and was always on my side. It had always been us against the world.
"You're right," I said firmly. "Well, I don't think I’ll have to push the issue. When Brenda finds out the truth, I am sure she will do the right thing and apologize first!"
"I saw what I saw!" Brenda said stubbornly, the following morning. "You won't hear an apology escaping my lips." She stomped her foot. "In fact, Georgina, it is you who should be apologizing to me!"
"Well, I am certainly not apologizing to you!" I shouted as I stomped to the back of the shop. I felt like I was being held hostage in my own store. We couldn't go on working like this. As I hung my coat, I seriously started to consider my idea of selling and opening a takeaway shop instead.
Jasper jumped out of his bed and ran over to where his leash was hanging on the door. So he wanted to escape as well, even though we had only just gotten there.
I grabbed my coat straight back off the hook.
"Let's go, Jasper," I said as I stomped past Brenda again. Then I loudly added, so that she could hear me loud and clear: "I want to go look at some empty real estate down the street. So that I can sell this shop and start a new business!"
Brenda glared at me as I walked past, her cheeks so full and red she looked as though she might explode. Then, she did the unthinkable. She pulled off the apron she always insisted on wearing and then ripped off her name tag that said 'Assistant Manager' and threw it down onto the counter.
"Good luck running your 'new business' without me!" Brenda shouted as she raced to get her windbreaker, beating me to the door while I stood there speechless. “And good luck running this business on your own as well!"
I heard something loud and wooden hit the floor at the back of the shop with a loud crack.
The long line of customers in front of the counter all turned their heads to look at the back of the store, craning their necks to see what had made the almighty noise. One old lady turned her nose in the air. "You shouldn't have a dog running around inside here!"
It looked like I could get rid of Brenda, but I couldn't get rid of her sentiments, nor her judgements. "I'm sorry," I said, stepping past the line, anxious to see what the noise had exactly been. "What have you done, Jasper?" I called out, wondering for a moment whether he might have knocked into the wall and cracked the actual foundations of the building.
What I found was almost worse. My prized item, laying broken on the floor, with a very remorseful Jasper sitting beside it, his ears and tail low like he knew that he was in big, big, trouble.
"Oh, no, the spinning wheel!" I cried out. By far my most expensive item in the store. I couldn't afford to have it crack right through, no matter how good business was at that moment; it sold for close to a thousand dollars and I only ever stocked one at a time.
Jasper whipped around and lay down, ready to be yelled at. I didn't have the heart to do it, no matter what amount of money he had just cost me. I leaned down to pet him. "It's okay, boy, I know you were only playing..."
"Ahem!" a voice called out. It was that same lady who'd told me off about having Jasper in the shop. "We are waiting for service, you know! You should put that dog outside!"
I stood up and forgot for a moment that the customer is always right. "It is blowing a gale out there!" I said. "He is safe inside. And he is more than welcome inside, thank you very much."
I swished back to the front counter with my head held high, but it wasn't long before more trouble presented itself.
"The lady who usually works here put the item aside for me yesterday," a mousy woman with glasses stated. "She promised I could come back and get it today."
"Oh, er, just let me check," I said, getting flustered as I leaned down behind the counter, trying to find the location that Brenda apparently stashed all these 'on hold' items. "Just a second!"
The woman shook her head. "I suppose you must be new here, then."
I stood up quickly and pushed the hair back out of my face, the blood rushing to my head. "Actually, I am the owner of this store," I said, taking some offense. "And the woman who served you will no longer be working here, I am sorry to inform you."
After another three customers had come up and asked for their on-hold products—and I still couldn't find them—I was at my wit's ends. "You'll just have to come back tomorrow!" I eventually said, throwing my hands up. Meanwhile the line was getting longer and longer and Jasper, relieved at not getting yelled at earlier, was running around like he was possessed, knocking over everything in his path. The disgruntled customers stormed off, telling me they would go elsewhere if I couldn't find the things that Brenda had hidden. "Maybe you should call her," one suggested unhelpfully before storming out.
Fat chance of that happening.
Just when I was about to give up and ask everyone to clear out for the day, someone equivalent to an angel made an appearance.
"Oh, thank goodness you're here," I cried out in joy as Adam walked through the door.
"You haven't been so happy to see me recently," Adam said with a little laugh. "I just thought I'd pop in to see how you were doing—"
"Do you know how to use a cash register?" I asked, pushing him in the direction of the counter. I didn’t even give him a chance to answer. "Great! Thank you!"
I ran around trying to clean up after Jasper while Adam took care of the customers. He had natural charm, and was better at it than I was.
I picked up the spinning wheel, trying to see if it was salvageable at all, but it wasn't just cracked up the center up the center of the stand, the entire wheel was cracked with large shards of wood sticking out. It gave me a splinter when I touched it, as though, like Sleeping Beauty, I had just touched the pointy end of a needle. I yelled out and shook off my bloodied finger. Adam was so busy—and the store so noisy—that he didn't even notice, or look up if he did.
"Guess what I heard through the grapevine?" Adam said when we finally got a chance to speak. I was busy searching through a drawer in the back for a bandage.
"What did you hear?" I asked.
"And can it help me to stitch my finger back together?"
He shook his head. "Nope. I think your instincts were right about Caroline. Word on the street is that Julie was in a feud with her sister right before she died."
I wasn't sure I wanted to hear this little 'tidbit.' And I wasn't sure I entirely trusted Adam’s motives in telling me. I stood up straight, a bandage in one hand and my other one extended toward him, the splinter still in my index finger.
"And how do you know this, Adam? How do you even know what the word on the street is? From one of the many friends you have here in town?"
"A friend did tell me actually," he replied.
I looked at him suspiciously. "You're not just saying this to get yourself off the hook, are you?"
Adam rolled his eyes a little. "No. Scout's honor."
"I doubt you were ever a scout."
Adam took the bandage away from me and took my other hand in his. "Hmm," he said, peering down into it. "You need to get the splinter out before you put a bandage over the top of it," he said, reaching into the front pocket of his jacket and producing a Swiss army knife.
I guess he was always prepared.
I winced and turned my head away as he flicked the knife out and used the end of the blade to remove the splinter. "There," he said, squeezing on some antibiotic ointment and putting on a bandage. "Now you won't get an infection."
"Thank you," I said. And I meant it. I watched as Adam flicked the blade back into the knife and placed it back in his pocket.
"See? I'm always here when you need me!" Adam said, waving around the shop. "And I always know just what to do."
"Well then, you really have changed," I said. "Because the Adam I married wasn't exactly the most reliable." And I wasn't quite ready to believe that he could have changed so much, even if sixteen years had passed. Was I really ready to give him a second chance to enter my life again?
I was still nursing my swollen finger when I saw the look of hurt in Adam's eyes. "But you are here now, and I suppose that is what matters," I said gratefully. "I couldn't have gotten through this morning without you."
Craft Circle Cozy Mystery Boxed Set Page 22
