The Final Vow

by Amanda Flower

  I followed Brandon around the side of the church with these troubling thoughts in my head. Yellow crime scene tape ran across the church’s front door in a large X, and crime scene techs with lab kits and equipment ducked under the tape as they made their way in and out of the church.

  Despite trying not to look, my eyes fell to the spot where I’d first seen Vianna’s broken body. Vianna was gone. She’d been whisked away in the night by the medical examiner’s office. The shards of wood from the window had also been picked up.

  I stared up at the broken window. The police had removed the frame of the window itself. I guessed they planned to take it back to the lab and test it for fingerprints and other CSI-like tests. I would have to do something about the opening as soon as the police would allow it. If not, rain, wind, and critters could enter the church and damage it. I wouldn’t allow the church—the over-two-hundred-year-old building—to come tumbling to the ground on my watch.

  “Like I said,” Brandon began, as if reading my thoughts, “the church is off-limits. The crime scene techs will be just about done inside.” She checked the time on her cell phone. “You still have forty-five minutes before the Farm opens. They’ll be long gone by then.”

  “Is the church the only place we can’t access? What about in front, where …” I couldn’t finish the statement. It seemed too callous to ask, but I did need to know if I had to block off a certain area of the pebbled path from tourists.

  “We’ve gathered the evidence we need from the location where she landed,” the detective said.

  I nodded. “Was that all? Is there anything else I need to know?”

  Brandon looked down at me, and not for the first time, I regretted being so much shorter than her. I wished just once I could look her in the eye and show her that she couldn’t intimidate me.

  “One more thing. You said that Eddie, and also Krissie’s parents, came to the Farm to talk to you about Krissie’s situation. Why? It seems strange to me they came to you when you’re Eddie’s ex-wife.”

  “They thought I had some pull with the police.”

  Detective Brandon bent over in laughter. She placed both hands on her knees for support.

  I scowled at her. “I’m glad you find that so amusing.”

  Still bent at the waist, she waved at me with her right hand. She was unable to speak.

  “Are you done?” I asked in a deadpanned voice.

  She straightened up, but one final chuckle escaped her lips. “I—I think I’m done,” she gasped.

  “Don’t worry, Detective,” I said. “I told them that I don’t have any pull with the police. In fact, I have no interest in helping Krissie Pumpernickle’s cause. I don’t care how many ways her parents or my ex-husband ask for my help.”

  She relaxed. “I’m glad to hear that, because I’ve lost all patience with your meddling in my investigations. Do you understand me?” All the humor had left her face.

  I ground my teeth and took a step back. “Just focus on finding out who did this, Detective Brandon, and don’t worry about me. I’m here to run the Farm. Nothing else.”

  “Make sure that it stays that way,” she said. She spun on her heel and marched in the direction of the visitor center.

  I could still see her stomping down the pebbled path when my cell phone rang. I pulled it from the back pocket of my jeans and was startled to see that it was Eddie. Eddie never called me. Ever. He was more comfortable with email or texts. In fact, he told me he was marrying Krissie in a mass email. Our communication was best in written form. If it wasn’t for the advent of texting, I doubted I would ever know where or when he planned to pick up or drop off Hayden.

  Then again, it was out of character for Eddie to drop by in the middle of the night asking for my help. I had a feeling this call was going to be in the same vein. I put the phone to my ear. “Eddie?”

  “Kelsey! Thank God I caught you. I need a favor,” Eddie said.

  He was nothing if not predictable.

  I held the phone away from my ear for a moment and stared at it. It seemed that I was the granter of favors for so many people as of late. I put the phone back up to my ear. “You mean, you need another favor, other than the keep-my-fiancé-out-of-prison favor?”

  He sighed as if he knew I wasn’t going to make this easy for him. And I wouldn’t. I’d stopped making things easy for Eddie the moment I found out about his affair.

  “It’s the florist,” he said.

  I frowned. “What about the florist?”

  “We need to make sure he gets the flower order correct. Vianna was supposed to do that.”

  “Then call him,” I said.

  There was a long pause, and I heard whispering. I was willing to bet Krissie was in the room with him, coaching him on what to say in order to convince me to do her bidding. She was a determined woman, I would give her that. The whispering continued.

  “We’d like you to meet with the florist to go over the flowers. There’s been some mistake, and last we heard, he’d included carnations in our order. Krissie hates carnations. You were working with Vianna, so you know Krissie’s vision for the wedding.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I know this is hard for you to understand, Eddie, but I have a job. There are many things I do at Barton Farm that have nothing to do with your wedding. I can’t just up and leave the Farm in the middle of the high season to talk to your florist, especially when I suspect that Krissie or you are more than capable of doing it.”

  “She really wants you to do it,” he said in a voice that was one short step away from whining.

  “I’m sorry to hear that, because it’s not going to happen. If that’s all,” I said, “I have work to do.”

  “But—”

  I interrupted him, “If she’s not up to it, can’t her parents do it? I think her mother is more than eager to help.”

  There was a squeal of rage on the other end of the line that I suspected came from Eddie’s betrothed. It was either that or they’d recently adopted a cat with adjustment issues. Hayden would have told me if his father had gotten a pet, so my money was on Krissie.

  “No!” Eddie shouted. “You know Krissie doesn’t want her parents involved in any of the wedding planning.”

  She was happy to ask them to pay for everything, of course.

  I was tempted to point out the ludicrous nature of Krissie’s request. Um, hello, I was the ex-wife! But if I went that route, she and Eddie were likely to try some dysfunctional family card or, worse, to threaten me about Hayden. As much as I hated to admit it, when it came to those two, I was stuck. At least for the next twelve years, or possibly sixteen, when my son would graduate college. I reined in my racing thoughts.

  I took a deep breath. “Eddie, this is your fiancé’s big day.” Gag. “Surely she wants to take control of the details. It’s her wedding.”

  “Can you go over to the florist’s shop and talk to him?” Eddie was talking right over me, sounding desperate with concern. “Please. I’m so worried about Krissie.”

  I frowned. If Eddie had shown half the concern for me when we were married as he did for Krissie, we might still have been together. But as this thought crossed my mind, I realized that it wasn’t what I’d have wanted. There was a good chance that even if Eddie hadn’t had an affair, we’d still have divorced. We were different people now than when we’d met as children, and we needed different things out of life. I wasn’t going to hold it against him that he found Krissie, who he seemed to be happy with, but at the same time, I wasn’t going to be talking to the florist. I had a Farm to run.

  “I know you’re worried about Krissie,” I began, a little more gently this time. “But that doesn’t change anything. I can’t go. It’s that simple.”

  “You’re the only one we trust to do it.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. Your ex-wife is the only one you t
rust to plan your wedding with your next wife? Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?”

  “I’m not kidding you. Krissie just left the room,” he added in a low voice. “You’re the only one that I trust to handle things, Kel. We know you’re the best person for the job. Please do this one last thing for me. I’ll never ask for another favor.”

  I was fairly certain that anyone who says “I’ll never ask for another favor” is a liar. If Eddie was the one who was saying it, I knew for sure he was lying.

  I could feel myself beginning to give in, but I did my best to hold my ground. “Eddie, I can’t go talk to your florist. The Farm is about to open, and we have a crisis on our hands. It’s important that I be here to greet the guests and make sure that everything goes smoothly.”

  There was a scuffling sound on the other end of the line, and I guessed that Krissie had reentered the room.

  “Kelsey,” Krissie said in my ear. “It’s of the utmost importance that you go. If the flowers fall apart, the wedding will be ruined. They have to be perfect.”

  I’d have thought the wedding was ruined when the wedding planner tumbled to her death from the steeple of the church where the ceremony was to take place, but that was just me.

  “Oh, hello, Krissie. How are you holding up?” Maybe small talk would distract her.

  Sniffle. “Not well. I can’t tell you what a horrible experience this has been for me. The police don’t care about my fragile state. I’m the bride and should be treated with respect and kindness. All they’ve managed to do is make accusations and threaten to cancel my wedding. They can’t do that to me. It’s my wedding week!” Her voice became shrill at the end.

  I couldn’t help but enjoy it just a little that Krissie was getting the Detective Brandon treatment. It was nice that someone other than me was on Brandon’s receiving end for a change.

  “I’m so sorry to hear that,” I managed, without one iota of laughter in my voice. I was extremely proud of that. “But as I told Eddie, I can’t go and see the florist. The Farm is going to open in a short while and I need to be here.”

  “Kelsey, he’s using carnations. Carnations! The wedding is Friday. I cannot have carnations. There’s no way I’ll be able to find a new florist on such short notice or one who’s willing to make the bouquets how I want them.”

  With my free hand, I rubbed the spot just between my eyes to hold off a headache. It was a futile attempt. The headache was there to stay. I decided that it might be Krissie’s voice that triggered it, because I always seemed to have one whenever she was speaking.

  While I was on the phone, I saw Benji and Piper dash out of the woods. I wanted to wave and call out to them that everything would be okay. I didn’t, because even though the detective was gone, I didn’t want to draw any of the crime scene techs’ attention to them.

  “If you don’t go,” Krissie was saying in a low voice, “you leave me no choice but to call Henry Ratcliffe and tell him you’re not cooperating with planning the wedding as you promised you would.”

  I groaned inwardly. Sure, she’d hate doing that. Not. Krissie would love every last second of throwing me under the bus. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she volunteered to drive the bus so she could run it over me. Twice.

  Idly, I wondered where Piper and Benji were headed now. Technically, Benji was still on the clock, but I would let it slide under the circumstances. Heaven knows she’d picked up my slack many times when I’d had emergencies of my own.

  I had agreed to help the girls, and I knew the florist and Vianna had worked together quite often. I thought of Piper and Benji. I sighed. Who was I kidding? I was going to go.

  I stifled yet another sigh and said, “There’s no reason to go to Henry. I’ll go see the florist. I just need to make sure everything is settled for the Farm today, and then I’ll head out.”

  “Armin will be happy to see you,” she said, relieved.

  I didn’t know about that. Armin Coates and I had worked together many times before, and I’d say that at best my working relationship with the volatile man was cordial, and that was pushing it. New Hartford was small, so I didn’t have many options for florists for special Farm events, and Armin did nine out of every ten weddings held at the Farm. Armin and I had a long history of our own.

  “And thank you, Kelsey,” Krissie added breathlessly. “This means so much to me. You know, after the wedding we’ll be sisters in way. One big happy family.”

  I stopped just short of gagging. We would not be sisters. The thought made me queasy.

  Eddie was back on the line. “I’ll email you the changes Krissie would like made to the flower arrangements, to replace the carnations. You’ll have it on your phone before you reach the car.”

  Armin was going to love this. I wasn’t looking forward to my conversation with the florist.

  Somehow, I’d once again ended up doing Krissie’s bidding even when I was determined not to. My backbone wasn’t nearly as strong as I thought it was.

  sixteen

  Judy shook her head as I unhooked my radio from my belt loop and handed it to her. “I think this a terrible idea, Kelsey. An absolutely terrible idea. You shouldn’t become any more tied up in this mess than you already are.” Her scowl deepened. There wasn’t any love lost between Judy and Eddie, or between Eddie and any of the Farm staffers. It was nice to know that my employees had my back.

  I held the radio out to her. “Here. Since Benji and I are both offsite, you’ll be the main contact if anything happens at the Farm.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Where’s Benji? Isn’t she supposed to be here?”

  “She had a family emergency,” I said.

  Judy put one hand on her ample hip. “A family emergency? I saw her mother this morning at the grocery store, and she said nothing about it.”

  “I think it came up rather suddenly.” I hated to lie to Judy, but I thought the less talk about Piper around the Farm the better, until things became clearer.

  “I wished Gavin was still around to help out.”

  I nodded. “Me too.” Gavin had been Barton Farm’s director of education. He’d resigned right before the season began this year, taking a job at a large museum in Michigan. I knew it was the best thing for him—he’d had a tough winter, caught up in a bad relationship and a murder. He needed to escape. However, his absence left me in a tight spot, as Judy was the only year-round employee onsite whenever Benji or I left the grounds. Everyone else on staff was seasonal.

  “Why don’t you radio Laura and ask her to come to the visitor center to help out,” I said.

  “She’ll want to know why,” Judy said with an arched brow.

  “Tell her I’ll fill her in with everything else as soon as I can,” I replied.

  Judy pursed her lips and finally took the radio from my outstretched hand.

  I smiled at her. “It should be a quiet day. It’s a weekday and we don’t have any special programs going on.”

  “Except for the police crawling all over the village.” Judy sniffed. “It should be quite a show for the tourists.” She patted me on the arm. “Don’t worry, Kelsey. I’ll take care of everything. I still think me being in charge is a ridiculous idea, but do what you have to do.”

  She hooked the radio onto the waistband on her skirt—a khaki one, of course. I figured Judy must have stock in khaki. I’d never seen her in anything else. And nine times out of the ten, the khaki was a skirt that fell to the top of her shoes. In a way, she looked almost Amish, with her long skirt and hair in a bun. I knew she wasn’t and never had been. Her look did add to the ambience in the visitor center.

  “Thanks. I think.” I smiled at her. “If anything comes up, call me. I’ll just be in town. I doubt that this will take too long.” I glanced inside the gift shop, where Hayden was helping one of the gift shop workers stock the shelves. I frowned.

  Judy
smoothed the front of her skirt. “Don’t worry about Hayden. We’ll keep him occupied until his grandfather gets here in a little while.”

  I nodded. “Dad should be back from his tour sometime this afternoon.”

  Judy smiled. “I’m sure he’ll have many stories to tell.”

  “Without a doubt.” I waved goodbye to her and went out the visitor center’s front door.

  The drive to downtown New Hartford took all of fifteen minutes. The town had been established in 1806, shortly after the Barton family arrived and started Barton Farm. Like many of the settlements in the northeastern region of Ohio, New Hartford was settled by people from Connecticut looking for new land and new opportunities in Ohio’s Western Reserve. Because of that, it had been named after Hartford, Connecticut. Like other towns in the area, it had a central square that was actually shaped like a circle. The green space had shops and small businesses all around it.

  I drove around the square and took the branch that led out onto Miller Street, where Coates Flowers was located in a flat-faced stone building with a bright blue front door. There was a diagonal parking space near the door, and I took it. I hesitated before getting out of the car. I was willing to bet that Armin would not be happy to see me.

  I gave myself a little pep talk, got out of the car, and had just walked around it and stepped onto the curb when the blue door burst open and a young man in an apron came flying out of it. He stumbled on the walk.

  Armin Coates’s large form filled the doorway, and he glowered at the boy. At shoulder level, he held a large sunflower head the size of a football.

  The young man turned, ran in place for a second as if he were winding up his legs, and fled down the street.

  “And don’t ever come back!” Armin yelled as he threw the sunflower in the boy’s direction, which unfortunately was also my direction.

  The large blossom bounced off the side of my car and exploded. My car had been sunflowered. The color of the yellow petals smeared across the door. I didn’t think there was any way I could recover from this insult.