Deadly Greetings (Book 2 in the Cardmaking Mysteries)

by Tim Myers

  As she pulled up in front of the shop, she asked, “And why do you say that?”

  With my hand on the door latch, I said, “Think about it. Why else would they think the place was haunted, unless someone else was living there?”

  Lillian said, “They could have heard about it from Mr. Wallace and your friend Barrett.”

  “Believe me, Barrett is no friend of mine. So they based it all on bumps in the night they heard upstairs?”

  As I unlocked our shop door, Lillian said, “No, from what I heard, it was substantially more than that. According to Hester, your downstairs neighbor claimed it sounded like someone was wrecking the place. He even called the police once, so your brother should know about it.”

  “Let me guess,” I said as I flipped the closed sign to open. “He didn’t find anything there.”

  “On the contrary. He made Hester come out one night to see if anything was missing. According to her, the place was a wreck, but there were no signs of forced entry at all.”

  “No wonder Bradford insisted I get the locks changed,” I said. “I’ve got a feeling we’re not dealing with ghosts. Could it be that Frances left something behind that someone else wanted?”

  “Jennifer Shane, don’t we have enough to do finding out what happened to Maggie to worry about Frances?”

  It was funny, but that was the first time I’d thought of the two of them together in death. Barrett’s scolding had triggered something in my head. “Maybe they’re related,” I said.

  “Nonsense. I knew all of Frances’s family, and Maggie was nowhere in her family tree.”

  “I’m not saying they were blood family; I’m wondering if their deaths were somehow connected, though.”

  Lillian scoffed. “Jennifer, Frances killed herself. We know that.”

  “No, we don’t,” I said. “That’s what the world thinks, but they also think that Maggie died by accident. What if neither death was what it appeared to be?”

  Lillian’s complexion paled. “Do you honestly think that one person killed them both and then staged them to look like anything but murder? What possible reason would someone have to murder those two women?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said. “But I think it’s something worth exploring, don’t you?”

  Lillian appeared to think about it for nearly a minute before she said, “Absolutely, and I know just how we can begin.”

  “I’m waiting,” I said, not at all sure I wanted to hear what my aunt had in mind.

  “It’s good you have on dark clothing,” she said. “How do you feel about a little breaking and entering tonight?”

  “I’d rather get the flu,” I said. “Exactly where are we breaking and entering into?”

  Lillian took off her coat and said, “Maggie’s house, of course. If there’s anything tying her together with Frances, we may be able to find it at her house.”

  I looked down at my nice outfit. “If I’m going to jail, I don’t plan to do it in one of my best dresses. I’ve got some dark pants I can wear, though.”

  Lillian laughed. “Jennifer, sometimes you let yourself get bogged down in the minutiae of life. Loosen up.”

  I was about to protest when Hilda walked into the shop. “Is this a bad time?” she asked.

  “No, we were just planning a little felony together,” Lillian said, laughing a little too loudly.

  Hilda obviously didn’t know how to take that. I tried to lighten the tone of things when I added, “It’s more of a misdemeanor, I think. So what can I help you with?”

  Hilda shrugged and said, “I’d like one of those new embossing kits we tried out last night. It didn’t seem appropriate to buy one then.”

  I nodded. “Would you like one of the demo units, at the same discount of course? Or I could sell you a new one still in the box.”

  Hilda said, “I’ll take one of the demos. And some paper, too.”

  As I started to help her, she turned to Lillian and said, “I hear you got a card from Maggie, too. What did yours say?”

  Lillian looked miffed by the question. “I wouldn’t know anything about that,” she said, then walked to the back room.

  Hilda looked at me. “Sorry, was it something I said?”

  “She’s just a little high-strung today,” I admitted, which was true most days. “Now let’s get you fixed up.”

  It was pretty obvious that Hilda wanted to talk more about Maggie, but I couldn’t bring myself to respond to any of her comments, and she soon gave up trying. After we settled her bill and Hilda was gone, I called out to Lillian, “It’s safe to come out now.”

  She poked her head out of the back room. “What on earth are you talking about?”

  “It was pretty obvious you were ignoring her. Lillian, we can’t afford to be rude to our best customers.”

  “Jennifer, I don’t need a lecture from you on customer service. I just wasn’t in the mood to discuss it, with Hilda. If you’re unhappy with my work here, you always have the option of firing me.”

  My aunt was in a mood, and if I wasn’t careful, I was going to lose her. There was a tone in her voice that was full of finality. “How could I do that? I cant afford to replace you.” Okay, I’d tried a light response, which didn’t go over with her at all. So instead, trying to salvage the situation, I hugged her and added, “Besides, no one could replace you at any salary.”

  I felt her tension ease, and in a minute I stepped, back. “I really do need you here; you know that, don’t you?”

  It was obvious the declaration, while needed, made; her feel a little uncomfortable. “You don’t need my help, not really.”

  “I’m not saying I couldn’t do it by myself,” I admitted, “but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.”

  “I won’t argue with that,” she said, adding a smile; Lillian glanced at her watch, then said, “Any chance we could close the shop early? I know what your sister would say, but now that we’ve decided to explore: Maggie’s house, I’d like to do it before it gets dark.”

  That surprised me. “You want to break in there in broad daylight? Have you lost your mind?”

  “Think about it, Jennifer. If we go there at night, we’ll be stumbling around in the dark with flashlights, barely seeing a thing and risking getting caught. But if we go over in the daytime, we can say the door was unlocked, and that we were helping get Maggie’s affairs in order.”

  “Do you honestly think Bradford’s going to believe that?” I asked. “He’ll check—you know it—and then we’ll both be in jail.”

  Lillian frowned a moment. “Yes, he is determined, isn’t he? Let me make a few telephone calls and see what I can do.”

  She disappeared in back, and there was nothing left for me to do but wait on customers until my aunt deigned to tell me what she was up to. I was ready to flip the sign to closed when Daniel, my stay-at-home dad and brand-new card maker, came in with a briefcase tucked under one arm.

  I had to give him credit. Though he did look around briefly before he spoke, Daniel didn’t whisper when he addressed me. “Jennifer, I owe you.”

  “We settled our bill,” I said.

  “I’m not talking about money,” he said. “I love making cards. They are so much fun.”

  He pulled a few samples out of his briefcase and handed them to me. “What do you think?”

  I looked at the crisply folded edges, the clean cuts, and the nice balance of accessories to each of the cards. “I’d say you’ve got the knack for it. These are wonderful.”

  He smiled brightly. “They’re a start. Listen, do you have time for a quick lesson?”

  I waved his cards at him. “I suppose so. I’m always willing to learn something new.”

  He laughed at that. “Come on, we both know you’re a lot better at this than I am. There’s one thing I’m having trouble with, and I was kind of hoping you could point me in the right direction.”

  “I’ll help if I can,” I said. “What is it?”

  He retrieved a Baggie
from his case and held the contents out to me. “I am having a miserable time making flowers, see?”

  I studied his teardrop petal flowers and was delighted that the problem was something I could help him with. “Okay, first off, your paper is too wide; a tenth of an inch is perfect for a greeting card. Another thing is that your coils are too loose. Here, let me show you.” I grabbed a precut paper ribbon about eight inches long and twisted it tightly around a paper-quilling needle. I coiled the paper into a tight circle first; then I loosened it gently, allowing a little bit to uncoil at a time until I had a dimensional size I was happy with.

  He said, “Okay, I was going about that the wrong way, but what do you do now? How do I get a teardrop shape for my petal?”

  “Hold it in the middle,” I said, demonstrating as I worked, “and pinch one end like this. After that, all you have to do is pinch the opposite side and secure it with a dab of clear glue. Make five more and you’ve got a flower. Oh, and don’t forget to add a tight circle to the middle. Here, let me show you what I mean.” I retrieved a card I made covered in teardrop flowers, and handed it to him. “It’s a little gaudy, but you get the idea.”

  He studied it, then said, “I’ll take it, along with a needle and a stack of ribbon papers. I’ve been cutting them myself.”

  “You can always do that,” I said, despite the fact that I made more money off the ribbons.

  “No, I want the best materials I can buy.”

  As I rang up his purchases, I said, “You really seem to be enjoying the process.”

  “It’s fun,” he admitted. “You should have seen my wife’s reaction when I gave her an anniversary card I made myself. She couldn’t believe it.”

  “That’s great,” I said, for a moment envious that I didn’t have anyone in my life at the moment to make special cards for. It really did mean more when it came from the heart.

  Lillian came out of the back as Daniel left. She had a smug smile on her face.

  I studied her expression a few seconds, then asked, “Okay, whose canary did you just eat?”

  “Jennifer, how would you like a job?”

  I ran a hand through my hair. “Gee, I’m kind of busy getting my shop off the ground. What did you have in mind?”

  Lillian laughed. “You’re going to love this, and it won’t interfere with your card-making vocation. I’m happy to report that Patrick Benson has offered to pay us to go through and sort Maggie Blake’s things for the estate. We’re to hold aside the valuables for her heir, then sort the rest of it for the Salvation Army, and get rid of what’s left.”

  “How in the world did you manage to pull that cure off?” I asked, again in awe of my aunt. “There are only so many lawyers in Rebel Forge. Who else would be Maggie’s executor? Once I got Patrick to admit that he was handling the will, it was very simple to convince him to hire us.” I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to know how she’d persuaded him to give us the assignment. Still, I couldn’t contain my tin grin. “So let me get this straight. Not only have you tins gotten us access to Maggie’s house so we can snoop around to our hearts’ content, but we’re going to get fact paid for it, too?”

  She nodded, that smile still present. “We do actually have to do the work, you know, but yes, I managed to secure us a small stipend for our trouble.”

  “When do we get started?” I asked, “I’m afraid it’s going to have to be tonight. We have to be finished by this weekend. That’s the only way I could get Patrick to agree to canceling the professionals he’d already hired. If you’ve got plans, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to change them.”

  “Sadly, I’m free,” I admitted. “How about you?”

  She waved a hand in the air. “Hearts will be broken and tears will be shed, but what can I do? Patience will have to be a virtue once again. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go buy a load of boxes to make our job easier. I’ll be back by closing so we can change, eat a bite, then get started.”

  “That sounds like a plan,” I said.

  Ten seconds after Lillian was gone, I regretted not closing the card shop down so I could join her. The only thing holding me back was the fact that I’d already closed the place up for Maggie’s service, and I knew that if I wanted to continue operating the card shop as a business, I actually had to have my door open to the public. Working for Sara Lynn had been a wonderful apprenticeship in many ways, but I sometimes wished I hadn’t acquired her work ethic. It would be marvelous to own a business I could shut down whenever I pleased, but I couldn’t imagine what type of place it would have to be. Cards were my vocation and my avocation, and if I wanted to stay in business, I was going to have to be more dedicated.

  After giving myself that speech, I was ready to help make the world a better place through custom-crafted greeting cards.

  And of course, no one else came in for the rest of the day.

  However, I did manage to make a few cards to sell and added them to my inventory. I was feeling a little sad about being alone in the shop and in my life, so I browsed through the cards my aunt made for sale. Before long I was smiling again, and I even laughed out loud a couple of times. I could make a sympathy card that would bring tears, or create a birthday card that smelled like cake and candles, but while I had a light touch of subtle humor in my cards, Lillian’s were like sledgehammers. There was nothing droll or dry about them; Lillian’s were little explosions on paper, and I envied her the touch. There wasn’t any future in that, though. I might as well envy a petite blonde like Penny just because I happened to be a well-rounded tall brunette, but that was the path to madness. I’d embraced my physical attributes for what they were, and I’d learned to enjoy my own humor, however subtle.

  That was the thing about working in an empty store all by myself. It certainly left me with plenty of time for introspection. A little of that went a long way, though. I was more interested in doing anything other than thinking about my place in the world, and I couldn’t wait for closing time so I could start looking into Maggie’s life.

  It would be a welcome change from examining mine under the microscope.

  Chapter 12

  Lillian was late, and by the time she showed up, I was sitting on the bench outside, the shop closed up for the night.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you waiting,” she said. “I had a little unexpected difficulty.”

  “Were the boxes that hard to find?” I asked, seeing a stack of them in the backseat of her car.

  She sighed, then said, “No, it wasn’t that. My date was reluctant to let me cancel tonight.”

  I stood. “Lillian, we can always do this tomorrow, or even later tonight, if you’d like.”

  She said, “Nonsense, it will do him good to wait. Let’s go get something to eat and then we can get started.” She looked at my fancy attire, then said, “But first let’s take you home to change. The one day your regular store outfit would be perfect for after hours and you show up in a dress.” Lillian had changed into blue jeans, but they were nothing like my well-worn Levi’s. Instead, she had a designer’s name embroidered across a back pocket and sported a neat collared shirt. At least she’d abandoned her high heels for a pair of brand-new tennis shoes.

  I got into the Mustang. “You’re still more dressed up than I am, and I haven’t even changed yet.”

  “Jennifer, this is as casual as I care to get. You could use a sense of . . .”

  As she searched for the right word, I interrupted.

  “Let’s say we drop this particular conversation right now. So where would you like to eat?”

  “I was thinking we could go by Hurley’s,” Lillian said. “I’m in the mood for a salad.”

  “You’re always in the mood for salad,” I protested. “How about The Lunch Box instead?”

  “Surely you’re kidding. I’m not going to let Savannah see me like this. She’d never let me hear the end of it.”

  “You look great,” I said, “and you know it.”

  Lillian
started the car. “The only way I’ll agree to a The Lunch Box is if you get our food to go.”

  “Fine,” I said. “But I still think you’re overreacting.”

  It Lillian quickly pulled up in front of my place. “And I’ll ask you to tend to your own knitting. Why don’t d I wait here while you change?”

  “You don’t want to come upstairs and say hello to my roommates?” I asked. While Lillian had made her peace with Oggie and Nash, they weren’t the best of friends. I thought it had more to do with Lillian’s choice of perfumes—they invariably made Oggie sneeze—but Lillian claimed it was deeper than that. “Thank you, but I’ve got a few telephone calls to make while you’re changing,” she said as she pulled out her cell phone.

  “Coward,” I called out as I hurried inside. To my surprise, Jeffrey Wallace’s door was open when I walked into the foyer.

  “Jennifer, I was hoping to speak to you,” he said, still dressed in the same clothes he’d worn to the service.

  My first reaction was to blow on past him, because I really wanted to start digging into Maggie’s life, but I caught myself. Wasn’t that what this could be, if I just played it right?

  “Fine,” I said, stepping into his apartment before he had the chance to meet me in the hallway. Jeffrey looked at me, then the door, and finally decided to close it behind us. Could he be afraid of being alone with me? I couldn’t see how, though I was taller than him and would admit—only under oath or at gunpoint—that I probably outweighed him too.

  “That was an abrupt exit you made today,” I said bluntly. There wasn’t time to dance around the issue, and besides, I couldn’t help wondering if a more direct approach than I’d been taking up to now might be more helpful.

  “It was a pitiful excuse for a memorial,” he said, slumping down into a nearby chair. On a table beside it, I saw a photograph of Maggie. Whoever had snapped it had captured her essence, as far as I was concerned. The laughter was on her lips, and in her eyes as well. I reached over and picked it up. “This is remarkable. Did you take it?”

  “I did,” he said. “I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but Maggie and I were special friends.”