by Tim Myers
“I can write you a check to cover those ... things,” she said, and she whipped out her checkbook. “Name a figure.”
“These really are quite lovely,” I said, having no desire to start over. “I don’t know why you don’t like them.”
“They’re stark instead of elegant. We’re not announcing the opening of a discotheque; this is a wedding.” She scribbled furiously in her checkbook, and before I could protest, Mrs. Albright shoved the check under my nose. I was about to shove it right back when I saw the figure she’d hastily scrawled. The amount was for considerably more than my time and materials had cost.
She said, “I trust that will be sufficient. Now I suggest you go back to your sketchbook and present something to me that’s acceptable by tonight.”
“I’ve got store customers, too, you know,” I said. “I can’t just drop everything to make more invitations.”
“For what I’m paying you, you certainly can.” She gestured to Lillian. “I’m sure your assistant will be able to handle the foot traffic in your shop. I’ll be back at five p.m., ready to see two design choices other than those things.” She swept the invitations off the counter as she gestured, and before Lillian or I could protest, the mother of the bride was gone.
Lillian and I stared at each other ten seconds; then we both burst out laughing. My aunt said, “I thought you were going to explode at any moment, but you kept your cool. Jennifer, I believe you’re more mature than I am myself.”
“You didn’t say anything, either,” I said in my defense.
“No, I didn’t think it was my place. After all, you own Custom Card Creations; I’m just here doing volunteer work. Now show me that check. I’m dying to see the amount it took to keep you quiet.”
I handed it to her, and Lillian’s smile faded quickly. “My word, she’s certainly paying for the privilege, isn’t she?”
“I never told her how much it would cost to start the process all over again,” I said. “It surely would have been less than that.”
Lillian said, “Don’t misunderstand me; I think you were right to take it.”
“Even though I’ve got five bucks in materials invested in my design?”
“Come now, Jennifer, you have more than that, and you know it. Your professional design services shouldn’t be free, and besides, I think Anne Albright just assessed herself a rudeness penalty fee.”
“You’re right there. Well, I guess I’d better get back to work. Do you mind handling the customers while I do a little more brainstorming?”
“Not at all. I may need some help, though. Remember, I’m not a professional.”
“No, but you are an eager apprentice. Now let me see what I can come up with.” I grabbed a dozen books from the rack on basic and advanced card-making techniques, hoping that something in one of the books would spark an idea. I didn’t mind taking another cardmaker’s concept and making it my own. I thought of it as inspiration rather than theft. I certainly wouldn’t mind if someone took one of my ideas and did the same thing. I glanced through the sections on wedding invitations, but they were all too safe, too conservative for Mrs. Albright. Then I spotted a card for a July Fourth party and started wondering if that was what she might approve of. Instead of the colored streamers used on the card’s design in the book, I decided to use a fireworks burst of silver and gold. After drawing the bursts and cutting them out, I went to my papers to see what color would reflect them best. The wedding was at seven, and while it would be light at the beginning of the ceremony, it would be dark by the end of it. I placed the fire bursts on a black background, then tried a midnight blue. Much better. I wouldn’t have to make the paper myself; that was a big plus given my deadline. I still liked the tri-fold invitation, so I made the creases, then laid the bursts on one side of the front doors. With the card closed and the two faces folded to meet in the middle, it appeared that the fireworks were exploding in the sky. I got a piece of foam tape, applied it to one side of the matched bursts, then pressed them into place, That was much better. The fireworks explosion appeared to float above the card, and it was easy to open the two doors of the front to reveal the message inside. After I had my front piece set, I went to my computer and started playing with fonts until I found something I liked. Using a golden script, I printed it out on a transparency sheet and my first mock-up was ready. The upside of this card was that I was using stock I had on hand. The downside would be cutting out all of those bursts under deadline.
Now it was time to come up with something so hideous that Mrs. Albright would be forced to choose the first design. I briefly considered using a Halloween theme, but I knew it had to be at least slightly credible. Instead, I finally decided to aggressively cut a piece of red stock with jagged edges; then I pasted it onto silver background paper. Another run through the printer for the announcement itself—this time using black letters on the transparency—and I had a card that was so outré it should have been outré with the trash.
I held the red, silver and black abomination up to Lillian, but she was nose deep in one of the books I’d just gone through. “So what do you think of my design?”
She looked up, then stared at the card for a few moments before trusting herself to speak. “It’s certainly unique, isn’t it?”
I couldn’t hold my smile in any longer. “Relax. This is the bad choice to make sure she picks the one like.” I put the jagged invitation down and grabbed the fireworks display. “I’m just afraid this might be a little too much for her, too.”
“I think it’s perfect,” Lillian said as she took the card from me. “She’d have trumpets announcing the wedding if she could. Are you telling me that you just came up with this?”
“Well, I borrowed the basic idea from one of the books centered on an Independence Day celebration, but I doubt it’s ever been used for a wedding invitation before.”
“I feel you’re pretty safe saying that.”
I frowned at the card I favored. “Do you think I should come up with something else?”
“Heavens, no. If she doesn’t like either of these, she can go back to your original design or take her business somewhere else. If she threatens to do that, though, remember, we keep all of the checks.”
“I’m tempted to run down to the bank and cash this one before she can change her mind,” I said with a laugh.
“You’re just joking, but I’d do exactly that. You don’t want to give her time to stop payment on it if she changes her mind yet again. Go on; I can handle things here.”
That was pretty obvious, since we hadn’t had a customer all morning. “You know, I think I’ll do it. Can I get you anything while I’m out?”
“No, I’m going to study a little more. Cards really are fascinating, aren’t they?”
“I think so,” I said, happy that Lillian was getting into the spirit of card making.
I felt a little guilty walking down Oakmont Avenue toward the bank. After all, if Mrs. Albright wanted her money back, was I really in any position to say no? I didn’t want to give any of my customers bad service, no matter how truculent they might be. But then again, I couldn’t afford to be a pushover, either. If I was going to succeed in running my own business, then I was going to have to toughen up and hold people to their commitments. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t give a refund if someone was unhappy with a purchase, but special orders were going to have to be something else entirely, especially when I felt I’d already met the spirit of the agreement I’d had with Mrs. Albright in the first place.
Corrine Knotts was waiting in line ahead of me at the bank. I’d been her babysitter a dozen years ago, and she’d blossomed into a lovely young woman, “Hey, Corrine, how are you?”
“I’m fine, Miss Jennifer. I heard you opened your own shop.”
“I sure did. It’s called Custom Card Creations. You should come by and see it. Hey, why aren’t you in school?” Corrine was a junior at Tech, and I’d heard she’d gotten a full scholarship for mathematics. It alw
ays amazed me when people were good at something I was dreadful at I could barely balance my checkbook.
“We’re on break, so I thought I’d come home.” She frowned a second, then said, “Do you mind if I ask you something?”
“Go right ahead.”
She bit her lower lip, then asked, “How well do you know Wayne Davidson? He’s been working for your brother for years, hasn’t he?”
“I know him a little. Why do you ask?”
Corrine frowned, then said, “We’ve been going out lately, and I thought things were going pretty well, but he just broke up with me. He said he was suddenly interested in an older woman.”
Oh, no. I hoped I wasn’t the older woman he was talking about. I was a good six years older than Wayne was, but I resented the term if he was using it about me.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. Knowing Corrine like I did, I thought Wayne was out of his mind if he’d dumped her to ask me out. She was as pretty on the inside as she was on the outside.
“You know, I’m just puzzled by the whole thing.” She lowered her voice. “If you want to know the truth, in a way I’m kind of relieved.”
“Why’s that?” I asked as our line moved forward.,
“He’s been getting pretty possessive lately, showing up on campus and following me around in the shadows. Truthfully, it was starting to creep me out a little.”
“You mean he was stalking you?”
She started to say something when it was her turn at the teller’s cage. I could barely contain myself wanting more information as she made her withdrawal. When it was my turn, I said, “Wait one second. I’d like to talk to you more.”
She glanced at her watch. “I’m late as it is. We’ll talk later, I promise. It was good seeing you.”
“You, too,” I said as the man behind me coughed to show his impatience. “You should get that throat looked at,” I said as I smiled at him sweetly.
I cashed the check, not even feeling guilty as I stuffed the bills into my pocket. At least now I could afford to buy lunch. I went over to Hirasi’s, a place that had Mediterranean food, something I knew Lillian loved and that I was acquiring a taste for. I just hoped the owner made a go of it. Restaurants on Oakmont were either there forever or disappeared overnight, and Earl and his family were too nice to just vanish.
Lillian looked pleased by my choice for lunch. I said, “It’s my treat, remember?”
“I trust we’re dining on Anne Albright’s check.”
“Absolutely,” I said. “I might not even bother putting this in the register.” Before she could protest, I said, “Hey, I’m kidding. I worked for Sara Lynn long enough to know that everything has to go on the books. You know, having her in my apartment isn’t as annoying as I thought it might be.”
“You sound surprised.” “To be honest with you, I am,” I said as I took a bite of food. “I couldn’t believe it when she just I showed up on my doorstep.”
“I’m glad she did,” Lillian said. “I was wondering when one of your siblings was going to step up and be counted.”
“I’m not sure how long she’s staying,” I said. “We’re doing this on a day-by-day basis.”
“Jennifer, you need someone there with you besides those cats of yours.”
Okay, it was time to get the lunch topic off me. “I heard the oddest thing at the bank when I was cashing that check.” I told Lillian about my conversation with Corrine.
She didn’t look all that surprised by the news. “It seems that Wayne is a little too dedicated to his relationships. This just proves it.”
“How come I haven’t heard anything about it?”
“My dear, people seem to just open up around me. It must be something about my sympathetic nature.”
A thought occurred to me. “If you knew about Wayne, why did you urge me to go out with him when he asked me?”
Lillian looked sheepish. “I hadn’t heard anything at that point, but when you told me he’d expressed interest in dating you, I started asking around. I wonder if we should say something to Bradford about him?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve already gotten him into trouble this week with my brother. I think I’ll wait a bit and see if he does anything else. It’s not fair to smear him if I don’t have anything specific to back it up.”
“I suppose that’s for the best, but I would watch my step around him if I were you.”
I pushed my plate away. I’d had enough, and though it was good, I was more of a burgers-and-shakes kind of gal. “Believe me, I’m watching everybody around me right now, including you.” I gave her my best stare; then we both cracked up laughing.
After we cleaned up, Lillian said, “So, more of the same this afternoon?”
“No, I’m happy with those cards, and if I keep messing with them, I’ll overdo the designs. Why don’t we have another lesson while things are quiet?”
“That sounds lovely,” she said. “There’s something I’m dying to try.”
Before we could get our supplies out, though, the front door chimed and another customer walked in.
There was a steady stream of people in and out after that, making purchases of everything from premade cards to the nicest kits I offered. It appeared that my little card shop was meeting a need that no one else in town had seen but me. I was just totaling out the register for the day when the door chimed again. “Sorry, we’re just closing,” I said without looking up.
“I’m here to see your samples,” Mrs. Albright said.
“Absolutely,” I replied as I met her near the door.
Lillian said, “Jennifer, if you don’t need me, I’ll be going now.”
“Of course,” I said, shooting her a dirty look for leaving me alone with that woman. “I’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early.”
Lillian waved a hand in the air. Then I locked the door behind her.
“So what do you have for me?” Mrs. Albright asked.
“Let me just get them. I made two samples, so you’ve got a choice.”
“My dear woman, you’ll do more than two if I don’t find one I like.”
It was all I could do not to roll my eyes at her. I retrieved both card choices; and, without a word, I handed them to her. She studied both carefully, then said, “You’ve captured the spirit of what I was after. Well-done.” She paused, and added, “Jennifer, I know I’ve been short with you, and I’m sorry, truly I am. If you can’t imagine the pressure I’ve been under lately.”
She was right. I hadn’t even tried putting myself in her place, with a pregnant daughter she was eager to marry off.
“That’s okay. I’m glad you approve of the prototype.”
She flung the fireworks card down on the table and landed me the garish nightmare I’d created. “This will do nicely. I like the bold color choice, and the design is perfect.”
For a rave party maybe, I thought as I tried to hide my surprise. “So you’re happy with this?”
“Absolutely. You have my approval to start production.”
A joke was one thing, but this was going too far. “Don’t you want to ask your daughter and her groom what they think?” Surely saner minds would prevail if she took a poll among the people concerned. Melinda would never speak to me again if I went ahead with the order.
“My daughter mentioned wanting to be consulted, but really, she’s just a child. What does she know?”
“That may be so,” I said, not believing it for a second. “But it is her wedding.”
Mrs. Albright frowned, then grabbed the card back from me. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt. I’ll be in touch.”
I let her out of the store, then wondered if I’d been too quick to muddy the waters, especially after she’d finally approved of my design. No, the expedient way was not necessarily the best way here. I’d never be able to forgive myself if I had a part in ruining a wedding. Better I should jump through more hoops than let my passion be smeared by what was turning out to be a very bad joke. I’d had fun making up the
dummy, but I didn’t know if I could face doing a hundred of those atrocities.
I balanced the register report, then tucked the deposit into my handbag before heading out the door. Getting out of the shop, making the deposit and driving home were all uneventful activities, something I was extremely grateful for.
I couldn’t wait to get inside my apartment and close the world behind me, even with my sister staying there.
Something was strange about my door as I approached it, but it wasn’t until I was ten feet away that I saw what it was.
Someone had taken a wig, much like the one I’d worn investigating Tina Mast’s murder scene and louse, and nailed it to my front door.
Written above it in something that looked like blood were the words “I WARNED YOU.”
Chapter 11
I stared at the wig for a minute before I could move. After fumbling around in my pocket for my cell phone, I dialed my brother’s number. “Bradford, I need you over at my apartment as soon as you can get here.”
“I’m kind of covered up right now in paperwork, Sis. Can it wait?”
“Listen,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. “I don’t want to alarm you, but something’s happened.”
“Okay, before I rush over there with my siren blaring and my gun drawn, tell me about it.”
I took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then said, “I just got home, and I found a red wig nailed to m front door. It’s just like the one I wore when we went to the house where Tina Mast was killed.”
Bradford paused a moment, then said, “It couldn’t just be some kind of prank, could it? I normally don’t like coincidences, but is there any chance it might be?”
“Maybe if that’s all there was, but there’s one other thing I haven’t told you yet. Over the wig, somebody wrote ‘I warned you’ in something that looks like blood.”
“Okay, here’s what I want you to do. Do not go into that apartment, do you understand me? I want you to go back to your Gremlin, get inside and lock the doors. Don’t move after that until I get there. Do you understand?”
