African Violet Club Mystery Collection

by Elise M Stone

  “Oh, just woman talk,” Lilliana said vaguely. Overall, she was satisfied with the way things had turned out. The murderer had been caught and put in jail. Kirstie had not only made herself safe from Tony’s abuse, but found a new boyfriend, even if it wasn’t the one Lilliana had wanted for her. And the fairies were safe.

  The library started filling up as the members of the African Violet Club filed in. Nancy came in with a cake plate in her hands and glanced at the tray of scones. “I knew you’d need more food,” she said. She wrinkled her nose. “Scones are so boring. Now, these pecan bars I made are just the thing. I even added garlic powder to make them more tasty.”

  Lilliana laughed. “Thank you, Nancy. I’m sure they’ll provide quite a contrast to the scones.”

  AFTER the meeting, she had one more task to complete. She returned to her apartment and changed into a dress and a pair of sandals. After adding a pair of earrings, she applied a bit of lipstick, then headed out again.

  The bell over the door to Pulaski’s Gourmet Grocery tinkled as Lilliana opened it. Jaclyn was counting out the money from the cash register into a cloth bank deposit bag.

  “Hi, Mrs. Wentworth. I’ll be with you in a minute.” Jaclyn put the last of the cash into the bag, zipped it up, and closed the lock. “I need to put this in the safe before we go.”

  “Take your time, dear.” Lilliana looked around the store with pleasure. Jaclyn had done a wonderful job of restocking it. She also had more of an eye for attractive displays than Ted had. Even Lilliana, who didn’t care about eating much, had been tempted to buy more groceries than ever.

  Jaclyn returned from the back of the store carrying a sweater over her arm which, judging by the eye-popping pattern of mauve, pink, and pale blue on a purple background, had been a gift from Nancy. Surprisingly, the sweater coordinated well with the purple dress Jaclyn wore. She gave the store one last review. “Are you sure I won’t be intruding?” she asked.

  “Not at all,” Lilliana said. “They’re looking forward to meeting you.”

  “Let’s go then.”

  They passed into the evening coolness as they exited. Jaclyn locked the door, then slipped on her sweater. The town was quiet this late at night, all the people returned to their homes, and the residents of the retirement home mostly in their beds. Lilliana led the way across the empty street, following the alternate path Ted had taken her on in what seemed like another lifetime. Once they were far enough from the town, Lilliana flicked on her flashlight to light their path. They continued in silence, neither of them wanting to disturb the quiet.

  As they approached the clearing around the small pool at the apex of the stream, the waxing moon rose over the trees, lighting up a scene out of a fairy story. Because it was a fairy story. Esmeralda and Tam Lin sat on a pair of toadstools that seemed to have sprung up just for that purpose. The brownies had formed a band and were playing tiny instruments, while the fairy troop danced in a circle, leaping and prancing. Twinkling fairy lights rimmed the outside of the circle like miniature sparklers.

  Lilliana led the way to the fairy prince and queen. She held out her hand to Jaclyn and pulled her forward. “Queen Esmeralda, Prince Tam Lin, this is Ted’s great-granddaughter, Jaclyn, come to celebrate your wedding with you.”

  Jaclyn stepped forward and placed a jar of Scottish heather honey at the feet of the royal couple. “May you forever be happy together. I am so pleased to meet you at last. My great-grandfather told me so much about you.”

  “And he told me about you, also,” Queen Esmeralda said. Sadness swept over her face. “I still miss him.”

  “So do I.” Jaclyn’s voice caught with emotion. “But I know he’s with us in spirit and would be happy that all turned out well for you.”

  Esmeralda nodded. “I hope you will visit us often, Jaclyn.”

  “Oh, I will.”

  Lilliana stepped forward and put one of Mary’s miniature violets next to Jaclyn’s honey. “A gift in celebration of your wedding.”

  “Thank you, Lilliana. For everything. Not just the gift, but for bringing Tam Lin to me safely.” Esmeralda gazed lovingly at her new groom.

  “It was my pleasure,” Lilliana said.

  “Will you join the dance?” Tam Lin asked.

  “Oh, I’m afraid my knees aren’t good for dancing,” Lilliana said. “But perhaps Jaclyn would like to?”

  Jaclyn looked surprised, then pleased. “I’d love to.”

  “Go ahead, then,” Esmeralda said.

  After handing her sweater to Lilliana, Jaclyn skipped off to take her place in the ring. She had to be careful not to take too big steps for fear of stepping on the little creatures, but she was quite graceful and somehow managed to land between them as she whirled and leaped in the air, her long red hair flying out behind her.

  “She’s a lovely girl, isn’t she,” Lilliana said.

  “That she is,” Tam Lin said as he watched her dance.

  Esmeralda gave him a somewhat disapproving look, and he quickly said, “But not as lovely as my new queen.” He took Esmeralda’s hand in his and smiled at her.

  When the tune ended, Jaclyn rejoined them, breathing somewhat heavily from her exertion. “That was wonderful!’ She took a few more breaths, letting her breathing come back to normal. “Might I see the cave?”

  Lilliana looked at her doubtfully. “The entrance is rather muddy. You wouldn’t want to soil your fine clothes.”

  Jaclyn looked disappointed. “I suppose not.”

  Seeing her downcast expression, Lilliana added, “But I could show you where it is. Then we’ll come back another time to visit the fairies.”

  “I suppose that will have to do,” Jaclyn said. “By your leave, your majesties?”

  Esmeralda and Tam Lin nodded. “We’ll be happy to have you visit in our home another time.”

  Lilliana once again led the way, Jaclyn beside her. The music and laughter faded as they walked upstream. There was no need of the flashlight now since the path was clearly visible by the light of the moon. At last they reached the cave entrance, the small hole close to the ground from which the stream emerged.

  “I see what you mean,” Jaclyn said.

  “There are times when it’s drier,” Lilliana said. “When it hasn’t rained so much. But you can always count on getting dirty when you’re our size. The fairies just fly in.” She smiled, and Jaclyn smiled back.

  “What a wonderful time this has been. Running the store, meeting new friends, finding the fairies I thought I might have only imagined as a child. And, even though he’s no longer present in body, I feel my great-grandfather is close to me in spirit here,” Jaclyn said. “I think I made the right decision in coming to Rainbow Ranch.”

  “I think you did, too,” Lilliana said.

  Royal Purple Murder

  Elise M. Stone

  CHAPTER ONE

  LILLIANA Wentworth set her basket down on the floor in front of the counter and patted her face on her sleeve. Even at 9:00 AM, the walk from the Rainbow Ranch Retirement Community to Pulaski’s Gourmet Grocery had made her perspire. In Arizona, June was the hottest month of the year, the last month before the monsoon rains swept up from Mexico and cooled the air. Of course, then there would be the humidity, which was dreadful on top of one hundred degree temperatures.

  Jaclyn Pulaski, owner of the store, was waiting on a woman Lilliana had never seen before. She wondered if the woman, who wasn’t quite as tall as herself, was a new resident of the retirement home. Her face was lined and weathered, and her chin-length brown hair streaked with gray was in disarray, strands sticking out from what had not too long ago been a hairstyle professionally done.

  “Don’tcha carry any spirits?” the woman brayed. She hooked her thumbs in the belt loops of her jeans and thrust her chest out. “I like a shot of bourbon in the evening, to take the edge off, you know.”

  The young proprietress shook her head. “I’m sorry, Miss Fordyce. I don’t have a liquor license. You’ll have t
o drive into Bisbee if you want to buy alcohol.”

  “Don’t know what this world is coming to when a woman can’t get a drink in her home town.” Miss Fordyce paused a minute, then gestured at the items on the counter. “Well, ring me up then. I’ll have to make do.”

  Jaclyn proceeded to enter the prices in the cash register and put the items in a paper bag: a pint of Steve’s Brooklyn Blackout Cake ice cream, a box of Castleton crackers, and a block of organic cheddar cheese. “Twenty-two dollars and thirty-seven cents, please,” she said to the braying woman. After giving Miss Fordyce her change, Jaclyn smiled at Lilliana. “What can I do for you, Mrs. Wentworth?”

  Miss Fordyce, who had taken a step toward the door, stopped and looked Lilliana up and down. Lilliana returned the favor. Now that she was able to take a closer look at the woman, Lilliana could see the wrinkles weren’t only from the sun. Fordyce had to be close to Lilliana’s own age of seventy-four. The red bandanna at her throat didn’t quite hide the wattle on her neck, and the bumps of her breasts under her chambray shirt hung lower than a younger woman’s would. Not quite to the tucking-in-the-belt stage some elderly women’s were, but certainly not as perky as, say, Jaclyn’s.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Jaclyn said. “Mrs. Wentworth, this is Fox Fordyce. She recently moved back to Rainbow Ranch. Miss Fordyce, Lilliana Wentworth. She lives in the retirement community.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Lilliana said, and extended her hand.

  Fox Fordyce grasped it in a firm grip and gave it a single shake. “You don’t look decrepit enough to live at the old folks home.”

  Lilliana smothered a laugh. While many of the residents were disabled and needed what they now called assisted living arrangements, Lilliana herself was perfectly healthy, except for a little arthritis. All right, maybe more than a little. If it hadn’t been for her husband’s stroke, she’d probably still be living in their nice little house in Tucson in an older neighborhood near the university. But after the stroke, Lilliana hadn’t been able to take care of Charles on her own. She couldn’t bear the thought putting him in a facility and going to visit him afternoons and weekends during the time he had left, so had decided an apartment in a retirement community would be a better choice. The ones in Tucson were much more expensive than out here in Rainbow Ranch, and overall, she was pleased with her decision. But she did miss Charles.

  “Thank you for saying so,” Lilliana said.

  “Well, I’d better get this ice cream home before it melts,” Fox said. “See you around.” With that, she picked up her groceries and swept out of the store, the bell over the door tinkling as she exited.

  “She’s quite a character, isn’t she?” Lilliana said.

  Jaclyn laughed out loud. “She sure is. Rainbow Ranch’s one and only celebrity.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. She was a rodeo queen, a champion barrel racer, up until not too long ago. She used to practice at Grandpa Ted’s ranch after she sold her own.”

  “Isn’t she a little old for barrel racing?”

  Jaclyn’s gaze grew unfocused, a turning inward while she reviewed memories of the past. “Maybe it was longer ago than I thought. But she did keep racing long after most others her age would have quit.” She picked up a copy of the Rainbow Ranch Gazette, the town’s weekly newspaper, and pointed to the headline. “Sam even wrote an article about her for the paper.”

  Of course he had, thought Lilliana. Not much happened in the small town of Rainbow Ranch. Sam Horn had probably been ecstatic to have something to fill several of the six pages he printed every week. Underneath the headline was a black and white photograph of a woman on horseback wearing a white cowboy hat and a sequined shirt edged in fringe. She crouched low over the horse’s neck, her right hand raised over the horse’s rump, whip in hand, ready to urge her mount to go faster. “I’ll have to buy a copy.”

  “I know she’s a bit prickly now, but she really is a nice person.” Jaclyn’s face softened. “When I was a little girl, she’d spend hours trying to teach me how to ride around the barrels like she did. Great-grandpa was too busy with the cattle back then, and I think she felt sorry for me because I had to spend most of the day by myself.”

  “Did you ever take part in rodeos?” Lilliana asked.

  Jaclyn gave a shake of her head. “Not professionally. I think every kid who grew up on a ranch took part in the kids’ events at one time or another, but I didn’t have the talent to compete against the real riders. I can ride a horse okay, but it takes a lot of ability to cut around those barrels at top speed.” She looked wistful, then shook off the mood and asked, “So, since you obviously didn’t come in for this week’s paper, what can I get you? A box of Earl Grey tea? Are you out of chocolate?” Jaclyn smiled, thoroughly enjoying her role as purveyor of guilty pleasures.

  Lilliana was so glad Jaclyn had reopened the store after her great-grandfather passed away. It appeared that the young woman had inherited Ted’s talent for supplying people with just what they needed.

  “Not today.” She glanced down at the chocolates kept on a shelf in front of the register. A little basket held a half dozen individually wrapped candies labeled Bouchée Noix de Coco and described the dark chocolates as being filled with white chocolate ganache and coconut. Her mouth watered. She tentatively pointed at them. “How much is one of these?”

  When Jaclyn named the price, Lilliana was glad she wasn’t the kind of woman who was prone to fainting. “I believe I’ll take one of the small Godiva assortments instead.”

  Jaclyn unfolded a paper bag and put the newspaper and chocolate inside it. “Anything else?”

  Lilliana, who had heard that Chad Cartwright, the Chief of Police, had asked Jaclyn out on a date, was tempted to inquire about the budding romance, but decided to stick to the reason why she’d come. “I actually came in here today to sell you something.”

  She bent over, picked up her basket from the floor, and placed it on the counter. Inside sat four of Lilliana’s African violets in full bloom. Rich purple flowers clustered around the crown, with beautiful green leaves surrounding them.

  “How pretty!”

  Lilliana glowed. She’d started to grow African violets as a hobby, something to fill the hours after she’d lost Charles. To her surprise, it turned out she had a talent for raising the plants. She’d even developed one of her own hybrids this past year. But even with exchanging leaves with other members of the African Violet Club at the retirement home to increase the size of her collection, it took money for soil and fertilizer and other supplies. Not to mention the electricity bill from running the grow lights and humidifiers. After she had some success at selling her plants at the spring show, she’d decided to see if she could expand her sales. Only Jaclyn didn’t appear to remember the conversation they’d had last week.

  For a few seconds, Lilliana wondered if the memory problem wasn’t Jaclyn’s, but hers. She’d noticed her memory wasn’t as sharp as it used to be, but previously her fear was forgetting something that had taken place, not remembering something that hadn’t. No, she was certain they had discussed placing some of her plants in the grocery store. “Last week...” she hesitated, waiting to see if Jaclyn remembered, too. “I said I thought I might like to sell some of my African violets, and you...”

  “Oh! That’s right. I’d completely forgotten.”

  Lilliana breathed more easily.

  Jaclyn turned her head first one way, then the other, her long auburn hair swirling over her shoulders and catching highlights from the overhead fluorescents. “I was going to find a space to display them.” She frowned.

  Lilliana followed her gaze. There didn’t appear to be a spare inch on any of the nearby shelves. She wasn’t sure whether she was more disappointed because Jaclyn hadn’t found space for her, or because she’d have to carry the heavy basket back up the hill to her apartment.

  Suddenly the young woman’s face cleared. “Say, I have an idea. Why don’t you try Cameron’s Flower Shop?”
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  “A flower shop?” Lilliana visualized the stores on Main Street as she remembered them. There was a hairdresser next to the grocery store, a knitting and needlework store before that, and Cathy’s Café on the corner opposite the entrance to the retirement home. Then the hotel, and Mike’s Garage, of course, and then you left the village of Rainbow Ranch.

  Jaclyn nodded vigorously. “You probably didn’t notice, since you didn’t go far enough north, but that empty store on the opposite corner has been taken by a couple recently arrived from Scotland. They sell flowers and gifts and things. I bet they’d love to have some of your African violets.”

  Lilliana wasn’t sure about that, but since it was obvious Jaclyn wasn’t enthusiastic about stocking her plants, she might as well give them a try. After paying for her purchases, Lilliana picked up her basket and headed out the door to meet these newly-arrived entrepreneurs.

  She continued north on Main Street, crossed Canyon Road, and walked the few steps that brought her to the shop on the corner. Jaclyn had been right; she didn’t often come this way.

  Like most other small towns in America, Rainbow Ranch had been hit hard by the 2008 recession. Small businesses had had a tough go of it, and many had closed. As long as Lilliana could remember, the corner location had been nothing more than grime-covered windows and a dingy door.

  The shop had undergone a transformation since then. The windows sparkled, and the front of the building had been given a fresh coat of dark green paint. Complementing the color were dozens of plants behind the glass, many with brightly colored ribbons tied around the pots. Gold letters spelled out Cameron’s Flowers and Gifts toward the top of the window. Just the kind of place that would be able to sell African violets. Resolutely, Lilliana pushed open the door.

  A middle-aged woman looked up from where she was watering a rather large ficus. A mass of dirty blonde hair tumbled to her shoulders. Appropriately enough, she wore a loose jacket in a red and green plaid. Her eyes had the crinkled look of a woman who was perpetually smiling. They crinkled even more when she turned her smile on Lilliana. “Walcome,” she said “Ma name’s Penny Cameron. Is there something I can help ye with?”