Deadly Greetings (Book 2 in the Cardmaking Mysteries) (12 page)

We were nearly through with our meal when lo
and behold, our brother Bradford came strolling into Hurley’s. He
took off his sheriff’s hat, then said, “If I’d known we were all
getting together for lunch, I wouldn’t have been late. Oh, wait a
second—that’s right—nobody invited me.”

I scooted over. “Don’t let that stop you.
Sit down and join us.”

Sara Lynn nodded her approval, but Bradford
wouldn’t sit. “This isn’t a coincidence. Jennifer, Lillian told me
where you’d be. I need to talk to you.”

“
So talk,” I said, eating
the last fry I’d had every intention of leaving on my
plate.

“
Maybe we should do this
later,” he said.

Sara Lynn snapped, “Bradford Shane, if you
think you’re going to hide anything from me, you’ve lost what
little you have left of your mind.”

He sighed, and I knew that sound too well.
My brother wasn’t stupid; he knew when he was beaten. “It’s about
Wayne Davidson,” Bradford said, his words weary and tired.

“
What about him?” I asked.
“You’re not going to say you didn’t fire him, are you?”

Sara Lynn asked, “What about your
deputy?”

“
Shh,” I said to her, “I’ll
tell you about it later. Bradford, I’m waiting.”

“
I fired him all right. The
only problem is, it looks like he’s not going to give up that
easily. You need to watch your step, Jennifer.”

I could tell Sara Lynn was dying to ask what
it was about, but she was going to have to wait. “Bradford, do you
think he’s going to do something?”

“
When he’s sober, he’s as
good a cop as I’ve ever seen, but when that boy starts drinking, I
can’t predict his behavior. Wayne won’t leave town—he told me that
point-blank—but I put a scare into him. If you so much as see his
shadow or smell his cologne, call me. None of this ‘brave single
woman against the world’ crap, do you hear me?”

“
I do,” I said. I didn’t
know if my brother was trying to scare me, but he was doing a
bang-up job of it anyway. “Now if you ladies will excuse me, I’m
late for lunch with my wife.”

Sara Lynn said, “Give Cindy our love.”

“
I will,” he said before he
left.

My sister said, “Tell me about it.”

“
We both need to get back to
our shops,” I said, not wanting to dredge up the past
again.

“
Jennifer, family is above
everything else. I’m waiting.”

So I told her, everything from Wayne’s
stalking me at my business and my apartment to the crude passes
he’d made in the past. By the time I was finished, Sara Lynn was
livid. I added, “Listen, there was nothing I could do about it. I
didn’t ask for his attention.”

“
I’m not angry with you,”
Sara Lynn said. “Our brother is a thickheaded clod.”

I couldn’t help myself; I started defending
Bradford. “He couldn’t fire him just on my say-so. You shouldn’t be
mad at Bradford. He was just trying to be fair.”

Sara Lynn paid the check, barely nodding to
Jack as she led me outside. “Fair is fine, but his first job is to
watch over us. That’s what family is about.”

At least she was off my back. “Be nice to
him, Sara Lynn. He’s doing the best he can.”

As she stormed off in the direction of the
library to head Bradford off before he picked Cindy up, Sara Lynn
snapped, “Then his best isn’t going to be good enough for me.”

I walked back to Custom Card Creations
alone, glad to have a little time to myself. I hated it when Sara
Lynn and Bradford fought, especially when I was in the middle of
it, but we were all grown-ups, at least in theory, and if two of us
were going to be battling, I was just glad to be on the sidelines
for once.

I was nearly back to the shop when I heard
someone call my name. “Hey, Jen, wait up.”

It was Gail, and she had a perplexed look on
her face as she approached me.

“
What’s up?” I
asked.

“
Jennifer, are we good? Is
there something going on I should know about? If I’ve done
something, you’d give me the chance to make it right, wouldn’t
you?”

I took her arm. “What on earth are you
talking about?” I’d never seen Gail act that way.

“
I just need to know if
we’re in trouble.”

I hugged her and said, “We’ve never been
better. What in the world has upset you?”

She pulled away and said, “I dropped by your
place last night, but you weren’t there. I couldn’t believe you’d
move without telling me.”

Oh, no, I’d completely forgotten to let her
know. No wonder her feelings had been hurt. “A new place just kind
of dropped in my lap, and I couldn’t say no.” I told her all about
my new apartment, leaving out the part about Frances haunting it.
“You’ve got to come by. We’ll have a housewarming party, okay?”

“
That sounds great. I can’t
wait to see it.” It was clear by the clarity in her blue eyes that
we were on solid ground again.

I had a sudden thought. “Would you like to
come over tonight? I can make us something,” I said.

She grinned. “I’d love to, but I’ve got a
hot date.”

“
Tell me about it,” I
said.

She nearly skipped away as she said, “I
can’t. I don’t want to jinx it. I’ll call you tomorrow.” She
stopped, then said, “Your phone number’s still the same, isn’t
it?”

“
I wouldn’t change that,” I
said. “Have fun tonight.”

“
I’m going to do my best,”
she replied.

By the time Gail was gone, I suddenly
remembered I wouldn’t have been able to have dinner with her after
all or meet Greg, either. My card club was meeting, and I had
suspects to interview. There were too many things to juggle at the
moment, but I was going to have to manage somehow.

Lillian wasn’t alone when I walked up to the
card shop and glanced in the window, but she wasn’t talking to a
customer. I couldn’t be sure how I knew the man, since I could only
see his back, but I did nonetheless.

As I walked in the door, I heard him say,
“I’m not going to ask you again. When will she be back?”

“
I’m right here,” I
said.

“
I need to talk to you,”
Barrett said, turning his back on Lillian.

My aunt said coldly, “Jennifer, he’s been
most insistent. Should I call your brother?”

“
No, it’s fine. Barrett’s my
new neighbor.”

It was clear Lillian didn’t like anything
about him. She stood there glaring at him, and I could tell it was
making Barrett uncomfortable.

After what had happened the night before, I
wasn’t his biggest fan either, but he had helped me with Wayne.
“Lillian, will you check that order that came in this morning? Last
week they shorted us three sets of stickers and an expensive stamp.
I think the shipper’s hired his cousin again.”

Lillian looked as if she wanted to refuse,
but I signaled her to go in back. “Call me if you need me,” she
said as she glared at Barrett.

Once she was gone, he turned to me and said,
“Thanks, she was making me a little nervous.”

“
My aunt is just looking out
for my well-being. What can I do for you?”

He bit his lower lip a second, then said,
“I’d like to take you to dinner tonight.”

“
Sorry, I’m busy,” I said.
Even if my card group wasn’t meeting, or if I hadn’t tried to make
plans with Gail, even if I hadn’t said yes to Greg’s dinner
invitation—discounting all of that, I still wouldn’t have gone out
with him. His ex-girlfriend Penny looked like she wasn’t going to
accept the “ex” part of their arrangement, and I had no earthly
desire to get in the middle of that. My life had enough
complications without my going out of my way to add any more, thank
you very much.

But Barrett wasn’t going to give up that
easily. “Then how about lunch tomorrow?”

“
No, again. I’m
busy.”

He looked like he was going to snap. “You
have to eat sometime, Jennifer.”

I’d let him dangle long enough. “I’m not
going out with you, Barrett, so you can stop asking me, okay?”

“
How am I going to explain
what happened last night if you won’t at least hear me
out?”

I nudged him gently toward the door. “You
don’t owe me any explanations. We shared some wine and most of a
pizza. Just because I was willing to eat with you once doesn’t mean
I’m in any hurry to repeat it.”

That killed his last ounce of effort at
niceties. “I can’t help it if my ex-girlfriend is stalking me.”

Enough was enough. “What you don’t
understand is that it’s not my problem if I don’t choose to let it
be. You seem like you can be nice enough when you’re not scowling,
and you’re not totally repulsive, but believe me when I tell you
that you’re not that nice and you’re certainly not good-looking
enough to make it worth my while to take your problems on, too.
Believe me, I’ve got enough of my own.”

“
You can’t let Penny get
away with this,” he said.

We were at the door, and I reached over and
opened it for him. “It’s got nothing to do with me,” I said. “I’m
not going to be a part of this.”

Barrett walked outside, but before I could
close the door, he said, “I’m going to keep asking you out until
you say yes.”

“
I’ve got a feeling you’ll
give up before I cave in to that particular request,” I
said.

Lillian was out of the storeroom before the
door shut. “I don’t like him, Jennifer. Good for you for not
letting him bully you into dating him.”

“
That approach didn’t work
on me in the seventh grade; there’s no way it’s going to work now.”
I raised an eyebrow and asked, “How’s that inventory
coming?”

“
You know perfectly well
that I was eavesdropping,” Lillian admitted.

“
I knew it, but I wasn’t
sure you’d admit it.”

She waved a finger in the air toward me. “I
realize you think you’re completely autonomous, but there are times
when even the strongest of us needs someone else.”

“
What exactly are you
implying?”

Lillian frowned. “Jennifer, don’t be any
more difficult than you already are. You know perfectly well what
I’m talking about. I’m not saying you need a man in your life; I’m
saying you need your family, no matter how much we tend to grate on
your nerves.”

I wasn’t about to admit that she was right,
though I knew that on some levels she was. Needing my clan was one
thing, but admitting it to any of them was something else
entirely.

“
Let’s jump on that
inventory,” I said. “Did you at least get the invoice out of the
box?”

“
It’s still there, and it
can wait until I go to lunch myself. I wasn’t included in your
little tete-a-tete, now was I? When I get back, I think we should
discuss our questions before your group gathers tonight, don’t
you?”

“
We’re still running a
business here, you know,” I said. “Our profit is every bit as
important as finding out what really happened to Maggie
Blake.”

“
I’m not denying that, but
our investigation is critical, too. We can’t forget
that.”

I took my aunt’s hands in mine. “Lillian,
I’m just as eager to uncover the truth as you are. Tell you what,
we can talk about the questions on the board as we check the
shipment’s bill against the actual inventory, okay?”

“
I suppose it will have to
be good enough,” she said as she squeezed my hands gently in
hers.

“
That’s the spirit,” I said.
“Have a nice lunch, and take your time. Things are dreadfully slow
around here, aren’t they?”

“
We’re doing fine,
Jennifer.”

After she was gone, to my surprise I waited
on several customers, adding nicely to our day’s receipts. Lillian
took me up on my offer, because by the time she got back, it was an
hour till closing.

I said, “We’ve just got time to finish this.
Would you like the invoice or would you like to do the actual
inventory?”

“
And rob you of the chance
to muck about with your accessories? Give me the sheet.” She took
the invoice from me, but before she’d let me get started, Lillian
said, “I’m going to set the marker board up where we can see it.
Don’t worry. I’ll make certain no one will be able to spot it from
the sales floor.”

I wanted to protest that we had enough to do
without worrying about Maggie at the moment, but Lillian was right.
I was just going to have to find the time to look into her death
while I ran the card shop, got settled into my new apartment and
watched my back with the former deputy Wayne on the loose in Rebel
Forge. It was just about more than a gal should have to deal with,
but I was going to manage it if it didn’t kill me first. Man, I was
glad I hadn’t said that out loud.

“
Jennifer, what’s a can
stamp number two? Is it actually a stamp in the shape of a
can?”

I took the sheet from her and looked. “No,
the invoice is smeared. Let me think. I know.” I dived into the box
and came out with a fancy stamp of a candle in its stand. “Here it
is. I ordered this for Nancy Klein. She’s got a distant cousin in
the candlemaking business, and she wanted me to get her something
festive. I can’t imagine how tough it must be to run a
candleshop.”

“
No harder than a card shop,
I’d say,” Lillian said.

“
I certainly wouldn’t trade
places with him,” I said.

“
I doubt he’d ask. Now,
what’s a roll of heart sticks? That sounds ghastly.”