Deadly Greetings (Book 2 in the Cardmaking Mysteries) (16 page)

“
So what did you bring me?”
he asked, gesturing to the bag.

“
What do you
think?”

He rubbed his chin, then said, “If there’s
not an apple fritter in there, you’re going to have to go back.” A
slight hint of playfulness danced in his brown eyes, a very good
sign indeed.

“
I’ve got two bear claws,” I
said, and saw the light dim a moment, “but those are for the shop.
The apple fritter’s all yours.”

He grabbed the bag I held out to him, opened
it and tore off a chunk of the pastry. “Man, that’s good. All I’ve
had this morning is coffee, and that’s from yesterday.”

“
I’m sorry; I should have
brought you some fresh this morning. Tell you what, I’ll brew a pot
when I get to the shop and bring it back to you.”

He took another bite, then said, “Don’t
bother, Jen, I’ve got one brewing in back myself. Listen, I
appreciate the gesture, but I really do have to get back to
work.”

“
So all is forgiven?” I
searched his eyes, hoping he could see the sincerity in
mine.

After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “I
guess so.”

That wasn’t the most convincing acceptance
I’d ever heard in my life. “So do you want to try again tonight?” I
shocked myself saying it, but it was already out and there was
nothing I could do about it now.

“
Thanks, but maybe we should
just forget it.”

In the past six months, Greg Langston had
asked me out a dozen times. I couldn’t believe he was saying no
when I was finally willing to go. “So you’re still upset about last
night,” I said.

“
That’s not it—at least not
all of it.”

“
So what is?” I
asked.

I didn’t think he was going to tell me, but
finally, reluctantly, he said, “Jennifer, I understand you were
distracted last night, but you forgot about me altogether. I’m
beginning to think you were right to say no all along. Maybe our
last chance is gone and it’s time to finally move on, for both of
our sakes.”

“
Greg, you’re reading an
awful lot into one momentary slip,” I said. “One of my crafters
died, didn’t you hear?”

He took a deep breath, then said, “Of course
I heard. Rebel Forge isn’t all that big. You still had your meeting
last night, though.”

I wasn’t about to admit to him that Lillian
and I were digging into what we thought was a case of murder. “We
were holding kind of a wake last night. It turned out to be a
mistake, though.”

“
I’m sorry,” Greg
said.

“
It’s not your fault,” I
replied a little too abruptly. “So that’s it, then? We’re finally
calling it quits?”

He just shrugged. “I know, it’s hard, isn’t
it? Thanks again for breakfast.”

I left his pottery shop a little in shock.
Even though I’d been holding him at arm’s length for half a year, I
still wasn’t ready for the finality of his pronouncement. Sometimes
it was just nice to be wanted, especially by someone I used to
love. I was going to have a hard time wrapping my head around this
new development, and knowing me, I’d probably stew, pace, and
overanalyze the entire conversation until there wasn’t a shred of
it untouched in my thoughts.

I hated to admit it, but a part of me
mourned my loss, whether it was real or imagined.

Lillian was late again, and after I ate the
bear claw I’d bought for myself, I nearly started on hers. I was
sad and depressed and irritable, a bad combination when there was
any kind of treats around. I’d finally decided to yield to
temptation when the front door opened. I don’t think I would have
been more shocked if the queen of England herself had walked in
when I saw Howard and Betty come in. Neither one of them looked
like they’d gotten a bit of sleep, and I didn’t doubt that was
true. I thought I’d had a rough night, but from the look of them,
I’d had a night at the Ritz.

“
Good morning,” I said,
trying to put a smile on my face, though I was hardly in the mood
for it.

Betty nudged Howard, a subtle thing that I
would have missed if I hadn’t been watching them closely.

He said, “Jennifer, I owe you an apology for
storming out of here last night. I’m sorry.”

“
You don’t have to
apologize,” I said. “Emotions were running high last
night.”

“
Still, I was wrong. I
overreacted.”

“
It’s fine. Honestly it is.”
I didn’t know if Betty had been hammering away at him all night,
but the man who stood before me bore no resemblance to the cold
fellow who’d stormed out of my shop. He was so contrite I would
have just about forgiven him anything. Anything except killing
Maggie Blake. “How are you two doing?”

Betty said, “We’re not doing all that well,
to be honest with you, but we’ll get there.” She frowned, then
added, “We’re going into counseling, so we’ll see what
happens.”

I didn’t have the heart to ask them about
Maggie, but Betty brought her name up instead. “We wanted to come
by to speak with you before the funeral. You’re coming, aren’t
you?”

“
I hadn’t heard about it,” I
admitted. “When is it?”

“
It will be at noon. It’s a
graveside service only. That was Maggie’s request. I know you’re
busy here, but it would have meant a lot to her.”

“
I’ll be there,” I said,
wondering how I was going to manage to get home, change clothes and
attend the service without shutting my shop down for the
afternoon.

Betty turned to her husband. “Howard, why
don’t you go wait by the car? I want to talk to Jennifer a
moment.”

He obeyed without a word or glance in my
direction, and I wondered if we’d ever see him at a meeting
again.

Once he was gone, Betty said, “I should
thank you, but after the night I had last night, I won’t be able to
just yet. Your questions were the catalyst we needed to clear the
air between us.”

“
I’m sorry,” I said as
sincerely as I could manage. I hadn’t meant to drive a wedge
between them with my line of questioning.

“
Don’t be,” Betty said.
“We’ll work through it. I wanted to talk to you about
Maggie.”

Just then the front door opened and Lillian
came in. “Hello, all. It’s a beautifully crisp morning out there,
isn’t it?”

She instantly took in the somber expressions
on our faces and her smile quickly faded. “Jennifer, I need to work
on that inventory in back. If you two will excuse me, I’ll get
right to it.”

After Lillian was safely ensconced in back,
I said.

“
Honestly Betty, you don’t
have to talk about it if I you’re not comfortable.”

“
No, there’s something you
should know. She and Howard were not having an affair. I’m sure of
that now. But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t seeing anyone. There was
a man I saw her with recently, an older gentleman who lives in
town. From the looks of it, they were quite close. If you’re going
to look into what happened to Maggie, you should talk to him about
her.”

“
Betty, what makes you think
I’m doing anything of the sort?”

Her expression lightened for a moment.
“Jennifer, I worked as a secretary for the Charlottesville police
for twenty-five years. It’s true I mostly just typed and filed, but
I’ve been around enough investigations to know one when I see it.
Be careful; it can be dangerous.”

I wasn’t going to admit what I was doing,
even if she did already suspect it. “Just out of curiosity, who is
this fellow you saw her with?”

Betty shook her head. “I don’t know, but I’m
sure he’ll be at the funeral. I’ll point him out to you.”

“
Did you happen to catch his
name?” It would be a big help if I knew who we were talking about,
since

I was acquainted with just about everyone in
Rebel Forge.

“
I didn’t know it at the
time, but I asked around. His name is Jeffrey Wallace.”

Chapter 10

“
Are you sure that’s his
name?” I asked. It was hard to imagine my straitlaced neighbor
being with Maggie, a woman who was so vibrant and full of
life.

“
I’m positive,” she said.
“Jennifer, I know your brother thinks that what happened to Maggie
was an accident, despite that card you got in the mail from her,
but I don’t believe it.”

“
How did you know about the
card?” I hadn’t told anyone but Bradford and Lillian, and I
couldn’t imagine they’d shared the information with anyone
else.

“
We all got them,” Betty
said simply. “I can’t imagine Maggie leaving you out.”

“
What did yours say?” I
asked. Why hadn’t Maggie done more to prevent her death than just
make cards? If she’d come to me earlier, I would have done
something more to help her than just try to find her killer. Could
I have saved her? Maybe I could have, or maybe she would have died
anyway, but at least I would have had the chance.

Betty looked down at her hands. “I tore mine
up and threw it away without even reading it,” she admitted, tears
creeping down her cheeks. “I was jealous; I didn’t want to have
anything to do with her. I hate the way I’ve been acting
lately.”

I offered her a hug, trying to console her.
Then the strangest thought jumped into my head while I had my arms
around Betty. Was she really feeling guilty over not reading
Maggie’s card, or was it possible her guilt went deeper than that?
She admitted herself that she’d been acting irrational. If Betty
had truly believed that Maggie was having an affair with her
husband, could she have killed her competition? How about Howard,
then? Now that Maggie was gone, his wife had only his word that he
hadn’t been fooling around with Maggie. I was suddenly very happy I
wasn’t a member of that particular household. If either one of them
acknowledged the thoughts I was having, it would shatter what was
left of their marriage. I didn’t see how either one of them could
live with the other if they suspected their spouse was capable of
murder.

That gave me another question. I pulled away
from Betty and asked, “What about Howard? Was the card addressed to
both of you, or did he get one himself?”

Betty scratched her cheek hard enough to
leave white streaks. “I don’t believe I even saw how it was
addressed. I recognized her handwriting the instant I saw the back
of the envelope. If Howard got one too, he didn’t volunteer the
information. I’m going to assume she didn’t write him unless I
learn otherwise.” Her gaze was darting all around the shop as she
spoke, and I wondered again about her state of mind.

I had to talk to Howard, and this time, it
had to be without his wife hovering nearby. “Lillian, could you
come here for a second?”

She came out so quickly I was certain she’d
been listening to every word. That was okay; after I started
getting more suspicious of Betty’s behavior, it was good to have
some kind of backup. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“
Yes, I need you to show
Betty that new computer program we got in the other day.” Betty
started to protest, but I cut her off. “Would you do me a favor and
look at it? You’re a lot better with those things than I am. I’m
not at all sure it’s worth what we paid for it. Would you
mind?”

Betty looked startled by the suggestion, but
I was just glad she couldn’t see Lillian’s face. My aunt must have
thought I was nuts, but it was the only way I could think of to
occupy Betty’s time while I hunted down her husband. I knew that
Betty considered herself a computer expert, but I had a suspicion
I’d be lucky if mine even worked after she was finished with it.
“Is this the time for that, Jennifer? I’d be happy to come by
tomorrow and look at it if you’d like.”

I shook my head. “Sorry, tomorrow will be
too late. We have to send it back by five P.M. or we’ll lose our
chance. I know it’s a terrible imposition, but would you mind?”

“
Anything to help. After
all, you’ve been so kind to me. Let me just step into the powder
room and then I’ll have a look.”

After she was gone, Lillian whispered, “Have
you lost your mind, Jennifer? What’s this program, and why does she
need to evaluate it?”

“
Find some way to keep her
occupied. Take one of the new card-making programs and ask her
opinion about it. I need to talk to her husband without Betty
hovering nearby.”

Lillian laughed, then cut it off when she
realized how loud she was being. “I can see you inherited my
devious streak. I’m delighted, I must say. I was beginning to
wonder if any of you would step forward.”

“
So you’ll do it?” I asked
as I grabbed my coat.

“
I’ll ask her so many inane
questions she’ll be hoarse in an hour.”

I patted her hand. “I don’t need that long.
Give me twenty minutes.”

Lillian flicked a stray strand of hennaed
hair out of her face. “Let’s leave it open-ended, shall we? This is
going to be fun.”

“
Try not to torture her too
much,” I said as I walked out.

“
Now what fun would that
be?”

I left Betty to Lillian’s devices, and
didn’t envy either one of them the upcoming session. I couldn’t
worry about that, though. I had to find Howard and talk to him
while I had them separated.

I found him leaning against their car
smoking a cigarette. “I didn’t know you smoked,” I said as I
approached him.

“
I quit twenty years ago,”
he said, the evidence of his lie dangling from his fingertips.
“Okay,” he added, “every now and then I sneak one, but not many,
and not often.”