Deadly Greetings (Book 2 in the Cardmaking Mysteries) (18 page)

There were two faces in the group gathered
there that I didn’t recognize, but I knew everyone else present.
Barrett had beaten me there, but he was standing as far from
Jeffrey Wallace as he could manage and still hear the service.
Hilda was there, as were Betty and Howard, though none of them
looked particularly happy to be there. To my surprise, Hester
Taylor was there as well.

I whispered to Lillian, “Did you see that
Hester’s here?”

My aunt looked in the direction I gestured,
then said, “That surprises me, I admit. Don’t worry, I’ll speak to
her later to see her connection with Maggie.”

As we stood near the interment site, close
enough to hear but far enough back to watch everyone else, I asked
Lillian, “So what did you have to do to bribe Bradford?”

“
I had to promise to make
him a double batch of banana pudding.”

From her voice, I could tell that wasn’t
all. “And what else?”

“
Why must there be anything
else?”

“
Because I know the two of
you better than just about anybody else on the planet,” I said,
“including Sara Lynn.” It was true, too. Since I’d opened my card
shop, working side by side with Lillian every day had let me get to
know her better than I ever had growing up. She’d become much more
than a wacky aunt to me; to my surprise, Lillian had also become my
friend.

“
If you must know,” she said
with distaste thick in her voice, “I have to watch him eat it,
every single bite, and not have the least spoonful of it myself.
Your brother is an odd man; you know that, don’t you?”

I put my arm around Lillian and hugged her.
“Of course I do. It runs in the family.” The two of them had been
feuding over a bowl of banana pudding from our past, and I was
hoping this episode would end the spat forever, but I sincerely
doubted it. I wasn’t quite sure if Bradford or Lillian would know
how to act toward each other without a hint of the resentment
they’d shared over the years.

A large woman dressed in a brightly dyed
muumuu and sandals walked up to join us, an urn tucked safely in
her arms. There were a few whispers in the crowd, and she waited
for us all to quiet down before she started.

In a light, tinkling voice that didn’t match
her physical appearance at all, she said, “Friends and loved ones,
we’re here not for farewells, but to say ‘until we meet again’ to
Maggie Blake. She was a free spirit, alive with the essence that is
in each of us. By her request, I want to read this to you.”

From the folds of her outfit she produced a
letter, the urn never wavering. “She mailed this card the day she
died, sending her voice into the wind from the great beyond. Let me
share it with you all now.” I’ll say this for Maggie: she had
certainly embraced card making in her last days.

Samerena, share with those I love, and all
those gathered together, that the truth is all that matters, and it
will see the light of day soon.

She closed the card, then said, “Maggie
obviously wanted to share a sense of her spiritual enlightenment
with you all. She was devoted to our yoga classes at the Y, and I’m
honored she chose me to share this message with you.”

I heard a snort of derision and saw Jeffrey
Wallace stomping off. I’d have to speak to him later about his
reaction, but Samerena wasn’t finished. She opened the urn, took a
pinch of the ashes within it and scattered them into the air. Thank
goodness there wasn’t any breeze to speak of. The last thing I
wanted was some of Maggie’s ashes on me. Samerena took another
pinch and sprinkled it on the ground, then took a final pinch and
spread it over a birdbath reservoir inset into the ground. “To the
sky, to the sea, to the land,” she said, and I felt a chill run
through me. After a moment of silence, she put the urn into the
ground, nearly stumbling as a fold of clothing tightened, but she
managed to right herself.

“
She wanted each of us to
say good-bye in our own way.” Then she shoveled a small portion of
dirt over the hole and handed the trowel to Hilda, who had been
standing closest to her.

Lillian asked me in a whisper, “Have you
seen enough, or do you want to shovel, too?”

“
Let’s pull back,” I agreed.
I had no desire to participate in the ritual, suspecting that
Samerena had made it up herself on the spot. “Did you hear that
message?”

“
That woman is certifiable,”
Lillian said. “I don’t get this New Age mumbo jumbo.”

“
I’m not talking about
that,” I said. “I mean what Maggie wrote her. It didn’t have
anything to do with spiritual enlightenment. Maggie knew whoever
killed her would be at the service. The truth she was talking about
was a lot more concrete than Samerena thinks. Maggie was warning
whoever killed her that they weren’t going to get away with it. I
just wish I had as much confidence in us as she had.”

“
Just what do you think
you’re doing?” Barrett’s voice behind me froze my blood. There was
real animosity in it, but I was tired of having him
push.

It was time to push back.

HANDCRAFTED CARD TIP

If you’re at all handy with a paintbrush,
you can embellish your cards with everything from autumn leaves to
shining stars, but I’ve found a way that everyone can add a touch
of color to their offerings. An inexpensive watercolor kit can do
wonders to give a handcrafted card that distinctive touch. By
adding washes of different colors to your paper—simply diluting
some of the pigment into water until the desired effect is achieved
and then brushing it onto your card—you can make each of your
efforts a truly unique gift.

Chapter 11

“
I’m saying good-bye to an
old friend, not that it’s any of your business,” I said.

Lillian took a few steps back, pretending to
give us privacy while hanging on every word. I didn’t care who our
audience was. It was time to put Barrett in his place.

He said abruptly, “She was my friend, too,
but that’s not what I’m talking about. I know you’re up to
something, Jennifer. Is that why you took Frances’s apartment, to
snoop around?”

“
What on earth are you
talking about?” The man was positively daft.

He stepped into me, close enough for me to
smell his aftershave. “Don’t play games with me. It was a suicide.
Nobody killed Frances, and nobody killed Maggie, either. One was a
mistake, and the other was a tragic accident.”

I took a step back. “Have you lost your
mind? I didn’t even know Frances, and I wouldn’t have suspected she
knew Maggie if you hadn’t told me yourself.”

That seemed to shake him. “I just thought
... I assumed . . . you’ve been . . .”

“
Enough,” I said. “I’m not
in the mood for your prattle.” I turned to Lillian. “Let’s
go.”

“
Jennifer, wait a second.
Let me explain,” Barrett said to my back.

“
I’m not interested in your
explanations,” I said. “Call Penny if you want someone to talk to.
I’m sure she’d be delighted to hear from you.”

Once we were out of Barrett’s earshot,
Lillian asked, “Would you like to tell me what that was all
about?”

I kept moving toward the main part of the
crowd. “He’s delusional, what can I say? We need to find out
Hester’s connection with Maggie. Do you want to ask her, or should
I?”

Lillian said, “Why don’t you wait here?
She’ll talk to me, but other people make her nervous. To be honest
with you, I’m surprised she’s here.”

“
Go talk to her before she
gets away, then,” I said, slightly miffed that I couldn’t question
her myself.

I waited until Lillian approached Hester,
then got closer so I could overhear their conversation. As I
neared, I heard Hester say, “Before long, I’ll be the only one
left.” Was there a hint of amusement in the woman’s voice? Lillian
had said she was an odd bird, but Hester’s comment was beyond the
norm, even for her.

I could feel someone’s presence behind me
and turned, ready to blast into Barrett again, when I saw that it
was only Hilda.

“
Nice turnout,” she said as
she surveyed the dozen people milling around.

“
I suppose,” I said, still
mad at Barrett.

“
So what was that all
about?” she asked as she gestured to Barrett.

“
We’re having a
communication problem,” I said.

“
How do you know him? Is he
a boyfriend?”

I shook my head. “He wishes. No, I live in
the same house he does. It’s not like it sounds. The place is
divided up into three apartments. It’s called Whispering Oak. Have
you ever heard of it?”

Hilda thought about it a moment, then said,
“It doesn’t sound familiar. Where is it?”

“
Over by the lake, but it’s
a tough place to find, Hilda, did you know that nearly everyone
else in our card group got letters from Maggie just before she
died?”

Hilda looked honestly surprised by the news.
“I didn’t have a clue. Actually, I thought it was just the two of
us.”

“
So did I, but Betty told me
otherwise.”

Hilda asked, “So what did hers say?”

I shrugged as I caught sight of Lillian
trying to catch my attention. “I’m sorry, but my aunt needs
me.”

“
That’s fine; I’ll talk to
you later. I need to come by the shop to pick up a few things. Will
you be open later?”

“
I’ll be there,” I said as I
left her to see what my aunt wanted.

Lillian said, “Jennifer, are you quite
finished socializing? I need to speak with you.”

I shrugged. “You know me, I’m a social
butterfly, What’s so important?”

“
Hester Taylor just told me
something fairly interesting. Did you realize that there was
another tenant in your apartment after Frances died?”

“
No, but it doesn’t surprise
me,” I said as I watched the other people head for their cars. “Can
we continue this conversation in the car? I’d like to get the shop
opened back up if I could.”

“
Yes, of course we can. One
second, don’t you want to see if Bradford learned anything this
afternoon?”

I looked for my brother, but he was gone,
and so was his car. “If he wants me to know something, I’m sure
he’ll tell me. Let’s go.”

As we drove back to the shop, Lillian asked,
“Did you want to go home and change first?”

“
No, I don’t want to take
the time right now.” I wasn’t sure if I was avoiding the change of
clothes, or if I didn’t want to see Barrett any time soon. I did
want to talk with Jeffrey Wallace, especially now that

I had new information about his relationship
with Maggie, but it was going to have to wait. “So tell me about
this interim tenant.”

“
I didn’t get the name,”
Lillian said. “Apparently, the woman only stayed one night. Hester
was so eager to leave that I barely got that much out of her. I
just thought it was significant,” she added lamely.

“
It might be,” I said.
“After all, it just makes sense.”

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.”