Deadly Greetings (Book 2 in the Cardmaking Mysteries) (19 page)

“
I’m waiting,” I said, not
at all sure I wanted to hear what my aunt had in mind.

“
It’s good you have on dark
clothing,” she said. “How do you feel about a little breaking and
entering tonight?”

“
I’d rather get the flu,” I
said. “Exactly where are we breaking and entering into?”

Lillian took off her coat and said,
“Maggie’s house, of course. If there’s anything tying her together
with Frances, we may be able to find it at her house.”

I looked down at my nice outfit. “If I’m
going to jail, I don’t plan to do it in one of my best dresses.
I’ve got some dark pants I can wear, though.”

Lillian laughed. “Jennifer, sometimes you
let yourself get bogged down in the minutiae of life. Loosen
up.”

I was about to protest when Hilda walked
into the shop. “Is this a bad time?” she asked.

“
No, we were just planning a
little felony together,” Lillian said, laughing a little too
loudly.

Hilda obviously didn’t know how to take
that. I tried to lighten the tone of things when I added, “It’s
more of a misdemeanor, I think. So what can I help you with?”

Hilda shrugged and said, “I’d like one of
those new embossing kits we tried out last night. It didn’t seem
appropriate to buy one then.”

I nodded. “Would you like one of the demo
units, at the same discount of course? Or I could sell you a new
one still in the box.”

Hilda said, “I’ll take one of the demos. And
some paper, too.”

As I started to help her, she turned to
Lillian and said, “I hear you got a card from Maggie, too. What did
yours say?”

Lillian looked miffed by the question. “I
wouldn’t know anything about that,” she said, then walked to the
back room.

Hilda looked at me. “Sorry, was it something
I said?”

“
She’s just a little
high-strung today,” I admitted, which was true most days. “Now
let’s get you fixed up.”

It was pretty obvious that Hilda wanted to
talk more about Maggie, but I couldn’t bring myself to respond to
any of her comments, and she soon gave up trying. After we settled
her bill and Hilda was gone, I called out to Lillian, “It’s safe to
come out now.”

She poked her head out of the back room.
“What on earth are you talking about?”

“
It was pretty obvious you
were ignoring her. Lillian, we can’t afford to be rude to our best
customers.”

“
Jennifer, I don’t need a
lecture from you on customer service. I just wasn’t in the mood to
discuss it, with Hilda. If you’re unhappy with my work here, you
always have the option of firing me.”

My aunt was in a mood, and if I wasn’t
careful, I was going to lose her. There was a tone in her voice
that was full of finality. “How could I do that? I cant afford to
replace you.” Okay, I’d tried a light response, which didn’t go
over with her at all. So instead, trying to salvage the situation,
I hugged her and added, “Besides, no one could replace you at any
salary.”

I felt her tension ease, and in a minute I
stepped, back. “I really do need you here; you know that, don’t
you?”

It was obvious the declaration, while
needed, made; her feel a little uncomfortable. “You don’t need my
help, not really.”

“
I’m not saying I couldn’t
do it by myself,” I admitted, “but it wouldn’t be nearly as much
fun.”

“
I won’t argue with that,”
she said, adding a smile; Lillian glanced at her watch, then said,
“Any chance we could close the shop early? I know what your sister
would say, but now that we’ve decided to explore: Maggie’s house,
I’d like to do it before it gets dark.”

That surprised me. “You want to break in
there in broad daylight? Have you lost your mind?”

“
Think about it, Jennifer.
If we go there at night, we’ll be stumbling around in the dark with
flashlights, barely seeing a thing and risking getting caught. But
if we go over in the daytime, we can say the door was unlocked, and
that we were helping get Maggie’s affairs in order.”

“
Do you honestly think
Bradford’s going to believe that?” I asked. “He’ll check—you know
it—and then we’ll both be in jail.”

Lillian frowned a moment. “Yes, he is
determined, isn’t he? Let me make a few telephone calls and see
what I can do.”

She disappeared in back,
and there was nothing left for me to do but wait on customers until
my aunt deigned to tell me what she was up to. I was ready to flip
the sign to
closed
when Daniel, my stay-at-home dad and brand-new card maker,
came in with a briefcase tucked under one arm.

I had to give him credit. Though he did look
around briefly before he spoke, Daniel didn’t whisper when he
addressed me. “Jennifer, I owe you.”

“
We settled our bill,” I
said.

“
I’m not talking about
money,” he said. “I love making cards. They are so much
fun.”

He pulled a few samples out of his briefcase
and handed them to me. “What do you think?”

I looked at the crisply folded edges, the
clean cuts, and the nice balance of accessories to each of the
cards. “I’d say you’ve got the knack for it. These are
wonderful.”

He smiled brightly. “They’re a start.
Listen, do you have time for a quick lesson?”

I waved his cards at him. “I suppose so. I’m
always willing to learn something new.”

He laughed at that. “Come on, we both know
you’re a lot better at this than I am. There’s one thing I’m having
trouble with, and I was kind of hoping you could point me in the
right direction.”

“
I’ll help if I can,” I
said. “What is it?”

He retrieved a Baggie from his case and held
the contents out to me. “I am having a miserable time making
flowers, see?”

I studied his teardrop petal flowers and was
delighted that the problem was something I could help him with.
“Okay, first off, your paper is too wide; a tenth of an inch is
perfect for a greeting card. Another thing is that your coils are
too loose. Here, let me show you.” I grabbed a precut paper ribbon
about eight inches long and twisted it tightly around a
paper-quilling needle. I coiled the paper into a tight circle
first; then I loosened it gently, allowing a little bit to uncoil
at a time until I had a dimensional size I was happy with.

He said, “Okay, I was going about that the
wrong way, but what do you do now? How do I get a teardrop shape
for my petal?”

“
Hold it in the middle,” I
said, demonstrating as I worked, “and pinch one end like this.
After that, all you have to do is pinch the opposite side and
secure it with a dab of clear glue. Make five more and you’ve got a
flower. Oh, and don’t forget to add a tight circle to the middle.
Here, let me show you what I mean.” I retrieved a card I made
covered in teardrop flowers, and handed it to him. “It’s a little
gaudy, but you get the idea.”

He studied it, then said, “I’ll take it,
along with a needle and a stack of ribbon papers. I’ve been cutting
them myself.”

“
You can always do that,” I
said, despite the fact that I made more money off the
ribbons.

“
No, I want the best
materials I can buy.”

As I rang up his purchases, I said, “You
really seem to be enjoying the process.”

“
It’s fun,” he admitted.
“You should have seen my wife’s reaction when I gave her an
anniversary card I made myself. She couldn’t believe
it.”

“
That’s great,” I said, for
a moment envious that I didn’t have anyone in my life at the moment
to make special cards for. It really did mean more when it came
from the heart.

Lillian came out of the back as Daniel left.
She had a smug smile on her face.

I studied her expression a few seconds, then
asked, “Okay, whose canary did you just eat?”

“
Jennifer, how would you
like a job?”

I ran a hand through my hair. “Gee, I’m kind
of busy getting my shop off the ground. What did you have in
mind?”

Lillian laughed. “You’re going to love this,
and it won’t interfere with your card-making vocation. I’m happy to
report that Patrick Benson has offered to pay us to go through and
sort Maggie Blake’s things for the estate. We’re to hold aside the
valuables for her heir, then sort the rest of it for the Salvation
Army, and get rid of what’s left.”

“
How in the world did you
manage to pull that cure off?” I asked, again in awe of my aunt.
“There are only so many lawyers in Rebel Forge. Who else would be
Maggie’s executor? Once I got Patrick to admit that he was handling
the will, it was very simple to convince him to hire us.” I wasn’t
sure if I even wanted to know how she’d persuaded him to give us
the assignment. Still, I couldn’t contain my tin grin. “So let me
get this straight. Not only have you tins gotten us access to
Maggie’s house so we can snoop around to our hearts’ content, but
we’re going to get fact paid for it, too?”

She nodded, that smile still present. “We do
actually have to do the work, you know, but yes, I managed to
secure us a small stipend for our trouble.”

“
When do we get started?” I
asked, “I’m afraid it’s going to have to be tonight. We have to be
finished by this weekend. That’s the only way I could get Patrick
to agree to canceling the professionals he’d already hired. If
you’ve got plans, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to change
them.”

“
Sadly, I’m free,” I
admitted. “How about you?”

She waved a hand in the air. “Hearts will be
broken and tears will be shed, but what can I do? Patience will
have to be a virtue once again. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going
to go buy a load of boxes to make our job easier. I’ll be back by
closing so we can change, eat a bite, then get started.”

“
That sounds like a plan,” I
said.

Ten seconds after Lillian was gone, I
regretted not closing the card shop down so I could join her. The
only thing holding me back was the fact that I’d already closed the
place up for Maggie’s service, and I knew that if I wanted to
continue operating the card shop as a business, I actually had to
have my door open to the public. Working for Sara Lynn had been a
wonderful apprenticeship in many ways, but I sometimes wished I
hadn’t acquired her work ethic. It would be marvelous to own a
business I could shut down whenever I pleased, but I couldn’t
imagine what type of place it would have to be. Cards were my
vocation and my avocation, and if I wanted to stay in business, I
was going to have to be more dedicated.

After giving myself that speech, I was ready
to help make the world a better place through custom-crafted
greeting cards.

And of course, no one else came in for the
rest of the day.

However, I did manage to make a few cards to
sell and added them to my inventory. I was feeling a little sad
about being alone in the shop and in my life, so I browsed through
the cards my aunt made for sale. Before long I was smiling again,
and I even laughed out loud a couple of times. I could make a
sympathy card that would bring tears, or create a birthday card
that smelled like cake and candles, but while I had a light touch
of subtle humor in my cards, Lillian’s were like sledgehammers.
There was nothing droll or dry about them; Lillian’s were little
explosions on paper, and I envied her the touch. There wasn’t any
future in that, though. I might as well envy a petite blonde like
Penny just because I happened to be a well-rounded tall brunette,
but that was the path to madness. I’d embraced my physical
attributes for what they were, and I’d learned to enjoy my own
humor, however subtle.

That was the thing about working in an empty
store all by myself. It certainly left me with plenty of time for
introspection. A little of that went a long way, though. I was more
interested in doing anything other than thinking about my place in
the world, and I couldn’t wait for closing time so I could start
looking into Maggie’s life.

It would be a welcome change from examining
mine under the microscope.

Chapter 12

Lillian was late, and by the time she showed
up, I was sitting on the bench outside, the shop closed up for the
night.

“
Sorry, I didn’t mean to
keep you waiting,” she said. “I had a little unexpected
difficulty.”

“
Were the boxes that hard to
find?” I asked, seeing a stack of them in the backseat of her
car.

She sighed, then said, “No, it wasn’t that.
My date was reluctant to let me cancel tonight.”

I stood. “Lillian, we can always do this
tomorrow, or even later tonight, if you’d like.”

She said, “Nonsense, it will do him good to
wait. Let’s go get something to eat and then we can get started.”
She looked at my fancy attire, then said, “But first let’s take you
home to change. The one day your regular store outfit would be
perfect for after hours and you show up in a dress.” Lillian had
changed into blue jeans, but they were nothing like my well-worn
Levi’s. Instead, she had a designer’s name embroidered across a
back pocket and sported a neat collared shirt. At least she’d
abandoned her high heels for a pair of brand-new tennis shoes.

I got into the Mustang. “You’re still more
dressed up than I am, and I haven’t even changed yet.”

“
Jennifer, this is as casual
as I care to get. You could use a sense of . . .”

As she searched for the right word, I
interrupted.

“
Let’s say we drop this
particular conversation right now. So where would you like to
eat?”