Death Waxed Over (Book 3 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) (22 page)

It was clear someone had used the trashcan
as a ruse to get me downstairs in a hurry so I could break my neck
on the steps. But who would want me dead, or hurt enough so that I
would be out of the picture?

I pulled the trashcan back in its place and
realized that the lights never came on. Had they been disabled as
well? No, when I walked back to the stairwell door, the lights came
on. So there was a dead spot in our layout. Had the attacker known
that, or had he just been lucky? I didn’t want to think about the
first option, since Pearly and I had installed those lights
ourselves.

I collected the marbles and headed back
upstairs. I decided to keep the incident to myself in case I could
use the information later. Fortunately, it hadn’t turned out as the
culprit had hoped, so only two of us knew about the marbles. After
taking a couple of Tylenols, I stretched out on the couch with a
book, knowing that sleep was most likely out of the question. To my
great surprise, I woke up the next morning with a sore rear end and
a burning curiosity about who had tried to kill me the night
before.

I was getting ready to open the candleshop
when there was a persistent knocking at the front door. I tried to
ignore it, since I still needed to do a few things before we opened
and I was moving a little slower than usual, but the pounding was
relentless.

“
We’re not open yet,” I said
as I walked to the front of the shop.

Jubal looked startled to see me as I opened
the door for him. “Good, I’m glad I caught you in. I’m so sorry to
bother you,” he said. “I just need a minute of your time.”

I unlocked the door and stepped aside. “Come
on in, Jubal. I thought it was just another overenthusiastic
candle-maker.”

He tried to smile, and almost made it. “Do
you get many of those?”

“
We have our share. What can
I do for you? Wait a second, it’s about what happened yesterday,
isn’t it? Sorry I never got back to you. I didn’t hang up on you.
The phone slipped off my shoulder, and by the time I retrieved it,
I got overwhelmed with customers and forgot all about our
conversation.”

“
Please, there’s no need to
explain. I must admit, you left me curious with that cryptic
comment of yours. Are you truly close to something?”

I admitted, “I’m beginning to think it was
wishful thinking. Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to get your hopes
up.”

Jubal didn’t look upset at all. “It’s no
problem, really. We both just want to know what really happened to
Gretel.”

“
So if you’re not here for
an apology, what brings you out to River’s Edge?”

“
I wanted you to know
Flickering Lights is shutting down.”

Though I couldn’t say the news of my chief
competition closing upset me, I did feel bad for Jubal. “How did
that happen?”

“
They finally managed to
track Hans down, and he wants the shop closed as soon as possible.
He’s even letting the franchise revert, but since Gretel paid in
full for an exclusivity clause, the candle shop won’t be back to
haunt you later. Evidently I’ve been given free reign to liquidate
any way I see fit. If you can imagine, he’s not even coming to
Micah’s Ridge to handle the estate. There was something too
pressing in South America that he couldn’t leave, he told me.”
Jubal shook his head. “Hans never was all that concerned with
details.” He paused, then added, “I suppose I shouldn’t complain.
Since Gretel left me out of the list of beneficiaries, Hans is
allowing me to keep the proceeds of the liquidation, as long as I
do it quickly.”

I’d been curious about that since Markum and
I had uncovered the fact of his absence in Gretel’s will, and this
was the perfect time to satisfy my curiosity. “Why did she neglect
you, do you suppose?”

Jubal said, “Don’t look so surprised,
Harrison, I knew Gretel’s intent, and heartily endorsed it. Ten
years ago I found myself in a predicament, one that required an
immediate and generous cash transfusion. I never would have asked
Gretel for help, but she got wind of it and bailed me out. That’s
one of the reasons I came down to be with her, actually. I never
thanked her as well as I should have.”

“
I’m sure she knew you were
grateful,” I said, happy to have at least that point
solved.

Jubal said, “The reason I’m here is that I
was wondering if you might be interested in buying my supplies. In
fact, I can make you a good deal, less than wholesale, if you take
the entire inventory off my hands immediately.”

“
I should tell you that
you’d make more if you took a few weeks and had a ‘Going Out of
Business’ sale. I’m not sure if I could do better than what you’d
make that way.”

Jubal idly spun a ring on his left hand. “I
appreciate your candor, but it appears I’m being forced to evacuate
the premises in forty-eight hours. There’s really no time to do it
properly, and truth be told, as charming as your little town is, I
can’t say I’ll be sorry to go. Bad memories and all that, you
understand.”

“
Completely,” I said. “How
about this? I’ll come by this evening and look over your stock.
Then tomorrow I can get together with Eve and we’ll have a figure
for you by noon. I can’t promise even fair market value, but I
should be able to come up with something.”

Jubal pumped my hand. “That’s all I can ask.
I appreciate your promptness in this. I’ll see you this evening,
then.”

Heather was standing at the door when I let
Jubal out.

She had Esme in her arms, and Jubal stepped
a few paces back when he saw her. “I love cats, but unfortunately
I’m allergic to them. It breaks my heart that I can’t have one of
my own.”

Heather said, “I don’t know what I’d do
without Esmeralda, though I imagine Harrison would take her in a
heartbeat if we ever had to split up.”

“
I guess she’s okay as a
temporary boarder, but I don’t know about anything more permanent
than that.” If Esme was offended by the statement, she didn’t show
it.

Heather laughed. “Don’t let him lie to you;
he’s a great deal fonder of this gal than he lets on.”

Jubal said, “Well, I really must go. Until
tonight, Harrison.”

Heather walked into the candleshop and said,
“Has Pearly been by your place?”

“
No, I haven’t seen
him.”

“
Harrison, I’m really
worried about him. He didn’t sleep in the shop last night. In fact,
he hasn’t been back since that cop came by. He thinks I turned him
in. I just know it.” Esme started to squirm in her arms, but
Heather held fast. It was pretty obvious the cat was picking up on
her unsettled mood.

“
Come on, Heather, he knows
you better than that. If he didn’t come back, it’s probably because
he knows River’s Edge is the logical place for the sheriff to keep
looking for him. Pearly’s a brilliant man. He’s not going to get
caught in a trap.”

“
I hope you’re right,” she
said. “I feel responsible for what happened.”

“
You didn’t call the police,
did you?”

“
Of course not.”

“
Then you’ve got nothing to
feel guilty about, Heather.”

I glanced at my watch. “Shouldn’t you be
opening up? I know it’s almost time for me to start my day.”

Heather got it. “I’m sorry, Harrison, I
didn’t mean to keep you from your work.”

I gave Esme a quick rub under the chin, put
my hands on Heather’s shoulders, then said, “Don’t worry, about
him. He’s all right. Have faith in Pearly.”

She nodded. “You’re right. I’m probably just
overreacting.”

After she and her companion
were gone, I saw that I only had two minutes before opening, so I
switched the sign from
closed
to
open
and got ready to face another day’s worth of
customers.

I’d had a pretty decent morning when Mrs.
Jorgenson came in, holding a set of small glass containers in her
hand. “I’ve got a problem,” she said as she thrust them out to
me.

I took them and studied the first one. She
had neatly arranged some semiprecious stones in the bottom of the
container and had poured red-tinted wax around them. However, there
were huge gaps between the rocks and the wax, and the gel wax
itself was filled with so many bubbles it was hard to see what was
suspended in it. I said, “The wax was too cool when you poured this
one.”

I studied the next one and saw that there
were segments of wax in it, as if she’d waited for the wax to
partially coalesce before pouring it. “You must have spooned the
wax out for this one. You can always reheat it once it cools, you
know.”

She took the candles back from me. “No, I
didn’t realize that.” After studying the candle with lumps in it,
she said, “You know, I’m beginning to like this look. It’s growing
on me.”

“
It certainly has its own
charm, doesn’t it?”

She nodded. “More heat it is then. I confess
I was interrupted during my session, and I neglected to recheck the
temperature before I poured. Thank you, Harrison.”

“
You’re most welcome. Would
you like to try it again here? I can set you up in ten minutes, and
I promise I won’t let anyone distract you.”

She shook her head. “No, I’d better get back
home. I will make a sincere effort be more careful next time. Thank
you. Just add this session to my bill.”

I had to look twice to see if she was
kidding, and I still couldn’t tell. “Mrs. Jorgenson, this one’s on
the house.”

“
I don’t take charity or
handouts, Mr. Black. You should know that about me.”

“
My advice is free. I give
it to anyone who walks in the door, and I never hand them a bill
for it.”

She frowned, then said, “I won’t hear of it,
and I expect that to be the final word on the subject.”

“
Fine, have it your way.” If
she insisted on paying for something I gave freely to anyone else
who came into my shop, I’d find a way to give it back to her,
either through a discount on her supplies or a few extras in her
bag the next time she went on a shopping binge. There were some
real benefits to owning the place myself, and if I couldn’t hand
out a free candle every now and then, I didn’t want to be in
business.

Chapter 17

“
I didn’t know you came out
in the daylight,” I joked with

Markum when he walked into the candleshop
just before lunch. “I was beginning to wonder if you were a vampire
or something.”

Markum yawned, then covered it with his
massive hand. “Yeah, this isn’t exactly my time of day, but I’ve
got to adjust to a new schedule.”

“
Is it the job in Eastern
Europe you were telling me about?”

“
No, it’s something else,”
he said, picking up a carved candle I’d done a week earlier. “How
do you get it to drip like this?”

“
You have to do it while the
wax is still warm,” I said.

He glanced at the price, so I added, “It’s a
time-consuming process.”

“
Harrison, I run my own
business, too, remember? You have to charge what the job is worth
to you, or it doesn’t make sense doing it.” He pulled out his
wallet and said, “In fact, I’d like this one for my
office.”

There were no customers in my shop at the
time. “Tell you what, you can have it. You’ve helped me out enough
out here.”

Markum slid two twenties across the counter.
“Appreciate the offer, but I think I’ll enjoy it more if I pay for
it.”

I took his money, handed him a little
change, and said, “Then I thank you.”

He grinned. “Now I can burn it without any
guilt. If you’d have given me the thing, I’d have felt bad every
time I lit it.” He said, “Pearly been around?”

“
Heather was here this
morning asking the same thing. If he’s anywhere near River’s Edge,
he hasn’t let me know about it. I told Heather he was a big boy.
He’s been taking care of himself long before any of us were
around.”

“
Too true, but he hasn’t had
a cloud like this one hanging over him, I’ll wager.”

That got my attention. “Do you think we
should be worried?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m sure he’s fine.
Knowing Pearly, he’s probably got three or four places to hide out,
no doubt rated in order by convenience, amenities and risks of
being discovered. The man’s methodical; you have to give him
that.”

Talking about Pearly, I suddenly realized I
hadn’t told Markum about what I’d discovered under the handyman’s
workbench or about Evelyn spotting the clown just before Gretel had
been shot. “I’ve been meaning to tell you something. I uncovered
two things that I think might be related to what happened to
Gretel. I found a tube of greasepaint under Pearly’s workbench
yesterday, and a woman I saw at the festival just before Gretel was
shot said she saw a clown hanging around Gretel’s booth. It would
be the perfect disguise with all that activity going on, wouldn’t
it? It sounds like somebody’s trying to set Pearly up.”

“
It surely does. Did you see
anybody dressed like a clown the day of the fair?”

There had been clowns, jugglers and
balloon-twisters wandering the streets all morning, but then I
remembered the clown perched on the courthouse steps. “You know
what? I think I nearly tripped on him.” I told Markum what I’d seen
the day of the festival.

He said, “So at least now we think we know
what happened. One of our suspects was dressed up like a clown,
pulled out a gun and shot Gretel, then faded back into the
crowd.”