Death Waxed Over (Book 3 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) (26 page)

Tom said, “You pulled me away from my work
so we could look at clowns? You’ve got to be kidding.” He fiddled
with some dials as he complained, and the clown jumped into intense
clarity. He did something else to move the entire tape over to one
side, and I could now see all of the clown in the display.

“
Can you run the tape this
way?”

He didn’t say anything, but tapped another
button and I saw the clown moving in reverse. When the start of the
shot arrived and the scene shifted, he started it again.

“
There’s no audio here, just
background noise,” he said.

“
I’m not expecting him to
say anything,” I said. I watched as the clown sat down on the
courthouse steps, much as I’d found him the day Gretel had been
shot.

And then I saw something that told me,
without a doubt, who had killed Gretel Barnett.

I forgot myself and pointed to the screen
again. “Freeze it right there. I need a copy of that.”

Tom froze it, hit the copy button and handed
me the print. I wasn’t sure it was evidence that would hold up in
any court of law, but I was convinced.

“
Thanks, you two, you’ve
helped more than you’ll ever know.”

They both looked bewildered by my behavior
as I handed Mary Fran two dollars, but there was no time to
explain. I had a murderer to confront.

I tried to get the sheriff, but he wouldn’t
come to the telephone. Evidently Vince or Vance or whatever his
real name was confessing to crimes that no one had the slightest
idea he’d ever committed. I considered getting one of Morton’s
deputies to back me up, but I really didn’t know any of them well
enough to share my theory with.

I made up my mind to confront the man
myself. After all, it was broad daylight in a busy part of town. He
wouldn’t have the nerve to try anything with the world walking past
his front door.

Chapter 20

“
Harrison, I trust you’ve
brought the cash with you,” Jubal said as I walked into his
store.

“
I’ve got it right here,” I
said, patting my back pocket. “I’m just sorry it couldn’t be
more.”

“
My friend, I already told
you, whatever you came up with will be fine with me.”

I kept my back to the glass, making sure I
was always in sight of the street, as I said casually, “Of course,
you’ve got the rest of your inheritance to see you through, don’t
you?”

He looked at me oddly. “I thought we’d
already discussed this. Gretel didn’t leave me a thing.”

“
As Jubal, no, but as Hans,
you’re going to make a real killing when you sell this building to
Runion, not to mention getting everything else Gretel
had.”

Jubal said, “Harrison, I’m afraid you’ve
been out in the sun too long. I’m not Hans.”

“
Come on, there’s nobody
here but the two of us. Do you honestly think you’re going to get
away with this?”

He eased up to the register as he said, “I
truly don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“
Okay, if you want me to lay
it out for you, I will. You see, I knew you killed Gretel before I
realized who you were. It wasn’t until after I figured out you were
the murderer that I realized that meant you had to be
Hans.”

He kept fidgeting with something, but I was
on a roll. I pulled out the photograph, laid it on the counter and
said, “You were the clown I saw that day at the fair. One of your
customers came by here to buy some supplies, but you were closed,
though you denied it later to me. I told you, candlemakers can be a
persistent lot. When she saw you were gone, she went to the fair to
buy her supplies there. She was talking to Gretel just before you
killed her.”

He looked at the copy and said, “How could
you possibly think I’m the person behind this clown makeup, let
alone prove it?”

I pointed to the photograph and said, “You
mean besides the fact that you used to work on a carnival? I’m sure
you learned how to apply that makeup; you did a first-class job
when I saw you.”

“
And what makes you think
that?”

“
In a way, Gretel provided
that clue herself. She made a diary entry on her web page with your
bio on it. I’d forgotten all about it until this morning. It fits,
but there’s more to it than that. You’re rubbing the bridge of your
nose in this photograph, just like you did last night. I figure
it’s a nervous habit. You probably don’t even realize you’re doing
it.”

His hand started to go to his nose, but
stopped halfway there. “And you call this proof? The police are
convinced Pearly killed Gretel. It could just have easily been him
in the clown makeup.”

“
Come on, I found the tube
you planted under his workbench. Micah’s Ridge isn’t that big. I’m
willing to bet there’s a pretty good chance one of the clerks at
Party World will be able to identify you. It’s not going to come to
that, though, is it? Your fingerprints are going to give you away
as Hans Barnett, not Jubal Grant. That’s why you wanted cash today,
wasn’t it? It’s the same reason Jubal Grant didn’t get anything in
Gretel’s will; he doesn’t exist.”

“
So what,” the man said.
“That still doesn’t prove I killed her. Where’s the
gun?”

“
You were pretty clever
about that, I’ll give you credit there. I’ve got a feeling I know
where you stashed it, though.”

“
You’re bluffing,” Hans said
fiercely.

“
Don’t you wish. You see, I
noticed something else when I was looking at the video taken on the
day of the fair. That cannon had a plug in its barrel that wasn’t
there when I set up that morning. You made something to fit, shoved
the gun in during the confusion and capped it with your homemade
plug just in case you were stopped. It was pretty clever of you.
Did you plan to retrieve it on your way out of town?”

Instead of replying, I finally saw what he
was digging for by the register, and I couldn’t believe how stupid
I’d been. It was a boning knife, not much of a weapon against the
police and their guns, but it was more than I had.

I tried to keep my voice calm as I said,
“What are you going to do with that? If you kill me, the police
will come looking for you.”

The man smiled and said, “No, I believe
they’ll come looking for Jubal, and the second I walk out that
door, he’s not going to exist anymore.”

“
You’ll have to kill both of
us,” Pearly said as he came out of the backroom.

I don’t know who was more surprised to see
him, Hans or me. As the knife wavered in his hand, he said, “How
did you get back there?”

“
You really should lock your
rear exit,” he said.

“
It was locked.”

Pearly smiled and joined me at the front
door. “But not deadbolted. I managed to force the lock with a
screwdriver and come in.”

“
But how did you know?” I
asked.

“
I’ve been following you for
the last two days. I knew if anyone figured this mess out, it would
be you.” He turned to Hans and said, “There’s no way you’re going
to get both of us.”

Hans considered doing just that, then he
bolted for the back. I started after him but Pearly grabbed my arm.
In a minute I knew why. We walked to the back of the shop and I saw
Morton slapping the handcuffs on the murderer.

“
You’re here, too,” I asked.
“What happened to Vince?”

“
I figured he was safe
enough locked up in a cell. Pearly waved me down in the street a
few minutes ago and I almost ran him over. If I hadn’t heard it out
of this guy’s mouth himself, I still probably wouldn’t have
believed it.”

“
He wanted to arrest me, but
I insisted he come with me first,” Pearly said with a smile. “As
soon as I heard what you two were discussing, I ducked out for
assistance.”

“
Let’s go,” Morton said to
Hans. “We’ll go out the front way this time.”

Hans said, “Surely you don’t believe any of
this.”

“
Let’s just say I’m willing
to pursue it long enough to find out who you really
are.”

Hans shook his head in disgust. He knew he
was caught.

I had to add, “If you hadn’t been greedy
wanting to sell those supplies, I wouldn’t have put it all together
until it was too late. Think about that when you’re rotting away in
jail for murder.”

He lunged at me then, but Morton had a good
hold on the cuffs and jerked him back.

The sheriff looked at me and said, “Now,
Harrison, what have I told you in the past? Don’t poke the bear.
Listen, hang around a minute until I can get a black-and-white over
here.”

After they were gone, Pearly said, “So what
happens now? Did you actually buy this inventory from him?”

I shook my head. “No, I didn’t figure it was
his to sell since he came by it through murder.”

“
So what do we do now?”
Pearly asked.

“
We wait for the deputy,
then we get you back to River’s Edge. We’ve missed having you
there, my friend.”

“
And I’ve missed being
there,” he said. He held my wallet up and said, “Did you miss this
yet?”

I took it and said, “Where’d you find
it?”

“
It was in the backroom. I
thought you might be needing it.”

“
Thanks,” I said.

Sheriff Morton came back alone. “He’s on his
way to the station. Listen, I want to say something to both of you
while I’ve got the chance.”

“
There’s no need to
apologize,” I said.

Morton looked startled by the suggestion.
“What makes you think I owe you an apology?”

Pearly said, “Let’s see, you practically
accused us both of murder. Isn’t that a good place to start?”

Morton shook his head. “This is why I hate
working with amateurs. I was just doing my job. I don’t make any
excuses for that.”

“
So what did you want to
say?”

“
I wanted to thank you both
for your help, but I’m not sure I still want to.”

I grinned at him. “It’s too late now, isn’t
it?”

Pearly asked, “So what’s going to happen to
all this?”

Morton shrugged. “It’s not any of my
business. Now let’s get out of here. I’ve got an officer in back to
watch the place until we can lock it up. Somebody did a real number
on the lock in back. I wonder who that could have been.”

Pearly said, “I wonder.”

We left Morton, and Pearly and I drove our
vehicles back to River’s Edge. We met again on the front steps, and
Pearly said, “Harrison, I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

“
I’m not the only one here
who believed in you. We all knew you were innocent.”

“
Based on what? I have to
admit, the evidence did seem to point in my direction.”

I slapped him on the back. “Yeah, but when
your family’s in trouble, you stand behind them. That’s what we all
did.”

“
Then I’m glad to be a
member of this particular clan.”

Eve must have spotted us outside. She came
bustling over, glanced at Pearly and told him, “It’s high time you
stopped skulking around here.”

Before Pearly could reply, Eve turned to me
and said, “I stayed up most of the night, but I’ve got the pricing
done. You just need to plug in the inventory numbers and we’ll be
set.”

I didn’t know how to tell her that the deal
had fallen through, but she must have read something on my face.
“Harrison Black, I can’t believe you let this slip out of your
hands. Just when we have the chance to make some headway, you
manage yet again to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”

She stormed back to the candleshop, and it
was all Pearly and I could do to hold our laughter in until she was
gone.

Pearly said, “Now I really feel like I’m
back home.”

Dorothea Hurley’s Top-Secret Apple Pan Dowdy
Recipe

(the one that Millie borrowed)

Ingredients

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups sliced and peeled apples (tart works
well, one or two apples are plenty, depending on their size)

1/3 cup sugar

3/4 cup flour 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup shortening (we use real butter)

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

Combine the brown sugar, nutmeg and
cinnamon. Coat the sliced apples in the brown sugar-nutmeg-cinnamon
mix. Preheat oven, then place apple mixture in a buttered
1-quart baking dish and bake covered for 30 minutes at 375
degrees.

In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, flour,
baking powder and salt. Cut in the softened shortening (butter),
and add the egg and milk. Stir until well mixed, then spread over
the apples (still in their dish) and bake uncovered for another 30
minutes, still at 375 degrees.

This was one of my late mother-in-law’s
desserts, still a real family favorite at our house. Some folks
like to pour a little cold milk over their portion, but I like a
glass of milk on the side.

Assorted Candlemaking Tips for Gel
candles

By adjusting the temperature of the wax, you
can get some interesting shapes and forms in the candle using the
wax itself.

Play with different temperatures to get a
varying amount of bubbles in the wax. For undersea candles, a
popular choice for gel wax, we pour the wax as soon as it’s melted.
That gives lots and lots of bubbles.

Sometimes we make small amounts of vivid wax
combinations; pour the heated wax on a cookie sheet and let the
different colors cool. The wax stays thin, around one-eighth inch.
Then we cut out shapes from the wax and stick them to the insides
of the glass. It provides a bright kaleidoscope of colors when
clear gel wax is poured into the candle.