Snuffed Out (Book 2 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) (2 page)

When the sheriff returned with a heavy-duty
flashlight that no doubt doubled as a nightstick, I unlocked the
door to The Pot Shot and stepped aside so he could enter. It was
only natural that Esmeralda and I follow him inside.

“
You’re not bringing that
cat in here, are you?” the sheriff asked.

“
Don’t worry, I’ve got
her.”

He shook his head, but he didn’t forbid it,
so I figured it was okay. Despite my impromptu earlier
pronouncement, the sheriff knelt down and tried to find a pulse. As
he searched for the faintest sign of life, there was nothing I
could do but watch and wait. I found myself holding my breath as
Morton loomed over the dead man. Had I missed something? Was there
a chance Aaron hadn’t been dead when I’d come in? If so, I’d wasted
precious time by not calling an ambulance first.

Morton’s attention left the body, then his
beam of light trailed across the floor. It appeared to me that the
potter had been sitting at his wheel and had crashed onto the floor
beside it. Aaron had been about my age, somewhere in his thirties,
but I’d already lost one childhood friend to a heart attack, so I
knew that was a distinct possibility here. As the sheriff examined
the cord that ran from the pottery wheel to the outlet, I said, “He
is dead, isn’t he?”

“
Oh yes, I agree with your
diagnosis, Doctor.”

“
For how long? Can you
tell?”

Morton brushed away my questions as if they
were circling gnats. “What? I don’t know, but it’s been a while.
Listen, why don’t you wait upstairs? I’ll find you when I’m
finished here.”

“
Fine by me,” I said as I
started out with Esme. The cat was quiet in my grasp, almost
nestling inward toward me. Could she sense the presence of death in
the room, or was it due more to Heather’s abrupt
abandonment?

“
Wait a second,” Morton
called out as I neared the door. “This is it. It has to
be.”

“
What did you find?” I asked
as I hurried back toward him.

The sheriff shined his light on part of the
electrical cord, and I could see that it was so frayed some of the
wiring was showing through. Beside it was a puddle of water and a
nearly empty bucket. “I’d have to say it was accidental,” the
sheriff said. “Looks like he must have knocked the bucket over and
the water hit the wire.”

“
Then let’s unplug it so I
can get the power going,” I said. I didn’t mean to be callous about
the whole thing, but I did have a building without
electricity.

“
Not so fast,” the sheriff
said. “I need to get photos of all this first.”

“
You said yourself it was an
accident.”

Morton said, “You can wait for me to take
some pictures first. Hey, where are you going?”

“
Upstairs, like you
suggested,” I replied. “I’ve got a half-gallon of cherry-chocolate
ice cream in my freezer, and if you’re going to take as long as I
think you are, it’s going to melt by the time I get the power back
on. Can I bring you a bowl?”

Morton shook his head, then as I walked off,
he added, “Maybe just a little.”

I carried Esmeralda upstairs, found some
kitty litter from her last visit and used an old pan of Belle’s for
a litter box. I’d picked up a few extra cans of food at the store
for her, just in case she came visiting again. Esme seemed pleased
by the prospect of eating, and I wondered if Heather had already
fed her. Oh well, one extra meal wouldn’t do much harm. After she
was settled in, I got the ice cream out and scooped two bowls of
it.

By the time I got back downstairs, Morton
was nearly finished with his flash photography. Pearly was standing
by the doorway watching intently.

The second he saw me, he reached for one of
the bowls. “You’re a scholar and a gentleman, Harrison Black.
Thanks, I can surely use this.” He took a bite, then said, “Ice
cream is man’s finest hour, wouldn’t you say?”

“
I’d have to go with
penicillin, but I like the way you think.”

Pearly gestured inside with his spoon.
‘Terrible business, that.”

I nodded, then watched as Morton came out,
put his camera down, and took the other bowl out of my hands. Oh
well, there was enough for one more serving upstairs, if it didn’t
melt by the time I got back to it.

The sheriff took a bite, then said, “I
pulled the plug from the outlet, so if you want to reset the
breaker, you’ll most likely have power.”

Pearly said, “I’ll do it instantly.” I was
kind of hoping he’d forget about his ice cream, but he remembered
and took it with him back to the boiler room where the fuse box
stood.

Less than a minute later, half the stores in
River’s Edge lit up, including At Wick’s End, The New Age, and The
Pot Shot in front of us. “That will make taking the rest of the
photos easier,” Morton said. “I’ll be here a while, but I’d like to
talk to you before I leave. Will you be upstairs?”

“
I wish, but no, I’ll be in
the candleshop. I’ve got a big day tomorrow, and I’ve got to get
ready for it.”

“
No rest for the landlord,
is there? I’ll be by soon.”

I made a detour back upstairs before going
to the candleshop. I wanted to check on Esmeralda. I was concerned
when I couldn’t find her anywhere in the apartment, but when I
looked in my small bedroom again, I found her curled up on my
pillow, sound asleep.

It appeared that she had settled into my
place quite nicely.

I headed back downstairs, jiggling the door
to The New Age as I walked past. At least Heather had locked up
before coming to find me in front of the pottery shop. I had
assumed she had been outside looking for me after the power outage,
but after seeing her reaction when I’d told her of Aaron’s death, I
suddenly wasn’t all that sure.

As I reentered At Wick’s End, I tried to put
Aaron, Heather, and the rest of it all from my mind. Making
candles, especially when working with scalding hot wax, is serious
business, and I needed every bit of concentration I could give it
if I wanted to keep from getting burned.

I was building up a nice blue taper when
Morton walked into the store, the chime announcing his arrival.
“You’re really burning it at both ends, aren’t you?”

I tried to smile. “What better place for
that than a candleshop? Are you finished?”

“
They just took the body
away, and I’ve finished my preliminary work. I’ve got a forensic
team coming in the morning, but with so many folks out sick, it
might be a while. I taped the door, just in case, so don’t let
anyone in there, okay?”

“
They won’t get in with our
key,” I said, “But I can’t stand around and guard the
place.”

“
You’ve got your hands full,
don’t you,” he said as he gestured to the wax.

“
You want to know the truth?
It’s great fun. I’d be happy to give you a lesson sometime, if
you’re interested.”

Morton shook his head. “Thanks, but I think
I’ll pass.”

“
You don’t know what you’re
missing,” I said.

He looked around, then said, “I’ve got a
pretty good idea. Oh, that’s right. You don’t know about my
ex-wife. She was quite the candlemaker. The whole thing kind of
left a bad taste in my mouth, you know?”

“
Well, if you ever change
your mind, I’m here,” I said.

Morton tipped his hat, then left me to my
dipping.

I glanced at the clock and saw it was
approaching ten. If I was going to be fresh in the morning for my
one-on-one class, I needed to get some rest. Besides, there wasn’t
all that much wax left floating on top of the water, and what was
there was starting to congeal.

I still probably had time for that last bowl
of ice cream before I went to sleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night, I
bolted upright in bed in pitch darkness, having barely survived a
dream where I was attacked by a giant feather duster that was
trying to choke me.

Esme barely stirred on the pillow beside me
as her tail flopped lazily toward where my face had just been.

It was going to take some time getting used
to sleeping with a cat in my bed, and I wondered when Heather would
come back for her charge.

I worried about my new friend, but there was
nothing I could do for her at the moment.

And in a few hours, I was going to have to
get up and prepare for another assault by Mrs. Jorgenson.

Chapter 2

I had half-expected Heather to wake me
sometime in the night to collect Esme, but when my alarm clock
suddenly jumped to life the next morning blaring out a song I
hadn’t heard in twenty years, my houseguest was still with me.

“
Morning,’’ I said
automatically to the cat as I got up and stretched. Esmeralda
opened one eye, looked at me as if I’d just handed her a bill for
her night’s stay, then promptly went back to sleep. What a tough
life.

The shower managed to wake me up, but not
before I turned off the hot water supply and endured a sudden and
heart-stopping icy stream. I’m not normally a proponent of cold
showers, but I’d lost too much sleep tossing and turning the night
before, and I had to be fresh for Mrs. Jorgenson.

I knew just what would take care of whatever
cobwebs remained in my head that the shower hadn’t reached. I left
fresh water for Esme, added a little food to her bowl, then headed
downstairs for a cup of Millie’s coffee.

Millie Nelson ran The Crocked Pot, River’s
Edge’s answer to Starbucks, and she was also quickly becoming my
best friend.

“
Look what the cat dragged
in,” Millie said cheerfully as I took a seat at her long counter.
There was a display of pumpkin doughnuts on hand, something I’d
first tasted recently but had quickly found addicting. As I started
to reach for one, she said, “If you can wait two minutes, I’ll have
a fresh batch ready.”

“
I can wait. Coffee,” I
grunted, and Millie laughed.

“
Harrison Black, did you tie
one on last night?” She was too cheerful to have heard about Aaron
Gaston, and I dreaded having to break the news to her.

“
You haven’t heard,” I said
as I took a grateful sip of the coffee. It was hot enough to scald,
but I barely noticed. The older I get, the harder it is for me to
deal with sleep deprivation. And for me, anything short of eight
hours is just not enough.

“
Heard what?” she asked as
two golden pumpkin doughnuts suddenly appear before me.

“
Aaron Gaston. He died in
his shop last night.”

Millie dropped the mug she was holding, and
it shattered on the hardwood floor.

“
Millie? Are you all
right?”

She nodded. “Heather doesn’t know yet, does
she?”

“
She found out last night.
The second I told her, she tore out of here like River’s Edge was
on fire. She even left Esmeralda with me. What’s going
on?”

Millie ignored my question and retrieved a
dustpan and broom from the kitchen. As she swept up the shards of
pottery, I asked again. “Why did Heather react like she did?”

“
I’m not one to spread idle
stories,” she said, chasing the last fragment with her
broom.

“
There’s nothing idle about
this. A man died here last night.”

Millie blanched slightly, then asked, “How
did it happen?”

“
I’ll answer your question
if you answer mine,” I said.

“
You first,” Millie
insisted.

I nodded. “It was an accident. It appears
that a bucket of water spilled on a frayed power cord while he was
working.”

Millie looked somehow relieved by the news.
“Okay then. Heather and Aaron used to go out together.”

“
How long ago was this?” I
couldn’t imagine Heather and Aaron together. She’d treated him with
frost the few times they’d bumped into each other when I’d been
around them both.

“
They broke it off just
before you came to River’s Edge,” Millie said evenly. “Evidently it
was Aaron’s idea. Something about his wife. His ex-wife, I guess I
should say.”

“
Heather must have taken it
pretty hard,” I said.

“
You could say that.
Harrison, you should know that Aaron Gaston was a nice enough man
most of the time, but he could be a real jerk when it came to his
love life. The second his precious ex came back into his life, he
dropped Heather in a heartbeat. Of course the reconciliation didn’t
last, not with that woman’s history, but Aaron couldn’t even manage
to be cordial to Heather after that. It was as if he somehow blamed
her for his wife leaving him again.”

“
Funny, the last time I
talked to Aaron, he told me there was a new woman in his life. Then
he chuckled and said that he wasn’t sure you could call her exactly
new. I wonder if it’s possible he was talking about his ex-wife?
Who knows, he could have even meant Heather.”

I took a bite of doughnut, then Millie said,
“Are you eating those exclusively, or would you like to branch out
a little?”

“
What did you have in mind?”
I asked. “I’m always open to new things, but you’re going to have
to go quite a ways to top these.”

“
The recipe’s not quite
there yet, but I’m getting close. Maybe you can be my guinea pig
tomorrow if I’m ready.”

“
I’m your man,” I said, “But
if you keep feeding me like this, I’m going to have start
exercising more than just a walk every now and then.”