Invitation to Murder (Book 1 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) (26 page)

“
I’m telling you, you’re
mistaken. I was here working a double shift from noon to
midnight.”

“
Surely they give you time
for a break,” Lillian said. “At least enough to dash out and return
a tape.”

“
Are you kidding me? Two
other waitresses called in sick. I had to handle everything myself.
Jack even had to back me up. I didn’t have time to go to the
bathroom, let alone take a tape back.”

“
My mistake, then. I’m
sorry I said anything.”

“
It’s no problem, really.
Those video guys are relentless, aren’t they?”

“
They can be,” Lillian
said as she paid the bill. “Keep the change. It was
delightful.”

When Beth saw the size of her tip, she
brightened immediately. “Come back any time.”

“
We will, I assure you,”
Lillian replied.

On our way out, Lillian hesitated at Jack’s
station up front. “Can I help you?” he asked.

“
We tried to come by on
Tuesday afternoon, but someone met us outside and told us the
service was horrid.”

Jack frowned. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that.
We were jammed with customers, and Beth was my only waitress. I
thought she was going to quit on me, I worked her so hard.”

“
Well, today’s fare was
delicious,” Lillian said.

“
Thanks,” Jack said. “I
appreciate that.”

I waited until we were out on the sidewalk
before

I applauded. “Neither one of them even knew
what hit them. I’m the first to admit it; I was wrong. Not only did
you get an alibi from Beth, but you confirmed it right on the spot.
I’m impressed.”

“
Please, it wasn’t all
that difficult,” Lillian said, despite the slight smile. I could
tell she was pleased with the praise, but she deserved it. I was
definitely going to school on my aunt’s techniques for dealing with
people.

“
At least we can cross one
name off our list,” I said.

“
Yes, but I hate losing
our best suspect.”

The rest of the day was uneventful, and we
were thirty minutes away from locking up for the night when I saw
my brother’s squad car drive up.

“
What’s wrong?” I asked
the second I saw his face.

“
We still have something
to talk about,” he said.

I turned to Lillian as I blocked Bradford’s
view to the inside. “Can you handle things here for a little bit?”
There was no way I wanted my brother to see that marker board with
our musings scribbled all over it. He would probably lock us both
up if he did.

“
I’d be happy to,” she
said.

“
I shouldn’t be long,” I
said as I steered my brother outside. As Bradford and I started
walking, he said “Listen, I’m sorry I ran off like that before, but
I had to go.”

“
I know that. I’m not
completely unreasonable,” I said, though I had to admit that at
times I could be the slightest bit difficult to deal
with.

If he had a response, he kept it to himself,
a sure sign that something was troubling my big brother. I grabbed
his arm and stopped him in front of The Apothecary, a drugstore
that carried a little of everything a tourist could want. “What is
it?”

“
I shouldn’t tell you
this, but I don’t want you finding out from somebody else, either.
Jennifer, if I tell you something that’s confidential, do you swear
not to breathe a word of it to anyone, at least not until it is
common knowledge?”

I didn’t even have to think about it. “No, I
can’t swear that to you.”

He looked surprised. “You’re kidding,
right?”

“
I’m not. Bradford, if it
involves Tina Mast’s murder, and I’m pretty sure it does, I’m not
promising anything I can’t keep. I’m sorry, but I won’t lie to
you.”

He thought about it a few seconds, then
said, “You drive me nuts; you know that, don’t you?”

“
Hey, everybody’s good at
something.”

“
Okay, I’m going to tell
you anyway. It’s going to be all around town in a day or two, so
I’m not sure how much damage you can do. One thing, though. If you
tell anyone where you heard this, I’ll deny it. Do we understand
each other?”

“
I can live with that,” I
said, dying to hear what he had to say.

“
I’ve known about this
since last night. They finished the autopsy on Tina
Mast.”

“
You mean she wasn’t
killed the way we thought she was?” I didn’t even want to think
about what that might mean.

“
No, her death was
directly due to the blunt trauma she suffered, all right. That
wasn’t the interesting part, though.

“
Tina Mast was pregnant
when she was murdered.”

Chapter 19

“
Do you have any idea who
the father was?” I blurt out. This put an entirely different spin
on her murder.

“
We don’t know, and none
of her friends are talking. Listen, that’s all I know at the
moment. I just thought you’d like to hear it from me before
everybody else in town finds out.”

He started to walk off when I thought of
another question. “How far along was she?”

Bradford hurried back to me. “Keep your
voice down, Jennifer.”

“
I’m sorry. Did the report
say?”

“
She was just four weeks,”
he said. “She might not have even known she was pregnant herself.
Sometime I think I should have gone into some other line of
work.”

“
You’re doing exactly what
you should be doing,” I said, gently touching my brother’s
shoulder. “There’s no one else in the world I’d rather have as
sheriff of Rebel Forge.”

“
It didn’t do Tina Mast or
her baby much good, did it?”

“
Bradford, you can’t save
everybody.”

He sighed. “No, but that doesn’t mean I
don’t wish I could.”

My brother walked me back to the shop, then
left. I found Lillian working at the table, no doubt coming up with
another acerbic card for her new collection. “Get out your board,”
I said. “I just learned something that could change
everything.”

“
What did he say?” Lillian
asked. “Tina Mast was pregnant.” My aunt’s face went white. “How
horrible.”

“
It’s pretty tragic, isn’t
it? I wonder if the murderer knew.”

Lillian swept her cards aside and put the
whiteboard pen top of the desk. “It’s something that finally makes
sense. Somebody wanted to get rid of that baby.”

I studied the list. “Do you honestly think
it’s relevant? Why would a woman kill her because she was
pregnant?”

“
Why does anyone commit
murder?” Lillian asked. “If it’s not for love or greed, it could be
that the killer was trying to protect something.”

“
Like her upcoming
marriage,” I said, remembering how detached Donna had seemed when
she’d talked about the wedding.

It was Lillian’s turn to look surprised, but
it only lasted for an instant. “You’re saying that Larry got both
of them pregnant at nearly the same time?”

“
It makes sense,” I said,
tapping her name on the ward. “Remember what Donna said? They had
an argument a while back, but they managed to patch things
up.”

“
So you think he found
some solace in Tina’s arms. It’s an interesting theory, but how do
we prove any of it?”

I thought about it a few seconds. “We need
to talk to Donna again. I want to see if she’s got an alibi that
stands up.”

“
And if she doesn’t?”
Lillian asked. “Then we tell Bradford what we know and let him Hart
digging into it himself. I’m not arrogant enough to think that I
can do this alone, but I think my Mother needs a nudge in the right
direction. What do you think?”

“
Let’s go find Donna,” she
said. I remembered my pledge to keep the shop open. “Lillian, I
need to ask you a huge favor. You don’t have to do it, but it would
mean a great deal to me. “Let me guess,” she said dryly. “You want
me to stay here.”

I touched her hand. “I’m trusting you to run
m shop while I’m gone. It’s the most important thing my life
besides my family. Will you do it for me?”

She bit her lower lip, then said, “When you
put that way, I don’t see how I can refuse you. Just be careful,
Jennifer. If we’re right, she’s already killed once to protect her
wedding. I doubt hurting you would even faze her.”

“
I’ll watch my step,” I
said. “You can close up in twenty minutes.”

“
Don’t worry; I’ve got
things under control here.” I left Lillian and went off in search
of a woman who just might turn out to be the ultimate bridezilla of
all time.

Anne Albright answered the door when I
rang

“
Jennifer, whatever in the
world are you doing here?”

“
I was hoping to speak
with your daughter for a few minutes,” I said. I should have come
up with a reason for the visit on my drive over, but I’d been too
nervous about the pending interview to create anything that even
bordered on a rational excuse for questions I had.

“
May I ask what it is
regarding?”

“
It’s about the wedding,”
I said.

“
What about the
wedding?”

This woman was not about to let me in the
house let alone talk to her daughter, unless I could come up with
something good.

“
I’m thinking about
getting married myself, and I hoped I could discuss it with
her.”

Mrs. Albright looked pleased by the news.
“How delightful. I didn’t even realize you had a young man n your
life.”

“
We’ve kept it quiet up
until now,” I said, burying myself deeper and deeper in the lie.
“Please, could I speak with her?” Mrs. Albright said, “I’m afraid
she’s not here.” Why hadn’t she said something in the first place
before forcing me to come up with a very bad lie? “Would you mind
telling me where she is?”

“
She and Larry have been
at the church for their first counseling session, and then she was
going to pick her wedding dress up at A Clean Well-Lit Shop. Her
dress is the same one I wore on my wedding day, you
know.”

“
How delightful for you,”
I said as I backed away. “I’ll catch up with her later,
then.”

“
Congratulations, my dear.
I recommend marriage or everyone.”

“
Thanks,” I said. I
couldn’t wait to get out of there. At least I hadn’t let her bully
me into giving the name of my fictitious fiancé. I’d been about to
blurt Greg’s name when she’d asked, and that had shocked me. I
thought my feelings for him were long over, but his name had popped
into my head like the answer to a question on Jeopardy! What in the
world did that mean?

I thought about bracing the couple at the
church, but then I realized I might have better luck if I ambushed
them at the dry cleaner’s. That way I could pretend to be out on an
errand of my own. The story wouldn’t hold when Donna spoke to her
mother, but it might help me to catch her off guard. All I had to
do was find a way to cut Larry away from her so I could grill her
without interruption.

I drove to A Clean Well-Lit Shop and waited
across the street Hopefully they hadn’t gotten there yet, but I was
willing to give it some time. As I waited, I bought about the
puzzle pieces of the crime, and considered them with Donna as the
murderer. She certainly fit the description as a woman, and she’d
had earrings along with everyone else. I wondered about the
earrings she’d produced, but she could have easily had a spare
pair, or she could have just stolen he fiancé’s single one left
over. Who would have better access to it than the bride-to-be? Was
she capable of a murder, though? I thought about the strength of
will it would take to kill another human being and doubted I could
ever bring myself to it, but not everyone was wired the way I was.
I knew the urge to protect was strong in many women. So could Donna
kill to protect her upcoming marriage? I didn’t have much doubt, if
Larry was indeed the father of Tina’s baby. I was still thinking
about the possibilities when I saw Donna get out of a car. Larry
waved to her then drove off, no doubt taking care of an errand of
his own. I raced across the street and walked in us as Donna was
collecting her dress.

“
What a coincidence,
running into you here,” I said. “Hi, Jennifer.” She held the dress
up. “Isn’t it lovely?”

“
It’s beautiful,” I
admitted. There were pearl beads on the bodice, and the silk of the
dress had an old world sheen to it. “Could I talk to you a second?”
“Certainly,” she said. Donna told the woman behind the counter,
“Just put it on our bill, Angela.”

“
No charge, Donna. Think
of it as an early wedding present.”

Donna hugged her, then said, “Thanks so
much! You did a great job.”

“
You’re very welcome,” the
clerk said. “It will look even lovelier on you than it did on your
mother. Tell her I said hello.”

“
I will.”

As we walked outside, I asked, “That was
your mother’s wedding dress?”

She admitted as much. “Angela and Mamma go
way back. When Mamma suggested I use her dress for our wedding, I
thought it was a wonderful idea. Unfortunately, I had to have it
altered; I’m not nearly as top-heavy as Mamma is. But Angela did a
great job. It looks magnificent.”