Invitation to Murder (Book 1 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) (3 page)

“
How are the two marauders
doing?”

“
They’re both fine. I’ll
tell them you asked about them.”

He grinned. “You do that.” Greg’s smile
faded as he added, “Listen, you know I’m just a phone call away if
you need me, right? No matter what’s happened between us in the
past, I still care about you, Jennifer.”

This was getting way too serious for my
tastes, especially out in the middle of Oakmont Avenue where all
the world could see us “

“
Thanks, but I’m
fine.”

I got into my ancient
Gremlin and headed home. After the day I’d had, it would be good to
take a long, hot bath, eat some comfort food and hang out with t my
cats.

Unfortunately, life didn’t always work out
the way I planned it.

Sara Lynn—my big sister with an even bigger
chip on her shoulder—was waiting by my apartment’s front door when
I got home.

Before she could say a thing, I decided to
fire a preemptive strike. “Sis, I’ve had a really long day, and I’m
not in the mood to deal with this feud right now.”

My sister stood and, without a word, wrapped
her arms around me. Suddenly the arguments, the conflict, the
anger—all of it faded away as she held me close and stroked my
hair. “Jen, I’m so sorry. Forgive me.”

And then I remembered why I loved her so
much.

In ten minutes, we were having coffee and
watching Oggie and Nash eat their dinner. “Bradford called me, you
know,” Sara Lynn said.

“
Of course he did. Can you
imagine our dear sweet brother going a single minute without trying
to fix something wrong between us?”

Sara Lynn laughed. “Well, that’s what he’s
good at, isn’t it?” While Bradford and I were both tall and dark
like our mother, Sara Lynn resembled our father, right down to the
wiry platinum blonde hair and petite stature. It had been hard for
her to watch her little brother and sister shoot up past her, but
Sara Lynn had made up for her height with an iron backbone and a
will that was nearly impossible to bend. “Tell me about the phone
call,” she said.

I put my cup down. “Of course the sheriff
felt the need to tell you about that, too.”

“
He cares about you, and
he’s worried. So am I. Listen, why don’t you and your two comrades
over there come stay at my place for a few days?”

“
Yeah, I’m sure Bailey
would just love that. He’s still allergic to cats, isn’t
he?”

“
My husband can take a
pill if it bothers him.” Bailey was known throughout the family for
his myriad litany of mysterious pains and ailments, and we often
wondered how Sara Lynn put up with him. She continued. “You’re
always welcome in our home. You know that.”

“
Thanks, but I’m happy
right where I am.” The only place I needed to be was exactly where
I was: in my apartment. So what if the bathroom door stuck
sometimes? It didn’t even matter that there was a water spot
growing on the ceiling that I hadn’t been able to get the super to
fix or that the kitchen floor sloped down in one corner. Regardless
of its flaws, or maybe even because of them, it was
home.

Sara Lynn frowned, then asked, “What if the
person on the other end of the telephone tracks you down?”

“
It’s not going to
happen,” I said. “You know, the more I think about it, the more I’m
starting to believe it was just a prank after all. Now can we
please talk about something else?” I didn’t believe it for one
second, but I was willing to say just about anything to get my
brother and sister off my back.

Sara Lynn took a sip of coffee, then said,
“If that’s what you want, we’ll talk about something else. So how’s
business?”

I took a deep breath, then said, “Is there
any chance we can go back to the telephone call?”

“
Jennifer, you were still
in college when I opened Forever Memories. The first three weeks I
had a total of seven customers.”

“
At this point I’d gladly
take that.” Sara Lynn patted my hand. “You’ll do fine. Why don’t I
refer some of my regulars your way?”

“
I can do this on my own.
I don’t need anybody’s help. Are we clear on that?”

“
That’s my little sister,
ready to tackle the world bare-handed.”

I stifled a yawn, then said, “What I’m ready
for right now is a bite to eat and my bed. Listen, I’m glad
everything’s good between us again, but truly and honestly, I’m
beat.”

She glanced at her watch. “And I’m late for
dinner. Bailey’s making his famous three-alarm chili tonight. I’m
beginning to regret letting him take over my kitchen two nights a
week. I’d rather cook myself than eat chili and eggs all the time
on his dinner nights.”

“
So teach him to cook
something else,” I said as I followed her to the door.

“
I’d have better luck
teaching your cats to sing.”

For some odd reason, Oggie decided to yowl
at that exact moment. Sara Lynn said, “Sometimes those cats of
yours are spooky.”

“
Didn’t you know? All
felines have ESP.”

She rolled her eyes, but didn’t comment. She
knew better than to say anything about either one of my roommates.
“I’d like to come by your shop tomorrow, if you don’t mind.”

“
That depends on why
you’re interested. Do you want to check up on me, or are you sizing
me up as your competition?”

“
What if it’s a little bit
of both?”

I laughed. “Then I’d have to say you’re
welcome to visit. Make it early, though, could you? I’d hate to see
you get trampled in the rush of customers.”

“
I’ll be there bright and
early,” Sara Lynn said, and then she was gone.

Normally I would have called my best friend,
Gail Lowry, before I ate, especially with what had happened
earlier. But she was out of town for two weeks at a sales
conference on the West Coast. Gail had been gone just two days, but
I missed her already. We were two single ladies barely into our
thirties, and while most of the other women we knew our age were
either married or working on it, neither one of us was in any hurry
to walk down the aisle.

I found myself humming softly to myself as I
heated up some leftover lasagna from the night before. Even with
everything that had happened, I still felt better than I had in
weeks. Fighting with my sister had taken more out of me than I’d
realized. I caught myself singing out loud when I noticed that
Oggie and Nash were both staring at me like I’d grown a second
head. “Come on, I put up with a lot of odd behavior from you two,”
I said. “You can just deal with it.”

They were unimpressed with my argument and
went back to their normal interests. Nash was playing with his
catnip mouse, barely recognizable from wear and tear, while Oggie
was staring out the window in earnest. I didn’t realize why until a
few minutes later when it started to rain. Blast it all, it was
almost as if that crazy cat knew the storm was coming and was
waiting for the first drops. I stuck my tongue out at him and went
to bed. I had enough on my mind without worrying about a psychic
cat.

The telephone rang at
2:47
a.m
. “Hello?
Hello.”

“
Fm drunk, Annie,” the
woman’s voice said in a near whisper.

“
I'm not
Annie.”

There was a pause, then she said, “Would you
come get me anyway?”

“
I think you need to call
a taxi.”

“
Cabs cost money. Come on,
be a sport.”

“
Good luck, and good
night.” I turned the ringer off before I cradled the telephone back
in its base.

With the kind of calls I’d gotten in the
past twelve hours, I was ready to throw every telephone I owned out
into the street and go without.

Bradford was standing by
my apartment door when I walked out to get my newspaper the next
morning. It had taken half a dozen telephone calls and a monthly I
chocolate-chip-cookie bribe to convince the paperboy to deliver my
edition upstairs on the second-floor landing outside my door every
morning, but it was worth it not to have to trudge any farther than
I had I to before I was fully awake.

“
Have you been out here
all night?” I asked him. “Relax. I just got here. So how did you
sleep?”

“
Fine.” Then I remembered
the drunken caller, and felt guilty about hanging up on her. “Were
there any car accidents last night, by any chance?”

“
Why, were you out
joyriding in that rust bucket of yours?”

“
Come on, Bradford, I need
to know.” He scratched his chin a minute, then said, “No, it I was
a quiet night. As far as I’ve heard, there were no accidents, no
break-ins, nothing out of the ordinary. Do you think your telephone
call had anything to do with, a car wreck?”

“
What? How did you know
about that? What did you do, tap my phone line?”

“
Take it easy, Jen. You
told me about the call yourself yesterday afternoon,
remember?”

“
Oh, you’re talking about
the call at the store.” He looked taken aback. “You mean there have
been others?”

I told him about the drunk
woman calling me in the middle of the night. He said, “It was
probably just someone from one of the taverns.”

“
So why are you
here?”

“
I wanted to let you know
that we haven’t found I anything that might relate to the call you
got at the card shop. I don’t know. I kind of thought it might case
your mind.”

I kissed his cheek. “It helps, it really
does. Thanks for coming by.”

“
You’re most
welcome.”

“
Listen, would you like to
join me for breakfast? I’m just getting ready to eat.” I’d been
planning to have a yogurt for breakfast, but if my brother could
come over and check on me, I could make him some eggs. I knew his
wife had him on a strict new diet, but I figured a little real food
wouldn’t hurt him.

“
That sounds great,” he
said as the radio on his belt suddenly squawked.

“
Sheriff, are you
there?”

He answered it. “Right here, Jody. What’s
up?”

His deputy said, “I need you at 136 Elm
right away.”

“
What’s going
on?”

“
We found a body,
Bradford. She looks like she’s barely out of her teens. It’s pretty
bad.”

My brother said, “Don’t touch anything. I’ll
be right there.”

As he hurried to his squad car, he said,
“Sorry, Sis, I’ve got to go.”

I nodded and watched him drive away. There
was a knotted fist in my gut as I found myself wondering if it was
the woman I’d heard scream the day before.

Sara Lynn was waiting for me out front when
I got to my card shop. “Wow, when you say early, you mean early,” I
said as I unlocked the door and let her in. The mail had already
come—pushed through the slot in the door and scattered on the
floor—and I gathered it up and laid it on the counter as I flipped
on the lights.

“
I didn’t want to
interrupt you during regular business hours,” she said as she
looked around. Most likely Sara Lynn didn’t want to be away from
her business if it was open. I’d been dreading the day my sister
finally stepped into my shop; I knew that under her scrutiny all of
its flaws would be exposed. I watched her walk around, studying
everything, not giving away the slightest emotion as she did
so.

“
I love it,” she finally
said, and I felt the relief rush through me. “It’s really quaint.
Jennifer, you’ve done a wonderful job.”

“
Let’s hope my customers
think so,” I said.

“
They’ll come; don’t you
worry about that. Have you planned any grand-opening sales events
of advertising? I can help there, you know.”

“
I thought I’d take a few
days to work out the bugs before I made any formal announcement to
the world.”

“
Don’t wait too long. Now
is the time to strike, while your store is brand-new. I’ve got some
wonderful ideas on how to promote your shop.”

I could see the wheels turning in her head.
I wasn’t about to let my sister take over my card shop, as much as
I loved her. “Don’t, Sara Lynn.”

“
What? I can’t help my
baby sister?”

“
I can handle it myself.”
I glanced at the clock. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready to open
your own shop?”

“
Goodness, look at the
time.” As she started for the door, she turned back to me and said,
“This discussion isn’t over, young lady. I can be a valuable
resource for you, and I’m not going to let you squander
it.”

“
Bye,” I said, not
trusting myself to say anything else. There were some great things
about being the baby of the family, but sometimes they were all
outweighed by my siblings’ desire to run my life for me. I was
going to have to stand firm and keep saying no until it got through
to Bradford and Sara Lynn that I was going to do this on my own,
whether it meant roaring success or dismal failure.

After Sara Lynn was gone, I was officially
open for business, but customers hadn’t been waiting in line to get
inside. The stack of mail was still sitting on the counter, but I
couldn’t imagine that there was anything but bills and unwanted
solicitations in the pile. If the past few days had been any
indication, I wouldn’t have much to do all day, so I decided to
save the mail for later. I couldn’t start working on the Albright
wedding invitations until I spoke with the mother of the bride
again. She’d made a deposit, but I still had no idea what she
wanted. That didn’t mean I couldn’t make a few cards of my own. I
browsed through the shop with a basket, pretending for a moment
that I was a customer instead of the proprietor. I decided to make
a card without any intention of selling it, just for the joy of the
creation. I chose a burgundy paper I’d made myself, and grabbed
another sheet of shimmering silver I’d bought, a gel pen, some
scissors, a couple of punches and a nice selection of star
stickers. I lingered over the selection of pressed flowers and
thought about adding a violet. I was really interested in
botanicals at the moment, even pressing my own flowers when I had
the chance, but I decided this card would be flowerless.