Invitation to Murder (Book 1 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) (5 page)

Lillian said, “Oooh, I feel so safe. Should
one of us go wake him?”

“
Let him sleep,” I said.
“In his defense, he probably worked all night.”

Lillian dusted her hands. “Fine. Now enough
of this chatter. Teach me to make cards.”

As I led her to the table that had become my
demonstration area by serendipity, I said, “You know, I’ve been
expecting you to show up ever since I opened.”

“
I’ve been busy with a new
suitor. Besides, after the riot act you read me about wanting to do
this on your own, I didn’t dare come by unannounced. Young lady,
the only way I was ever visiting this shop was by your personal
invitation.”

“
Sorry if I came on a
little strong,” I said. “I guess I’ve been a little overprotective
about my shop.”

She squeezed me with one
arm. “Jennifer, I simply can’t imagine where you inherited a
quality like that. Now let’s make some cards. Remember, you need
to
start with the basics for me. I’ve
never done more than address a card and mail it before.”

“
It’s really loads of
fun,” I said.

Lillian picked up an
ornate three-dimensional anniversary card with an intricate bouquet
of paper flowers, nestled in a woven basket; the card was
watercolor-washed, embossed and hand-stitched. “Let’s start with,
one of these.”

I gently took the card away from her. “That
might be a little advanced for you just yet.”

I handed her a sheet of regular white card
stock already cut to its basic size of five inches by ten inches,
Lillian asked, “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“
Patience, dear Aunt. It’s
the first card you’re going to make.”

“
With this?” she asked as
she held up the blank white card stock.

“
Believe it or not, this
is the best first step. We can create two basic cards with this
size stock. I’ve already cut it to the right size. The easiest card
to make is to just fold it in half, and then it’s ready to
adorn.”

She started to fold the sheet when I handed
her at metal ruler. “I like to make the fold with this so your get
a nice crisp edge. Put a light pencil mark at five inches on each
side; then fold the paper over the ruler until you have a sharp
crease.”

“
Jennifer Shane, I can
certainly fold a piece of paper in half without your detailed
instruction.”

I shrugged. “Go ahead, then.”

She bent the paper in half, matched up the
edges, then folded the stock. “See? It’s not that difficult.” I
took another sheet, did as I’d instructed her, and handed her my
fold. “Now compare our results.” She studied both cards, then
acknowledged, “Okay, your edge is crisper; I’ll grant you that. But
is it really that important?”

“
Lillian, in handcrafting
cards, everything is in the details. If you can’t understand that,
then I’m sorry I bothered you, but I won’t be able to use you
here.”

That got her attention. I hadn’t meant to
spank her so harshly, but I was serious about cards, and if she
couldn’t match my commitment and dedication, I didn’t want her
working in my shop.

Lillian said, “Okay, you’re the teacher.
I’ll do better, I promise.” She grabbed another sheet, folded it as
I’d suggested, then asked, “What’s next?”

“
The other card we can do
with this size folds together in the middle like a pair of doors.
We do the same thing as before, only we space the folds to give us
three sections. The two creases on the outside should be two and a
half inches from either edge. Then fold them with the ruler
again.”

“
That looks nice,” she
said as she handed me her newly folded card. I noticed she’d done
exactly as I’d taught her this time. “What do you think?” I
examined it, then said, “Good job.”

“
That’s really all there
is to it?” she asked. “No offense, Jennifer, but that was
easy.”

“
The basic steps are
simple to perform; that’s why card making is such a good craft for
anybody to try. Now comes the fun part.”

I grabbed a clear plastic template and said,
“You can make your own guide out of plain paper or even graph
paper, but I had some of these made up for the shop.” The thin
template was a five-by-five-inch piece of Plexiglas with a square
cut inside it that measured three inches by three. That gave me two
pieces when they were separated: a two-inch framed border and a
square that fitted exactly within it. “First we lay the outer frame
on the front of our single-fold card. Then we put a little
transparent tape on the inside square and secure it to the
paper.”

“
So that automatically
centers it,” Lillian said. “I get it.”

“
Very good.” After she’d
done as I’d told her, I said, “Now lift the border off and your
square is exactly where it needs to be.”

“
What comes next?” The
enthusiasm in my aunt’s voice was readily apparent. I was beginning
to believe she might work out after all.

“
Now we can get started on
adornment.”

I flipped the card open as I turned it over
so the square was now on the bottom, attached to the lower half of
the stock. After that, I grabbed the smooth wooden stick that
resembled a letter opener, then said. “Now we press the creases
where the square is. By the way, this is called a boning tool.”

“
Is it really made of
bone?”

“
Some are, but this one’s
made of polished maple, would you like to try it?” I asked as I
rubbed an edge of the paper.

“
Certainly,” she said as
she took the tool from me and rubbed the paper. “Is that
enough?”

I looked at the card. “It’s perfect. Now
flip it back over and gently peel off the tape. Then you can remove
the square.”

She did as instructed, then examined the
results. “My goodness, it looks so professional.”

“
It is,” I said. “You did
a very nice job.”

“
So what are we going to
put inside it?”

“
Why don’t you set that
aside and we’ll work on some more basic shapes and cutouts first.”
The look of disappointment on her face was obvious, so I added,
“Don’t worry; we’ll make lots of cards before we’re through. We
don’t seem to have to be concerned about customers interrupting
us.”

“
Jennifer, they’ll come.
In the meantime, this is fascinating. What are we going to do
next?”

“
Let’s see. I think we
should make a simple cutout.” As we cleared off the table, I saw a
few folks glancing in through the window as we worked. Maybe
Lillian’s public lesson would serve as free advertising for the
shop. I could certainly use all that I could get. I laid out a
cutting mat with the grid already printed on it, put a thin piece
of corkboard over that, then said, “Get another piece of the white
stock and fold it once.” After she’d done as she was told, I said,
“Now take the template for the outer frame and lay it on the front
of the card. Then take this awl and push it gently through the card
stock in each corner of the frame.”

“
Why, it’s nothing but a
needle on a stick,” she said.

“
I never claimed the tools
were complex. It’s a very user-friendly craft.”

Once she’d punched the four holes, I said,
“Now pull off the template. Take this metal ruler and the craft
knife and cut the paper, connecting the dots until you’ve got a
square. Careful, that blade is sharp.”

Lillian made the cuts, then lifted the card
up, with the square left neatly behind. “How lovely,” she said.

“
You’re a natural. Are you
ready to embellish it even more?”

“
I’d love to,” she said
just as the bell over the door chimed. It looked like we were going
to get our first honest-to-goodness customer for the
day.

“
We’ll continue this
later,” I said softly. As I approached the young woman with
lustrous red hair pleated in long braids, I asked, “May I help
you?”

“
I need a birthday present
for my grandmother. Do you have anything here I can give her? She
loves to work with her hands.”

“
Absolutely. I’ve got lots
of supplies for the amateur, and instruction books, as
well.”

“
You don’t happen to have
any kits for sale with all that stuff already in it, do you? I’m
kind of in a hurry.”

It was all I could do to hide my grin. “I
think we can find something you’ll be happy with,” I said as I led
her to the proper section. When I glanced back at Lillian, I saw
that she’d taken another piece of stock and was folding it. It
appeared that my aunt and unpaid assistant had been bitten by the
card-making bug, as well, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

By the end of the business day, we’d had
several actual customers, and we’d even made enough in sales to
justify opening our door. Lillian had left promptly at five to meet
her new beau and I was getting ready to lock up. I was feeling
pretty good about the situation when Bradford walked in. From the
dour look on his face, I could tell that he was about to ruin the
rest of my day.

HANDCRAFTED CARD-MAKING TIP

I like to personalize my cards whenever
possible. For example, a discarded set of Scrabble tiles delivers a
wonderful message to an aficionado of the game. Letters cut out to
resemble crossword puzzle blanks also make a neat way of letting
the receiver know you care.

Chapter 4

“
What is it, Bradford? Has
something else happened?”

“
Not that I know of. It’s
a good thing, too; I’ve got enough to deal with as it is. You
wanted to know more about that girl who was murdered last night. I
finally got in touch with her parents, so I feel a little better
talking to you about it now.” I could tell it must have killed him
telling them that their little girl was gone. It had to be one of
the worst parts of my mother’s job, and I didn’t know how he found
the strength to do it.

“
So who was she?” I asked,
not sure I really wanted to know.

He flipped open a notebook stored in his
front pocket. “Her name was Tina Mast, and she was just barely
twenty years old. I didn’t know her, but one of my deputies went to
school with her older sister. Wayne Davidson said she was a pretty
little thing, but you couldn’t prove it by me from the way I found
her inside that house. She was a senior at Tech, but she came home
this weekend to help one of her friends out, according to her
folks. They were pretty torn up about it when I talked to them in
Florida. They were on vacation, if you can imagine that,” he said
as his voice started to get deeper. When my brother got upset, his
voice went down an octave, and he was talking so low at the moment
I could barely believe it was him.

“
I’m going to hate myself
for asking you this, but how did she die?”

Bradford hesitated, then said, “Somebody
worked her over pretty good with a chunk of wood. It was bad, Sis.
I won’t lie to you.”

He hesitated so long that
I knew there was something my brother wasn’t telling me. “Why are
you giving me all this information?”

“
Hey, you said you wanted
to know.” He sounded petulant, and I knew there was more of a
reason than that.

“
I ask you about a lot of
things, but I rarely get any answers that satisfy me. So I’m going
to ask you again. Why are you giving me so much information about
your investigation?”

“
Blast it, Jennifer, the
truth is, she had a telephone; clutched in her hand when we found
her. The cord was still connected to the base, and somebody had
smashed the daylights out of it. I’m guessing that’s what killed
your connection yesterday.”

My heart started pounding so hard I thought
it was going to jump right out of my chest. Suspecting something
and knowing it were two different things. I’d guessed that
something bad had happened to the girl on the other end of the
phone, but hearing my brother confirm my suspicions was just about
more than I could take.

“
Hey, are you all
right?”

I leaned against the counter, thankful for
the support, as my legs fought to hold me up. “I’m not, but I will
be. I knew that girl on the phone was from around here, Bradford. I
just knew it.”

“
Well, I wish that was one
hunch of yours that hadn’t paid off. Now that we know you heard a
murder over the telephone, I’m not asking you to move in with Sara
Lynn or me; I’m ordering you to.”

“
Bradford, you’re going to
have to lock me up it handcuffs to get me to leave my apartment.
This doesn’t change anything. Tina Mast was dead yesterday, and the
killer didn’t come after me then. What makes you think she’s going
to do it now?”

“
Are you forgetting about
that note you got in the mail this morning?”

“
I doubt I ever will, but
I’m not a threat to anyone right now. I wouldn’t even know where to
start digging into this. The killer will see that I’m harmless and
she’ll have to leave me alone.” It might have been wishful thinking
on my part, but really, it made more sense my way. If the woman
who’d killed Tina Mast wanted me dead, I had been unguarded at my
apartment the night before and this morning, and then again at the
store before Lillian came. I had to admit that if I’d had more of
an idea about who the killer could have been, I might have glimpsed
around more. After all, Bradford wasn’t the only kid in our family
who could think logically and rationally. Growing up, I’d won more
games playing the Clue board game than he’d ever dreamed of. Why I
was it so hard for him to imagine that I couldn’t do the same thing
now?