A Seamless Murder (6 page)

I shot a glance at Will, and he met it with a small smile. He was laying the groundwork for me.

“We should designate it,” he finished.

“Ms. Cassidy,” Jeremy Lisle said, looking at me. “The podium is yours.”

Nerves had taken hold of me, and my legs felt rubbery. I usually had no trouble addressing a crowd. I’d MC’d fashion shows, taught classes, and had even spoken at a local community college class in fashion design. But this crowd felt different somehow. Even if it was a shoo-in that the historic designation would be approved, I was still worried. I needed to do Meemaw proud.

I stood, running my hands down the jean skirt I wore, to straighten it. Most of my designs had a slight country flair to them, and my current attire was no exception. I’d changed it up by giving the skirt panels and building curve into the hips. Then I’d added a two-inch ruffle along the hemline in a dark blue cotton. It dressed the denim up, but didn’t feel overdone.

I had on a cream blouse and had finished the outfit with cream-colored boot socks, the lace and delicate buttons peeking out from under a pair of dark brown boots. Looking at the other women in the room, I knew I could have dressed down in jeans and a T-shirt and still fit in fine. But since I owned
and operated a custom dressmaking shop, I was a walking advertisement for my business. If I didn’t wear my creations, and wear them well, how could the townsfolk I hoped to woo with my style have any confidence in me?

At the podium, I faced the nine people assembled at the front of the room. I felt Will’s gaze on me and drew strength from his support in the same way I drew strength from knowing that Meemaw was still with me. Each of the council members had their attention glued firmly on me. I cleared my throat and launched into my impromptu speech.

“If there is any house in Bliss that should be on the historic registry, it is 2112 Mockingbird Lane. As Janice said, the house has been in the Cassidy family for six generations now, and will be for many more to come. The Cassidys have our roots in Bliss, and we’re not going anywhere. From the moment the house was built, it was magical.” I thought of Meemaw and added, “It still is.”

The air in the room grew still. It was common knowledge that my family was charmed, but it was a don’t ask, don’t tell kind of thing. Most everyone in town was aware of the magic that surrounded us. Mama’s special orchids, which she grew in the greenhouse on her property, were in high demand. She was called on to fix dying lawns and raggedy plants, and people seemed to ignore the fact that she never brought tools or soil enhancements to do a job. Nana’s charm wasn’t as widely helpful, but to anyone with a goat, she was a goddess. The cheeses she produced were celebrated for their wonderful variety. And me? Buttons & Bows had acquired a reputation as the place to get custom designs that would change your life.

“The house,” I continued quickly, “is everything to my
family. Loretta Mae wanted it designated as a historic landmark to share the history of it with the community. I’m here to make that happen.”

As the words left my mouth, I could feel my body relax, the nervousness easing out of me.

One by one, the people on the committee nodded. “Not everyone has your passion, Ms. Cassidy,” the woman sitting next to Will said.

“I love the house,” I said, “and I believe it should be preserved as part of Bliss’s Historic District.”

With that, I sat back down next to Coco and blew out the breath I’d been holding. She patted my knee. “You did good, Harlow. You’re a natural. Loretta Mae would be proud.”

The group voted. One by one, their hands went up. It was unanimous, and 2112 Mockingbird Lane was named a historic landmark. I’d get my own little circular black and gold plaque to hang up on the front of the house. I sat a little taller because I knew Coco was right. Meemaw would be thrilled to know that I had completed what she’d started.

After three more agenda items, the meeting was adjourned. It was now or never. I summoned up my sleuthing moxie, ready to start ferreting out the truth about Delta’s dealings with the council.

Coco had wandered off to chat with Zinnia James, and I headed straight for Jeremy Lisle. I’d been so busy worrying about speaking in front of the group that I hadn’t really looked closely at him. Now that I did, I saw that he was balding, but had the cool look of Bruce Willis or Vin Diesel. Tanned skin, even on the top of his head, slight stubble that gave him an edgy look, and one earring in his left lobe.

Not your typical small-town Texas mayor. I wondered if
he’d win the election in the fall, or if the incumbent, Richard Radcliffe, would.

Jeremy Lisle wore khakis and a white button-down shirt, undone at the top. No tie. No jacket. I couldn’t tell if this state of casual cool was really authentic or if he was trying hard to maintain his youth. I waited for an image of him to appear in my mind, some other attire that would help me define him, but nothing appeared. Peculiar. Part of my Cassidy charm meant that I saw images of people in my mind wearing outfits that would bring out some latent qualities and would help them discover more of their true selves. Either I just couldn’t get a read on the man, or what I saw was the true Jeremy Lisle and there wasn’t anything that I could make that would fit him better.

Jeremy Lisle seemed to be an open book. No mystery. No deep wants or desires.

“Ms. Cassidy,” he said, pumping my hand up and down. “Congratulations on the historical designation.”

“Loretta Mae would be so happy,” I said, editing
would
to
will
in my head. When I told her, I wondered if she’d become a little more corporeal for a few moments, or if she’d be so happy she’d flit around like a mad ghost, leaving just a trail of glitter in her wake.

“And do you like being back in Bliss? Loretta Mae was thrilled you were coming home.”

I laughed. “I think she knew I was coming back before I did and told the whole town.”

“She had a way of knowing things like that.”

I looked up at him sharply, feeling even more curious than I’d been a minute ago. “Did you know her well?”

He stood straight, his cowboy boots placed firmly on the
ground. “Everyone knew Loretta Mae,” he said, but hesitated. He frowned slightly, then added, “As much as anybody could really know her, that is.”

I considered Jeremy. He was perceptive. Loretta Mae had been affable and approachable, but he was absolutely right in his assessment. She let people see what she wanted them to see, let them know what she wanted them to know. And generally, she didn’t want a whole lot of strangers knowing much about her. She had the Cassidy charm to protect, after all.

Tears pricked my eyes. Suddenly I felt a deep longing. I wanted Loretta Mae, in the flesh, back in my life. I missed her sense of humor, her voice, which I hadn’t heard in so long, the zippy sound of her sewing machine as she flew through different projects. These things existed only in my memories now.

I took a deep breath and blinked hard to clear my eyes. “Such a shame about Delta Mobley,” I said, changing the subject. Not subtle, but when death struck our small town, there didn’t need to be a preamble.

“Sure is. Murder, I heard.”

I watched him closely, looking for a twitch, a fidget, or anything that might make me think he carried a little guilt in him. But his expression held steady, he stayed rooted to the ground, and he stood tall.

“That’s what I heard, too. She’s my . . . I mean, she
was
my neighbor. I still can’t believe it. Poor Jessie Pearl. There can’t be anything worse than losing a child, and violently to boot.”

We both paused for an automatic beat of silence. When
Jeremy spoke again, there was a hint of sympathy in his tone. “I feel for her mother.”

“Do you have any ideas on who could have done this to her?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I didn’t know her well.”

I frowned, letting my confusion show. “I thought she was on the council with you.”

“Well, sure. But so are a lot of people. This is work, though, not social hour.”

“Oh, I know. Important work. Loretta Mae taught me early how important preserving history is,” I said.

He nodded solemnly. “Not everyone thinks so, but you’re right.”

“I love that both my house and the Mobley house are designated historical landmarks,” I said.

Instead of agreeing, like I thought he would, he pursed his lips.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

He looked around, then lowered his voice. “Look, between you and me, Delta was on the council and even had the house designated, but she didn’t really believe in preserving history.”

I hadn’t had to work hard to get him to talk, which was
not
what I’d expected. “What do you mean? Isn’t wanting to preserve history sort of a requirement of being part of the council?”

He glanced around again before speaking. I followed his lead, looking at the people milling around after the meeting. Will stood nearby, talking to an old cowboy with silvery white hair and a lanky figure. He could talk to anyone, and everyone loved to chat him up.

He caught my eye, and I knew he was giving me space to talk to Jeremy, but I was also one hundred percent confident that, at the same time, he was listening to our conversation with one ear. “Delta liked to bend the rules, shall we say? There was a lot of gray area when it came to right and wrong.”

That was interesting. Over the years, I’d come to realize that people almost always acted in their own self-interest. If Delta bent the rules, my guess was that it benefited her somehow. “You mean when she was on the council here?”

“Definitely.” He lowered his voice. “Between you and me, there are people in this town who don’t see things the way you and I do. When I’m mayor, I’ll make our Historic District and the preservation of our town’s history a priority.”

I wasn’t sure how he knew what my personal perspective was, since we’d just met, but I assumed it was based on my application for the historic designation. I went with it, aligning myself with him for the sake of Jessie Pearl. “I know what you mean. Too many people don’t seem to care about the Historic District or the history of Bliss.”

“Right! They’d be perfectly happy if Bliss looked like Any Town, USA. I’ll fight that till my dying breath. We’ve had to fight the city over tearing down some of the old houses in the area. They’d be happy to demolish them and build parking garages. Fair warning, Ms. Cassidy, the Historic District’ll turn into a cement city if the restrictions are lifted.”

“But Delta didn’t feel that way, did she? I mean, she just had her house designated as historic, so . . .”

I left the sentence hanging there so he could expand on it and tell me what he knew. As Meemaw had taught me long
ago, when you leave empty space for people to fill, they will talk. Jeremy Lisle was no exception.

“It’s Jessie Pearl’s house,” he said, “and she did the work,” he said. “If it had been up to Delta, I’d bet money that she would have bulldozed that house and sold the lot for a commercial property.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said, surprised. “So she didn’t submit the application?”

“She’s in real estate, right? So she knows the value of property, but she’s not . . . I mean, she wasn’t a home owner.” He leaned closer, lowing his voice. “Between you and me, I think she didn’t want the old house designated, so that when she inherited it, she wouldn’t have had to jump through hoops to do what she wanted with it.”

Which, if I believed Jeremy Lisle, was to tear it down and build something that could make her money.

Jeremy continued. “The difference was that your great-grandmother
wanted
your house to be a historic landmark, while Delta wanted to block her mother’s application.”

“But she was
on
the council,” I said, not understanding. How could she not support something she was part of?

“Sometimes I think she was only on it to play devil’s advocate. She didn’t value the past like the rest of us do.”

All along, I’d thought Delta and I had at least one thing in common—love for our history-filled homes. She had all those antiques! Or at least Megan did. But it seemed as though I’d been wrong. I wondered whether Coco and Sherri knew that their sister had tried to thwart their mother’s efforts. They hadn’t said anything, so either they were protecting their family—trying to keep their dirty laundry from airing—or they didn’t know.

My money was on the latter.

“Reality is harsh,” Jeremy said, one corner of his mouth lifting in a slight smile. It was as if he were proud to have been the one to take Delta down a notch in my eyes. He needn’t have worried. There was no love lost between Delta and me, and her death didn’t change that fact. We hadn’t gotten to the point where we’d really put our past behind us. We may have gotten there had she lived, but now that possibility was gone. My goal in nosing around was to alleviate some of Jessie Pearl’s suffering at having lost her daughter. Nothing more, nothing less. But this manipulative side of Delta came as a surprise.

“It can be,” I agreed. “I was over there the other day—”

“At their house?”

“Yes. I’m making aprons for the Red Hat group Delta was part of.”

His gaze darted over my shoulder, and I started to get the feeling he was scoping the place out for campaigning. Looking to see whether someone more worthy of his time had moseyed in with an ear to bend. If I wasn’t careful, I’d lose his attention. But I needed more information. I waved away the words I’d just uttered, continuing with, “I saw the plaque in the entryway.”

His attention came back to me. “What do you mean? Inside?”

I nodded. “On a table in the hallway.”

The muscles of his face tightened. “She never put it up?”

“Um, I guess not.”

“I dug around in the basement for that plaque,” he said, clearly disgruntled.

“The basement?”

“Of the city offices here. We’d run out of them up here, but Delta said that her mother would be beside herself if she didn’t get that plaque. She said Jessie Pearl wanted it so badly. Todd and Megan had been here helping sort some things in the basement, and Todd told Delta he’d seen one down there. Damned if he wasn’t right. I searched with them and actually found one.” He shook his head. “But they never put it up. That just beats all.”