At Wick's End (Book 1 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) (13 page)

I tore the homemade sign up, threw the
pieces into the trash can, and turned on all the lights. At Wick’s
End was open for business.

Whether I was ready for my customers or
not.

My afternoon went better than I had any
right to expect. I couldn’t have done a full shift alone, but in
the six hours I stayed open I managed to make quite a dent in the
cash I’d lost the day before.

Besides, keeping the shop open had given me
a sense of control over my life that I’d been sorely missing since
Belle had dropped the entire complex into my lap.

Still, I hated the prospect of facing a full
day without Eve there to bail me out if I needed it. I managed to
buy some time with a few customers until Eve’s return, if she came
back at all, but I handled more problems than I had any reason to
expect during the course of the day.

Drifting off to sleep that night with a
candlemaking book tented across my chest, I couldn’t help wondering
if what had happened to Belle was related to Eve’s reaction to the
locker room break-in upstairs.

If she came in to work tomorrow, I promised
myself, I’d ask her about it.

Chapter 9

Eve didn’t say a word the next morning until
she opened the cash register and looked at the tape from the
previous day’s report. I’d been tiptoeing around her from the
moment she’d walked in, dying to ask what had set her off the day
before but afraid to lose her for another day, or worse yet, for
good.

She studied the register tape for a minute,
then finally said, “You opened yesterday after all?”

I said, “I was here anyway, and besides, I
figured if I got too far in over my head, you could bail me out
today. I did okay.”

She took that in, studied the tape again,
then said grudgingly, “You did better than okay. From these
figures, I’d say you managed pretty well on your own,
Harrison.”

“
I didn’t answer
everybody’s questions, but a couple of folks promised to come back
today to talk to you.”

She looked as if she was going to cry, then
mumbled something I couldn’t hear.

“
Pardon,” I said gently, “I
missed that.”

“
I said I’m sorry I let you
down,” Eve said forcibly. “I should have been here.”

“
Hey, you needed some time
to yourself,” I said. “I could tell the break-in upset
you.”

“
Harrison, I never would
have done that to Belle, just abandoned her like that.”

“
It’s okay, believe me.” I
glanced at the clock. “But I’ve got to tell you, I’m really glad
you’re here today. I’ve got a ton of things going on, and I
couldn’t manage without you.”

Eve said, “That’s right, Mrs. Jorgenson is
coming in for her first lesson today, isn’t she?”

“
Don’t forget, I’m meeting
with our bookkeeper before that. I hate to walk out on you just
before we open, but I’ve got to have this meeting with Ann Marie
Hart if I’m ever going to figure out our accounting
system.”

Eve said, “You won’t be bailing out on me,
that’s a part of store business.” She added with a grin, “Even if
you were, that would make us even.”

Two minutes after nine, a rail-thin blonde
with a dizzying smile walked in, a stack of books and journals
balanced under one arm and a thick briefcase dangling from the
other. She needed a shopping cart for all the things she was
carrying.

“
Hey Eve,” she said with a
thick Tennessee accent that was uniquely its own. She plopped the
books down on the counter and extended her hand to me. “You must be
Harrison. Or would you prefer Mr. Black?”

“
Harrison’s
fine.”

She nodded. “Then I’m Ann Marie. Shall we
get down to business?”

“
I’m ready if you
are.”

We walked back to the office, and Ann Marie
said, “Harrison, I’ve been up since 4 am going over everything just
to make sure I had my ducks all in a row. Let’s teach you about
business for At Wick’s End.”

As she spread her books across the desk Eve
and I and I shared in the office, I said, “There’s something you
should know right up front.  All the cash is gone from
Saturday’s deposit.”

The air went out of Ann Marie as she slumped
against the desk.  “Which is it, gambling, booze, drugs, or
fast women, Harrison? She asked in a dogged voice.

“
Pardon me?”

Ann Marie said with a sigh. “It will help me
if I know exactly what problem we’re dealing with here. Now I can
put you an allowance if you’re willing, and I’ll make arrangements
to come by and do the deposit every night myself. That is if you’re
interested in saving this business and not running it into the
ground so you can go out and raise a little mischief.”

“
Hang on.  Ann Marie,
you’ve got me wrong.  I don’t have any bad habits, at least
not any of the ones you mentioned. The worst thing I do is drink
right out of the milk carton without bothering with a glass. Okay,
I’ve been known to dog-ear the page of a book now and then, but I’m
trying to break that habit, believe me.”

“
So what happened to the
cash?”

I said, “I was boneheaded enough to leave it
in my truck when I went into the library, and somebody broke the
window and stole it.”

Ann Marie looked thrilled by the revelation.
“So you’re just careless. We can work on that. I’ve had a bad run
of luck lately with my clients, and I’m glad you’re not going to be
adding to the mix. I just found out one of my clients in Conover is
drinking his way into an early grave and stealing from his business
to cover things up with his wife. I don’t even want to talk about
Max Bleeker being murdered. I don’t know how I’ll ever get over
that.”

“
Who’s Max
Bleeker?”

She said, “He ran his own jewelry store.”
Ann Marie sighed. “But let’s stick to your problems, Harrison.
We’ve got enough on our plate here without dragging the rest of
this part of North Carolina in on things.”

“
Ann Marie, I’ve beaten
myself up about what happened more than anyone else could. Mr.
Young told me how thin a tightrope I’m walking here. It won’t
happen again.”      

She said, “I believe you, Harrison. It makes
a difference when it’s your own money, doesn’t it? I don’t know
that things are all that dire, though; there’s a real chance you’ll
be able to make this work. That’s funny, Lucas isn’t usually so
cynical. Our bad streak of luck must be getting to him too.” She
clapped her hands together once, then said, “Now let’s take a look
at the books and teach you the ins and outs of this candle
shop.”

By the time we were finished, my head was
swimming with numbers, schedules, tax payments and property
valuations. I stood and stretched. “Bottom line, how are we
doing?”

“
Getting by, I’d say,” she
said after thinking about it a moment. “You’re doing about as well
as can be expected here, given the fact that Belle didn’t believe
in advertising. There’s enough to pay Eve and keep your inventory
going, shoot, we could probably bump you a few dollars above what
Belle was pulling in, but I wouldn’t be planning any trips to
Europe if I were you.”

“
As long as we’re not
bankrupt, I’m happy. You should know I’m planning an ad campaign
myself, and we’ve also got a star customer who should help the
bottom line.”

Ann Marie smiled and said, “Don’t tell me,
Mrs. Jorgenson has finally discovered At Wick’s End.”

“
How’d you know
that?”

“
Oh, please, I do the books
for several crafters around here. Mrs. Jorgenson is a legend in
your circles. I’m glad things are going well for you.”

“
As well as can be
expected, given the circumstances. As long as you’re using black
ink and not red, I’m thrilled.”

Ann Marie said, “You’re easy to please,
aren’t you?

Do you have any questions I can answer in
the meantime?”

“
Yes. When’s payday? I’ve
got enough to hold me for a while, but it might help to know how
long my nest egg has to stretch before I draw a salary.”

She reached into her purse and pulled out
two yellow envelopes. “I love getting questions I can answer. I
come by every other Monday with your checks. This is the good
Monday.” She handed me both checks, then added, “Your draw is tied
into the store’s profits, so it varies. Eve gets a straight salary.
If that doesn’t work for you, we can always change it. Now if
you’ll give Eve’s check to her, I’ll get over to The Yarn Barn. I’m
meeting Lucas Young for a counseling session. We can offer a lot of
advice as a package deal, and a great many folks take advantage of
it.”

“
Thanks Ann Marie, I
appreciate the lesson today.”

She smiled broadly. “You’re paying for it,
Harrison. Call me any time. Except after 5 pm, or on weekends. I’m
off on Wednesdays, so that’s no good either. Sometimes I baby-sit
for my sister Sarah Ann’s three kids, so I’m not always home then.
I never answer the phone before 8:30 am, that’s when I’m working on
everyone’s books. But other than that, I’m all yours.”

I chuckled softly to myself as she left. Ann
Marie was something entirely unto herself, and though she’d painted
a dark picture of my earnings, it wasn’t as bleak as Lucas Young
had implied.

I peeked at my check, not sure what to
expect. I was a little disappointed at first by the amount, then I
realized I was my own landlord, so rent and utilities were covered
from that account, a sizable expense I would be exempted from. The
amount of the check certainly gave me incentive to see how I could
raise profits around the candle shop, since my pay was tied
directly to it. It was a fair way to do it, and I was glad Belle
had chosen to set it up that way.

As I handed Eve her check, I asked, “Is Mrs.
Jorgenson here yet?”

“
No, but I’ve heard she’s
always punctual. Are you ready for your lesson?”

I ticked the steps off in my mind, fairly
confident I could follow the correct procedures in the right order.
“I think so.”

Eve added, “While we’re waiting for her to
arrive, there’s something I need to discuss with you.”

“
What’s that?” I asked as I
checked over the supplies I’d laid out for the day’s
lesson.

“
It’s about yesterday,” she
said hesitantly.

“
There’s nothing to
discuss,” I said. “You deserve some time off now and
then.”

Eve snorted. “I wasn’t taking a vacation
day, and you know it. I came unglued when I heard about the
break-in upstairs, and I left you here alone. It was
unforgivable.”

“
It’s already forgotten,” I
said.

Eve pushed, “It rattled me, Harrison, and
there was no reason for it. Belle’s death has shaken me more than
I’ve been willing to admit.” She took a deep breath, then said,
“I’m dealing with it, though. Work will help.”

A thought suddenly struck me. “Eve, how many
hours do you work in a normal week?”

Instead of offering a direct answer to my
question, she said, “I don’t mind coming in, Harrison. You need
help until you get your feet on the ground here.”

“
I need to know. What’s a
typical week for you?”

Eve said, “I usually work three full days a
week, every afternoon, plus one or two evenings and every other
weekend. But nobody expects you to take over the shop until you
learn the ins and outs of the candle business, Harrison.”

“
I’d appreciate it if you
could work with me this week, but starting next Monday we go back
to your old schedule, the one you had with Belle.”

“
If it’s the money, we can
consider part of it as volunteer work,” Eve said
frostily.

“
I’m not going to lie to
you and tell you money’s got nothing to do with it, but that’s just
part of it. I need to learn to stand on my own two feet here. I’m
going to make mistakes, I fully expect that, but the more I work
the store on my own, the quicker life around here can get back to
normal. I do have one favor to ask, though.”

“
You know I’m happy to
oblige,” she said.

“
Keep teaching me the
processes. I’m having a wonderful time learning, but I know more
than anyone how weak my background is in the basics.”

Eve offered one of her rare smiles. “You’ve
got a knack for it, Harrison. I can’t tell you how happy I am you
enjoy it. Belle would have been so pleased.”

The overhead bell chimed, and I saw Mrs.
Jorgenson coming toward me, a resolute expression on her face. So
much for “Feel Good” Monday.

“
Good morning,” I said as I
led Mrs. J back to the classroom. “Are you ready to get
started?”

“
Absolutely. I’ve turned
off my telephone, so we won’t be disturbed this time.”

I got her started with sheets of wax and
wicks, and to my chagrin, she was nearly perfect from the start. I
had counted on spending an hour having her roll and reroll her
candles, but I had to admit, her first attempt was better formed
than my last. How in the world was I going to keep her occupied
now?

She studied the results, then said, “Surely
there’s something else we can do with these sheets.”

I was suddenly very thankful I’d put so much
time in preparing for this lesson. “We’re just getting started,” I
said. I reached behind me and retrieved an array of cookie cutter
molds with waxy edges. “Let’s try your hand at some different
shapes.”

I grabbed another batch of various colored
wax sheets I’d retrieved from the storeroom and ripped the packs
open.