At Wick's End (Book 1 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) (6 page)

“
I do perfectly well on my
own,” Eve said. The ground we’d made the day before was in danger
of slipping away.

“
I’m not asking if you want
charity,” I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. “I thought you
might like a keepsake or two, that’s all. I’m holding onto a
beautiful two-foot candle myself.”

Eve’s hard edges softened instantly. “The
red one? It was the last candle Belle made. Harrison, I’m sorry, I
appreciate the offer, I really do.” She let out a heavy sigh, then
said, “It’s not that I resent Belle leaving everything to you, she
was perfectly within her rights to do so, but I imagined I’d
inherit At Wick’s End someday myself.” Realizing how it must have
sounded, she quickly added, “Not from her death, mind you, but
Belle always talked about living at the beach someday, somewhere on
the Outer Banks perhaps, and I just naturally assumed, well, we all
know what that leads to. Forgive me,” she said simply.

I said, “Eve, there’s nothing to forgive.
You have every right to feel the way you do, but you should know
that I want to stay here and keep making’ candles with you. I can’t
wait to learn more, and I’m most appreciative you’re willing to
teach me.”

Was that a hint of rose on her cheeks?
“That’s why I’m here. Would you like to help me get ready for the
day? We need to start by pulling stock from the storeroom.”

“
I’ll do it,” I said. “I
need to learn my way around sometime, and you showed me where
everything was yesterday.”

“
It’s just as well you
handle that,” Eve said. “Belle was very particular about anyone
going in the stockroom but her. She knew where everything was all
the time, and she didn’t want anyone disturbing her system. As a
matter of fact, the only time she’d let me step a foot inside was
if she needed help. I just wish she’d asked ...”

As her words faded, I stood there again, not
knowing what to do to offer her comfort. Eve took a deep breath,
then seemed to calm herself.

Before I could disappear in the back, Eve
said, “I noticed you had a visitor last night after hours.”

“
How in the world could you
know that?” I asked.

“
Don’t worry, I’m no
Sherlock Holmes,” she said laughing. “There was a puddle near the
door, and I noticed a damp towel in the bathroom.”

I nodded. “The sheriff came by, and I
happened to be down here looking around when the storm hit. He
nearly drowned out there.”

Was it my imagination, or did Eve’s eyes
harden for just an instant? “And what did he want with you?”

“
He came by to offer his
condolences about Belle. I’d been hoping he was following up on the
break-in upstairs, but no such luck.”

Eve looked surprised by the news. “What are
you talking about? What break-in?”

And here I’d thought the tenants at River’s
Edge were all prescient. “Somebody broke into Belle’s place looking
for something yesterday. Twice, to be exact. They made a real mess
of things.”

“
What in the world could
they have been looking for? Belle didn’t keep any money or jewelry
around her apartment, she didn’t believe in owning expensive
things. Frankly, I can’t imagine anything there worth taking the
risk of being caught.”

“
I have no idea. Don’t
worry, though, I changed the locks, so it won’t happen again. Did
you happen to have a key to Belle’s,” I asked softly.

“
Now why would I have one
of those? We worked together, Harrison, but our private lives were
just that.”

“
I didn’t mean anything by
it,” I quickly said. “I just thought she might have left you a
spare in case something happened to hers.”

“
Well she didn’t,” Eve said
abruptly. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a great many things to
do before we’re ready to open.”

The storeroom was locked, but I wasn’t about
to ask Eve about any more keys if I could help it. I walked back to
the small cubby of an office that aspired to be a broom closet in
another life and started my search. Eve pointedly ignored me as I
walked past her. She earnestly scanned the shelves, making notes on
a clipboard as she worked. Now what had I said to offend her so? I
wasn’t looking forward to tiptoeing around my own employee, but at
the moment, I needed her a great deal more than she needed me. It
appeared I’d have to wear soft-sole shoes for some time to
come.

It didn’t take long to find the key, as it
was hanging on a nail near the entrance. Thank goodness there was a
faded tab taped to the key that identified it.

In fact, there were two nails on the wall
behind the office door, side by side, and I couldn’t help wondering
if that was where Belle had kept a spare key to her apartment. It
would make it handy for her, and Eve would certainly have known
about it. But I’d already asked her about the key, and she’d denied
having one. I thought back about precisely what she’d claimed, and
suddenly realized that Eve hadn’t said a word about having access
to a key, just that she hadn’t had one in her possession. It was
strictly the truth, but missed the implication of it by a mile. Or
could I be reading too much in a single naked nail? There could
have been a thousand reasons why that nail had been placed there,
and I couldn’t spend all day guessing. Asking Eve was certainly out
of the question, so I had no choice but to drop it. I had enough on
my mind as it was.

I had a new trade to learn if I was going to
keep Belle’s candle shop afloat.

I grabbed the key and unlocked the storeroom
door.

A shiver ran through me as I realized that
this was where Belle had died just a few days earlier. Why in the
world had she been climbing a ladder in the first place, when a
strong strapping woman like Eve was nearby? I could reach the top
shelf without the stepladder, but I was a good foot taller than
Belle had been. She must have had to extend all the way up the
small ladder to reach the beeswax sheets and wicks they’d found
near her body.

The ladder was leaning against a lower
shelf, and I had a sudden urge to break it into a hundred pieces,
to burn it or at the very least to throw it away. I went so far as
to pick it up, but the touch of the wood turned my stomach, so I
put it down where it had been. I backed up against one of the
shelves to collect myself and saw something that was otherwise easy
to miss. There was a button leaning against one of the boxes, and I
noticed the torn threads clinging to it when I picked it up. It was
large and brown with an ornate carving on its face, surely one of a
kind. I thought about the sweaters I’d packed away upstairs the day
before. Had there been anything with similar buttons on it, or
could it have been from the clothes Belle had been wearing the
night she died?

I found Eve still going over her list. “Does
this look familiar? I was wondering if it belonged to Belle.”

Eve took the button from me, frowned a
moment, then said, “I’ve been looking all over for this. Where did
you find it?”

“
In the storeroom,” I
admitted. “How did you lose it, do you remember?”

Eve said, “Now if I knew that, I’d have
looked for it there. My sweater must have caught on one of the
shelves when I was helping Belle move something; I lost this weeks
ago.” She tucked the button in her pocket, then said, “Have you
pulled anything from the list I gave you?”

“
No, not yet.”

“
Harrison, we don’t have a
great deal of time.”

“
I’ll do it now,” I said.
Did Eve’s story make sense? I wondered about it as I pulled items
from the list she’d given me. At least the boxes were clearly
marked. Surely if a shelf ripped a button off her sweater she would
have felt it. Was it possible that Belle hadn’t been alone in the
storeroom the night she died? Could someone have helped her off
that ladder? I couldn’t see Eve doing it, but it was possible, I
had to admit that much. She had expected to inherit At Wick’s End;
that much was clear. That started a line of thought I wasn’t
entirely comfortable with. What if Eve’s story was true, that she’d
lost the button earlier helping Belle? Did that necessarily rule
out the possibility that someone else might have given my
great-aunt a shove? It was something I was going to have to
consider, no matter how unpleasant the suspicion was. I found a
carton of Golden Yellow sheet wax. It was the exact same wax Belle
had died trying to retrieve from the top shelf. Eve had said that
Belle knew the contents of their storeroom intimately. So why was
she looking up there for something that was readily available
without the use of a ladder? Was something hidden there, something
she didn’t want anyone else to see? I pulled every box off the
shelf where she’d been reaching, but all they contained were the
supplies clearly marked.

Eve knocked on the door before poking her
head inside. “Good heavens, Harrison, what are you doing?”

“
I was just looking for
something.”

Eve surveyed the mess. “Well I hope you
found it. We’re opening in two minutes. Hurry and put what you’ve
got on the shelves out front. You’ll just have to clean this up
later.”

I spent the day trying to work in the candle
shop, but I found myself getting in the way more than helping, and
Eve was less than patient with me at times. Hanging on her heels
and eavesdropping was one of the best ways I had to learn the
business, but she was clearly not happy about my constant
proximity.

On one of the rare breaks when we didn’t
have any customers, Eve said, “Harrison, why don’t you take a few
minutes and clean the storeroom.”

“
I can take care of that
after hours. I want to watch you work.”

“
Honestly, I can’t work
with an audience.”

I said, “Okay, I’ll try to hang back a
little more, but how else am I going to learn?”

Eve said, “We have books to teach you all
about candle-making. They’ll do a better job than I can.”

“
How about this? I’ll try
to stay out of your way. Honest.”

She sighed, then asked, “Have you ever run a
cash register in any of your previous jobs?”

“
I’m a whiz at one,” I
admitted. “But I want to be able to sell on the floor, and I can’t
do that until I have a better grounding.”

“
You need to learn to take
small steps before you’re ready to tackle selling on the floor. If
you run the cash register when things get busy, I’ll let you follow
me around other times. Is it a deal?”

“
I guess so,” I
said.

She looked at the clock and said, “Why don’t
you take a quick lunch break?”

“
Then I can cover for
you?”

She said, “Hardly. I brought my lunch with
me. I’ll eat here in the store.”

I started to protest, but I’d probably
pushed her hard enough. It was a fine line, dancing between forcing
her to help me and risking running her off entirely. I decided to
keep my small advantage and grab a quick bite while things were
slow at the shop. I thought about going to The Crocked Pot, but it
looked like Millie was really busy with customers. Instead, I
jumped into my old truck and drove into town, getting a hot dog and
a Coke and driving back to River’s Edge as I ate. I knew I wasn’t
gone long enough from Eve’s point of view, but I didn’t want to
miss a thing.

I bumped into Lucas Young as I walked into
the candle shop. “Mr. Young, were you looking for me?”

He nodded. “Eve told me you just went out
for lunch.”

“
I grabbed a quick bite,
but I’m back now. What’s up?”

“
Actually, I was hoping
you’d have a bite with me. There are a few other things we need to
go over, the sooner the better.”

I looked around the store and saw a lone man
studying candlemaking kits. Eve overheard the question and said,
“Go, Harrison, I have things under control here.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Absolutely,” she said just
a little too forcefully.

“
Okay, but I won’t be gone
long.”

The lawyer and I walked outside into the
beautiful crisp autumn day. I said, “If you’d like, we can find a
table at Millie’s and I’ll keep you company while you eat.”

He glanced at his watch, then said, “No, I’m
not all that hungry. It was more of an excuse to get out of my
office than anything else.”

“
So you don’t have anything
for me?”

He patted his briefcase. “I wouldn’t say
that. Why don’t we sit at one of the benches that overlook the
river? That way we can have some privacy for our conversation.” We
found a spot unoccupied in front of the potter’s shop and sat down.
The attorney reached for his briefcase and said, “I took the
liberty of collecting some papers you should see. I’m not sure if
you’re going to change the system, you certainly can, but Belle
hired a team of three of us who work together on small business
accounts in the area. I handle the legal issues, one woman does the
books and another handles advertising and promotion. At least she
did until she moved to California last week. I’m afraid you’re on
your own in that department.”

“
I’m not planning on making
any changes. To be honest with you, I don’t know enough at this
point to do anything, but I’m going to learn, you can bet on
that.”

“
That’s admirable,” he
said. “Still, it wouldn’t hurt to look over these statements.”
Young handed me a thick sheaf of papers and said, “If you need help
reading these, I’ll be glad to offer my assistance.”

I looked at the top paper and saw an
incredibly high figure. “Is this how much the property’s worth?” It
was more than I imagined by a factor of ten.