Deadly Greetings (Book 2 in the Cardmaking Mysteries) (4 page)

“
Well, I could, but seeing
how one of them’s the mayor, I thought you might want to trot on
back and take care of this one yourself.” Bradford rolled his eyes,
then said, “I’ll be right there.” Then he turned to me. “Sorry Jen,
but I really It need to be there.”

“
I’ll be fine,” I said.
“Go.”

By the time Lillian came back five minutes
later, I’d repaired my makeup, but my heart was still in bad shape.
If I tried, I could almost hear Maggie’s laugh, and it was a sound
that should have given me comfort, but couldn’t anymore.

“
Child, what happened?”
Lillian asked as she, dropped two bags from Hurley’s on the
counter. Hurley’s was an upscale pub that served some of the best
to food in Rebel Forge.

“
Maggie Blake is dead,” I
said, not meaning to blurt it out like that.

Lillian shook her head sadly and asked
softly, “Was it her heart?”

“
No, she had a car accident
on Cargill Road. Why, did she have heart problems?”

Lillian frowned. “Not that I know of, but
it’s a likely suspect when folks get to a certain age.”

I decided not to say anything about my
aunt’s years. I didn’t want to even think about her mortality. “I’m
going to miss her,” I said, managing to hold in my tears, though
barely.

Lillian accepted it a lot more readily than
I did. “She was a bright light, wasn’t she?” Then my aunt turned to
the food. “I’ve got hamburgers here just the way you like them. I’m
afraid Granville’s isn’t going to make it till Christmas.”

I couldn’t believe how cavalier my aunt was
being. “I can’t possibly eat anything now. A friend of ours is
dead, Lillian. Don’t you care?”

My aunt’s voice was stern as she said,
“Jennifer, when you get to be my age, losing people is something
you must accept with all the grace and dignity possible. Maggie had
a good, full life, and from the sound of it, she didn’t suffer much
in the end, not like other friends of mine have. I’ll miss her too,
but there’s nothing either one of us can do about it. Starving
yourself won’t bring her back.” Lillian must have realized how
callous she sounded. Her tone shifted as she added, “The best
memorial we can make to the ones who’ve gone before is to live our
lives to the fullest. Are you certain you don’t want this?”

She unwrapped the burger and handed it to
me. Lillian was right, but it was tough to act as if nothing had
happened. My stomach rumbled again, and I decided to follow my
aunt’s advice. We ate in silence, every one of Lillian’s attempts
at conversation dying in the air between us. I’d have to make the
best card I was capable of in Maggie’s memory, but I didn’t know
who I could possibly give it to.

After our meal, I told Lillian, “If you
don’t mind, why don’t you work the front. I want to inventory our
stockroom.”

“
Jennifer, are you really in
the mood to crawl around those dusty and dirty shelves counting
stock today?”

“
Grunt work is exactly what
I need right now. If you run into any problems, just call
me.”

As I worked, I tried to put Maggie’s death
in perspective. While it was true that Lillian had been confronted
with the loss of family, friends and loved ones a lot more than I
had over the years, I’d lost both my parents, two people I loved
with all my heart. Losing them had been a blow, and maybe the fact
that they’d been killed in a car accident too made Maggie’s death a
little tougher for me to take. I heard the front door chime, but I
didn’t think anything about it until a head poked into the back
room. “Hey, any chance you haven’t had lunch yet?”

Gail Lowry, my best friend since the third
grade, was standing there. I didn’t want to cry again, but seeing
her suddenly brought it all out. She was dressed tier in a suit
that was worth more than my car and I was covered with dust, but
Gail didn’t even hesitate to hugging me. “What happened?” she asked
finally as I wound down and pulled away.

“
One of my favorite
customers in the world just died in a car wreck.”

“
I’m so sorry,” she said.
“Is there anything I can do?”

I looked at her smudged suit. “Oh no, look
what I did. You’re a mess.”

She brushed a few bits of dust off her
jacket. “Don’t worry about this. I wanted an excuse to skip out
this afternoon anyway. I don’t even know why I’m working. I already
made my sales quota for the month, and then some. Anything I make
from here on out will just go to taxes.”

My best friend was extremely successful
selling heavy equipment to construction companies. Her startling
blue eyes and thick black hair got their attention, but her brains
were what persuaded them to buy, and keep on buying. One of the
things I liked best about her was that she didn’t try to hide her
extra twenty pounds, having her suits tailored to show off her
curvy figure, enhancing instead of disguising.

Gail said, “Listen, why don’t you play hooky
with me? We can catch a movie or something.”

I was tempted, but there was no way I could
afford the time away from the shop. In all honesty, I wasn’t even
certain I could cover the cost of the ticket. “Thanks, but I’ve got
to work.”

“
Suit yourself,” she said,
knowing better than to offer to pay. “While you’re slaving away,
I’m going to get lost in a movie star’s eyes.”

“
Tell him I said hi,” I
said.

“
I’ll do no such thing. When
I’m in the theater, they only have eyes for me.”

I felt much better after talking to Gail. It
was time to stop worrying so much about myself and think about how
the other members of our club would deal with our loss. We’d have
to do something special in her memory at the next meeting. Then I
wondered if anyone knew to call the rest of the group and break the
news to them. Our new club consisted of Hilda Bunting, Dot Crane,
and Betty and Howard Hudson, seniors all. While I’d hoped to get a
few folks under sixty to join, I was still happy with my group.
Even Howard, Betty’s husband and an ex-war vet, had thrown himself
into card making, though from what I’d heard, Betty had blackmailed
him into attending with her at first. I decided I needed to call
them myself before they read about Maggie’s death in the
newspaper.

When I picked up the phone to call Hilda,
instead of getting a dial tone, the line was open. “Hello?” I said,
wondering what was going on.

“
That was fast,” Hilda said.
“I barely finished dialing your number.”

“
It didn’t even ring,” I
said. “I was just calling you.”

Hilda paused before replying. “That’s odd,
isn’t it? I’m guessing we’re calling about the same reason. You
heard about Maggie too, huh?” That really caught me off guard. My
brother had just told me, and if Hilda had a better pipeline to the
police department than I did, I wanted to know what it was. “I just
found out. To be honest with you, I’m surprised you know
already.”

“
Don’t be. I’ve got a police
scanner. I’ve been sitting here listening to them in a state of
shock. Poor Maggie.”

“
It’s terrible, isn’t it?
Should we cancel our meeting this week?” I wasn’t sure I could face
everyone so soon after losing one of our members.

“
It’s up to you—you’re in
charge—but what do you think Maggie would say?”

I thought about the card crafter and how
much she loved our get-togethers. Maggie had instituted a
refreshment policy that required everyone to take turns with a
dessert, even Howard. He’d had the rotation in during the last
session and had brought Rice Krispies Treats. Betty swore he’d made
them all by himself, following the recipe on the box.

Suddenly I knew exactly what our friend
would say. “We’ll have the meeting, just like we always do.”

Hilda said, “That’s the spirit. Maggie would
be so proud.”

“
Have you already called
everyone else in the club?” I asked.

“
No, you’re the first one on
my list. Would you like to call the others yourself?”

I thought about it, then said, “Why don’t
you take Dot and I’ll call Betty and Howard?”

“
I can do that,” she said
softly.

“
Thanks, Hilda, I appreciate
your help.”

“
Hey, she was quite a gal,
wasn’t she?”

“
She was.” I hung up the
phone, then dialed Betty and Howard’s number. If I was going to get
through this without crying, I needed to make that phone call fast.
I was hoping Howard would pick up, but Betty answered
instead.

“
Betty, I’m afraid I’ve got
some bad news.”

“
You’re not canceling the
meeting this week, are you? I just read about a new technique I’ve
been dying to try.”

I fiddled with a calligraphy pen, not sure
how to break it to her. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this,
but Maggie Blake is dead.”

While I wasn’t expecting Lillian’s calm
reaction to the news, I still wasn’t prepared for Betty’s shriek.
As I heard the phone hit the hardwood floor, I felt helpless
listening to her wail. In the background I could hear Howard trying
to comfort her. A minute later he picked up the phone. “Hello? Who
is this?”

“
Howard, it’s Jennifer Shane
from the card shop. I’m so sorry I caused this.”

His voice grew tense. “What did you say to
her?”

“
I told her that Maggie
Blake was dead.”

There was enough silence on the other end of
the phone that I wondered if I’d killed them both. “Howard, are you
still there?”

“
I’m here,” he said, his
words barely above a whisper. “Thanks for calling.” And then he
hung up on me.

I was suddenly very glad I didn’t have to
make any more telephone calls, and hoped that Hilda had better
results with Dot than I had with the Hudsons. I was about to go
back to my inventory when the telephone rang. As soon as I answered
it, I found myself wishing that I’d just let it ring.

Chapter 3

“
Jennifer Shane, it appears
that I gave you more credit than I should have. Explain yourself,
young lady.”

It was my sister, Sara Lynn, and as
greetings went, As I wished I could say that this one was more
abrupt than her usual manner, but if I did, I’d be lying. “Do you
really have the time for that particular conversation? Because I
know I don’t.”

“
You know perfectly well
what I mean. I just heard from Bradford. I cannot believe you had
the shortsightedness to rent that apartment.”

I took a deep breath, then said, “Sara Lynn,
I’ve got more problems than you can imagine. My housing situation
is the least of my worries. If you want to scold me, you’re going
to have to wait till later. I don’t have the time or the heart for
it right now. Good-bye.” Then I startled myself by hanging up on
her.

It felt good cradling the telephone back in
its base, my even though I fully realized that I’d pay for it
later. I knew my sister meant well, but that excuse for her was
abrupt manner only went so far, and I was in no frame of mind to be
on the end of one of her scoldings. I wasn’t in the mood to work on
the inventory anymore, so I dusted off my jeans and tried to make
myself presentable enough to wait on customers, if we had any.

Lillian was waiting on a handsome man in his
mid-thirties, his dark hair already beginning to dust with touches
of silver. Of course she got to help him. No doubt my next customer
would be a third grader working on a school project or a
ninety-year-old man with wandering eyes. Sometimes life just wasn’t
fair. I tried to look busy at the counter, sneaking a peek every
now and then at Lillian’s customer. To my surprise, she caught me
looking, and I could see a smile barely crease her lips as she
called out to me, “Jennifer, could you come here a moment?”

I started to stick my tongue out at her when
her customer turned in my direction. “I’d be happy to.”

I joined them, fighting the urge the entire
time to smooth my hair and brush off my jeans yet again. “How may I
help?”

He said, “I’m looking for a present for
someone, and it has to be perfect.”

“
What’s the occasion, if I
might ask?” I didn’t see a ring, so hopefully he wasn’t buying an
anniversary present for his wife.

“
My mother’s turning
sixty-five in a few days, and I’m at a loss what to get
her.”

“
We’ve got just the thing.”
I led him to our selection of gift baskets and wondered why Lillian
hadn’t taken him there first.

He frowned. “I’ve seen these already. They
just won’t do, not for my mother.”

“
Okay,” I said. “Perhaps we
can do a custom basket designed exclusively for her.”

“
That’s what I need,
something unique for the perfect woman,” he said as he
smiled.

I’ll say this for him: the man knew his
mother’s every whim and taste. After I talked to him for five
minutes, there was no doubt in my mind that there was room for only
one woman in his heart, and he’d known her all his life. I pitied
any woman he dated, knowing that they would never measure up to the
standard he’d set in his mind. We worked together for half an hour,
and when there was a choice to make, he always opted for the most
expensive item I had to offer. I felt a little bad taking advantage
of him. but the man was screaming for it, and I didn’t have the
heart to deny him. As I rang up his considerable purchases, I said,
“If you’d like, we offer a special delivery service for our most
exclusive clientele.” We did nothing of the sort, but I wasn’t
ready to let him off the hook yet.