Elizabeth C. Main - Jane Serrano 01 - Murder of the Month (11 page)

“—impulsive. I know.” He placed a hand on my arm and leaned closer. His touch was oddly cool on this warm day. “Everyone understands that you’ve been through a lot this year, Jane. Would you like me to talk to her? I wish you’d let me help you more “

“Oh, no, thanks,” I said. “That’s kind of you, but I can manage.”

“All right, but let me know if you change your mind. I’m a very patient man, as you know.” He smiled and looked meaningfully at me.

I immediately broke eye contact and straightened some pamphlets on the counter. That long look told me that he’d probably taken my acceptance of his reunion invitation for more than it was. Oh no. Now what?

Harley looked at his watch again. ”Look, I have to deliver the speech Gil was going to give, but—”

“No one really expected Gil to be here today,” I said quickly.

“To be honest, I wrote most of it. He’s still not quite himself, as you might expect. I need to talk to you about one other thing though, and that’s this ‘Murder of the Month’ business.” Seeing my blank look, he amplified, “Your book club.”

“Murder of the Month,” I repeated, stalling for time as I tried unsuccessfully to think like Bianca. I didn’t have any idea what she had done, but Harley didn’t keep me in suspense long.

“Didn’t you know? She invited Gil to speak to your club next week.” Harley pulled a crisp white envelope from the inside pocket of his suit coat and extracted a typed note. “Read the invitation for yourself.”

I reached for the paper as though expecting an electric shock. After reading the words, I decided I’d have preferred the shock. Bianca certainly hadn’t wasted any time starting her own investigation after Vanessa’s death had been officially ruled an accident. I read the note several times, trying to think what to say to explain it.

“Surely you can see that this invitation is in the worst possible taste,” Harley said. “If she thinks that Gil wants to be kept busy right now—”

“That’s it!” My relief at his erroneous explanation for Bianca’s invitation spurred me to respond enthusiastically. “She’s too young to comprehend the magnitude of the loss Gil has sustained. I’ll talk to her again.”

“Thanks, Jane. Gil would appreciate it. I seem to be doing nothing but asking you for help these days. First, the reunion, and now, this.”

“The reunion, yes! How’s it coming along?” Never had I felt more interest in a change of subject.

“Fine, fine. I’ll get back to you on that, but right now I need to deliver Gil’s regrets … along with his thoughts about women entering the legal profession.”

“There’s a good crowd today, and if you need any legal expertise, Linda Sanchez is there.”

“Good idea. A career in banking hasn’t prepared me particularly well for this occasion, but I don’t want to let Gil down, not now.” Harley started up the stairs.

As soon as he was out of sight, I let out my breath with a rush and sagged against the counter. They hadn’t recognized the taunting invitation for the challenge it was. We still had time to make Bianca see reason.

Yesterday’s book shipment had contained the requested copies of her beloved
Prove It, Puppy!
and I had started on it immediately, discovering that it was every bit as bad as I had expected. Still, I had promised. Now, with a sigh, I pulled the dreadful book once again from under the counter and attempted to force my way through a few more pages while the store was quiet. Normally I don’t read for pleasure while I’m working, but since it was Thornton’s on-site book club that had forced me to read it in the first place, I could justify a few minutes with it now. Besides, by no stretch of the imagination could this be considered reading for pleasure. Raymond Morris’s Rule Number Four was a seemingly simple one:
Show an interest in the interests of your child
. Hah! Easy for him to say. He wasn’t being forced to read about two corgi detectives. Bipsy and Mr. Potts were well on their way to sinking their sharp little teeth into the murderer’s plans when Nick’s voice startled me back into the present.

“Want me to take over so you can go listen?” Nick looked around at the empty store as he descended the stairs. “I think I can handle the mob.”

“No, thanks. That group doesn’t particularly interest me.”

“Me either,” he said. “A couple of those women are ready to man the barricades.”

“Is one of them a young blonde?”

“Tall? A real stunner? Yeah, she has a lot to say.”

I nodded. “My daughter, Bianca. She’s a good kid, but …”

“… she has more opinions than experience? Don’t worry. She’ll grow out of it. It’s actually refreshing to hear such enthusiasm.”

“Bianca does not lack enthusiasm,” I answered.

“Well, that’s good. Take my kids, for example. Theo and Pete are twenty-three. They’re busy ripping up and down the California beaches right now, but I expect they’ll settle down and be decent citizens eventually. Most kids do. But, from what I read, boys are easier on the nerves … if you don’t mind a few trips to the emergency room, that is, and frogs in the toilet bowl.”

“Your wife must have loved that.”

“She mostly left the boys to me,” he said, his smile fading. “She had other priorities. And then she left us entirely about ten years ago. Worked out pretty well in the long run though. We did okay and they’re great kids.” After an awkward silence, he slapped one hand on the counter decisively. “Well, if you don’t need me here, I’ll get going. Harley’s speech about opportunities for women in the law isn’t exactly riveting.”

“Gil was supposed to be the speaker today. Harley’s just doing him a favor “

“So he said. Still doesn’t make his speech more interesting than a trip to Elk Lake. Too heavy on ‘poor Gil’ and not enough facts.”

“You’re like Joe Friday. ‘Just the facts, ma’am.’”

“That’s me.”

After Nick left, the store fell quiet again until a burst of chatter preceded the departing WEG group down the stairs. The animation evident in the snatches of conversation I heard suggested that Harley’s presentation had gone over better with the others than it had with Nick. I was glad since Harley had made a special effort to be here.

I gave him the thumbs up sign as he went out the door in the center of a group of women asking him questions. Behind them came Linda Sanchez and Bianca in deep conversation. I didn’t even want to think about Bianca talking to someone in Gil’s office, but, short of tripping and gagging Bianca, I couldn’t think of a way to stop her.

The store cleared at last and I was left with the nauseatingly clever corgis again. Not another soul entered Thornton’s, even to browse. Tuesdays were normally better than this, but Megabooks Plus! was hosting a book signing today for Mimi Lexington, a Seattle romance author famous for her scorching love scenes. The reviews of her latest book,
Caress My Heart
, left no doubt that the heroine’s heart wasn’t the only part of her anatomy being caressed.

I struggled through a few more pages of
Prove It, Puppy!
but when I reached the part where Miss Pittimore invited all the doggy friends of Bipsy and Mr. Potts to a gala party in the corgis’ honor, I gave it up for the day.

Casting around for something better to do, I dialed Laurence’s number to see how he was getting along today. Yesterday morning he’d been under the weather, which I’d discovered only by accident when Tyler had slouched into Thornton’s while I’d been unpacking books.

“
Hi, Tyler. Where’s your grandfather?” I’d asked. “I expected him a while ago.”

“
He seems sort of out of it this morning. Not exactly sick, just … I don’t know.” Tyler shrugged and looked at his feet.

“
Maybe I’d better go take a look. Can you watch the store?”

“
Sure, if you want.” His voice was offhand, but his look of relief told me that I was doing exactly what he had wanted all along. Why hadn’t he just said it straight out in the first place? I’d tossed him a copy of the recently unpacked
Prove It, Puppy!
on my way out.

When I’d arrived at the grounds of the imposing Paulson residence, I circled the block to the far corner of the property in search of what had originally been the carriage house. There, I found Laurence sitting in the sunshine that streamed through the open windows of his apartment. Mr. and Mrs. Paulson had donated the main house to the Oregon Historical Society some years ago, and that organization had converted the carriage house to a rental. The place was small, but it suited Laurence’s simple needs.

. “Hi, Laurence. Coming to the store today?” I deliberately kept my tone calm, though I didn’t like the unnatural pallor of his skin.

He slowly turned his head and spoke without smiling. “Probably won’t be anyone buying books, and it’s too damned hot to go anywhere anyway.”

“
But you said—”

“
I know what I said, but I’ve changed my mind. Can’t a man change his mind?”

“
Of course. It’s your store, but … maybe you should see Dr. Pomeroy.”

“
Just because I’ve decided not to work today? Maybe you should mind your own business.”

Ignoring his rudeness, I spoke in my most soothing tone. “You seem not quite yourself this morning.”

“
That ought to please you, the way you’re always badgering me to change. Say, what are you doing here anyway? The store can’t run itself.”

“
Tyler’s there.”

“
Tyler? What does he know about selling books?”

My exasperation finally broke through. “I don’t know, Laurence. Probably nothing, but he was worried about you, okay?”

“
Did he say he was worried?” He half smiled for the first time.

“
Not in so many words, but, yes, he was worried.”

He digested this new concept before speaking again. “I didn’t think he worried about anything except getting away from here as soon as possible, though I don’t know where he’d escape to, since it’ll be a while before Carrie’s well enough to have him at home again.” At the look on my face he said irritably, “I know, the chances aren’t good, but Tyler shouldn’t be stuck living with some old goat he hardly knows.”

“
Don’t talk like that! You care what happens to him, and that’s important. He needs stability and I’m sure he likes being here more than he lets on. Why, he practically jumped at the chance when I asked him to help out at the store today.” Remembering Tyler’s laconic “Sure, if you want” I knew I was shading the truth on this statement, but the pleasure it brought to Laurence’s face was enough to clear my conscience.

“
He did? I never thought of asking him.”

“
Probably because you’re such an old goat. All I know is that he’s down there working right now—by his own choice. Maybe he could work there part-time on a regular basis. Give him something to do and let him know he’s useful.”

“He’d probably foul everything up,” he said gruffly, “but it might work. Maybe you could sort of teach him the ropes?”

“
Sure, and you’ll see Dr. Pomeroy.”

“
If I have any more trouble, I’ll go, but I’m feeling better now.

“So you’ll rest at home today and Tyler will work with me. How’s that?”

“Fine. Now go.”

I’d returned to the store and worked with a surprisingly agreeable Tyler the rest of the day. He was a quick study, not only understanding procedures the first time I explained them, but offering good suggestions.

I’d meant to call Laurence last evening to tell him how well his grandson had done but I’d been sidetracked by Bianca’s excited call. She couldn’t wait to tell me that Sheriff Kraft had closed the investigation without accounting for the videotape from Vanessa’s recorder. The camcorder had bounced three hundred feet down a cliff and the videotape was probably lying, broken, in a patch of sagebrush, but Bianca was sure that the tape would provide a vital clue, which she intended to find.

Now, all I heard was the recorded message at Laurence’s house. I hoped he was sitting outside in the shade, resting.

I spent the next morning at home on Laurence’s orders. I’d finally reached him by phone the evening before, and he’d assured me he was feeling much better. He had quite a lilt to his voice when he told me he and Tyler would take care of the store together this morning. I certainly didn’t want to get in the way of this new development in their relationship, so I spent my time tending some neglected raspberry vines in my back yard. I’d hoped that gardening in this peaceful setting would distract me from thinking about Bianca, but it hadn’t worked.