Nightshade on Elm Street: A Flower Shop Mystery (11 page)

“This may sound off the wall, but is it possible Evelyn and/or PJ paid Melissa to leave town?”

“Well, duh. Of course it’s possible. You know how the Osbornes are. You can’t embarrass them in front of their peers and come out exscathed.”

“Unscathed.”

Jillian thought it over, then bent to pick up another shell. “My word sounds more terrifying.”

I couldn’t argue with that. “Did Melissa get along with the people who were here over the weekend?”

“Can you put
get along
in quotes? Because Melissa”—Jillian made air quotes with her fingers—“
got along
with everyone.”

“Explain what you mean by”—I made air quotes—“
got along
.”

“It means she didn’t.”

“You could have just said she didn’t.”

“I’m a fan of satire.”

“Jillian, you can’t even spell sat—never mind. Who
didn’t Melissa get along with—excluding Pryce, obviously?”

Jillian gasped. “How could I have forgotten?”

“Tell me.”

“I haven’t told you the baby’s name yet! You’re going to love it, Abs. It’s totally unique. Okay, get ready. Here it comes. It’s…Emerald!”

I blinked a few times, letting it sink in. “Emerald Osborne?”

“With emerald being the most expensive gemstone on the planet
and
the best color for redheads, it’s perfect, isn’t it?”

“For a munchkin maybe.”

She tilted her head, catlike. “What?”

“Is it your intention to make people think of the Emerald City in
The Wizard of Oz
when they hear your baby’s name?”

“You lost me.”

“Emerald
Os
-borne, Jillian.”

She thought it over, then tossed the shell over her shoulder with a frustrated huff. “You are so dejuvinating.”

“You know that’s not a word.”

“And you know how to burst a person’s bubble.” At that, Jillian began to cry, covering her face with her hands. “I can’t believe you hate my baby’s name.”

“I don’t
hate
it.”

Sniffling, she peered at me through her fingers. “Did you put
hate
in air quotes?”

“Marco is going to be finished interviewing Claymore and we’ve hardly begun. I thought you wanted to help me with this case.”

“I’m sorry. I do want to be helpful, I really do, and I have a lot of information for you. I just feel so antijubilant now because I don’t want my baby to be associated
with little green people. I don’t want her to be associated with anything. I want her to be her own person.”

Jillian started sobbing again, so I didn’t have the heart to scold her for making up another word. I fished a tissue out of my pocket and stuffed it in her hand. “It’s okay. You’ll find a name.”

“No, it’s not okay. I want to be here for you, Abs.” She blew her nose, tried to hand back the tissue, and ended up stuffing it into her skirt pocket. After taking some deep breaths and wiping away her tears with the backs of her hands, she asked, “What was the question again?”

It had been so long ago, I’d nearly forgotten. “About Melissa getting along with the other guests.”

“Oh, right. Okay, here’s the scoop. Melissa has strong opinions about everything and hates anyone showing her up, but otherwise, she’s really friendly.”

Jillian could have been describing herself.

“I should amend that,” Jillian said. “Melissa is”—she made air quotes—“
faux-friendly
to Lily.”

“Why to Lily? And just a side note here. When you put
faux
in front of the word, you don’t need air quotes. The sarcasm is implied.”

Jillian looked at me as if I were speaking ancient Greek. She finally waved it off with a, “Whatever. Anyway, you knew Lily and Pryce were college classmates, right? Well, I’ve heard”—Jillian leaned closer and said in a low voice—“that they were lovers during their senior year.
And
that Lily moved to New Chapel after she finished her culinary apprenticeship so she could renew their relationship, but Pryce had just gotten engaged to you.”

“Pryce never mentioned having a relationship with Lily.”

“You know Pryce. When something is over, he moves on. But just wait. It gets juicier. After Pryce broke up
with you, Lily set her sights on him again, and then Pryce got engaged to Melissa.”

“Ouch. That must have hurt. But if Pryce and Lily have such a history, why did he choose Melissa over her?”

“To be honest, I think Melissa was chosen for him.” Jillian glanced over her shoulder, then whispered, “By his parents.”

“Melissa probably has a better pedigree.”

“Way better. Her parents were blue bloods from Boston, and Melissa and her brother inherited a boatload of money when they passed away. Plus Melissa is attractive in a wholesome kind of way, and personable. She just doesn’t have what it takes to be a great interior decorator.”

“Poor Melissa,” I said. “Now that the Osbornes have been publicly humiliated, her reputation will be in shreds, not to mention her heart. I wouldn’t blame her at all for wanting to hide for a while.”

“If she’s hiding,” Jillian said, stopping, “I’ll be so annoyed.”

“You’d rather something bad has happened to her?”

“Of course not, but she should have more concern for our feelings.”

“I doubt whether she was thinking of everyone else’s feelings after just having been dumped, Jill. Speaking of feelings, though, is Pryce aware that Lily still carries a torch for him?”

“I don’t know how he could miss it.” Jillian shivered. “Let’s start back. Do you feel that chill in the air?”

I wiped perspiration off my forehead as we turned to head back. “Definitely no chill. Is Melissa aware of Lily’s feelings for Pryce?”

“She has to be aware. Lily doesn’t hide her feelings or edit her thoughts. Whatever she thinks comes straight out of her mouth. She has no tact at all.”

“That reminds me of someone
else
I know.”

“Me, too!” the clueless one said. “But Evelyn is my mother-in-law, so what am I supposed to do about it?”

I counted to ten silently, then took a deep breath. “How long have Lily and Jake been married?”

“Two, three, four months. My memory is a little foggy. Am I getting senile?”

“It’s hormones. What is their marriage like?”

“Jake adores Lily. Lily adores Lily. In that respect, they’re on the same page.”

“Don’t you think it’s awkward for Lily and Jake to be staying here with Pryce?”

“If I were Jake, I wouldn’t stand for it. I mean, surely he notices something! But he can’t exactly demand that they rent a place while their renovation is going on, since he wouldn’t be the one paying. So as long as Lily is calling the shots, of course she’ll accept Pryce’s invitation to stay here.”

“Then you think Jake knows about Lily’s feelings for Pryce?”

“I don’t know what Jake knows, but anyone watching how chummy Pryce and Lily are would have to sense a bond between them. Okay, another amendment. Jake isn’t the sharpest knife in the block, so maybe he doesn’t know.”

Jillian tapped her chin. “On the other hand, maybe he does know, because now that I think about it, Jake was flirting pretty heavily with Melissa this weekend, and that’s unusual for him. He usually dotes on Lily, but since she supports him, he might feel obligated to dote.

“Then again, rumors have been flying all week that Pryce was going to break up with Melissa, and that helped restart old rumors about Pryce and Lily, so maybe Jake heard the rumors and figured it out and decided to make Lily jealous, and
that’s
why he was flirting
with Melissa. Then
again
, rumor has it that Pryce still carries a torch for you, so there you go.”

Jillian was rambling. It was a good thing I wasn’t trying to take notes. “If Jake senses anything at all, Jillian, I’d think he’d be worried about Lily leaving him.”

“He should be worried! Everyone knows Lily married Jake on the rebound, so now that Pryce and Melissa aren’t an item any longer, I’d bet that Lily will ditch Jake for Pryce.”

“But is Lily being realistic? Besides the fact that Pryce has ignored her twice, would she meet the Osborne standards?”

“With the success she’s had at Beached in the past several months, that would
not
be a problem, Abs. Lily is gorgeous, trendy,
and
making money. She’s also tough as nails—a real tyrant at the bistro—which would be a plus for the Osbornes. As PJ always says, he didn’t make his money by being the Pillsbury Doughboy.”

Not being gorgeous, or trendy, or a tyrant, or making money, I must have been a big problem for the Osbornes. Was
doughy
how they had viewed me?

Jillian sighed. “It’s a vicious world out there, Abs. You’re fortunate you’re so out of the loop.”

“Thanks for that. Let’s move on to the Burches.”

Jillian fanned her face. “I’m boiling.”

“It’s hormones. Don’t worry about it.”

Jillian cast me an exasperated look. “Is that going to be your answer to everything now?”

“You were saying about the Burches?”

“The Burches…well, from the looks I saw passing between them, Orabell and Halston must have had words before we arrived at their house Saturday evening, because Orabell would barely speak to him. And she took every opportunity she could to get in nasty little digs
about Lily’s food, which Lily catered for our Saturday-evening meal. And PS, her dinner was excellent.”

The weekend was sounding more and more like a soap opera. “Why would Orabell take potshots at Lily if she was angry at Halston?”

“I don’t think those two things are connected, Abs.”

“Then disconnect them for me.”

“Unconnect.”

Jillian never challenged me on a word, so for a moment, I was confused. “No, I think it’s disconnect.”

“Want to bet?”

“I don’t care which it is. Just explain!”

Shivering now, Jillian hugged herself. “Well, along with her nasty food comments, Orabell kept hinting that Lily took one of her designer watches. And
those
two things
are
connected, because Orabell was obviously trying to get Lily to confess to taking the Piaget by making her angry about her food.”

“I don’t know Lily. Is she trustworthy, or does Orabell have a reason to suspect her?”

Jillian covered a yawn. “Lily has been catering parties around the lake all summer and nothing has ever been reported stolen by anyone else.”

“Is it possible Lily’s bistro isn’t doing as well as you think?”

“It’s jammed every night.” Jillian yawned again. “I think I need a nap—and don’t you dare say the
H
word again.”

“What was Lily’s reaction to Orabell’s jibes?”

“She ignored them for a while. Then she began to mock Orabell. I thought they were going to come to blows before the evening was over.”

“Didn’t Halston try to mediate?”

“Halston’s very protective of Orabell, but his way of handling discord is to make light of it. Unfortunately, it
doesn’t always solve the problem. I could tell Orabell was mad at him for not taking a stand.”

“So we have Orabell and Halston at odds, Jake flirting with Melissa, Orabell and Lily exchanging insults, Halston cracking jokes, and Pryce and Melissa not talking to each other. This might seem like a foolish question, but why does everyone get together when it doesn’t seem like anyone gets along?”

“For one thing, these weekend get-togethers take place only during August, when Halston has a month off. You might not realize it by the way he acts, but for the other eleven months, he’s really a decent, professional, smart, business-minded guy, which is why we all use him as our broker. He likes to give back, so he and Orabell host a lot of parties for various clients. And if you watch closely, Halston doesn’t drink much at all. He just likes to make it appear that he does so his guests feel comfortable drinking.”

“What were you and Claymore doing during all the drama of Saturday evening?” I asked, as we approached the Osbornes’ gated pool area.

“We got fed up and went out onto the deck to enjoy the cool evening. Let’s go inside. I need a nap.”

There wasn’t anything more I needed to ask Jillian about the weekend, yet my curiosity about the missing watch had been roused. “Just one more question. If Lily has such a sterling reputation, what could have triggered Orabell’s accusation? Could she be jealous of Lily for some reason? Her success, or her youth—”

Jillian sat forward. “Say that again.”

“The whole question?”

“The first part.”

“Is Orabell—”

“Stop!” Jillian clapped her hands together. “That’s it!”

“You know why Orabell accused Lily?”

“No! You just gave me the perfect name for my baby.”

“What?”

“Isabelle!”

“You got that from my question?”

Jillian gave me a pitying look. “You need to have more imagination, Abs.”

“Isabelle,” I said, trying it out. “I like it. Isabelle Osborne has a great sound to it.”

“I wonder if Claymore will want me to use his mother’s name as her middle name. Personally, I think Evelyn is too old-fashioned, but I can work on Claymore later.” Jillian sighed dreamily as we climbed the steps to the deck. “Can’t you just picture little Izzy in cute little red pigtails and a white pinafore?”

“You’re going to call her Izzy?”

“I’ll have to. Isabelle is too long for everyday usage. ‘
Isabelle
, it’s time for your nap.
Isabelle
, your nanny wants to change your diaper.
Isabelle
, eat your caviar.
Grandmama
Evelyn had it flown in from Russia especially for you.
Isabelle
, put down that Waterford crystal candlestick before you kill your father.’ See what I mean? Long.”

“Jillian, think about it. Izzy…Osborne.”

“Izzy Osborne. So?” Then her mouth dropped open in horror. “Oh, no! Everyone will associate her with Ozzy Osbourne.” She put her hands over her face. “I did it again!”

Fearing she was on the verge of another crying jag, I said, “Wow. Look at the time! Let’s gather the guys and head over to the Burches’, okay?”

She opened the sliding glass door and stepped inside. “I don’t think I can, Abs.”