Chapter 13.
"Did Savannah find you?" Lillian asked as I walked back into the card shop. "Jennifer, what"s wrong?" My face must have given me away.
"Bailey"s dead," I said, not meaning to just blurt it out. "It was his body they found in the house."
Lillian nodded. "Sara Lynn suspected as much, but I told her she was being paranoid." My aunt looked at me sharply. "Your sister must be devastated. So why are you here?"
"She didn"t want me," I said, letting myself cry. Honestly, sometimes I could be such a girl.
"There, there, it"s all right," Lillian said as she stroked my back. "It"s nothing against you. Your sister always was one to stand strong. No doubt she threw Bradford out, too."
"She did," I admitted as I pulled away and dabbed at my tears. "I can"t believe Bailey"s dead."
"You can"t? I"ve been slamming the man since I found out about his affair, and now I have all of that bad karma to live with." She patted my hand. "When your sister needs you, she"ll let you know, and when that happens, drop everything and go to her. That"s the best thing you can do for her."
"That"s what Bradford said," I admitted. "But it"s hard. I don"t much feel like working today."
"Jennifer, aren"t you worried about your own safety?"
I shrugged. "So you"ve come to the same conclusion w I have. I"m the last target standing."
Lillian shivered. "What a wicked way to phrase it."
"It is a little too vivid, isn"t it?" I admitted.
"So what do we do?"
"I"m more determined than ever to find out who killed Bailey and Eliza," I said. "I"ll never believe the murders aren"t related."
"Neither will I," she said. "Did you have any luck earlier?"
"Just in making half the town mad at me." I recounted what had happened with Addie, Kaye and Luke.
"My, you are leaving a wide band of hostility in your wake, aren"t you? If one of them didn"t want to see you come to harm before, they certainly do now."
"It"s a gift, really," I said. I suddenly remembered putting Savannah off, so I grabbed the phone. "I need to make a quick call," I said.
"Be my guest. It"s your shop," she said.
Savannah came on the line. "I"m so sorry about Bailey. I just heard. Could I speak with your sister?"
It was tough admitting that I"d bailed on her, but I really had no choice. Savannah was understanding though. "Everybody deals with tragedy in their own way. When my grandfather died, my grandmother wouldn"t cry for weeks. All she"d do was iron. When she ran out of clothes and sheets, that woman ironed towels, and even my daddy"s socks. She"ll come around. All she needs is time."
"I wanted to apologize for being so rude earlier. You had something to tell me."
"I"m not sure if it amounts to all that much, now that I"ve had some time to think about it," Savannah said.
"Why don"t you tell me, and I can judge for myself?"
"I suppose that"s the best way to handle it, but I hate pa.s.sing rumors along, especially when they might not be true."
"Savannah, I can"t promise I won"t tell Lillian, and Bradford if I have to, but I can say I won"t breathe a word of it idly."
"I know you won"t. Now I"ve made such a fuss about it you"ll be sure to think I"ve lost my mind."
I waited, and a few seconds later, she said, "Okay, it"s not much, but here goes. Pete and I were looking for our table at the banquet, and we saw someone take one of the letter openers from our table. At first I thought it was just some petty theft, but with what happened to Eliza, I"m beginning to wonder if it was more than that."
"Who was it?" I asked.
"A fellow who comes into the restaurant now and then. He"s not a member of the chamber, so it kind of surprised me to see him there. Who knows? Maybe he walked in off the street and wanted a souvenir. Though with his kind of money, it would surprise me."
"Savannah, I"ve known you my entire life, and I"ve never known you to beat around the bush like this. Do you even know the man"s name?"
"Of course I do," she said curtly. "There"s another reason I don"t want to say. It"s because of that best friend of yours."
"Gail? What does she have to do with this?" And then I knew. "You saw Reggie Bloom take the letter opener, didn"t you?"
"So you already know," she said.
"Not until a second ago. Thanks."
"Jennifer, be careful."
"You know it," I said as I hung up.
"Reggie Bloom?" Lillian asked. "What"s he got to do with this?"
I held up a hand. "Give me a second." I started mulling over the possibilities that my new landlord"s son could have been mixed up in the murder. I knew he"d looked familiar when I"d met him at dinner, but I hadn"t been able to place him. Had I seen him at the banquet myself and not realized it? Gail had complained that she thought Reggie had been seeing another woman, and on the dock Bailey had told me that he thought Eliza was involved with someone else, too.
"Okay, I may be nuts, but listen to this." I told Lillian what I was thinking, and she followed my reasoning every step of the way.
"Call your brother," she said. "He needs to know about this."
"Do you honestly think we have enough to go to him?"
Lillian frowned. "Jennifer, Bradford can question him, can"t he? What harm will that do?"
"What if I"m wrong?" I said. "Reggie"s going to hate me."
"But what if you"re right," Lillian replied. "You may be living on the grounds with a murderer. If anything happens to you, and we didn"t tell Bradford, he"ll kill me, so call your brother for my sake if not yours."
I picked up the telephone and dialed Bradford number. When he answered, I said, "Do you have s minute to talk?"
"Sure, I was just about to take a break, and I"m in my office. Do you want to come over?" He was in City Hall at the other end of Oakmont, a short stroll from my business.
"Okay, I"ll be there in two minutes."
"Hang on a second. You know what? It"s a pretty day. Why don"t I walk over there? Do you have any coffee on?"
"You know it." I said.
"Then I"ll see you in a minute or two."
After he hung up, I started having second thoughts. "Lillian, this is a mistake. I shouldn"t have called him."
"So blame me for having the overactive imagination."
The door chimed, and I looked over to see who was coming in. Bradford must have sprinted to get there that fast. It was a customer, though, a welcome relief. She looked at a few cards, then asked. "Do you have anything edgier than these?"
"What did you have in mind?" I asked.
"I"m looking for something with some bite. My husband just told me he"s leaving me for a younger woman, and I"d like to show him my disgust with a card. I figured, why not? They make cards for everything else."
Lillian smiled at the woman. "I"ve got just the card for you. In fact, I made it myself." As she led our customer to her selection of acerbic cards, Bradford walked in.
"Where"s that coffee?" he said, then lowered his voice when he saw we had a customer.
"It"s in back," I said as I led him to our storeroom that also served as a handy place for our breaks.
I poured him a cup, and one for me as well. He sipped it, then said, "That"s great. Now what"s up?"
"I"m not sure I should have called you," I admitted. "I"m starting to feel silly about it."
"What"s it concerning?"
"Everything that"s been happening in town the past few days," I said.
"Sis, if you have any ideas, I"ll take them. This isn"t for the general public, but I"m not doing too well. I know there"s got to be a common link here, but I can"t find it. If I don"t come up with something soon, I"m going to have to call the state police, and I hate having to do that."
"Okay, but remember, this is just theory." I recounted Savannah"s story about the letter opener, then told him my suspicions linking Reggie Bloom to Eliza. "It"s not much, is it?" he asked after he stared at his coffee for a few seconds.
"I"m sorry I called you," I said. "I guess I"m just grasping at straws."
"Sometimes that"s the only way to find what you"re, looking for," Bradford said. "I"ll have to be careful when I talk to him. His family"s got money, and that means influence."
"Forget I said anything, Bradford." He shook his head. "A lead"s a lead, Sis. It won"t cost a thing to question him." He took one last sip, then said, "Thanks for the coffee." then said, "Thanks for the coffee."
Before I could stop him, he was gone. Should I have kept my suspicions to myself? The way my imagination could run on overdrive, I"d be suspecting Pete next.
Lillian was ringing up a sale, and I could see that the woman had bought one of nearly every card my aunt offered. The woman was smiling as she looked at me. "These are wonderful. You should get them into every card shop in the country."
"Tell her that," I said, gesturing toward Lillian, "She"s talented, isn"t she?"
"With just the right twisted mind," the woman agreed.
Lillian shrugged. "It"s a gift. Thanks for coming by."
"Thank you," she said, and then to everyone"s surprise, she hugged Lillian before leaving.
"That was something," Lillian said, after the woman had gone.
"She"s right, you know. Your cards would sell just about anywhere."
Lillian looked pleased, though she said, "You"ve been working with the glue too much lately; the vapors have gone to your head. What did your brother say?"
"He"s going to talk to Reggie," I said.
"Wouldn"t you love to be privy to that conversation?"
I straightened the bags under the counter as I said, "Not particularly. The man"s not that fond of me now. Wait until Bradford talks to him."
"Jennifer, do you have any ideas about what we should do now?"
"We could always make some new cards. How"s the inventory in your section?"
She said, "Let me check."
I walked over to Lillian"s corner, and after she went through the racks, she said, "We"ve been selling more of these than I thought. I need to come up with some new cards."
"That"s fine, but don"t forget, you should replace the ones you"re selling, too. After all, they"re your most popular cards."
She looked hesitant, and I asked, "Is something wrong?"
"I have so much fun coming up with each card, but it"s halved every time I have to do the same one again. It gets tedious, doesn"t it?"
"It can," I admitted. "Ma.s.s production is a lot different from the initial creative process, but we can"t sell them if they"re not on the racks. Come on, I"ll help you."
"With the themes?" she asked.
"Oh, no, we"ll leave that up to you. What I can do is help you make replacements for the cards you"ve sold. I know it may seem a bit morbid working when the world"s falling down all around us, but to be honest with you, I think it might just take my mind off what"s been happening lately."
"Then by all means, let"s make some cards."
I got out the stock and started folding cards while Lillian picked several of her cards that were running low. As I worked to replicate them, I couldn"t help but laugh at some of the sentiments. After all, who could resist opening a card that said, "Dinosaurs, Pet Rocks and Drive-Ins" on the outside? Inside it, Lillian had written in a fine hand, "They"re All Gone. Why Aren"t You?"-a dry message expressed so cheerfully. We worked on several different cards, waiting on customers now and then. By closing time, we"d managed to restock most of her section. We worked on several different cards, waiting on customers now and then. By closing time, we"d managed to restock most of her section.
"Any plans tonight, Jennifer?" Lillian asked.
"No, I"m going to stay home and hang out with Oggie and Nash. I"ve missed the rascals lately. How about you?"
"Another evening, another beau," she said, waving her hand in the air. "It can be difficult finding the right man in this town." her hand in the air. "It can be difficult finding the right man in this town."