Invitation to Murder (Book 1 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) (19 page)

“
And who’s going to run
the shop while we’re running around all over Rebel Forge?” I
asked.

“
The
shop can circle the drain, for all I care. We’re
talking about a dangerous situation here. Surely
that’s worth closing for the morning. Honestly, if you walk out
that door alone, I’m going to make a call. You’ll have a police
escort before you can make it to the Gremlin, and no one’s going to
talk to you with your brother waiting outside in his squad
car.”

“
You wouldn’t,” I
said.

“
Try me.”

I thought about it for ten seconds, then
finally said, “Okay, I give up. You can come, but you have to
promise me you’ll let me do all the talking.”

Lillian smiled brightly. “My dear, you won’t
know I’m there.”

“
Hi, it’s so nice to
finally meet you,” Donna Albright said as she extended her hand to
me on the front porch of her home. “Mamma’s told me what a great
job you’re doing on our invitations. We so appreciate you bumping
us to the head of the line. Donna Albright was nothing like I’d
expected her to be. And that was a very good thing, considering my
impressions of her mother. Donna was a slightly pudgy blonde, and I
wondered if it was from too many trips the dessert bar or if her
condition was already starting to show. I was willing to admit that
I was being pretty harsh judging her at first, but in just a few
seconds she won me over with her open warmth. “This is my aunt
Lillian,” I said. “She’s been helping me with your
order.”

“
Then I should thank you,
too, Ma’am,” Donna said.

Lillian just smiled, so far abiding by her
promise to keep her comments to herself. Goodness, I hadn’t meant
she couldn’t speak, but perhaps that was a good thing.

“
Mamma’s not home right
now,” Donna said. “Is there something I could do for
you?”

“
I was hoping to steal a
minute of your time,” I said, angling to get in the
door.

“
Of course. Where are my
manners? Would you like to come in? I just made a fresh pitcher of
iced tea.”

“
That would be great,” I
said, following her inside. I could suddenly see where Anne
Albright had gotten her taste for wedding invitations. The sitting
room where Donna led us was modern, full of chrome and shades of
black with accents of red splashed everywhere. Unwittingly I’d
designed a throwaway card that had somehow managed to meet the
woman’s odd tastes and preferences.

As Donna left us to get the tea, I told
Lillian, “You could have at least said hello.”

“
Did you hear that? She
called me ma’am,” Lillian said through clenched teeth.

“
She was just being
respectful,” I said, defending her.

“
Of her elders,” Lillian
added. It was really a good thing I’d made her promise to keep
quiet. Who knew where her line of questioning might
lead?

When Donna came back with a tray holding a
pitcher and three glasses, I said, “You have a lovely home,” not
meaning a word of it.

“
Please, Ms. Shane, I know
my mamma’s flair for the dramatic better than anybody since my
daddy died. Personally, I like simple lines and earth tones
myself.”

I reached into my purse
and brought the invitations out. At the last second, without really
knowing why I’d included the other two I’d made. “Have you seen the
one your mother picked?”

I handed her the modern one, then said, “I
had a few other choices for her, but that was her favorite.”

Donna barely glanced at the offerings. “I
assure you, whatever you two decided is fine with me.”

“
You’re certainly easy to
get along with,” I said, “Don’t mistake my agreeable disposition
for weakness,” she said with a sudden firmness in her voice that
had been missing before. “Frankly, I don’t care what the
invitations look like, what kind of food we’ll be serving, or which
band plays at the reception. The only thing that matters to me is
that I’m marrying Larry. We had a bit of a disagreement about the
situation at first, but everything’s right on track
now.”

I took a sip of tea and found it almost too
sweet for me, though I was a big fan of the sugary drink. “It’s
funny, but most Southern women I know dream about their weddings
from the time they’re little girls.

“
Well, I’m not most women.
It’s a formal ceremony I don’t need, but Mamma is insisting, so
Larry and I are going along with it.”

“
I met your prospective
mother-in-law. She seems charming.”

Donna’s face lit up. “Isn’t Melinda
wonderful? She already asked me to call her Mom.”

“
How does your mother feel
about that?” I asked, despite the question’s being off track from
my intended line of questioning.

Donna took a sip of her tea, smiled, then
said, “As long as she’s my only ‘mamma,’ she doesn’t care.”

Okay, enough idle curiosity. It was time to
get to the real purpose for our visit. “Melinda had the most
darling earrings on when she came by the shop this morning. She
said she got them from you.”

“
That was another one of
Mamma’s ideas. I thought it was sweet. How like Melinda to wear
them in town.”

“
Have you worn yours yet?”
I asked.

‘“
Heavens, no. I hate
earrings. No, I promised I’d wear them on my wedding day, but not
until then, and certainly not after.” I glanced at her ears and saw
that they were unadorned. She had no jewelry on whatsoever, with
the exception of a modest engagement ring. “That’s lovely,” I
said.

“
It’s not much, but it was
exactly what I wanted, momma wanted to upgrade it, if you can
imagine that. I’m not marrying Larry for his money. I love
him.”

”
About the wedding,” I
said. “I’m so sorry about losing your friend.” The sun finally left
Donna’s face.

“
Poor Tina. We grew up
together, and I felt kind of obligated to make her my maid of
honor, but things were strained between us. I’d been hoping that
the wedding would make us close again.”

Donna started to tear up as the doorbell
rang. I said, “Should I get that for you?” She dabbed at the corner
of one eye. “No, I’ll answer it.”

As she left the room, I whispered, “Is there
anything else I should ask her?”

“
See if she’ll show you
the earrings so you’ll know b still has them both.”

Of course. I didn’t know how I could have
missed such an obvious request. “Thanks.”

Lillian patted my hand. “Don’t worry. You’re
doing fine.”

We heard Donna’s squeals from the next room.
“Larry, I’m so happy you’re here.”

She came in a minute later, a beaming smile
on her face and a young man on her arm. Larry Spencer was a tall,
gangly young man with the beginnings of a scruffy beard that
matched his longish chestnut hail. He looked uncomfortable in the
spotlight, and I wondered about how the poor guy would fare under
the scrutiny due him on his wedding day.

“
Larry, this is Jennifer
and Lillian.”

Larry offered us his hand as he said, “Do
you run the card shop, by any chance?”

“
I do,” I said. “I’m
pleased you’ve heard of it.”

“
Are you kidding? My
mother is nuts about card making all of a sudden. She hasn’t been
this happy since she took up soapmaking.”

“
She’s delightful,” I
said. “Donna, we need to get back to the shop, but I was wondering
if you could do me a favor.”

“
Anything,” she said, her
gaze still on Larry.

“
I’m thinking about
getting a pair of earrings like Melinda had, but I’d love a closer
look. Would you mind if I took a peek at yours?”

“
Of course not. I’ll be
right back.” She kissed Larry; on the cheek and added, “Don’t you
go anywhere.”

“
I won’t,” he said as she
left.

“
So, are you excited about
the upcoming nuptials?” Lillian asked, breaking her pledge at
last.

“
I guess,” Larry
said.

“
It was too bad about Tina
Mast, wasn’t it?” I asked, trying to make conversation with
him.

Larry looked at me as if I’d just shot him.
The look of shock and raw grief hit his face in an instant. “Excuse
me,” he said as he bolted for the door Donna had left through.

“
What did I say?” I
whispered.

Lillian started to reply when Donna came
back into the room. “Here they are. It took me forever to find
them.” She handed me a pair of earrings identical to Belinda’s and
the single one I’d found at the crime scene. One edge of the
cardboard they were mounted n was bent, and there was an odd crease
in the top corner, but both earrings were there.

“
Where did Larry go?”
Donna asked. “He didn’t leave, did he?”

“
He had to go to the
restroom,” I said, guessing that was exactly where he’d headed. I
handed the earrings back to her and said, “Donna, could you tell me
who all is in your wedding party? I’m particularly interested in
the girls involved.”

“
Now why on earth would
you possibly want to know that?”

I hadn’t expected her to ask me to justify
my question, and frankly, I was stumped. Lillian spoke up, saving
me. “I’m thinking about writing an article for the Rebel Forge
Gazette,” she said. “I thought your wedding might make a good
story.”

Donna said, “Mamma would love it. Hang on a
second.” She was gone for an instant, then came back with her
purse. “Here’s everybody involved with the ceremony. Mamma is so
organized, sometimes I could just scream.”

I took the list from her and said, “Thanks
so much for your time. Congratulations again on your wedding, tell
Larry we wish him all the best, too.”

“
I’ll do that,” she said,
looking over her shoulder, no doubt wondering what her fiancé was
up to. Once we were outside, I said, “Did you see how green his
gills turned when I mentioned Tina Mast’s name?”

“
Perhaps he’s just a
sensitive young man,” Lillian said. “At least I might think that if
I hadn’t spotted something else interesting about him. Did you see
it, to?”

I racked my brain trying to figure out what
she was talking about, but I didn’t have any luck. “I give up. What
was it?”

“
He was sporting an
earring himself, one just like his mother wore.”

“
But Tina kept saying
‘she’ on the phone with me. If it had been Larry, surely she would
have said something different.”

“
You’re probably right,
but I do find it most interesting, don’t you?”

“
I don’t know what to
think yet,” I admitted. “Right now I’d like to talk to the rest of
the young women on this list.”

Chapter 14

So, should we tackle the bridesmaids, or
should we go after the new maid of honor first?” Lillian asked. I
noticed that the bridesmaids were sisters living at the same
address. “Let’s take care of these two first, maybe if we get
lucky, they’ll both be there.” As I drove to the address, Lillian
said, “I can’t help wondering if these two young ladies happen to
be twins.”

“
Why do you say
that?”

“‘
Camellia’ and ‘Pamela’
are a dead giveaway, don’t you think?”

I risked glancing over at Lillian to see if
she might joking, but she was absolutely serious. She must have
been able to sense my concern, but she left me hanging in the wind.
She said, “Tell you what, why don’t we bet on it? The loser has to
buy lunch. You say they aren’t twins, and I say they are.” I
suddenly got suspicious. “Hey, you haven’t met them before, have
you?” Rebel Forge wasn’t huge, but it was no small town, either.
The place, especially the outskirts of the downtown area, was large
enough that I didn’t automatically know everyone, though it was a
rare place I could visit without running into at least one person I
knew. “I assure you, I’m going strictly by their names.”

“
Okay, then, it’s a bet.”
I began to wonder if my aunt was just trying to buy my lunch and
allow me to keep my self-respect when we pulled up to the house. I
rang the bell, holding the wedding invitation in my hand as a way
of introducing myself. A pretty young redhead barely out of her
teens answered the door wearing a floral-print sundress and a pair
of sandals that matched. “You must be Jennifer,” the girl said.
“Donna just called and said you might be coming. Come on in. My
sister’s getting ready for work, but we can spare you a few
minutes.”

Lillian and I followed her inside as she
said, “By the way, I’m Pam.”

“
It’s nice to meet you,
Pam,” I said, scanning what I could see of the house for her
sister.

“
Now what is it you’d like
to know?”

Lillian jumped right in. “As Donna told you,
I’m I thinking about doing a story for the newspaper. When I write,
I like to focus on one particular item to use so my readers can
relate to the mood I’m trying to convey.”

“
You mean like a
metaphor?”

“
Certainly,” Lillian said,
obviously glad for any excuse that made her story a little less
flimsy.

“
So what are you focusing
on?”

“
I found it fascinating
that each of the women in the wedding received pierced earrings,”
Lillian said. “May I see yours?”

“
If you’ve seen one pair,
you’ve seen them all.” They’re identical.”