Snuffed Out (Book 2 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) (12 page)

“
I’ll do just that. See you
later, Harrison.”

I got up and brushed off my jeans. I still
had that order to call in before we opened, and if I left it till
the last minute, Eve would certainly scold me about it. Sometimes
it was hard to remember that I was the one who owned At Wick’s End
and she was the employee.

As I walked past Heather’s
shop, there was a new sign in the window,
closed till further notice. N
ow when
had she done that? That sign hadn’t been there yesterday afternoon,
I would have noticed it. Could she have done it this morning, and
I’d missed seeing her? Another thought
struck me, one I didn’t want to admit. Was it possible she’d
posted it last night, just before hurling that brick through
Sanora’s window?

No, I couldn’t believe it, not of my
friend.

But the possibility refused to go away.

I needn’t have worried about Eve noticing
any lapses of my responsibilities. She was in her own world as we
opened the store and welcomed our customers.

Sheriff Morton came in an hour after we
opened. He looked pale and there was a sheen of sweat on his brow,
though it was still cool outside. “Harrison, you have a
second?”

“
Absolutely,” I told him. I
turned to Eve and said, “I won’t be long.”

She nodded curtly, then went back to the
customer she was helping.

Outside, Morton said, “She’s all full of
cheer, isn’t she?”

“
Actually, this is one of
her good days. So what do you think about the window?”

“
It looks like you and
Pearly did a good job patching it, but I’d get the glass man in
here if you want to keep Sanora off your back. She can be a real
pain in the neck when she wants to be.”

“
You know Aaron’s
ex-wife?”

Morton said, “Let’s just say we went out a
few times and leave it at that, can we? I got the brick from her,
but it’s not going to do any good. I found a pile of them around
the back of the building. You really should get that cleaned up,
Harrison, you don’t want rats moving in on you.”

“
I’ve got it on my list,” I
admitted. “There’s no chance of fingerprints?”

“
Not off that. It probably
wasn’t even planned. Some kids were probably up to mischief and it
was Sanora’s unlucky night.”

“
There was just one person
there. Pearly and I saw him. Or her, we really couldn’t be
certain.”

“
I guess I won’t be calling
on you as a witness,” he said. “Listen, there’s nothing I can do
here. Sorry, but I don’t have a thing to go on, and I’m trying to
hold down the fort until some of my people get back.” He coughed a
few times. “Blast it all, I think I’m coming down with it myself.
Just what I need, a case of the crud when everything’s falling down
around my ears.”

“
You’d better take care of
yourself. Why don’t you see if Millie has any chicken soup? It’s
got to help.”

“
It didn’t do the chickens
much good, did it?” He coughed again, then added, “I’ve got to
go.”

“
Hope you feel better,” I
called out as he headed for his squad car, but I couldn’t be sure
he’d even heard me. It looked like a great time to commit a crime
in Micah’s Ridge, with half the force down with the flu. I just
hoped the criminals didn’t catch wind of it.

Eve was talking on the telephone when I
walked back into At Wick’s End, and from the sound of it, things
weren’t going all that well. There were no customers in the shop,
so I kept myself busy straightening shelves until she got off.

“
Is everything all right?” I
asked. Her face was a frozen mask.

“
It’s just wonderful,” she
said, the words dripping with sarcasm.

“
Listen,
I’m not trying to pry, but if you need someone to talk to, I’m
right here.” 
¹

She started to say something, then bit it
back. Her expression did ease somewhat when she said, “I’ll be
fine. At least it’s not a mistake I have to keep paying for. It’s
over.”

Now what in the world could I say to that?
“Anyway, I’m here if you need me.”

She nodded. “I know, but it’s nothing I care
to discuss. I know it’s early, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to
take my lunch.” She blew out a gust of air, then said plaintively,
“Truthfully, I’d rather not work today. Do you mind if I take a
vacation day?”

“
Go ahead, I’ve got things
covered here.”

As Eve grabbed her jacket from our shared
office, she said, “You don’t have to tell me that. You’ve been
working so hard since you came, you’re ready to handle it all.”

“
Come on, I figure there’s a
lot more you can teach me.”

She sighed, then said, “Perhaps, but I doubt
it. Good-bye, Harrison.”

“
See you tomorrow,” I called
out, but she just waved as the door closed behind her.

I surely hoped I would see her tomorrow. I
hadn’t been in the candlemaking business all that long, and I
certainly wasn’t ready to run At Wick’s End without Eve. Could I
muddle along with it if she left? Most likely, but it wouldn’t be
easy. Hopefully the day off was all she needed, but with Eve, I
couldn’t be entirely sure.

I should have packed my
lunch, but then I hadn’t known earlier that Eve was going to bail
out on me. There was only one thing I could do as my stomach
rumbled. I scrawled out a sign that said,
back in
5
minutes,
taped it to the door and
jogged down to Millie’s for a quick bite.

There was a line of customers, including
Sanora and Tick standing close together. Tick called me over.
“Harrison, care to join us?”

“
I’d love to, but I’m
watching the shop by myself. I’ll come back later.”

Millie spotted me and said, “Harrison, come
here a second.”

I walked to the counter, nodding my
apologies to the folks in line. “I can wait.”

“
I’m not worried about your
lunch, I’ll send something down a little later. I want to talk to
you about Heather’s sign.” She’d said the last in a near-whisper as
she worked at filling orders, no doubt trying to keep the news from
Sanora.

I stopped her. “We can talk about it when
you bring me something later.”

She frowned a moment, then agreed. “I won’t
be long, Mrs. Quimby is helping me out.”

“
When did you hire her?” I
asked.

“
The second I found out
Heather let her go. I’ve known her for years, and honestly, I can
use the help.”

“
It sounds serious, doesn’t
it?” I asked. Mrs. Quimby was devoted to Heather and Esmeralda. If
Heather had actually fired her from her part-time position, she
really must be poised to break her lease and move.

What had I done by letting Sanora come to
River’s Edge?

“
We’ll talk soon,” Millie
said, and I went back to At Wick’s End to wait on her. I was more
interested in the conversation than the lunch, but I wouldn’t turn
down either one. It looked like things were changing yet again at
River’s Edge, and not for the better.

Chapter 9

“
I don’t think it’s as dire
as you believe, Harrison,” Millie told me as I finished the last of
my sandwich an hour later. “There’s hope yet.”

For once I was happy the foot traffic in At
Wick’s End was light. I needed to eat, and just as important, I had
to talk to Millie. Pearly may have been the one who kept me up to
date on the physical aspects of River’s Edge, but Millie knew the
complex’s heart.

“
How can you say that?” I
asked. “She fired Mrs. Quimby and put a moving-sale sign up in her
window. It can’t get much darker than that.”

“
I spoke with Vera at
length, and she said Heather was still unsure about what she was
going to do.”

“
Who’s Vera?” I
asked.

“
You know, Mrs.
Quimby.”

“
Vera is Mrs. Quimby’s first
name?” I asked as I finished off my sweet tea.

“
Why yes. Why does that
surprise you?”

“
I just never thought about
it before. She’s been ‘Mrs. Quimby’ since I first met her. I never
really thought about her having a first
name.”   

“
I think Vera’s a perfectly
lovely name. Now let’s get back to Heather. Are you adamant about
keeping Sanora at River’s Edge, or is there any chance you’ll
change your mind?”

I stood, wadded the wrapping paper from my
lunch, and threw it into the trashcan. “We signed a lease, but it
only runs until the end of next month.”

Millie started to say something, but I
quickly added, “Her renewal is not going to depend on Heather, as
much as I’d like her to stay. Millie, I’m not being hardnosed about
this, but Belle left River’s Edge to me, not the entire tenants
association. I have to do what I think is best. Would I have liked
to have known about all this before I agreed to let Sanora reopen
the pottery shop? Absolutely. But Cragg never hinted at it as he
was twisting my arm. Why isn’t anyone mad at him?”

“
Gary is what he has always
been. I’m sure he tried to finesse his playmates in preschool, and
he’s not about to change.”

“
So Heather’s leaving if
Sanora stays. I don’t want that to happen, and I’ll do whatever I
can to prevent it, short of evicting Sanora.”

“
So we’re at a standoff, is
that it?”

“
My hands are tied,” I said.
“If I had a chance to talk to her, I might be able to change her
mind.”

“
I wouldn’t mind speaking
with her myself, but Vera told me Heather was leaving town for a
few weeks. She’s got a friend in Charlotte she’s going to be
staying with.”

“
Well, that’s a good sign,
at least.”

“
What do you
mean?”

I said, “Think about it. If she’s not in
town and Mrs. Quimby is working for you, Heather can’t start
selling off her stock.”

“
I suppose.”

The bell above my door chimed and I saw Mrs.
Simms walk in. I told Millie, “I’d love to help, but I’ve got to
keep my eyes on this woman. She steals for the fun of it, but I
haven’t been able to catch her with the goods yet.”

“
I’ll leave you to
it.”

Millie gave Mrs. Simms a wide berth as she
left the store, and I approached the woman as if she was my best
customer. I’d come up with a plan for her next visit after watching
her walk off with a pricey candle during her last trip to the
store, but I couldn’t prove it.

“
Mrs. Simms, how are you
today?”

“
Fine, fine,” she muttered,
and I could smell the liquor on her breath. It was hard to tell how
long she’d been at it, but I imagined it had started well before
lunch.

“
So what can I help you with
today?”

She looked around, then said, “I’m just
browsing. Go ahead, do whatever you need to do.”

“
Nonsense, my first priority
is each and every customer. Now we have some specials today. Let me
show you.” I took her arm and dragged her from spot to spot, making
up odd specials that would have driven Eve insane if she’d been
there to hear them.

Mrs. Simms was obviously uncomfortable with
my close presence, since it meant she wasn’t free to stuff
something under her coat. I gave her ten minutes to flee from the
store, but it took her only seven. As she started to bolt, I said,
“Mrs. Simms, I feel guilty for deserting you in the past, but those
days are over. Whenever you come back to At Wick’s End, and I mean
whenever, I will be right by your side, helping you pick out just
the perfect thing, no matter how many other customers are in the
shop. I will be right there, do you understand?”

She muttered something as she broke for the
door. I doubted she’d be back, not with all my “special attention,”
but if she did venture in my door again, I was bound and determined
that she wouldn’t leave with a single thing she hadn’t paid
for.

Things were quiet for most of the afternoon,
and I was glad we were just open till five. I knew Erin’s shop
didn’t close until six, so if I hurried preparing my deposit, I
could drop it off at the bank and still have half an hour on the
water. I was eager to get back to it. Seeing the proprietress
wouldn’t hurt, either.

At two minutes before five, I bolted the
door to At Wick’s End and headed for the bank.

Erin was totaling out her own register when
I got there fifteen minutes later. “You’re closing early, too?” I
asked, failing to hide the disappointment in my voice.

She smiled. “Don’t look so grim. I decided
it was a slow day, and to be honest with you, I thought making
those candles might be fun. You can still take a kayak out if you’d
like.”

“
Are you sure you wouldn’t
like a quick lesson in candlemaking first?”

“
That’s all you need,
teaching candlemaking on your time off.”

“
Hey, I’m happy to do it. I
really enjoy making them.”

She shook her head. “You go grab a kayak and
I’ll muddle through on my own.”

I grabbed a paddle, then asked, “Are you
sure? I really don’t mind.”

“
Go,” she said, adding a
smile to the command.

Erin didn’t have to tell me twice. I untied
the kayak nearest to me and a minute later I was gliding through
the water. It really was a glorious time to be out. I had that
stretch of the river to myself, if I didn’t count the ducks and
fish. The opposite bank of the river rose up straight into the
mountains, and the patchwork of autumn leaves still clinging to the
trees made the reflections shimmer and glow with color. It was
stunning, and I found myself wishing I’d brought my camera to
capture it. I paddled around, fully enjoying myself when I happened
to glance at my watch. It was quarter after six!  I’d made
Erin stay after work, something I knew she hated. Paddling fiercely
back to her dock, I made it in four minutes and noticed that all
the other boats had been pulled up onto the dock and chained
down.