by Kate Bell
“That’s exactly it. I looked forward to seeing Peggy at all the family get-togethers, and then she would also bring the children by my house at various times when they were still young. We would sit and talk, and I always got the biggest kick out of her. She has quite the sense of humor.”
“Maybe you just needed some time to get better acquainted with Jane,” I suggested. I wondered exactly what was bothering Mrs. Howell where Jane was concerned.
“I don’t know,” she said thoughtfully. “I suppose that could have been the case, but it seemed like she really wasn’t the friendly sort. She didn’t like to come over here and visit with me, or at least that’s the way I felt about it. It seemed like she was always in a hurry to get out of here when they did finally come by.”
“Oh?” I waited to see if she would continue.
She nodded. “And then she seemed to resent Peggy and the kids. When Eldon would say he was going to go visit them in San Bernardino, she would sigh and make a face. She told Eldon he didn’t spend enough time with her, but they both live right here in Pumpkin Hollow and I’m quite certain they spent a lot of time together.”
“I guess with a new relationship, people like to spend a lot of time together,” I said lamely. I hoped I sounded neutral. I didn’t want her to clam up on me.
“That or she was controlling.” She looked at me pointedly. “She told Eldon that he needed to clear it with her before he decided to take weekend trips down to see the kids. She said they were adults, which they are, and that he needed to make her a priority.”
This surprised me. I didn’t remember Jane being the controlling, selfish type. “How old are Eldon’s children?”
“The youngest is a girl and is twenty-four. Megan just graduated with a Masters in English, and the oldest is Twenty-eight. Justin owns a business down there in San Bernardino. It’s a delivery service of some kind and he’s always working. It makes it really hard for him to come up here to Pumpkin Hollow to visit. Eldon enjoyed going down to see them. Jane shouldn’t have had any problem with that.”
I thought both of Eldon’s kids were old enough to make the trip here to Pumpkin Hollow to visit him, but I didn’t say so. If the family was used to him going to visit down there, and none of them had any issues with it, then that was their business. A small part of me wondered if Jane wasn’t being unreasonable in her request for him to let her know what he was doing on the weekend. But Mrs. Howell had already said that she favored her former daughter-in-law and that could have been the sole reason for her dislike of Jane Graves.
“Mrs. Howell, do you know of anybody that might have wanted to harm your son?” I asked it as gently as I could. I probably needed to work on my delivery of a question like this. It was one that could bring up some hard feelings and memories.
She looked me straight in the eye and was quiet a moment. “Yes. Jane Graves. She has such a terrible temper, and I’d seen her scream at Eldon on more than one occasion when he didn’t do what she wanted him to do. I worried about the situation and when Eldon came over here by himself, I spoke to him about it.”
“What did he say?” I asked.
“He was embarrassed and said she didn’t mean anything by it. I asked him if he was afraid of her, because Eldon was a very quiet man.”
“And what did he say?” I said, encouraging her to continue.
“He said that the last fight they had, he was afraid. He almost called the police. But in the end, he just waited for her to calm down,” she folded her hands in her lap, slowly shaking her head. “It seems a shame that he felt he needed to live like that. I wish more than anything that he had called the police. Maybe he could have headed this whole thing off. Maybe he’d still be here.”
My heart went out to her. “Do you know what the fight was about?”
“Money.”
I leaned back in my seat. If it was true that Jane got most of the money in the divorce settlement with her ex-husband, and that she was still fighting with Eldon about money, maybe she really was greedy. And maybe that greed had driven her to murder.
Chapter Nine
After my visit with Mrs. Howell, I decided to take a drive by the Pumpkin Hollow jewelry store. Ethan had already told me he had stopped in to see if they sold watches like the one that was found clutched in Eldon’s hand the night he was murdered, but I wanted to poke around and see if I could find out anything new.
I pushed the door to the jewelry store open and looked around. The store was brightly lit and still decorated for Halloween. Toward the front of the store were displays and jewelry cases with costume jewelry. Much of it was inexpensive and commemorated a visit to Pumpkin Hollow. Charm bracelets, bead necklaces, and pins with gold-toned metal accents and inexpensive crystals as far as the eye could see. They were items tourists would buy on impulse—must-have souvenirs that were affordable enough to buy several of them.
I knew the shop owner Nina Black and her husband Carl kept the expensive jewelry toward the back of the shop so they could keep a closer eye on it. I wondered if they had much trouble with shoplifting. I imagined that with all the tourist trade, there was probably a good deal of that going on, especially for the items that commemorated a trip to Pumpkin Hollow. It made sense to make sure the more expensive items were kept as secure as possible.
Nina was hanging inexpensive necklaces on a hook on the wall that featured exclusively pumpkin-themed jewelry. She turned to look at me and smiled. “Hello Mia, how are you this morning?”
“I’m doing well,” I said and headed toward her. “I just thought I’d stop in and see what you have left after Halloween.” I saw her husband at the back of the store and I waved at him.
“Well with the Halloween season nearly over, there’s not as much jewelry as I had earlier in the season. Were you looking for anything special?”
“No, I just had some spare time, and I thought I’d wander in and take a look around. We’re heaving a sigh of relief at the candy store now that the Halloween season is almost done.”
“I know exactly what you mean. This place has been a madhouse the past few weeks,” she said and hung up the last necklace. “I keep telling Carl I’m going down to the candy store and get at least a pound of your mother’s fudge and eat until I’m sick as a reward for all my hard work. Is there any more pumpkin spice left?”
“Yes, she’ll be making some smaller batches until Thanksgiving. But you better hurry in because it’s going to be gone before you know it,” I said and walked over to one of the display cases that held more expensive jewelry.
“I’ll do that. I just got some new silver earrings in,” she said as she headed toward the back of the store.
I was in the middle of the store and the items in this display case were nicer than what was kept up front, but they still weren’t the very expensive items. “Really? I like silver.” I peered into the display case and saw the earrings that she mentioned. There was a cute pair of tiny silver bow earrings that I really liked. “How much for the little bows?”
“I think those are forty dollars,” she said, heading back toward me. “Let me take a look for you.” She opened the back of the display case, picked up the box and looked at the price marked on the bottom. “Nope, these are only twenty-five. Would you like to see them?” She handed me the box, and I looked at the earrings.
“They sure are cute,” I said. “I probably shouldn’t be spending my money on jewelry for myself though. I moved out of my parent’s house about a month ago and I’ve got to pay rent nowadays.”
“How exciting. Getting your own place is always fun,” she said as I handed the earrings back to her.
“I’m really enjoying it. I live in one of those cute little white houses with the black shutters over on Pumpkin Lane,” I said. “You know, I’m thinking about a watch for my dad. Christmas will be here before we know it.”
“We have some really nice Rolex watches that we just got in the other day,” she said as she closed up the display case.
> “Rolex watches? I saw one once that I thought was really nice looking. And since my dad will wear a watch until the thing has completely fallen apart, I wanted to get him a nicer one.”
“We just started carrying them,” she said and headed over to a display case in the back. “The ones we carry range in price anywhere from six-thousand dollars on up to close to fifteen-thousand dollars. There are much more expensive models, but we don’t carry those in the store. We’ll have to special order those.”
I swallowed hard and followed her over and peered into the display case. As much as I loved my dad, I couldn’t afford a watch for six thousand dollars.
I hadn’t seen the watch Ethan had picked up from the alley, but he had mentioned it was gold with tiny diamond chips around the face. There were seven gold watches in the display case.
“These are really nice,” I said. “So you’ve only carried them for a few days?”
“Yes, we got them in around the end of last week.”
It made me wonder. Why had the jewelry store suddenly started carrying these after Ethan asked about them? And how did one end up in the alley where a dead man was found? Of course, the killer could have bought the watch somewhere else and this might be a wasted trip down here. It had also occurred to me that the watch might have been Eldon’s and the killer may have been trying to rob him.
“Can I see that gold one there in the corner?” I asked, pointing to one with a large white face and black Roman numerals.
“You got it,” she said and opened the back of the display case with a key, and brought it out for me.
I turned the box over and glanced at the price. I was going to have to really save my money and also get a couple of part-time jobs if I wanted to buy something like that for my dad. “This is really nice. It’s surprisingly heavy and I kind of like that. I think my dad is more of a silver man, though.”
“Oh yes, when you use fine metals in jewelry, it does give them some weight. Makes you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth,” she said and chuckled. “Would you like to see a silver one?”
“Yes, I’d like to see that one,” I said and pointed to one in the middle. It was nice and large and very masculine looking. I thought my dad might like something like that.
“Coming right up,” she said and brought that watch out for me as well. I gave her the gold one back.
I took a peek at the price beneath it and it was more affordable than the gold, but it would still be a stretch. “I really like this one. I don’t have the money to pay for it now though, so will you be carrying these for a while?”
“Yes, Carl and I decided we wanted to carry more high-end items. We’ll continue to carry most of what we’ve got now, the tourists like the souvenir items, but we would really like a wider variety of fine jewelry.”
I removed the watch from the box and slipped it onto my wrist. It was far too large and bulky for me to wear, being a man’s watch, but it was a handsome timepiece. “This is definitely going to be at the top of my list of possibilities for gifts for my dad.” I didn’t add that it would probably have to be next Christmas, if I got it at all.
“And what about Ethan Banks?” she said giving me a knowing smile. “I heard you were seeing him. I bet he’d like a nice watch.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I am,” I said. “And I have no clue what to buy him for Christmas. Thank goodness I still have some time to get it figured out. I’ve love to get him something like this, but I know I can’t afford one right now.”
“Well if he’s interested in any kind of jewelry, you’ll be sure and come back and take a look for something, won’t you?”
“I wouldn’t go anywhere else,” I said. And that was the truth. I knew that Nina and Carl carried quality items and I believed in supporting local businesses. “Tell me Nina, those gold watches. Are they all the same price range as the one I looked at?”
“Some are within a couple hundred dollars of one another and some are more like a couple thousand in difference.”
I nodded. “Has anyone purchased one of these watches recently?” I said, looking at her.
Her eyebrows furrowed. “As a matter of fact, we did sell one of the gold watches just the other day. Let me see if I can remember who it was that came in and bought it,” she said thinking about it.
I watched her as she thought it over. “I would imagine not many people in Pumpkin Hollow could just walk in and buy one of these. Was it a tourist?”
“No,” she said. “Now that I think of it, it was Matthew Barnes. He came in and looked the watches over, and just decided on a whim. He hardly even tried anything on or examined it. Just pulled out a credit card and paid for it. But then, he’s a lawyer so I suppose that shouldn’t surprise me.”
“Nina, you said these came in the end of last week? Are you sure that was when you got them in?”
She nodded and then stopped and thought it over. “Carl, when did we get these Rolex watches in?” she asked turning toward her husband who was sitting behind the counter near the register.
He looked up from whatever it was that had his attention. “It’s been about two and a half weeks ago now.”
“Are you sure? I could have sworn we just unpacked these at the end of last week.”
He shook his head. “No, we got them before Halloween. I’m certain of it. I can look up the invoice if you want.”
“That’s okay, Carl. Your memory has always been better than mine.” She turned back to me and shrugged. “My memory for dates and times has never been that great,” she said and chuckled. “Oh, Ethan was in here asking about these watches the other day. I gave him the wrong time frame for when they came in. When you see him, will you give him my apologies and let him know that we actually got these before Halloween? Maybe he’s interested in buying one of them after all?”
“I can ask him, and I certainly will let him know you made a mistake on the date you got them in,” I said. “I better get back to the candy shop. I’m sure my mother is wondering where I’m at.”
She nodded. “Thanks for stopping in Mia, it’s good seeing you.”
“It’s good seeing you too Nina, and you too, Carl,” I said and headed for the front door.
The watches were in stock before Eldon was murdered on Halloween night. And Matthew Barnes had recently bought one. I needed to let Ethan know.
Chapter Ten
Matthew Barnes was at the top of my list of people I wanted to talk to. We had already spoken to him once, but now that I knew he had purchased the same brand of watch found in the victim’s hand, I wanted to know more. I also needed to let Ethan know that Nina had made a mistake about when those watches came in. A Rolex watch expensive, and if it didn’t belong to Eldon, whoever lost it would probably be upset about it, not to mention worried it could lead the police back to them.
When we closed up the candy store that day, I said goodbye to my mother and our part-time employee, Carrie Green, and headed for my car. I was going to go by the Franken Diner and pick up something for dinner. I quickly texted Ethan, hoping I wasn’t disturbing him and asked him if he would be home and whether he would like something. Then I tucked my phone back into my front pocket and headed over to get dinner.
It was just after six when I got to the Diner and it was busy. The colder weather had brought a lot of people out because it was soup night at the diner. On Monday nights during the fall and winter months, they featured four different types of soups and chowders and served it along with either cornbread or fresh-baked buttermilk bread. It was very popular with the locals.
Ethan hadn’t texted me back yet, but I knew that he loved potato cheese soup so I thought I would get some for him and clam chowder for myself. It would be fine heated up if he didn’t get home until later.
As I waited in line, I thought the person in front of me looked familiar. I tilted my head, looking at him and I realized it was Matthew Barnes. My eyes immediately went to his wrist, but he was wearing a long sleeved coat.
“Hi, Matthew?” I said.
He turned around and smiled when he saw who it was speaking to him. “Hi Mia, fancy seeing you here. You just stopping in to get soup to go?”
“Yes, I love the clam chowder here, and Ethan loves the potato cheese soup. It’s gotten so chilly outside, I thought it would make the perfect dinner. And what better way to eat it than to sit in front of the television at home all cozy and warm?”
He chuckled. “You must be reading my mind. I’m picking up potato cheese soup for myself and my wife.”
“I wanted to tell you how much Ethan and I enjoyed the meeting at the library the other night. It was a lot of fun getting to hang out, and of course, the finger foods really made our evening. I told Ethan I wanted to come every month.”
He smiled. “That’s awesome news, Mia,” he said. “We can always use new members, the more the merrier. I think it’s a great cause.”
“I agree completely,” I said. “I’ll be honest, I haven’t been to the library in forever. I really don’t know why. I need to go more often and make use of it.” I kept trying to get a look at his wrists, but the sleeves of his coat were too long.
“I buy a lot of books, but I still try to stop in at the library at least once a month and check out books. They’re always trying to replace the old, worn books along with getting more new releases in.”
“Is getting new releases in a problem?” I asked as we took two steps forward in the line.
“You know, it really is. Our budget is severely limited, and it’s easier sometimes to buy used books with the money that we get. Hardcover new releases are very expensive and we have to be careful how we spend our small budget.”
I nodded. “I have a ton of books at home that are in like-new condition. I’ve only read them once, and I always take good care of them. Can I donate some of them to the library?”
He nodded. “That would be wonderful. We’d appreciate that.”