by Maher Tegan
“How about you follow me back to the farm, I’ll drop off the truck, then we’ll swing by and grab a pizza from Duck’s and head to your place. I’d like to get those bedrooms painted so we can put the pin in that part.”
We’d been slowly remodeling the house he’d bought when he’d decided he was going to stay in Keyhole, and all we had left was some painting. It was a nice three-bedroom, but even though he was living at the farm, he hadn’t decided to sell it or rent it out. I think in the back of our minds, it was there in case living together turned out to be a flop. We were past that, now, though, so it was time to figure something out.
“That sounds good,” he said. “Oh, in all the confusion, I forgot to tell you I talked to Kenny. He has a vacation coming up at the end of summer and wants to come visit us.”
Kenny was one of his buddies from Indianapolis. Hunter had left there to get a fresh start, but he’d kept in touch with a handful of people. Kenny was one of them.
“Sounds good to me,” I said. “Anna Mae’s getting married in September, remember. Aside from that, my schedule’s wide open.”
He laughed. “I don’t imagine he’ll want to do a wedding, so we’ll schedule around that if possible. Besides, I have best man duties that I’ll be dealing with, so I’d rather not have to entertain anybody while I’m trying to do that. Or split my time.”
We spent the next twenty minutes talking about the wedding details. His list was a lot shorter than mine, but he was serious about them. And to be fair, it was his responsibility to make sure Matt was dressed and the ring made it, so I’d say in terms of importance, we had an equal share. The bachelor party was, of course, a secret affair, though I suspected it was going to be a quiet deal. Matt wasn’t big on crowds; even though he’d overcome a lot of his anxiety in the last few years, his PTSD was still a serious issue that he struggled with.
Hunter dropped me off at my truck with a kiss and a promise to get my favorite toppings. I didn’t want to tell him, but he really was all that and a bag of chips.
Chapter 15
We spent the whole evening working on his house, but we managed to finish it up. All we had left to do was put the furniture back in place. He’d already brought some pieces over to the farm and had decided to leave the rest in the house and sell or rent it furnished. He was leaning toward renting it because it never hurt to own an extra house.
I was grateful that my deadbeat father didn’t show up in my dreams with his weird unicorn, so I got the rest I needed and was fresh as a daisy for the shopping excursion with Anna Mae. She was almost vibrating with excitement when she got out of the truck.
“You ready?” she asked, tucking a strand of platinum hair behind her ear. “I wanna get a head start so we can have lunch afterward. I didn’t want to eat before I tried on the dresses.”
“You look awesome. Besides, you’re gonna be eating at the reception, so you may as well have it fitted so you have a little room!”
“Hopefully I’ll have lost this last five pounds of baby weight by then, so the wiggle room will be built in. I swear, no matter how hard I try, my hips just won’t cooperate.”
“Knock it off. You’re gorgeous. Now get in the car. I didn’t eat either, but that’s only because I overslept. I did, however, bring muffins, so if you’re not going to eat yours, I’m eating in front of you.”
She grinned as we climbed into her little sports car, and I couldn’t help but notice how much different she was from the timid woman I’d known for so long. When she’d been married to Hank, she’d always sort of faded into the background, almost like she was trying to make herself smaller. She probably had been, I suppose. But now that he was dead, she was rich and independent, and Matt was in her life, she was confident, sassy, and most importantly, she was happy.
There was an open spot right in front of the boutique, so she zipped into it. By the time I dropped a couple of dimes in the meter, she was already inside.
“Hey, ladies!” Penelope, an impeccably dressed, middle-aged redhead with a short shag called to us as we entered. “I was wondering when I’d see you.”
“I just had to wait until I shed the baby weight,” Anna Mae said. “But now I’m here with bells on! I want to try on the dress in the window please, and Noelle’s going to look for bridesmaid dresses.”
“Let me get that for you, then,” Penelope said. “Is that the only one you want to look at?”
“No, but it’s my favorite that I’ve seen,” Anna Mae replied, her blue eyes sparkling. She looked around. “There are so many choices!”
“You look around while I’m getting it. Do you think you want a veil or a hat or a hairpiece? Maybe a combination?”
“I think I’ll have to see them all,” Anna Mae replied. “I didn’t get much of a say in anything when I married Hank. Mama Doolittle did it all. The only thing I did was show up for the fittings.”
That made me mad all over again, but rather than let it darken the day, I doubled down on my resolve to make this the wedding of her dreams. “You wear whatever you want. It’s your day.”
She was grinning like a kid in a candy store. “If you wanna pick through the racks over there, I’ll start looking at the bridesmaid dresses.”
It wasn’t going to be too hard to pick a color because It was just me, Rae, Bobbie Sue, and Coralee. Even though Coralee was a blonde, she had the same complexion as Bobbie Sue and me minus the freckles. And Rae looked good in just about anything. I was the biggest of the three of us, so if I found something that complimented my figure, those two would be knockouts. The only rules I’d been given were no shoulder pads and no weird floofy skirts. I could work with that.
Penelope came back with the butterfly dress and barely had a chance to hand it over before Anna Mae was rushing to the dressing room.
“You need any help in there?” I called.
“Yeah, I need you to zip me.”
I stepped in and slid the zipper up, and when she turned around, I was stunned into speechlessness. It was like the dress had been made just for her.
“Oh, Anna Mae, it’s stunning,” I said, trying to take in all the little details. Butterflies trailed up the long satin sleeves, complemented by seed pearls and sequins, and a lone butterfly adorned the neckline so that the wings formed the dip at the cleavage.
I wasn’t a crier, but it was all I could do to hold back the tears. “That’s the one,” I said.
“You don’t think I should try on the others?”
I lifted my shoulders. “I don’t think you need to, but that’s what we’re here for, right? So if you want to try on fifteen more, I say go for it.”
“You should try some on, too,” She said, her expression sly.
That hit me sort of like a sledgehammer between the eyes. She was right; before too long, I’d be needing one. Oddly, I found the idea exciting rather than terrifying. I reined it in though because this was her wedding, not mine. There would be plenty of time after hers, and I refused to steal so much as a rumble of her thunder.
“That’s a trip for another day,” I said, grinning. “Today, I need to pick out bridesmaid dresses, and you get to try on all the frilly white ones. Now come on out here so you can see yourself in it.”
Penelope had an area where she’d arranged mirrors so that you could see yourself from all angles. I followed Anna Mae, trailing the train out behind her. The dress was truly a masterful creation.
“That looks amazing on you,” Penelope said. “It won’t need hardly any altering, and it’s a one-of-a-kind, too.”
“Really?” I asked. “Is it some fancy designer?”
She smiled. “I’m not sure about fancy, but it’s one of my own creations.”
My jaw about hit the floor. “Really? I didn’t realize you made dresses, too.”
She nodded. “My mother taught me to sew. She was a whiz at dresses, and after I helped her make one, I was hooked. Of course, most of the ones in here are from other designers. There’s no way I could keep
up with demand. It took me weeks to make that. But now I can’t help but feel like the fates had her in mind as they guided my hand.”
Anna Mae was moving and checking herself out from all angles, her face glowing. “I agree. I want it, but I also want to try on others just for fun!”
“Try on as many as you like,” Penelope said, smiling. While you do that, I’m going to go help another client on the seamstress side. I’ll be back in a few.”
I helped Anna Mae out of the dress, then handed her in another that she’d picked and hung up the butterfly one on a nearby rack. While she was changing, I pulled a couple bridesmaid dresses I liked from the racks and took them to the other dressing room. One was an emerald dress, and one was a vibrant purple. I tried them on, trying to picture Bobbie Sue, Coralee, and Rae in them. The green, I decided, but I liked them both. I’d let Anna Mae pick the final, assuming she was happy with them.
I changed back into my shorts and tank top and stepped out of the dressing room.
“You okay in there, Anna Mae?” I called, then froze. Olivia was standing at the rack where we’d hung Anna Mae’s dress, running her fingers over the butterflies.
“Hands off,” I hissed so Anna Mae wouldn’t hear.
“Hands off of what?” Olivia asked. “This is the return rack. Anything on there is for sale, and I like it.”
“It’s Anna Mae’s,” I growled. I didn’t want to cause a scene in Penelope’s, but I would if I had to. That dress was made for Anna Mae, and I’d die before Olivia Anderson walked away with it. Or, more precisely, I’d kill her before I let her walk away from it. I’d just have to be careful not to get blood on the dress.
“It was on the return rack,” she snarled back. “And I like it. As a matter of fact, I’m going to take it up and buy it right now.”
“Noelle? Is everything okay? That sounds like Olivia.” Anna Mae’s voice was tinged with concern and a bit of distaste.
“It is,” I replied, narrowing my eyes at Olivia. “But she was just shoving off the find herself another dress.”
“What do you mean, another dress?” Rustling sounds came from her dressing room, and I knew she was changing back into her street clothes.
“You have three seconds to hand that dress over before something really bad happens to you.” I said, keeping my voice low.
“Like what?” she asked, smirking as she backed away from me. “Are you going to hit me here in broad daylight, in someplace as civilized as a bridal boutique? You wanna risk damaging the dress?”
She was right. I’d have to curse her, snatch the dress, then uncurse her. Or not. Maybe I’d leave her there for Penelope to use as a mannequin. She’d have to cover up the ugly, but there were plenty of veils.
Anna Mae popped out of the dressing room right then. Olivia couldn’t see her because her back was to her, but Anna Mae sure saw her. “Put my dress down right now, you vicious cow!”
“It’s not your—”
That’s all she managed to get out before Anna Mae had her by the hair. I stepped forward and snatched the dress out of her hands before she went over backwards. One of the things I loved most about Anna Mae was that when it was go time, she wasn’t a talker. Olivia should have known that, but then again, I’d put a beating on her regularly since we were in kindergarten and she still came back for more.
Penelope must have heard the ruckus because she came rushing over. Her eyebrows about shot off the top of her forehead when she saw tiny little Anna Mae on top of Olivia, drawing back to swing.
“Oh my, ladies. What seems to be the problem?”
“This old bat and the redheaded hag are trying to say—”
I slapped my hand over my mouth because I already knew what was coming. I swear, the girl never learned. Sure enough, Anna Mae’s fist slammed down into her mouth and she gave Olivia’s hair another solid yank just for good measure. It was all I could do not to laugh at the scene. Anna Mae was straddling her in shorts and her tank top, a white satin hat rimmed with pearls and baby’s breath sitting atop her head with a veil streaming behind.
Olivia howled.
“Don’t ever call my friend a hag again,” she said, grabbing Olivia by the hair on both sides of her head. “And the next time you wanna call me old, remember I beat your ass in a bridal shop.” She gave her a final shake, then climbed off of her, pressing her hands down her front to smooth her clothes.
I hazarded a glance at Penelope, afraid she’d already speed-dialed the cops, but she was smiling. “Olivia, I think you can leave. You’ve been in here a dozen times trying on dresses with your rude, entitled sidekicks. Now you’ve assaulted one of my best clients. Take your business elsewhere. And you, Anna Mae, get ten percent off the dress.”
“Thanks, Penny,” Anna Mae replied, “I’ll take the hat, too.”
And that, I decided, was how you went dress shopping.
Chapter 16
“You’d think she’d learn,” Anna Mae said as climbed back into her car. “But that dress wasn’t goin’ nowhere unless it was with me. Shoot, I hate that we had to leave it for her to alter it. The thought of Olivia wearing it makes me see red. She hit the start button on her car, then growled. “And I broke a nail. How about we go for mani-pedis?”
Considering my hands currently resembled a construction worker’s because of all the sanding and staining I’d been doing and my feet looked like a hobbit’s, I was down with that.
We lucked out when we got to the Clip N Curl. Alyse was just finishing up with a client and she had the rest of the morning free. She filled up the tank on the pedicure chair and poured my favorite scent—night-blooming jasmine—into it, then motioned for Anna Mae to have a seat at her manicure table. I sank back into the chair and dipped my feet into the tank, not sure which felt better, the hot water or the massaging action of the chair.
“What have you ladies been into today?” Coralee asked.
“We went dress shopping,” Anna Mae said.
“Yeah, I think I found our dresses. One was green and the other was purple.”
“What color green and what color purple?” she asked.
“Uh, emerald, I guess. I don’t know what color purple, though. Just purple.”
“Plum, eggplant, lilac, magenta, violet? It matters,” Belle said.
“Violet, I guess. Definitely not lilac or magenta.” I wasn’t girly enough to know the difference between plum and eggplant.
“Violet would be okay,” Coralee replied. “Though eggplant would be better with your hair.”
“How about you go with us next time?” I said. “We have to go back for another fitting for Anna Mae next week.”
Coralee’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “That works! I love dress shopping!”
“We haven’t even gotten to the best part,” I said, shooting Anna Mae a satisfied smile. “Olivia thought she was going to come in and take Anna Mae’s dress. Anna Mae convinced her different, though.”
I told the story, and when I was finished, Coralee gave a satisfied nod. “Good. I still owe her for what she said about Shelby when Anna Mae went into labor, so that makes me feel a little better. I’m just glad you didn’t hurt the dress.”
“So,” Belle said. “That man of yours got any more leads on the murder?”
I frowned. “No, not yet. He’s still waiting on Jim to get back to him with some evidence, and he had to wait until today to talk to Barbie Lee’s clients.”
“I miss everything,” Alyse said. “If I hadn’t gone to Atlanta with Mama, I’d have been there.”
“You didn’t miss anything,” I said. “There wasn’t anything to see other than a body.”
“No clues at all? Not even a murder weapon or a torn piece of fabric? Maybe a pack of matches?” she said.
“You watch way too much TV,” Coralee said, shaking her head, but Alyse was still staring at me, a hopeful gleam in her eye. The girl was born for drama. I’d indulge her.
“Well, there was a murder weapon, I guess. The ro
ck. Other than that, there was just her, her purse, some receipts, a bottle of peach nail polish, and some makeup. Estee Lauder, I believe. And a few strands of dark hair.” I cringed because I hadn’t meant to let that last bit out.
“Peach nail polish?” Alyse asked. “That couldn’t have been hers. She refuses to wear anything other than shades of red.”
“What?” I asked, sitting up in the chair.
“Yeah, Noreen’s the peach girl, though she mixes it up sometimes.”
I thought about that for a minute. Why would she have had a bottle of nail polish in her purse that didn’t belong to her? Sure, they were friends, but I didn’t carry Raeann’s stuff in my purse.
“Noreen doesn’t fit though. The hairs in Barbie Lee’s hand were black and Noreen’s a blonde.”
Coralee snorted. “She’s whatever color her wig is, and she’s got a dozen of ’em. Her true color is dark brunette, though.”
It didn’t make sense to me. “But why would Noreen kill her? According to everybody we talked to, they were friends.” I said, still trying to fit the pieces together.
“I don’t know,” Alyse said, pulling Anna Mae’s hand from the water, “but I promise you, that peach nail polish wasn’t hers. She hated it and always tried to talk Noreen out of it. Said it looked like old lady polish.”
I pulled out my phone and called Hunter.
“Hey, I think I have something,” I said, then told him what I’d just learned.
“I’ll go pick her up. See what I can find out,” he said. “Because I’ve got nothin’ here. Jim got back to me with the DNA. It’s not Miranda’s, but he didn’t get a hit in their system, either.”
“Let me go with you,” I said. “Maybe we just didn’t ask the right questions last time.”
“I’ll pick you up in five,” he said. “Or no, make it ten.” I sighed and pulled my feet out of the tub. It looked like my poor feet were just going to have to look like they were fresh from the Shire for a while longer.
Chapter 17