The Worst Noel

by Amy M. Reade

  “I can’t leave my store.”

  “Is there someone who can mind the shop while you’re at the station?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe my friend Noley.” Lilly was starting to get more nervous now. Was she a suspect?

  “Can you call her?”

  Lilly pulled her cell phone from her pocket and dialed Noley’s number with fingers that shook slightly. “Noley? Can you come down to the store?”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “The police are here. Herb Knight is dead and they want me to go down to the police station to give them a statement.”

  Noley gasped. “Herb’s dead? How? They don’t think you did it, do they?”

  “Yes, I don’t know, and I hope not. But since he was arguing with me at the mixer last night…” Her voice trailed off.

  “I’ll be right there.” Noley hung up.

  “My friend is going to come down to watch the shop while I go to the police station,” Lilly said. “She’ll be here soon.” The officer nodded and walked over to where his partner still stood by the front door. They were obviously going to wait there until Noley showed up.

  She arrived within ten minutes. She banged on the back door and one of the officers accompanied Lilly to the office to let her in.

  “I don’t know anything about jewelry,” Noley said.

  “You don’t have to do anything except talk to any customers who come in,” Lilly said. “You won’t be able to get into the vault to show them anything that isn’t on display, but you can just show them what’s in the display cases and tell them that I had to leave for an emergency. If they want to see more stuff, they can come back later today or any other day and I’ll help them. You can even give them my cell number and they can call me with any questions. In the meantime, every piece on display has a tiny tag below the display telling what the piece is made of—you know, the stone, the length of the chain, et cetera.”

  “Gotcha,” Noley said. “Don’t worry about a thing.”

  “Can I drive my own car?” Lilly asked the officers. They nodded. One left through the front door and got into the cruiser parked out front. He drove away, presumably around to the alley in back of the store. Lilly grabbed her purse as she walked through the office, then locked the back door behind her. Sure enough, the police cruiser was making its way down the alley. He pulled up slowly next to her car. The second officer climbed in next to his partner and they waited for Lilly to pull out. Evidently they were going to follow her to the police station.

  This stinks, Lilly thought. I’m definitely a suspect. They won’t even trust me to go to the police station without an escort. Keeping an eye on the speedometer, Lilly drove to the police station. It would be just my luck to get a speeding ticket on the way there, she thought with a frown. Darn that Herb Knight. Why did he have to pick a fight with me last night? It’s just like him to drag me into his own death.

  Chapter 16

  When she arrived at the station the officers walked in with her, flanking her on each side. They asked her to wait in the lobby. She sat down and watched as the officers disappeared into the front office and spoke to one of the clerks at the desk, who shot Lilly a quick look and nodded. All the officers disappeared into the bowels of the building, leaving the desk unattended.

  While Lilly sat waiting, a wispy woman with long gray hair walked into the lobby and stood waiting at the front desk. When no one came to help her after several minutes she sat down on the floor across from Lilly. Lilly gave her a puzzled look because all the other chairs were empty, but the woman didn’t see the look because she had closed her eyes and was taking a long, deep breath. She blew it out with startling force, making a loud, rather obnoxious noise. Lilly glanced at her again, alarmed.

  The woman kept her eyes closed and repeated the process. Then she crossed her legs into a pretzel-looking shape and let her arms hang down at her sides. Then she opened her eyes and noticed Lilly watching her intently.

  “Do you practice yoga?” the woman asked in a quiet, soothing voice.

  “No.”

  “You should try it. It makes places like this much more bearable.”

  Lilly nodded. She disagreed with the woman. There was nothing short of a large measure of scotch that would make this place more bearable.

  “What are you doing here?” the woman asked.

  She’s as nosy as Mrs. Laforge, Lilly thought. I wonder if they’re related. “I’m here to give a statement about something,” she replied.

  “I’m here because I found a dead body this morning,” the woman replied. She spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, as if it was a perfectly normal thing to find a dead body.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Lilly murmured.

  “It was my yoga instructor. A lovely man. He just radiated joy.”

  There’s another dead yogi? Lilly thought. She can’t possibly be talking about Herb. He was the least joyful person in town.

  “You don’t mean Herb Knight.”

  “Then you knew him?” The woman’s face lit up like the star of Bethlehem. Please, God, don’t let her start swooning.

  “I did,” Lilly said.

  “Then you know what a wonderful man he was,” she gushed.

  “Hmm,” Lilly replied noncommittally.

  Thankfully one of the officers came to the front to escort Lilly to an office and the clerk returned to the front desk and tended to the yoga woman. If she was enamored with Herb, then there was only one explanation: she was in shock from finding a dead body.

  Lilly sat down across from the officer at the desk. He flipped on a tape recorder which sat between them and proceeded to question Lilly about what happened the previous night between her and Herb Knight. She recounted the details as she remembered them, all the while wondering what would happen if her blood pressure skyrocketed to the point where she had a stroke in the police station. It was probably just protocol to have her give a statement at the police station after the death of someone she had argued with so recently, but the stress of thinking she might actually be a suspect in Herb’s death, so soon after Eden’s death, was unnerving to say the least.

  When she was ready to leave the station the officer escorted her to the lobby. Bill was just coming in.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked in surprise.

  Lilly nodded toward the officer who stood nearby. “Answering some questions about Herb Knight.”

  “Why?”

  “I’ll explain later.”

  “I’ve been out at one of the slopes all night. Seems someone deliberately jammed up the ski lift and I had to question everyone who was there, which was about a million people.” He looked at the other officer. “You’ll fill me in, I’m sure.” The officer nodded solemnly. Bill glanced at Lilly, but she didn’t return his look. She wanted to get back to the shop as quickly as possible.

  When she arrived she found Noley talking to three customers at once, regaling them with stories about her experiences as a chef. Noley glanced up and saw Lilly.

  “Ah, here’s the woman with all the answers,” Noley said, indicating Lilly with a wave of her hand. “Lilly is the owner of the shop and the finest jewelry designer you’ll find anywhere. My work here is done, so I’ll be off. It was wonderful to meet all of you.” To Lilly she added, “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Thanks very much,” Lilly said, giving Noley a grateful look. Then she turned to the three customers. “How can I help you?” she asked.

  There were a husband and wife and a single man. The husband and wife were looking for a necklace to give the husband’s mother for Christmas. Money was apparently no object, so Lilly steered them toward the more expensive items, such as the chains with diamond and ruby pendants.

  Lilly had learned that, in general, the amount of time customers spent picking out a piece of jewelry correlated indirectly with the amount of money they were planning to spend. People with more money took less time to pick out what they wanted; people with less money took more tim
e. Lilly was glad this couple was no exception to the norm, because they had left the shop within thirty minutes, having purchased a heavy gold chain with a stunning diamond pendant in the shape of a teardrop, its edges studded with tiny sapphires.

  The other customer had been waiting patiently for the couple to leave. When Lilly turned to him, she apologized for not being able to help him sooner.

  “That’s all right,” the man responded.

  “How can I help you?” she asked.

  “I’m Jim Barclay. Eden’s husband.”

  Chapter 17

  Lilly looked at Mr. Barclay in surprise. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “I’m sorry for your loss, Mr. Barclay.” Her hands started to sweat. Was he here to accuse her of murder? Was he going to exact revenge? She took a deep breath. Her imagination was getting the better of her.

  “Thank you. I hope you don’t mind me coming into your shop. I have a couple questions for you.”

  Lilly was about to board the panic train when the man hastened to add, “I’m not here to accuse you of anything.” Lilly wasn’t sure whether she should believe him, but she listened as he continued. “What I really want to know is what the police may have told you. I’m not getting very far with them. Obviously when a married person dies, the spouse is the first one the cops think of, but I didn’t kill her. They’ve left me alone since they confirmed my alibi, but they’re not sharing any information with me.”

  “I’m kind of in the same boat,” Lilly replied. “They’re not sharing any information with me, either.”

  “I’m wondering if they said anything to you about Jed Horstman, Eden’s first husband.” Eden had found not one, but two, men who were willing to marry her?

  “This is the first I’m hearing about him,” Lilly said.

  “He’s a mechanic here in Juniper Junction at Horstman Auto Repair. I haven’t seen him or heard anything about him since Eden died, but there was no love lost there.”

  “No one has said anything to me about him,” Lilly said.

  Jim leaned in closer and lowered his voice. “I shared this information with the police. I just hope they’re including Jed in their investigation.”

  “What information?” Lilly asked quickly, her body tensing.

  “Jed and Eden have a son together, my stepson Davey. He’s in high school.”

  “I know. My son mentioned that he goes to school with Davey.”

  “Yes. Well, Davey will be going off to college in two years. He doesn’t know where he wants to go yet, but that’s not really important. What’s important is that the divorce decree says that Eden and Jed are to share equally in paying for Davey’s tuition.”

  Lilly wasn’t sure where this was heading. She nodded for Jim to continue.

  “Jed has been harassing Eden lately about tuition. He assumes she makes—made—more than he does, so he’s insisting that Eden pay more toward tuition. Problem is, he’s wrong about that. I suppose you already know that the general store wasn’t doing very well when Eden died. She tried to keep it a secret, but she was going to lose the store before the middle of next year if things didn’t get much better. She told Jed that she couldn’t afford to pay more than the divorce judge required of her, but he wouldn’t listen. Said she was lying.”

  Lilly hadn’t known about Eden’s financial situation. “Okay, so Jed thought Eden made more than she did. That would have been easy enough for her to prove just by going back to court.”

  “But that’s not all,” Jim said. “Eden had a life insurance policy in the amount of one million dollars. Davey is the beneficiary of that money.”

  The light was beginning to dawn on Lilly. “So if Eden died, Davey would get the million dollars and tuition might not be such a problem.”

  “Exactly.” Jim stared at Lilly. “My theory is that Jed killed her so that Davey would get the money and Jed wouldn’t have to worry about paying for Davey to go to college anymore.”

  “Wow,” Lilly breathed.

  “Eden didn’t buy the life insurance policy until after we were married,” Jim said. “So normally it’s not something Jed would even be aware of. But here’s the kicker. Jed’s current wife works for the insurance agency where Eden bought the policy. All she had to do was mention it to Jed one day after work and Jed would know everything.”

  “And the police know this?” Lilly asked.

  “I told them. Whether they followed up or not is another question. That’s why I wondered if they had said anything to you about Jed.”

  “No,” Lilly answered, shaking her head. “But my brother works on the force. I can ask him about it.”

  Jim pulled a card from the inside of his jacket. “Here’s my contact information. If you find out anything, will you let me know?”

  “Sure. Thanks for coming by.”

  Lilly shook her head as she watched Jim Barclay walk out the front door. Is it possible that Eden was killed by her ex so he wouldn’t have to pay for their son’s college tuition? Maybe he didn’t intend to kill her. But she was in this store. Whoever followed her in here meant her harm. Why did she come in here, anyway?

  Another couple came into the shop just then, interrupting Lilly’s thoughts, and she spent the rest of the day helping the growing number of customers who came in as the day started to warm up outdoors.

  She left the shop right on time that night and hurried home so she could call Bill. She had a lot of questions to ask him.

  She called on his cell; he was at their mother’s house when he answered. “I’m making dinner for Mom,” Lilly told him. “Once I drop it off maybe you can come over to my house so we can talk about a few things. I don’t want to talk in front of Mom.”

  “Agreed,” he said. In a whisper he added, “She thinks I’m Dad.”

  Lilly grimaced. Her mother’s lucid days were getting fewer and farther between. But was it really so bad that her mother thought her husband was still alive? Obviously the thought made her happy—what was wrong with that?

  Lilly finished the beef and broccoli stir fry she was making then packed enough for dinner and the next day’s lunch in two containers for her mother. Yelling upstairs to the kids that she would be home in a few minutes, she left, making sure the door was locked behind her.

  At her mother’s house she found Bill and their mom playing Scrabble on a tray in front of the television.

  “Your father has never been able to beat me at Scrabble,” she said proudly when Lilly walked into the living room. Lilly gave her a wide grin.

  “Just wait until we play checkers,” Bill said with a wink. “I’ll win so fast you won’t know what happened.”

  Their mother laughed. It was a wonderful sight to see.

  “I brought you dinner, Mom. Beef and broccoli. I left it on the kitchen counter. There’s another container of it in the fridge for tomorrow’s lunch.”

  “Thank you. That sounds good. I’ll go eat in a little while,” Beverly said. “Now, both of you scoot. I have to watch my show.” She reached for the remote next to her chair and switched the television to her favorite evening game show. Lilly and Bill both bent down to kiss their mother’s cheeks and tiptoed out of the room. Beverly didn’t like anyone interrupting her game show.

  “Beef and broccoli, huh?” Bill asked after they had locked the door behind them and were standing in the driveway.

  Lilly grinned. “I figured you’d want some. There’s plenty. I’ll meet you at the house.” She got into her car drove away; Bill followed in a police cruiser.

  Laurel was standing in the kitchen, a puzzled look on her face, when they came inside.

  Chapter 18

  “What’s the matter?” Lilly asked.

  “Someone just called and asked for you,” she said.

  “Who was it?” Lilly asked.

  “Some guy. He wouldn’t tell me his name. Are you dating someone and you haven’t told us?” she asked, her tone faintly accusing.

  “When do I have time to date anyone?” Lilly answered crossly.<
br />
  “He knew my name. Well, he almost knew my name,” Laurel said. Lilly had been shrugging off her coat and she stopped suddenly, her arms halfway out of the sleeves.

  “What?” she asked.

  “He called me Lauren. I just figured you were dating someone and you had told him about me and Tighe.”

  Lilly glanced at Bill, hoping Laurel wouldn’t notice her sudden agitation. “It must have been someone from the Chamber of Commerce. They all know you guys,” Lilly said with a nervous laugh. “Go upstairs and tell Tighe it’s time for dinner.” Laurel went to the foot of the stairs and yelled for Tighe.

  “I could have done that myself,” Lilly pointed out.

  “You’re welcome,” Laurel said with a smirk.

  Tighe came charging down the stairs. “Hey, Uncle Bill. What’s for dinner, Mom?”

  “Beef and broccoli stir fry. Wash your hands. You too, Laurel.”

  Both kids rolled their eyes and went to the kitchen sink. As their heads were bent over the soap and the faucet, Bill glanced at Lilly and gave her a we’ll talk about the phone call after dinner look.

  Dinner was delicious, though Lilly barely tasted hers. Bill helped himself to seconds, then thirds, as Lilly waited impatiently for the kids to go upstairs to do their homework. When dinner was over she offered to do the dishes.

  “Thanks, Mom!” Laurel called as she ran upstairs. Tighe followed closely on her heels.

  As soon as they were out of earshot Lilly fixed Bill with a jittery glare. “It was Beau. I know it was. Anyone else would have left a message or at least his name.”

  “I think you’re probably right. I haven’t been able to figure out where he’s staying, but I’m going to put a guy on it at work. There’s got to be a photo of Beau online somewhere. We’ll find it, print it, and ask around to see if anyone recognizes him.”

  “And then what? He hasn’t done anything technically wrong, even though he’s a total creep.”

  “A friendly visit from a neighborhood police officer might do the trick.”