“Nice outfit,” she noted.
“Right off the rack outside.” A presence warmed the doorway behind me and I was caught off guard by the doe-eyed expression Ruby sent past my shoulder. I turned. Yep. Stanley. I stopped a sigh mid-breath. Romance with hard-luck Stanley would take some work, but I wished them well. We’d all grown and changed in the past few months.
Stanley had been taken down from his self-made pedestal and realized responsibility was more than skin deep when he switched jobs and came to Apple Grove looking for stability. Maybe that’s what Ivanna saw and trusted in him. The murder rap and weirdness of Ivanna’s will brought out his vulnerable side, something he needed to admit and deal with instead of whine about. Maybe he and Ivanna found dependability in each other they couldn’t get from anyone else.
Ruby, too, had benefitted from Ivanna’s trust and makeover. Ruby and Stanley would make a strong couple.
I backed away as Stanley advanced. My turn was definitely over.
“We just have some business to talk about,” Ruby said, half glancing my way. “Just a second, though, Stanley, OK? I have a quick favor to ask Ivy.”
After she showed me her phone and Ripple’s message, I hugged her and agreed to her request. “See you later,” I told her and passed Stanley in the hall on the way out. I changed in the locker room and went back to work.
Martha was busy restocking when I returned. She took her break by grabbing a snack and checking on her kids in a video conference phone session. They were about to take their naps, she said when she came back to the floor.
“I don’t mind leaving them with Mom when I know they’ll rest for her when they get home from kindergarten,” Martha said. “Life should get simpler when they’re older.”
I had no such experience, but that wasn’t what some of my other friends with kids said. I just grinned as if I was on her side, which was the main point.
“So, the wedding is seventeen days away,” she said and giggled.
“Sixteen days, twenty-three hours and…” I glanced at the wall clock. “Thirty-four minutes. Get me to the church on time,” I finished.
We clapped hands.
“I’m really happy for you two. You’re such great people.” She flicked the duster along a glass display shelf. “And I’m not just saying that because you’re my bosses. I mean, look at the way you’re so dedicated to finding Ivanna’s murderer.”
I flushed, undeserving of her compliment. I rocked back on my heels like Elvis did sometimes and teetered. “Well, I don’t like the thought of a killer running loose.”
She touched my arm, then she pointed toward the back hall.
Elvis beckoned to me.
I patted her shoulder. “Thanks. Be right back.”
The lights were on in Adam’s office. Elvis was bent over the desk, laying out some eight-by-ten photos. “Hey, Ivy, close the door, will ya?”
“What do you have?” I moved closer, hoping it wasn’t anything gruesome. Like photos of a body.
It was.
Elvis pointed to one of Ivanna’s hands stretched out. At least, that’s what I thought it was. Her nail polish. The candy. The floor of her foyer.
“This is from the crime scene,” Elvis told me.
Obviously. “How—”
He gave me a level look. “Is this what you remembered from the day you found Ivanna?”
“Yes.”
“Look closer.”
I blinked, steeled myself, and peered at the photo. Something was wrong. I glanced up at him, puzzled, as he willed me to answer. I studied the photograph he indicated again. Then studied the others, one from farther back showing her head and torso, another at a different angle.
I rubbed my hands together as I pondered. “Yes! It’s her ring.” I held out my left hand where Adam’s ring sparkled. “She was wearing her engagement ring when I saw her. I remember thinking how sad it was that now she’d never get married. It’s not in these photographs.”
We looked at each other across the scattered pictures.
“Well, I didn’t take it,” I said. “And even if I did take it, I surely wouldn’t admit to seeing it on her, would I?”
He didn’t even blink. “Tell me again everything you did.” Elvis flicked the pen recorder he attached to the pocket of his navy T-shirt.
I went through the scenario again, knowing it was fuzzy around the edges since several weeks had passed. “I drove to her neighborhood.”
“Did you see anyone else?”
I shook my head. “I don’t honestly remember. I recall thinking it was a new neighborhood, with all the trees skimpy, staked out so they grow straight.” I tried hard to see through the brain fog, but my memory lens was cloudy. “I took the wedding invitations to her place, thinking I’d just knock and leave them on the step. But I was worried about the weather and when no one answered, I sort of touched the door. OK, I tested the knob to see if it was locked, but the door wasn’t latched properly and opened.”
“Go on.”
“I planned to just shove the box inside and leave.”
“But?”
“I saw her. Her hand, I mean. What was I supposed to do? I could have just left. I guess now I probably should have called the cops from outside, but I figured in my panic that if she needed help, I should do that…you know, try to help.”
“Anyone else probably would have done the same,” Elvis said gently. “So, no one answered? And the door was open?”
“Right.” I eyed him speculatively, then lost myself in memory again. The door to the shop jingled a customer, but I ignored it. I focused on the pen recorder. “I touched her neck to find a pulse.”
“Did you call out her name? Say anything?”
“I-I’m not sure. I think so. I did call out when I was pushing the door open. I didn’t want to surprise anyone.”
“OK. Then what?”
“Well, I felt for her pulse. Then I called the emergency number. They said they’d be right over and to stay there until someone arrived.” I twitched my lip. “I didn’t touch anything. Just her, but nothing right around her. I saw something…I thought something fluttered and I went to check it out. I guess I just caught sight of her wedding dress hanging there by the living room entry.”
“You didn’t hear any movement? You’re sure no one else was there?”
My hands and feet literally went numb. And my nose. And lips. I swallowed and managed to croak, “Oh, boy. You think…maybe…the killer…”
Elvis shoved the desk chair under me as I sank.
“By the amount of cyanide in Ivanna’s system, it must have acted pretty quickly. If you didn’t see anyone leave, it doesn’t necessarily mean the killer was still on the scene. The candy could have been delivered.”
“I thought it wasn’t the candy that killed her.”
“It wasn’t. Not exactly.” Elvis crouched by me. “Ivy, think. You didn’t hear anything? Or feel as if someone else was there?”
“Actually, I did get that creepy feeling, but when Jason showed up on the computer, I thought it was him watching me from the screen. They had an open connection. Oh. My. Stars.” I stared at Elvis’s freckles. “If the killer was still there, it wasn’t Jason.”
“Unless they were in on the plot together. Jason was a distraction.”
“Ew. Maybe the two of them planned it all along, so he could…ew.”
“The computer record confirms he called from his home computer when you said you first noticed him, which was after you notified the police.”
“Oh. But the ring…I think you’re saying the killer took her ring and left without my notice before the police arrived.” Chills and nausea struck. I hunched over.
“Not exactly.”
At my wide eyes, Elvis amended, “We think the theft occurred after the police arrived.”
My throat went dry. I was momentarily paralyzed. “Whi-while Ripple and Dow were there? Who would be that…that…”
“Whoever took the ring was there
when Ivanna died. That person may be the killer.”
“May be?”
“The two events aren’t automatically connected. We don’t have definitive evidence.”
My brain couldn’t follow, and I chose the less difficult road. “Ho-how do we find the ring?” I asked instead of how we could uncover a conspiracy.
“Keep your eyes and ears open for now. And of course, mum about this.” Elvis rose and flicked the pen recorder. He gathered the photos.
“Of course.” I raised my head shakily and straightened. “So you’re working with the police?”
He smiled lazily. “Shh. Just on a certain piece of the case.”
I started to feel better and took a breath. “One that involves crossing state lines?”
“Perhaps. Gathering information to design a flyer for future business.” He stuffed the photos back into a file which he placed in a black courier bag, all formal and proper again. “Gotta run.”
“Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you. How’s Amy? Have you set a date for your wedding? And the kitten? And how’s the Print Shop coming along?” I air quoted, even though I thought it silly.
Elvis slung the bag over his shoulder and headed past me for the door, talking all the way. “Amy’s awesome, as usual. We’re thinking about getting married during Apple Fest this October, as long as everything’s crazy already. We love the kitty, who’s growing insanely. How big do they get? And the Print Shop’s set for the grand opening July 1. We’re offering a special and open house during the Fourth of July party and after the parade.”
I followed as he opened the door and zoomed down the hall to the back door. “I guess we’ll miss the opening as we’ll be on our honeymoon. Who’s ‘we?’ Amy’s not giving up Ethereal Events, is she?”
“Stanley Brewer offered to be my manager.”
I watched the back door open and close, and finally realized my mouth was open. I shut it, turned on my heel and headed directly for the espresso machine. “Double shot,” I gasped to Martha.
She squinted at me. “You sure? Last time it took two days to peel you off the ceiling.”
“I’m sure. I just learned Stanley’s managing the new print shop Elvis is opening.”
Martha set the machine in motion. “Oh, that’s sweet. He’s turned out to be such a nice man. If he gets to keep Ivanna’s money and stays around, maybe he’ll keep on doing good things for the town.”
“Keep on?”
She handed me my cup. “Well, yes. He’s footing the bill for the Exercise-A-Thon. And he’s donating a large amount toward the Fourth of July parade fund.”
I gulped the slurry in the cup and practically gargled before swallowing. “But he doesn’t have any money, and the will is being contested. And Tiny’s donating food.”
“Somebody has to print T-shirts, posters, and other stuff, like those sponsor sheets we take around to get people to sign up. Speaking of which…” She unfolded a paper from her pocket.
“Oh, what a beautiful morning!” announced the arrival of customers.
“Be right with you!” Martha called. To me she said, “I still think he’s a nice man. Catch you later.”
Good thing I hadn’t told her about Elvis’s theory that I’d nearly met Ivanna’s killer. If Jason had to go off my suspect list, somebody had to take his place. The mix-up about the candy wrappers had me puzzled, but the fact that the candy was there meant somebody had to have brought it.
Never mind Ivanna’s will. She took candy from a not-stranger and paid the consequences. The poison had something to do with the candy, but wasn’t in the candy, Elvis said.
Must have been something I hadn’t noticed in the hall or on the floor, or…underneath her body. The package it came in? Jason lived too far away to give her the candy and make the call from home, even though he had probably had access to cyanide at his mother’s work site. Since there weren’t any torn-open envelopes around, I discounted the possibility the poison had been delivered in the mail. Somebody she trusted gave it to her.
I went back to the office and got to work on Ripple’s request.
~*~
“So, that’s it, then?” Ruby glanced at her notebook again before smiling at us, her committee for the Ivanna Pressman Memorial Exercise-A-Thon. Addy sat to my right, next to her was Julie, the bouncy coach, and on my left sat Tiny Granger. Barry “Woof-woof” Goodyear from WWAG squeezed into the space leftover from Tiny’s bulk.
“Yes, ma’am,” Tiny said. “What you’re doing is a good thing, little lady. I’m proud to supply lunch for the…uh…exercisers? How many again? ‘Bout two dozen folks you think gonna make it the whole time?”
“I’m hoping at least fifty exercisers will sign up for shifts during the day, eight in the morning to eight at night. Special prizes for the most amount of sponsors, most miles on the bikes and treadmills …”
“Most reps on the weight machines and sit ups,” Julie added. “I got the prizes covered. Apple Delight and North Star were very generous.”
“So, ’bout four dozen burgers and fries for carry out, then?” Tiny said, a frown burrowing itself into his chubby cheeks and between his heavy brows.
“A hundred burgers and fries, with coleslaw,” Ruby said firmly. “And two of those big jugs of lemonade.”
I stuck my tongue between my teeth and tried not to bite too hard at the incongruity of apple desserts and candy and burgers and fries at a day-long exercise event.
“Sliders, then.” Tiny nodded, lines still worked in the flesh above his nose.
“Sure, fine. You can offer the rest for sale.” Ruby sighed. “I know it’s only the week before your wedding,” she said to me. “I’m grateful for all your help, Ivy, and I’m so glad you’ll be there. We’ve got something special lined up I think you’ll like.” She and Addy exchanged suspicious grins.
I put twelve hours of community service into the project, which pleased me immensely. “I’m fine, happy to do anything rather than twiddle my thumbs and get nervous,” I told them. “I like the whole idea and I think it’s sweet of you to do something special for Ivanna. With the proceeds going toward scholarships to Fit’r U, it’s a nice way to encourage folks to get in shape. It’s too bad her mother wasn’t able to participate.”
Ruby wrinkled her nose. “She told me the idea was disgraceful and she didn’t want anything to do with it.”
“Thirty-six people registered already,” Barry said. “We get lots of calls every morning supporting it. Everyone loved Ivanna.”
Not quite everyone. Come to think of it, Barry benefitted from Ivanna’s death, too, hadn’t he? I studied him, a spotty beard over the lower half of his face, wide mouth, receding hairline. Nice eyes, though. Genuine. He got her spot on the morning radio. One that Ruby had coveted as well. But he’d already been working at the station in the afternoon and admitted he preferred the morning show, so he could be home with his wife and kids in the afternoons. Not a good excuse to murder someone, though I hadn’t met Mrs. Goodyear.
“Jason Clark said he’d talk,” Barry said. “We scheduled him for eleven, right?”
Ruby nodded. “He said he was proud of Ivanna for coming up with this idea. He hasn’t gotten around to paying in the money he’d said he’d invest, though.”
“How much?” I asked, though it was none of my business.
“Ten thousand,” Ruby said, coloring faintly.
I nodded to show her I remembered her personal investment. Jason could have kicked in more. It must have cost a bundle to get all these machines.
“Can I go now, Ruby? I have clients.” Julie skipped her way through the maze of chairs and back toward the equipment floor.
Tiny heaved himself up and said his farewells, along with something about rising early to make the doughnuts.
Barry waved, too, leaving Addy and me with Ruby.
“You put a nice group together, Ruby,” I told her. “I can’t believe you got Tiny to kick in for food.”
“He owes me,” R
uby said, but didn’t elaborate.
Addy set her hand on my arm. “Ivy, sweetie, Ruby and I have some other business to discuss. You must have wedding stuff to deal with, so we don’t mind if you want to take off.”
Ruby grinned like an idiot, so I tried not to feel bad.
“Yeah, OK. Dismissed.”
Ruby came around the desk to hug me. “Thanks for helping with this. And…and the rest. It means a lot to me. I haven’t always been nice.”
I hugged her back. “Me, either. I’m sorry too.” I fist-bumped Addy and left. She hadn’t mentioned the bridal shower since that night I’d brought the sick kitten to her, not that Adam and I needed much by way of housewares since we’d both been homeowners and were not bright young things staring a fresh new life together. Addy had taken Two, the sick kitten she’d doctored, and named him Fred. “Have to get out of that rut of Egyptian names,” she’d said. “Besides, he’s sort of a mutt now.” I was mildly offended but couldn’t argue since Memnet and Isis’s kittens were officially mixed breed.
Addy had never mentioned a date for the bridal shower, and I’d been distracted. I kinda hoped she hadn’t forgotten about it and had enlisted Ruby to help her. Mom hadn’t said a word about a shower, either.
Adam and I had been passing each other while we each worked hard to get our lives in order, so we could take a vacation, er, honeymoon, at the end of the month. He hadn’t said anything about a bachelor party. He had Marie sending down a temporary manager to handle store business while we were away. It was a lot to ask Martha to take over, though we’d talked to her about it, so she wouldn’t feel as if we didn’t believe her capable of taking care of the store. I don’t think Adam had ever taken two whole weeks away.
I sincerely hoped we solved Ivanna’s murder before the wedding, too, so I wouldn’t be distracted by anything. With Mom hanging out taking care of the cats and my—soon to be her—house, life was glorious.
A honeymoon in historical Hannibal, Missouri, a place I’d always hoped to see, was just what we needed. We wouldn’t spend the whole two weeks in that one place, but travel up the Mississippi, sightseeing on the way. I wanted to take one of those river cruises, too.
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