The reverend greeted the couple and smiled at the guests.
“Dearly beloved,” he began.
As he spoke, I sank into the moment, enjoying it all. For the first time since I had found Simon Sterling dead in the Game Room, I was happy to let Andy and Bellamy do their jobs. Here at the Sciasconset Chapel, we were all drunk with love. Maria smiled from the altar at David, who waved and gave her a thumbs-up. Even Tony, standing by his old friend, looked like he had forgotten the tough aspects of marriage. He laughed along with the reverend’s stories about Jessica and Joe. When it came time for him to recite his reading from Ecclesiastes, the inspiration for my new unity candle, he cleared his voice emotionally before he could begin. His deep voice filled the room, and I was so thrilled at how the reading would segue to lighting the unity candle.
“How’s Emily doing?” Peter whispered into my ear.
I shifted my glance to Emily, who was standing on the side of the chapel, about midway down the aisle.
“You mean because of the lopsided basket in the fourth row?” I asked, referring to one of the pews. “She’ll be fine about it. Emily’s attitude is that once the event begins, whatever happens happens.”
“No,” he said. “I mean she looks a little wobblier since Chris’s BBQ.”
I looked at Emily, who was wincing again. The reverend asked the congregation to stand and state its intention to support the couple throughout their marriage, which they did, followed by a few cheers. Emily was lost to me behind the standing crowd, so I made my way toward her to be sure she was OK. There was no way we were going to have her pass out, while this wedding was taking place.
“Hey,” I said as I reached her. “Everything OK?”
“I think the little one has the hiccups now.” She pointed to the altar. “Vows.”
“I, Joseph—”
In less than a second, her attention turned back to the altar.
Jessica and Joe finished their vows. Before they exchanged rings, they headed to the unity candle. As Jessica took her position on one side of the wreath of candles, she looked out at the chapel and caught my eye. I smiled. She winked. I had to admit it, but Andy was right. I was the Candle Lady.
There was an endearing moment when the match Joe tried to light would not catch fire. Then, Jessica and Joe held hands around the long match and lit each candle. After they were done, the reverend joined them and the couple began their ring exchange. Tony handed the rings to Joe, who in turn handed one to Jessica. The reverend lay his hand on Joe’s shoulder.
In the midst of the ritual, my phone vibrated. I know it’s terrible etiquette to check a phone during someone’s wedding, but I had to look. I needed to know if Andy had succeeded in getting Bellamy to send a team to the inn to start the search for the ring.
A text from Maude greeted me instead.
Can’t find ring. It said. Even checked toilet tanks and between mattresses. But I found an old picture of Mr. & Mrs. Sterling with Simon in her room.
Send it to me, I responded.
A moment later, I received another text with an attachment. I opened it to find a photo of a young Mrs. Sterling between Simon and her husband, Henry. From the date that used to be stamped on old photos, I realized the picture was taken before Mrs. Sterling had married Henry. The reason the picture struck me as interesting was Mrs. Sterling’s expression. She was looking up at Simon as if he were a God, while barely turning her shoulder toward Henry. Simon, however, seemed not to notice her, while Henry had his arm thrown over her.
Then another photo came from Maude. This time it was the back of the photo. Across it was one handwritten note: Simon, my love will last forever. Beatrice. I’d been wondering what Mrs. Sterling’s first name was. From this picture, I formed a new impression of Mrs. Sterling’s feelings for her late brother-in-law.
Mrs. Sterling had liked Simon, who, in turn, must have known how much Henry loved her. To distance himself from her, he never paid attention to the young woman. When that didn’t work, he probably went the extra mile and was cold to her. Spurned, she told Henry she never wanted to see him again. The legend of Simon’s cruelty was born. In Mrs. Sterling’s story, Simon loved her and his jealousy led to his cruelty.
I felt that I was closing in on something. I was missing one final clue. One more secret.
I put the phone in my pocket and stared straight ahead.
Jessica placed a wedding band on Joe’s finger.
Then, the strangest thing happened. Something that sent a chill into the bones of everyone who had spent any time with Simon Sterling, alive or dead. The scent of Simon Sterling’s cigar wafted through the chapel.
Chapter 29
Jessica stopped speaking.
Joe squeezed her hands.
Tony looked at Joe, visibly alarmed.
Mrs. Sterling sat upright and scanned the chapel.
I, too, looked for Simon Sterling.
“You may kiss the bride,” said the reverend.
Jessica and Joe smiled, but they still looked a little confused by Simon’s cigar. They kissed as the organ music picked up, then headed down the aisle, now as Mr. & Mrs. Handler. Cheering guests followed behind them to reboard the buses and head to the reception.
Peter walked with Emily outside. I, on the other hand, stayed behind.
Once I was sure that the chapel was empty, I followed the scent of Simon’s pipe tobacco. It lured me to the altar. I approached my unity candle wreath where I inhaled the scents of the burning wax. As I suspected, the one I had taken from Simon Sterling’s room last night held the hint of his pipe’s tobacco. The candle for summer. The one with the rose of Sharon on the side. I blew out the flames, took a deep breath, and lifted his candle, turning it over to look at its bottom.
“Holy—” I stopped, remembering I was in a house of worship.
I had been so focused on designing a new candle last night that I had barely examined it before setting it upon the lazy Susan. Now, however, I had the answer to the puzzle of the missing ring. It was buried in my candle. The softer wax of the votive candle was easy to melt, and had clearly been tampered with. There were circular marks in a darkened shade, which can happen when wax is melted and recast. Another thing that can happen during such an operation is the infusion of other scents. In this case, the new scent had been some tobacco from Simon’s pipe that had fallen into the candle. When Jessica and Joe had lit the candles, that scent had been released along with their own.
Looking very carefully, I thought I saw the shadow of green emerald. I also noticed a fingerprint, and suspected it was Simon Sterling’s.
He had had the ring all along.
Something or someone had scared him, and he had hidden the ring in the candle while he had smoked his trademark pipe. That is why it had never made it around Tinker’s neck.
I lit a match, ready to melt the bottom of the candle and free the ring. My concentration was broken, however, by the sound of the chapel door opening. Quickly, I blew out the match, took the candles, and retreated to the side of the altar, to a small nook between the chapel and a side exit. It gave me cover while I figured out what to do. I peeked around the corner and saw Jessica enter and walk down the aisle, holding her bouquet.
Alone, she knelt at the altar and lowered her head in prayer. I suddenly felt very awkward, hiding in the shadows while she prayed. She took her time, too. After a minute, I was itching to do something. I noticed that the box for the unity candles was beside me in the small enclave where I was hiding. I thought about wrapping up the wreath, but decided I’d make too much noise. Instead, I looked at my phone. The police were on their way to the Melville to search for a ring I had in my hand. I began to text Andy about my discovery. When I hit send, I silently tossed up my hands. My phone told me that the message failed to deliver.
I was toying with the idea of revealing myself to Jessica, when the door opened once again to the chapel.
“Jessica, dear,” I heard Mrs. Sterling say. “Everyone is wait
ing for you. We need to get to the tent for photos.”
“Mom?” said Jessica. She looked up, and I saw a tear on her cheek from my hiding place.
“What is it, my love?” said Mrs. Sterling. She walked down the aisle to her daughter to a spot where I could see them both.
“Did you,” Jessica said, then faltered. “I think I might be crazy, but I thought I felt the aura of Uncle Simon during the ceremony. Did you?”
“We’ve been through a great trauma, Jessica,” said Mrs. Sterling, soothingly. She stood above her daughter, who was still kneeling.
“But I thought I smelled his pipe,” she said. “Like his ghost was here.”
“Wedding day jitters,” she said. I had seen Mrs. Sterling during the ceremony, and she had looked just as disturbed as Jessica had when the aroma of Simon’s pipe made its way across the chapel. Now, all she wanted to do was protect her daughter from further stress.
“It’s not jitters,” said Jessica. “Mom, I have to tell you something.”
The bride took a deep breath, and told her mother the story about Simon and the ring, just as she had told it to me and Andy. At the end of the story, Mrs. Sterling sank into a pew before the altar.
“Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to sell your ring?” said Mrs. Sterling.
“I couldn’t,” said Jessica. “I know you don’t like Joe, and I know how much you love that ring. I knew you wouldn’t approve, but I also knew we’d never have such a great opportunity again. That land is worth so much more than the ring.”
“What have I done?” said Mrs. Sterling. She rose and hugged her daughter. “I’m so sorry. From now on, no more secrets between us.”
“Joe and I told the police this morning,” said Jessica, looking relieved and reconciled with her mother. “They think that whoever took the ring from Simon is the murderer.”
“I’m sure that bartender must have it,” said Mrs. Sterling.
“They’re on their way to the Melville to search the hotel during the reception,” she said.
At that moment, my phone made a buzzing noise to let me know that my text still had not gone through. In the intimate mother-daughter moment, it sounded as loud as a fog horn. Jessica and her mother turned toward me.
“Hi,” I said, revealing myself with an innocent smile and hoping they thought I had just entered from outside.
Jessica touched her mother’s wrist.
“Stella knows the whole story,” she said. “In fact, she’s the one who figured most of it out.”
Mrs. Sterling stared me down coolly and quietly.
“Stella,” Jessica said. “Did you happen to notice a certain, um, scent during the ceremony?”
“I did,” I said, wondering how much information to share.
I decided to at least drop a hint about the ring’s location. If they were innocent, I would put them at ease. If one of them, perhaps Mrs. Sterling, was guilty, I might be able to learn something from her reaction.
“This probably won’t make you happy,” I said, “but the scent came from one of the unity candles. I was short a candle last night, so I took Simon’s votive from his room.”
“You stole his candle?” said Jessica.
“Why would the tobacco scent be in the candle?” said Mrs. Sterling, looking genuinely confused.
If Mrs. Sterling had been searching for the missing ring this weekend, my hint had not registered. Even Jessica looked at me blankly. I realized that all I had probably done was confess that I had behaved unprofessionally. I could tell them that I had discovered the ring, but right now I wanted it in the safe hands of the police. “I’ll pack up the unity candles and bring them to the inn,” I said, to both appease my clients and keep the candle in my possession.
“Perfect,” said Mrs. Sterling, thankfully moving on. “Put them in my room for safekeeping. See, Jessica? Mystery solved. And as for the ring, I’m sure the police will find it stowed at the bartender’s house. Shall we?”
Mrs. Sterling helped Jessica to her feet, and the three of us headed outside. I opened the chapel doors to bright sunlight, a cheerful crowd, and a beaming groom who was shaking hands with everyone with his best man beside him.
“Stella,” said Peter, coming to my side. “Where’d you go? Emily’s back at the inn, waiting for the police with Frank. She said we should head over to the reception tent and keep an eye on things until she arrives.”
Gentleman that he was, he reached for the box I was holding with the candles, but I held it tightly and made a beeline for his car.
“OK,” he said. “You hold that. I’ll get the door.”
Ahead of us, Jessica, Joe, and Mrs. Sterling were taking off in a horse and buggy carriage.
“Get behind them,” I said.
We followed in slow procession as the buses behind us began to board as well.
“What’s up?” said Peter. “You have a funny look.”
I didn’t think I was making a funny look.
“Do you have the Hellers’ phone number handy?” I asked.
Peter gave me a funny look.
My text went through to Andy.
Chapter 30
“What’s your password?” I said to Peter, lifting his phone.
“That’s a relationship kind of thing. Are you sure you want to know?” he said.
“I love that you can flirt in the middle of a car chase,” I said.
Peter looked at the road, and the horse drawn carriage ahead of us. I realized he had not known this was a chase. There was no way we were letting the three people in the carriage ahead of us out of our sight.
“Seven, seven, seven, seven,” he said.
I opened his phone and went to his contacts where I easily found the Hellers’ information. Hitting their number, I waited.
“You going to tell me what this is about?” he said.
“I think the Hellers’,” I said, then held up my finger.
“I told you, we have nothing more to say,” said an old but feisty woman’s voice. “If you call again, Al will call our lawyer. Al, it’s that reporter again.”
“Tell him we’ll call our lawyer,” said a voice in the background, equally old. Equally spunky.
“I told him,” said the woman, who I’d gathered was Ida.
“Excuse me,” I said. “This is Stella Wright. Calling from the Wick & Flame in Nantucket. I’m borrowing Mr. Bailey’s phone.”
“The candle store?” said the woman. “I liked the coconut-scented sample you have on the counter.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I’m so glad you stopped by.”
“Did we win something?”
“No,” I said. “Mrs. Heller, I’m helping the police force here in Nantucket and we have a couple of questions to follow up on.”
“What a small town,” Ida called to her husband. “The candle lady is also with the police.”
I let it go. At least she called me Candle Lady.
“Can you tell me what Mrs. Sterling said to you the night before Simon Sterling’s murder?” I said, trying to focus the conversation.
There was unexpected silence on the other end of the line.
“Oh, yeah,” said Peter, with a mischievous grin. “Stella’s onto something.”
I shushed him, afraid if Ida heard his voice she’d hang up.
“Which time?”
“How many times did you speak to Mrs. Sterling?” I asked.
“Let’s see. The whole thing started because she saw me deliver the ring we made for Mr. Joe to him when he checked in. We were discreet, like he wanted, but that lady always has her eyes on him. I smiled nicely, but she was not so polite as that. I guess she went on the Internet because she came up to me later and told me she knew we were jewelers. Then, she wants to get the dirt on Mr. Joe. What did we give him? Why did he know us? But Mr. Joe had been very clear. If we want the job, we had to say nothing to nobody. So I told her to mind her own business, in the nicest way I could, mind you.”
“Of course,”
I said. “And you spoke to her again?”
“Let’s see,” said Ida. “Al, what did the mother say the second time she came up to us?”
“The money, Ida!” said Al, sounding as if his wife were crazy.
“She came up to us on her way to dinner with her family that night. She was wearing a dress that was tan, and she had a shawl over it with bright colors that I thought were very flattering. So, I’m standing at the elevator, waiting to go up to my room because Al and I had been to town, that’s when we saw your store, and we ate an early bite and we decided to go to bed early. So, she gets off the elevator, in this beautiful outfit. She was alone, I guess the others had already gone inside the restaurant. Anyway, she looks very happy to see me all of a sudden. And she says, why don’t you come over here for a minute so we can talk? So, I’m a nice person and I say fine. And we walk over to the fireplace, and she pulls out a stack of money. So tacky for such a respectable lady. And I say what’s this about? And she says she wants me to tell her more about the business we did with Mr. Joe. A bribe! Can you believe it?”
“I can’t believe it,” I said, matching her indignance.
“Don’t say anything more,” said Al. I heard a TV go on in the background.
“More about what?” I said.
“About nothing,” said Ida.
“Ida, did you take the money?”
Ahead of us, I saw the Melville come into view.
“What if we did,” said Ida.
“Ida!” said Al.
“What’s the big deal, Al? All this secrecy. The police are asking,” she yelled. “Why are you asking anyway?”
“Just tying up loose strings, Ma’am,” I said, trying to sound official.
“Loose strings,” she shouted to Al.
I heard him sigh, and could almost see him throw up his hands in defeat.
“Many people make copies of valuable jewelry, and I told Mrs. Sterling exactly that. Rich people with valuable items put the originals in the vault and wear the fakes. Half the time, you’re admiring a fake, you should know.”
“I didn’t know,” I said. I really never had heard about this practice.
Murder's No Votive Confidence Page 21