Hugh caught Olivia watching him and smiled. She noticed that his light blue eyes lacked the dark intensity that shone from the deep blue ones in Martin’s portrait. Hugh looked tired. Hardly surprising, given what he’d been through the last few days. Olivia wanted to offer him her condolences, but it just didn’t seem like the right moment. She found it curious that he’d allowed himself to be talked into a gathering so soon after his mother’s death. Perhaps her mom was right that he did love Tammy.
A flash of green in the corner of her vision alerted Olivia that Maddie was trying to get her attention from across the room. Maddie raised her cup and waved it in a circle. Puzzled, Olivia glanced at her own cup, which was white with a thin filigree design in silver. She gazed around the room and noticed white linen cloths covering the coffee table and two side tables. A white vase of white tulips decorated the bureau under the living room window.
When Maddie casually wriggled her own bare ring finger, then nodded her head toward Tammy, Olivia started to catch on. She squirmed in her chair to get a better look at Tammy, specifically at her left hand. Yep, there it was—a diamond ring. No wonder Tammy wanted her guests to stay put. There was to be an announcement.
Olivia glanced again at Maddie, who rolled her eyes. With the slightest tilt of her head, Olivia indicated that Maddie should follow her. When Tammy leaned toward Dottie to answer a question, Olivia slipped into the nearby hallway, which she knew, from previous visits, led through the study, Tammy’s bedroom, and ultimately to the bathroom.
Tammy’s small study was neat, as always. Even when she was in the throes of lesson planning for her first-grade classes, Tammy kept her materials organized in stacked plastic trays. Her bookcase had four shelves, one for children’s books and three for romance novels. On the corner of the desk, Olivia noticed a stack of women’s magazines, their edges even. The top magazine advertised a special section on “Your Perfect Wedding.”
Sometimes Olivia wondered why she and Tammy had remained friends. They were so different. Her thoughts drifted to her other childhood friend Stacey, and she made a quick mental note to give her a call. Those childhood bonds were tough to break, but she knew that having friends, even ones who didn’t like each other, made her life richer.
Tammy’s bedroom repeated the theme in the study, minus the children’s books and plus a stuffed bear collection. Olivia noticed a new adornment for the Victorian-style walnut dresser—a framed photo of Tammy and Hugh on a rocky shore, possibly in Maine, where Tammy’s family used to vacation. Tammy stood on tiptoe, her face tilted upwards toward Hugh, who held her upper arms as he kissed the tip of her nose. From Tammy’s hairdo, Olivia guessed the photo was recent.
Olivia slipped into the bathroom. She left the light out and the door ajar, so she could watch for Maddie. She heard footsteps approach, and her heart began to canter. When Maddie walked through the bedroom door, Olivia was so relieved she laughed.
“Isn’t this a kick?” Maddie closed them into the bathroom. “I think Tammy is bursting to announce her engagement, so we should keep this short. Did you notice that photo in the bedroom? Tacky.”
“I think it’s touching,” Olivia said. “Reassuring, too. I was afraid Hugh didn’t return her feelings. My mom told me about Jasmine.”
“Jasmine,” Maddie said. “I haven’t heard that name in a while.” She settled on the edge of the tub, and Olivia joined her. “I liked that woman. She had moxie. Everybody thought she and Hugh would get married, but I wasn’t surprised when she up and left. She was so independent, plus I always suspected she had a ‘past,’ you know? She never talked much about herself.”
“Maddie, you don’t suppose . . . I mean, what if she disappeared because she was pregnant?” On her way to the party, Olivia had been feverishly mulling over the letter from Clarisse and the note she left with the cookie cutters. She was growing more certain that both items had to somehow tie into the information her mother had given her.
A sliver of curl worked loose from Maddie’s casual hairdo and bounced on her nose. Her eyes crossed as she blew it away from her face. “I suppose Jasmine might have gotten pregnant, but if it was Hugh’s, they would have gotten married. Clarisse adored Jasmine, so she’d have been floating on clouds if she found out a grandchild was on the way. You knew Clarisse. Do you think she’d have been bent out of shape by the whole premarital, out-of-wedlock thing?”
“I doubt it.” Clarisse had flouted numerous conventions during her life, and Olivia remembered her emphatic disdain for double standards when it came to acceptable male and female behavior. She had been ahead of her time in that regard.
“Well, there you are. If Jasmine was pregnant, she’d probably be here today, and Clarisse would have been swimming in grandbabies.”
Olivia felt a moment of sorrow as she thought about what might have been. Clarisse had deserved to grow old surrounded by grandchildren. “What if it wasn’t Hugh’s baby? And what about Jasmine’s ‘past’? Her independent streak?” Olivia asked. “Maybe Jasmine didn’t want to have a sea of babies.”
Maddie’s eyebrows wrinkled together in thought. “I guess she might have left to have the baby and put it up for adoption.”
“If Jasmine had wanted to end the pregnancy, Clarisse would never have forgiven her. So either way, she’d have left if she didn’t want a baby and Hugh did.”
“Makes sense,” Maddie said. “So that means—”
“Shh.” Olivia put a finger to her lips and held her other hand over Maddie’s mouth. She dropped her hand when Maddie nodded to indicate she understood.
Olivia had heard the click of a door. A second click told Olivia that the door had closed. Her worst fear was that someone had entered the room, heard their last few words, and was now lurking in the bedroom waiting to hear more.
Maddie put her mouth close to Olivia’s ear and breathed, “We are so busted.”
They had locked the bathroom door behind them but hadn’t turned on the light, since the night-light was sufficient. Olivia watched the doorknob, willing it not to turn. When she’d held her breath long enough to see spots in front of her eyes, she began to feel safer. That is, until she heard whispering from the other side of the door. The whispers became voices, and the voices became Tammy and Hugh arguing. Olivia glanced at Maddie, who grinned.
“Sweetie, we’ve come this far, we can’t move back time.” Tammy sounded cajoling, with a hint of first-grade teacher in her voice.
“I think we should slow down, wait a bit,” Hugh said. His rich baritone usually commanded attention, but his voice sounded flat, tired. “It’s all too much right now. It wouldn’t look right.”
“I don’t care what it looks like. People can think whatever they want. This is our life, and we’ve come too far to turn back now, you know that. Your mother would never have let us have a life together. We had no other choice. Now you have your businesses, and we have each other. You do want that, don’t you?”
“Of course I do.”
Maddie wrinkled her nose at the sound of kissing, while Olivia’s mind began to churn. If she weren’t wearing a dress, she’d have her little notebook and pen in her pocket and could write down, in exact words, Hugh and Tammy’s exchange. What had Tammy meant when she said they’d had no other choice? Olivia didn’t know Hugh very well, but Tammy? Could she commit murder to marry Hugh? Maybe.
Tammy said, “Let’s go back to our guests. I don’t want them to wander off before we make our announcement.”
A couple of seconds after they heard the bedroom door close, Olivia and Maddie cracked open the bathroom door and peeked out. Once they were sure it was safe, they escaped through the study and into the hallway. It occurred to Olivia that Tammy would arrive in the living room before they could, and she’d realize they were gone. She might wonder where they’d been while she and Hugh were talking.
Olivia gripped Maddie’s arm and led her into the empty kitchen, where they leaned against the counter as if they’d been having a casual conv
ersation. A moment later, the door to the outside opened, and Edward Chamberlain entered, along with the acrid smell of cigarette smoke. He froze momentarily when he saw Olivia and Maddie.
“Tammy won’t let me smoke inside,” Edward said.
Olivia had encountered Edward only sporadically over the past year, and each time she had been intrigued by his apparent lack of concern for the social graces. He’d never been rude to her, only abrupt. Perhaps his curt manner stemmed from preoccupation with important business matters.
“Edward,” Olivia said, “I am so sorry about your mother. She was my dear friend, but I can only imagine what her loss means to you and Hugh.”
Edward’s right hand lifted to the left breast pocket of his suit coat, which bulged in the shape of a cigarette packet. He did not reach inside. Staring out the kitchen window, he said, “Thank you.”
Tammy appeared at the entrance to the kitchen, cheeks flushed. “There you are,” she said.
At the sound of her voice, Edward’s head tilted toward her. Olivia thought she saw tears glisten in his vivid blue eyes.
“I’ve been looking all over for you three. I was afraid you’d left,” Tammy said with genuine distress in her voice. “Come on back to the living room. Please? Hugh and I have an announcement to make.” She clutched Olivia’s wrist and hooked her arm through Edward’s. With a forlorn glance at his cigarette pocket, he allowed himself to be dragged along.
“Talk about an anticlimax,” Maddie muttered to Olivia after a bubbling Tammy had announced her engagement to Hugh. Everyone exclaimed over her ring, even though they’d all seen it as Tammy served coffee, offered cookies supplied by The Gingerbread House, and provided refills.
Another new guest had arrived during Olivia and Maddie’s absence—Sheriff Del. He had dressed for the occasion in a dark blue suit and light blue shirt. Not bad. When Edward entered the room, Del went over to talk to him, and she noticed Edward’s hand touch his cigarette pocket again. She wondered who was supposed to be her date, Del or Edward.
Once the glad nuptial tidings had been delivered, Del moved his folding chair next to Olivia’s.
“You look nice,” Del said. “As always.”
“You’re wearing a tie.”
“Nothing much gets past you.”
Del Jenkins had a way of throwing Olivia off-kilter and darned if she didn’t enjoy it. When he smiled at her, she found herself smiling back. “I guess that was my way of saying you look nice, too.”
“Thanks, I thought it might be.” His smile faded as he leaned toward her and whispered, “Did you know about this engagement? I thought those two were on the outs.”
“You keep up with Chatterley Heights gossip?” Olivia asked with genuine surprise.
“I try. It helps me anticipate problems.” Del frowned at the floor. “I’ve learned a lot about the Chamberlain family in the last few days. The general consensus was that Clarisse was opposed to Hugh marrying Tammy. It seems she was very vocal about it during the last few days of her life. It’s odd, though, no one was really sure why.” Del narrowed his eyes at Olivia. “So I was thinking, outside of her family, you probably knew the most about what went on in Clarisse’s mind.”
Olivia hesitated. If she told Del what she and Maddie had overheard and what Clarisse had left for her in the store, it might convince him to delve more deeply into Clarisse’s death. On the other hand, Tammy and Hugh hadn’t admitted any wrongdoing. What if there was an innocent explanation for their conversation? Olivia needed time to think.
“I wish I could help,” Olivia said. “I have no idea why Clarisse disapproved of Tammy.”
Maddie appeared, holding Lucas’s hand. “We’re out of here,” she said to Olivia. “Hey, Del, nice duds.”
“Right back at you, Maddie.” With a quick movement, Del pushed aside his shirt cuff and checked his watch. “I need to get back to the station. Cody gave up part of his Sunday so I could come to this gathering.”
So why exactly did you come? Olivia thought but didn’t say.
“How about I walk you home, Livie?” Del stood and reached a hand toward her. “After all, I believe I am supposed to be your date.”
Chapter Nine
“You grab the cookies from the freezer,” Maddie said. “I’ll get out the mixer and start throwing together some royal icing. Ah, there’s nothing like decorating cookies to fire up the synapses.”
“The entire freezer is stuffed with undecorated cookies,” Olivia said.
“Get out the package of round ones. We can do anything we like with those.” Maddie whistled “Stars and Stripes Forever” while she yanked confectioners’ sugar and meringue powder off shelves and clattered through the measuring spoons. Pausing in the middle of the piccolo part, she said, “Note to shopping-list maker: we’re out of lemon extract. I’m using orange, unless you have serious reservations.”
“Orange is good.” Olivia unpacked the frozen cookies and placed them on racks to thaw. The stand mixer whirred, a sound that always gave her a warm, cozy feeling. She and her mother, whose energy and enthusiasm rivaled Maddie’s, had made dozens of holiday cookies together every year until Olivia left for college. The sharp sweetness of the orange extract, the sheen of royal icing, even the flour and confectioners’ sugar that dusted the table around the mixer—all of it brought back those safe, protected years of childhood, before marriage and divorce, before the suspicious death of a friend.
“I’m having brunch at my mom and stepdad’s house tomorrow,” Olivia said. “I was planning to ask Allan about Clarisse, but now I’m thinking he might have some insights about Hugh.”
“Such as?” Maddie was racing to divide the icing into lidded bowls so it wouldn’t dry out.
“Such as, how skilled a businessman is Hugh? Clarisse said once that each of her sons inherited part of Martin’s genius, but not all of it.”
“Clarisse was no slouch when it came to business,” Maddie said. “Bring over the food color gels, would you? You can start coloring, if you want.”
Olivia brought over some small bottles and arranged them in a spectrum of color next to the covered containers of icing. She selected her favorite, teal. She added one drop to a portion of icing and stirred, watching the blue-green color swirl and spread through the light buff icing.
“I wonder how well Clarisse understood her sons,” Olivia said.
Maddie collected a pile of pastry bags and a box of metal tips. “Where’s this leading?”
Olivia added one more drop of teal and stirred. “It occurred to me that we need to know about Clarisse’s will, and if she was planning to change it. I know that Martin’s will gave Clarisse control over all their businesses, with instructions that she equally involve both sons in running them. She had pulled back a bit in the past year to give Hugh and Edward more experience.”
“Clarisse was planning to retire? Hard to believe.” Maddie was already coloring her second container of icing a gentle peach, a dramatic contrast to the color she chose first, a rich burgundy.
Olivia tightened the lid on her teal icing. “I doubt she was thinking about retirement. I think she was testing them. That’s why I’m wondering about her will. What if she was planning to give one of her sons control over all the Chamberlain businesses, or at least the bigger ones?” She opened another icing container and added a drop of purple. “That would be a great motive for murder.”
“Lucas went to school with Hugh, and Edward is only two years younger. I could ask him what he thinks of them. I know he’s quiet, but he’s very observant.”
“Have I said he wasn’t?”
With an irritated sigh, Maddie said, “No, not you. Tammy made some comment to me about my being ‘so vibrant,’ like I was going to overwhelm poor, shy Lucas.”
“It might actually have been a compliment,” Olivia said. “In most circles, vibrant is considered a good thing.”
“Not in Tammy’s circle of one.”
“All righty, then.” Olivia twisted the li
d back on her final contribution to the icing choices and started filling pastry bags.
“You can start piping if you want,” Maddie said. “I’ll make the flood icing.”
The whirring of the mixer discouraged conversation for a time. When it stopped, Maddie said, “You know what I’d like to know? I’d like to know why Clarisse disliked Tammy so much. I mean, aside from the obvious. I have to admit, she and Hugh are a good fit. He doesn’t appear to have a spine, and Tammy has at least two of them. If I’d been Clarisse, I’d have been relieved Hugh had found someone so strong willed. She’ll push him to succeed, you wait and see.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Olivia said. “Mom told me Clarisse did approve of Tammy before Jasmine came along. You’d think Clarisse would have been disappointed in Jasmine when she up and left. Tammy was the loyal one.”
Olivia finished piping the outline of a Yorkshire terrier on a round cookie. She put the bowl of brown icing back with the others and pulled up a chair to rest her back. “If Clarisse’s death was a suicide, which I still don’t accept, what might have led her to it?”
“Which was more important to her?” Maddie asked. “Her sons or her family businesses?”
Olivia wanted to say that of course Clarisse’s sons were her top priority, but could she? Clarisse had said little to her about Hugh and Edward. She’d often talked about her husband with admiration, even when she was recalling how he drove her crazy at times. But Hugh and Edward? Olivia wondered if Clarisse had loved her sons unreservedly, or if, ultimately, they had disappointed her.
“A Sunday evening well spent,” Olivia said. “I’m so glad we didn’t open a health food store.” “Here, here,” Maddie said, holding aloft her empty wineglass.
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