Ghastly Glass

by Joyce; Jim Lavene

  “That won’t help you with this here.”

  “My uncle owns this shop and the one I’m opening over by the Pavilion. I’m sure I could get something out of that.” I couldn’t see Henry, but I could imagine the weasely look on his face.

  “How soon?” Lou came right to the point.

  “Tomorrow. I can have it all tomorrow,” Henry promised. “My uncle met with an unfortunate accident. Because of our recent partnership, he gave me his power of attorney. While he’s laid up, I have charge of his affairs. I’m sure I can get a loan for the money.”

  “Spare me the details. Just get it. I’ll be back tomorrow. Don’t think about skipping off without it.”

  “You know I’m not skipping, Lou.” Henry said it like it was something good. “There’s going to be a costume contest. We could meet there. No one would notice.”

  “Yeah. I’ll be sure to come as Death in case you don’t have the money.”

  The conversation sounded like it was over. I ducked back into the shop as the front door opened and several customers came in to browse. I went right along with them so Henry would think I’d been there the whole time. He came in and went to his workbench.

  The two ladies were very extravagant. They’d obviously gotten into the spirit of things; they were dressed in beautiful velvet gowns and gauzy headdresses. The men looked bored and hadn’t bothered to dress up, though that didn’t matter when it came time to take out Sir MasterCard.

  The whole time I’d been waiting on them my brain was on fire with this new information. Roger had given Henry his power of attorney. That meant as long as Roger was in the hospital, Henry could do what he wanted with his belongings. Of course, when Roger got out there’d be hell to pay. But, I supposed for Henry, it would be better to owe Roger than Lou.

  As soon as the visitors left the shop, Henry put away his tools and turned off his torch. “I have some important matters to take care of, Jessie,” he said. “I know I can trust you to watch the shop. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  He went upstairs as a Renaissance craftsman and came back down as a twenty-first-century businessman complete with coat, tie, and attaché case. Roger would’ve been so proud to see his evil-spawn nephew going out to sell everything out from under him. Ah, the ties of blood.

  He kind of saluted me as he walked by. I counted to ten after he was out the front door, then called Chase. I explained the basic situation, not wanting to say it all where we could be overheard. He told me he was on his way, and I turned off the radio as another group of visitors joined me.

  The pace was frantic that morning. Lilly Hamilton had stirred up a hornet’s nest. Everyone wanted to be at the Village in case something awful happened that they could relate to family and friends ahead of the six o’clock news. I’d never seen so many video recorders and cell phones open to take pictures, just in case.

  Chase finally arrived about an hour later. He brought beer and brats. Good thing, too. I would’ve pretended not to know him after he took so long to get to the shop.

  “I’m sorry,” he said as we sat down to eat. “This place is like a zoo today. I’ve had to confiscate more than one hundred cans of red spray paint. I guess the word is out, thanks to Lilly, and now everyone wants to leave their mark.”

  “Good thing we just about have this wrapped up.” I scraped the onions off my brat.

  “What do you mean? I thought you said Henry didn’t kill anyone.”

  “He didn’t. But as soon as we sort through this mess with Roger, I can concentrate on finding out who killed Ross.”

  “I’m not sure I understand how Henry having Roger’s power of attorney makes him Roger’s attacker.”

  “Don’t you see?” I squished a package of horseradish mustard on my brat. “Henry was setting this up all along. He knew if he injured Roger he could have power over his belongings. He couldn’t kill him or he’d lose that. You should know all about it since you’re a lawyer.”

  “A patent attorney,” he corrected around a mouthful of brat. “But that’s not what I mean anyway. Just because the two incidents coincide doesn’t make Henry guilty of attacking Roger. He might just be taking advantage of the situation. That’s a long way off from proving he actually hit Roger with a glass rod.”

  “If the Myrtle Beach cops sweat him for a while, he’ll sing,” I assured Chase.

  “And what would they take him in on? Being a jerk?”

  “How about circumstantial evidence? We’ve already proven Roger’s attacker used something the size of a glass rod to beat him. The green glass rod I saw here is gone. Henry desperately needs money. That sounds like enough to bring him in.”

  Chase raised his left brow. “You’ve been watching too much cop TV, Jessie. All he’d have to do is ask for a lawyer.”

  “If they don’t charge him, they don’t have to give him a lawyer. They can just have a conversation.”

  “But he wouldn’t have to join in if he didn’t feel like it and if he didn’t have an attorney present. It would be a lot better if we could find some physical proof while Henry is out about his business.” He took out his two-way radio. “I can’t get my security guys onboard with this. But I can call in a few reserves. Let’s take advantage of the time we have and see if we can make that happen.”

  I agreed that physical evidence was superior, and we ate the rest of our lunch in companionable silence while we waited for the A-Team to arrive.

  We were kind of a sorry lot. Bart came in response to Chase’s call. Merlin answered and Grigg dragged himself away from the pirates to help out. I saw Tony going by in his Devil costume and volunteered him. I felt in good company with the Devil, a pirate, a sorcerer, and Death on our side. All we needed was a zombie or two.

  “So, what are we looking for again?” Tony asked for the third time.

  “A sage green solid glass rod about two feet long,” I explained as slowly and patiently as I could for the third time. That was about it, too. I’m only good for three times before I’m ready to strangle someone.

  “What color exactly is sage?” Grigg began foraging through the shop.

  “It’s a soft shade of green, kind of like the underside of tree leaves,” Bart explained. “Or the color of sage, which some people call salvia.”

  “You know your herbs, my boy!” Merlin commended him. “Who’d have thought it of a mythological figure?”

  “A little more looking and a lot less talking,” I told the group in general. “Henry could be back anytime.”

  “In that case, we’re here purchasing glassware,” Merlin said.

  “Pirates don’t purchase glassware,” Grigg growled.

  “Pretend,” Bart advised.

  “Never mind that. Let’s just find the glass rod.” Chase cut the discussion short.

  I found myself looking in the shed again with Grigg beside me. “You know I didn’t mean you any harm with that abduction thing, right, Jessie?”

  “How is it having a pirate queen instead of a pirate king?”

  He shrugged. “Different. She has us do different things.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like babysitting for one thing.” He shook his head. “It’s not piratelike to change diapers, you know what I mean? I’m not even sure it’s manly. I’m thinking about trading guilds and becoming a Merry Man again. At least Robin can’t be replaced.”

  “There’s always Maid Marian,” I reminded him.

  “That wouldn’t happen.” He picked up a burlap bag he’d found hidden away behind some tools. Glass rods clinked together inside the bag.

  “Careful!”

  “You think this is it?” He lifted the bag higher, making the rods clink again. “Sorry.”

  He finally put the bag on the floor, and we searched through it. There were plenty of glass pieces, but none of them were the right color. And most were too short for Henry to have used on Roger.

  “That was no help.” Grigg covered the odds and ends back up again and stashed the bag
in the corner. “This seems like a wild goose hunt to me.”

  “I know. Henry’s stupid but probably not stupid enough to leave the glass rod he used lying around. I just don’t know if we’re going to get that physical proof Chase wants.”

  “Maybe there’s another way.”

  “Yeah. I’m for having Detective Almond take Henry in and beat it out of him.”

  “I meant something legal, Jessie. If you get anything by coercion, it won’t do any good in court.”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  Twenty

  There were several components to our plan for getting Henry to confess. Since we weren’t having any luck finding the glass rod Henry had used on Roger, we had to do something else.

  Grigg came up with the basic idea, which included getting Henry to reveal his precarious relationship with Lou (obviously a loan shark). It was my idea to have Lonnie impersonate Lou in the dark, crowded square during the costume contest. We hoped Henry would spill everything to the faux Lou and we’d be there to witness it for Detective Almond. It was a long shot, but it was the only shot we had. Without physical evidence, only a confession would do. Tricks like this work regularly on TV detective shows.

  Just as we finished formulating our plan, Henry came back to the shop and everyone scattered. Except for me, of course. I was left there with him, hoping I was right about him not killing Ross. Henry just didn’t strike me as the type who could kill someone. Beat them up pretty badly with a glass rod, yes. But murder took a whole other breed.

  I thought about why someone would want to kill Ross and then spend days afterwards advertising it all over the Village. Obviously, the killer wanted everyone to know what he’d done. And he wanted attention for it.

  I snapped on my torch between visitors to the glass shop and worked on my fairy’s legs. They were difficult to shape, even with the help of the myriad number of graphite objects I was supposed to use. Legs are usually kind of round and narrow. Mine kept breaking off when I tried to shape them. The best I could do was something that looked like a large spaghetti noodle. Not too leglike.

  I noticed Henry was unusually quiet even when a group of schoolteachers in cute ghost costumes floated through around five. He barely looked up as they oohed and aahed over his work. That wasn’t like him, especially since a couple of them were young and kind of sexy. For teachers anyway, I supposed. I’d had to endure professor jokes for years from Tony and my students.

  When the ladies had made their purchases and departed, I shut down my torch and cleaned up some of the fairy legs that had collected on the floor. “Everything okay, Henry?”

  “Sure.” He looked up. “Why? Was I squinting or something?”

  “You hardly even looked up this afternoon. Those young teachers were doing everything they could to get your attention. It’s not like you to ignore people that way.”

  By people I really meant women, but I didn’t want to antagonize him. There was still a small chance he might just confess what he’d done. It was small, very small, but it was worth a shot.

  “You know, there are more important things than looking at women.” He turned off his torch. “Why don’t you get out of here, Jessie? I’ll close up.”

  I knew something was dramatically up with him then. “Sure. Are you going to see Roger tonight?”

  “Not tonight. It’s been a long day, and there’s still that costume contest tonight. I said I’d help judge it. There’s supposed to be someone there from each guild. I’m taking Uncle Roger’s place for the Craft Guild.”

  The door to the shop opened and the little bell chimed. Roger stumbled in from outside with one arm in a sling and a metal crutch to help him get around.

  “Uncle Roger!” Henry’s eyes took on the true meaning of big as saucers at that moment. I thought he might run out the back door, but he managed to find some measure of calm. “I didn’t expect to see you.”

  “I’m sure you didn’t.” Roger pushed his way in, then collapsed on one of the chairs near the door. “I wouldn’t be here except that my lawyer called. He had a little bit of news for me. Can you imagine what that was, Henry?”

  “No. Not really.” Henry’s voice was almost too soft to hear.

  “The hell you can’t!” Roger’s crutch hit the floor with such force that a teardrop-shaped ornament fell from the ceiling and crashed on the floor. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice that you were trying to sell my stores out from under me?”

  “Not trying to sell,” Henry disagreed. “Just trying to raise some cash. I had a little cash-flow problem at the other store and I didn’t want to bother you. You were in the hospital and all. I didn’t know if you were up to discussing it.”

  “Of course not. My own flesh and blood and you were the only one who didn’t come to see me. Then I find out you’re trying to take my shops. If I could get up from here, I’d brain you with this crutch.”

  “You don’t understand. I was just trying to keep up with the new store opening. I needed some cash. That’s not a crime, is it?”

  “How much cash? What for?” Roger confronted his nephew. Mary came in behind him and stood at his side, glaring at Henry.

  “There were some problems with the other store. Damages that had to be repaired and supplies that had to be ordered.”

  “How much?” Roger asked again.

  “Thirty thousand, give or take.”

  “Thirty thousand? Are you deranged? Where’s that power of attorney? I’m rescinding it and giving it to my wife.”

  “That’s okay, if that’s what you want to do.” Henry shrugged as though he really didn’t see how thin the ice was beneath his feet. “Now that you’re back, I’ll just get to work on opening the other shop.”

  “You think I’m going to trust you with the other shop? After I gave you this time in the Village to prove yourself to me and all you’ve proven is what an idiot my sister-in-law gave birth to!”

  Henry looked seriously confused. “But who’ll run the other shop?”

  “Someone I can trust!”

  “Uncle Roger, you don’t understand. I need that shop. I need that money. Something really bad will happen if I don’t get it.”

  “You don’t understand, Henry. I don’t care. Just get out of here.” Roger leaned his head against Mary. He looked really tired, as though yelling at Henry had taken all the strength he had. Mary put her hand against his face and soothed him.

  I didn’t know what Henry would do next. He had a wide-eyed, glazed-over expression, kind of like the Tasmanian Devil just before he whirls around on Bugs Bunny. I thought he might spin out of control since there didn’t appear to be anything holding him together.

  With tears in his eyes, Henry searched for words, finally saying, “You’ll regret this, Uncle Roger. I’m your only blood relative. You need me.”

  Roger didn’t reply. He seemed unable to. Henry swooped out of the glass shop through the back door. It was as if he’d taken all the air with him, leaving a vacuum in his wake. I knew I felt drained, and I hadn’t even been involved in the shouting match.

  “Was that good enough?” Roger asked me.

  “Lord, I hope it was,” Mary fretted, “else you’ll need more time in the hospital.”

  “I think that was fine. None of us expected you to get up out of bed and come down here.” I turned on the two-way radio to raise Chase and let him know step one was in place.

  “You couldn’t have kept him there once I told him what you’d said,” Mary explained. “Are you sure about all this, Jessie?”

  “All of us are. Let’s just hope the rest of the plan works as well.”

  Chase said he understood after I told him what happened. “Meet me over at the Merry Mynstrel Stage for the contest. Watch out for Henry in case he gets a case of retribution and you get in his line of fire.”

  “Check!”

  “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  “I wish I could be there tonight, in some ways.” Roger shook his head
, his face lined with sorrow. “In other ways, I don’t want to know. Tell me what happens, Jessie. I hope we’re all wrong about Henry.”

  I really didn’t hope I was wrong, but I managed not to tell Roger that. I had that sweet bet with Chase that I didn’t want to lose even if it would make Roger feel better. His nephew was a stupid pig who didn’t deserve his compassion. I suppose it’s a bad thing to realize the only person you thought you could count on would be willing to hurt you to get what he wanted.

  “I see him,” I heard Bart say to Chase over the two-way. “What should I do?”

  “Don’t do anything,” Chase responded. “Stay in position. We have to get Henry to admit what he did.”

  I had to give Bart a lot of credit. I don’t know how calm I’d be if I thought it was possible Henry had murdered my brother. It wasn’t true, of course, but Bart didn’t know that. He spent too much time with Chase, who still thought it was possible. And not that Tony didn’t have his duh moments when I wanted to slap him. But if I thought Henry had killed him, I’d be seriously trying to get my pound of flesh.

  The closer I got to the Merry Mynstrel Stage, the denser the crowds became. I guessed all of those flyers had done the job. The contest was only for visitors, and there were three cash prizes. It was going to be fun to see who won.

  I didn’t try to look for Henry, although not looking for him made me kind of nervous. Walking down the street, I felt as if someone was standing over my shoulder. I finally couldn’t stand it anymore, and as I passed Cupid’s Arrow, I glanced back.

  “Hello, lady.” Death in all his iconic splendor loomed over me. Of course this figure of Death came with a boyish smile and wave that belied his dark shroud.

  “That’s quite a gleam you have on your scythe this evening, Sir Death.”

  “The easier to separate your body from your soul.” His tone got deeper as he spoke. His voice had a peculiar resonance to it that was kind of spooky.

  “Good. Make it quick. I hope there are plenty of mocha lattes and chocolate cake where I’m going.”

  “Of course.” He grinned. “Who do you think invented chocolate cake and coffee?”