Harrowing Hats

by Joyce; Jim Lavene

  They giggled in a disgusting manner that made me want to strangle both of them, and I had no emotional investment. Imagine how disgusted Andre would be if he knew.

  “Here it is.” Rene returned with a wrapped package. “It’s a piece of art, really. We should have charged much more. But since it was for Andre . . .”

  Which implied some kind of more personal relationship between the twins and the hatmaker. Or he was just a good customer. I wanted to stay and chat but I could feel Eloise and Bernardo listening intently. I didn’t want them to know what I was thinking, even if it meant I had to wait until later to talk to him.

  “Thank you.” I gave him a brief but respectful head nod.

  “I’m glad you came in to pick this up,” Rene continued before I could make my exit. “I thought we might have gotten off to a bad start when you were here last.”

  “What makes you say that?” I didn’t want to be the focal point for the evil twins. The idea was frightening.

  “Renee just had a feeling that you had some problem with us,” he said. “She’s a little fey, you understand. She gets impressions from people.”

  Great! They look like vampires and read people’s minds. What else? “No. No problem. I was surprised to finally meet you. I hadn’t been in here since Captain Jack left. You’ve done wonders with the place. I was seriously thinking about applying here to be your apprentice.”

  I was babbling. I knew it, but I couldn’t stop. It’s kind of my reaction to stress. Rene didn’t interrupt me, just waited patiently for me to tell him my whole life story. When I was finished, he smiled a little and said, “We would love to have you apprentice with us, Lady Jessie! It would be our pleasure to teach you what we know of the fine art of gemstones.”

  “You would be most welcome here.” Renee joined us and added to the conversation even though she’d been across the room only a moment before.

  I shivered and tried to keep my response short and to the point. No way was I ever going to get that involved with them. The idea was terrifying. “Thanks! That would be great.”

  I didn’t mean it. It’s just what came out of my mouth. I seem to have little control of that at times like this. I hoped it didn’t involve writing my name in blood on some old parchment.

  “We hear the police questioned Andre about Cesar’s death,” Rene said. “Do they think he is responsible for what happened?”

  “I’m not sure.” I managed to keep my mouth mostly shut on this one. “But they let him go.”

  Renee made a hissing sound, not unlike a snake. She stared at her brother. “The hatmaker is lucky—again.” She glided back to Bernardo and Eloise, leaving a trail of questions I wanted to ask.

  “My sister isn’t feeling well,” Rene said. “She didn’t mean what she said.”

  Even his ghostly demeanor couldn’t hide the fact that he was lying. They obviously knew about the first murder.

  I walked back out of the shop consumed by the tiny bit of information. I was so busy turning it over in my mind that I didn’t even notice the rather large black horse with an equally large knight on it until I was almost under them.

  The Templar Knight was a good horseman—he was able to pull the horse up quickly and avoid crushing me under its hooves. Just the thought of lying on the ground, broken and bleeding, drew me out of my Holmesian trancelike state. I realized I’d dropped my packages and bent to retrieve them.

  “Have you no regard for your own personal safety?” the dark, helmeted knight demanded.

  I recognized the husky voice from the night before—or at least I thought I did. My heart skipped a beat. “I was blinded by the sunlight, Sir Knight.” I curtsied low to show him that I was sincere. “You have my thanks for saving me from your horse.”

  Of course, our conversation began to draw a crowd. Anything could be a play for visitors. They reacted by taking photos of everything they saw and posting them on the Internet. It was our job to keep the fantasy going.

  The knight inclined his head stiffly in my direction. The helmet wouldn’t allow him to do any more. I wondered why he didn’t at least pull up the visor so he’d be able to breathe in there—and I could see his face.

  “Your pretty apology is accepted, Lady Jessie. Pray thee be more careful in the future.”

  He started to ride away, the melodrama between us over. I should have let him go. Not just because of the crowd either. I didn’t want him to think I was flirting with him. Of course I wasn’t flirting with him. I loved Chase and didn’t want to be with anyone else.

  “Good Sir Knight.” I yielded to the tiny zing of attraction that teased my senses. “Will you not allow me to fetch you a dipper of water from the well? You must be thirsty in this heat. It is the least I can do.”

  The visitors were eating it up (that’s the excuse I’m using). The women stood spellbound and clutched the arms of the men who were with them. The hot sun beat down on us all. My heart beat faster as I contemplated what I’d done.

  “That would be most welcome, my lady.”

  There was a water fountain nearby. Cold water shot out of a dolphin’s mouth twenty-four/seven from a deep well tapped beneath it.

  I removed my cup from my side and filled it, then held it up for the knight. He took it from me and sipped carefully, then swallowed it. Because of the small aperture, I could see his lips. A few drops fell on him, running down the black armor across his lean, hard body beneath.

  What was I thinking? What was I doing?

  I swallowed hard and took the cup from him to an explosion of applause from the crowd. The knight continued on his way down the cobblestones, and I picked up my packages.

  Why was I so attracted to him? Maybe I had heatstroke. Something had to be wrong with me. I vowed there and then that it wouldn’t happen again.

  I took Andre’s items—and my exasperation—to the Hat House. I wanted to question Andre about his relationship with Beth. Couldn’t he see what a great woman she was?

  Can’t I see what a great man Chase is?

  I felt too guilty to even question him when I gave him his packages. Andre only opened the box I’d brought him from the gemstone shop and exclaimed over the gorgeous earrings that matched the necklace he’d had made for Eloise. He tossed the taffeta to the side.

  “Have you ever seen anything more beautiful? Except for the woman who’ll wear them, of course.”

  I couldn’t answer. I could hardly stay there. I was as bad as Eloise. I wasn’t taking expensive jewelry from every man in the Village, but anything was possible. How could I be with Chase when I was flirting with the Templar Knight? Someday I’d be old and alone and no one would want me. Chase would be gone from my life because I hadn’t treated him right. It was a depressing thought. I needed chocolate. Nothing else could make it better.

  “We’re going to have to make twelve green hats with this taffeta.” Andre was continuing to speak despite my misery. “Why don’t you take a break and come back ready to work? I noticed you forgot my other packages. Please pick them up while you’re out.”

  I went for chocolate first. It was the only way I could handle the events of the day. Without thinking, I headed toward the Three Chocolatiers, then remembered that the shop was closed until further notice.

  There were other places to get chocolate in the Village—their chocolate was just the best. Frenchy’s Fudge was close by and would have to do.

  I spotted Bernardo and Marco at an outside table by Sir Latte’s. They were there with Chase and two men in suits who looked as out of place as fur coats on a hot day.

  Chase might tell me later what happened—but maybe not. I decided to browse a display of delicate glass animals at the Glass Gryphon next door for a few minutes while discreetly listening to their conversation.

  “We aren’t asking you to give up your shop,” one of the suits was saying. “Just the opposite. We want you to stay open.”

  “But we need you to take on a partner,” the second suit said. “Think of it as
a new brother. Obviously, you can’t be the Three Chocolatiers if there are only two of you.”

  The brothers looked at Chase, who nodded and sat forward at the table. “Can’t they call the shop the Two Chocolatiers?” he suggested for them.

  “I’m afraid that won’t work,” the first suit said in a longsuffering tone. “You get the idea. Three Chocolatiers—Three Musketeers. Two Chocolatiers—not so good.”

  Marco glanced at Bernardo. “Is that why we called the shop that name? We named it after a candy bar?”

  The two suits shook their heads. Chase looked away, but I could see the deepening smile lines near his eyes as he tried not to laugh out loud.

  “I don’t know what else we can say,” Suit Number Two responded. “You have to hire someone to be your brother if you want to keep the shop open. We know this is painful for you, but we must all move on.”

  The brothers appeared dazed by the request to hire someone to replace Cesar. That kind of thing never comes easy.

  When the two suits had picked up their briefcases and started toward the castle, the brothers appealed to Chase. “There must be something you can do to help us. How can we get a new brother?”

  “Why would we want to?” Bernardo continued. “We’d have to split the profits three ways again. How would we know a new brother would be any good at making chocolate?”

  “I’ll talk to management about it,” Chase said. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try. Maybe the best thing right now is to keep an open mind.”

  “What about Cesar’s body?” Marco asked again. “When can we bury him? Mama is going to fly over from Naples for the funeral, but we don’t know when we can have it yet.”

  “I’ll check on that, too.”

  “Can we reopen the shop yet?” Bernardo asked.

  “Not yet. I’ll ask the police about that, too.” Chase answered a call on his radio and had to leave the brothers.

  I made sure the glass animal display was between me and him until he was out of sight. I didn’t want him to think I went around spying on him all the time. Or at least that I was stupid enough to get caught at it all the time.

  I started to leave and head toward Adora’s shop when I noticed Bernardo and Marco were still at the café table. Maybe another few minutes might yield another answer or two about what happened to Cesar.

  “I don’t like it,” Bernardo said plainly. “They don’t have any right to tell me how many people I need in my business.”

  “I think we signed something when we moved in that said they do,” Marco reminded him. “But Cesar always handled that stuff. I miss him already.”

  “Cesar!” Bernardo shot to his feet and adjusted his cape. “We can do very nicely without him. He thought he was more important than us. I guess he knows better now.”

  As far as admissions of guilt went, it wasn’t a total confession. But when I added it up with Bernardo buying jewelry for Cesar’s girlfriend and his attitude about the shop, maybe it meant something. I needed to find out what his alibi was that totally took him off Detective Almond’s hook for that night. It had to be something unquestionable. Detective Almond knew nothing about the Village—his alibi might be a lie that the police didn’t understand.

  “Jessie!” Roger Trent, former bailiff and owner of the Glass Gryphon, greeted me. “Looking for anything in particular?”

  “Not really. I was just admiring the glass. How’s Mary doing?”

  “She’s across the street making baskets as usual. I told her we should put in a bid on one of the bigger shops and move our businesses together. That way we’d have a larger living space, too.”

  “What would that be called?” I thought about the combinations between Wicked Weaves and the Glass Gryphon.

  “I was thinking Wicked Glass and Weaves or just Glass ‘N’ Weaves. What do you think?”

  “That sounds like a good idea,” I said, though I really didn’t think so. “Good to see you, Roger. I have to run over to Cupid’s Arrow for Andre.”

  Roger spit on the ground. Fortunately, I was the only Village resident to see him do it. Spitting is a very popular pastime around here. Residents can indulge in matches for hours. Not a pretty sight. “Hariot? I can’t believe that murdering scumbag is still out of jail! The cops today don’t know what they’re doing. When I was on the job, we would’ve arraigned him already.”

  “Anybody can get to those hat pins,” I told him. “Other than that, most of the men and some of the women in the Village wouldn’t have minded seeing Cesar dead.”

  Roger leaned in closer and whispered, “Were any of them arguing with Cesar right before he died? Did any of them threaten to kill him if he didn’t leave Eloise alone? I don’t think so. Put that with Hariot’s past and it spells murder to me.”

  That put a new feather in my bonnet.

  Fifteen

  I discussed it with Adora (after eating fudge) between aisles of Renaissance lingerie, incense, and body oils in Cupid’s Arrow. She hadn’t heard anything about Andre confronting Cesar, but we both agreed that Roger was close enough to the chocolate shop to hear everything.

  “What does that mean?” she asked me.

  “I’m not sure yet. Maybe nothing. And I’m sure Roger already told the police. You know how he is.”

  “You mean, ‘Hey! I’m Roger—I used to be a cop but now I blow glass.’ Yeah, I know.”

  I picked up Andre’s package, not thinking about the whole eww factor.

  “Andre has to know he’s not the only one Eloise sees,” Adora pointed out. “She’s not exactly known as a one-man woman.”

  “Yeah. He’s kind of like Don Quixote.”

  “Does that make Eloise the nasty mule slut or the windmill?”

  “I don’t know—the windmill, at least from his point of view. No question what I think!”

  We both laughed, and I said good-bye. I started back across the King’s Highway after visting Sarah’s Scarves and Lady Cathy’s Crochet. My errands were complete and my chocolate craving satisfied.

  It made total sense that Andre killed Cesar. There was so much going against him. Knowing that he’d threatened Cesar before he died was icing on the cake. No wonder the police took him in for questioning.

  But it was also beginning to make sense that Bernardo could have given his brother the chocolate bath, too. He had motive, it seemed. Maybe not opportunity, since Detective Almond had already questioned him. I had to find out what his alibi was. Otherwise, Bernardo was going to be on the top of my list.

  “Jessie!” Chase came up behind me and put his arms around me to stop my forward motion. “I’ve been looking all over for you. How’s everything going at the Hat House?”

  “Good, I guess. I’ve been running errands and cleaning the shop. Not much actual hat making going on.”

  “Sounds interesting. Anything else you’ve gotten into today?”

  He knew about the knight. “No. Nothing I can think of.” The Village grapevine was a powerful tool for good and evil. It probably only took five minutes before Mrs. Potts at the Honey and Herb Shoppe was telling Sam Da Vinci, who relayed it to Mother Goose, and now the whole Village knew. I felt guiltier than ever.

  He smiled and hugged me again. “I was at the gemstone shop a little earlier. Rene said you’re going to be his apprentice.”

  “Oh. Yeah.” He was talking about that. What a relief!

  “I was surprised, that’s all. You didn’t seem too crazy about them yesterday.”

  “That was yesterday.” I told him what Renee had said about Andre getting away with something again. “I think they know about the Hollywood murder.”

  “Since Roger knows about that, it’s a good chance the whole Village knows by now.” He kissed me and smiled. “Can we forget about Cesar for a while? How about a nice romantic dinner at home tonight instead of going out?”

  “That would be great! Would you like me to pick something up?”

  “You choose what sounds good for dessert, and I’ll
take care of the rest. Okay?”

  I kissed him and held him close for a few minutes. “Okay. I’ll see you later.”

  “I’m looking forward to it.”

  I remembered as he started to walk away that I needed to know Bernardo’s alibi. I stopped him again and asked if he knew why Detective Almond had let the two brothers off the hook.

  “Marco said he was home with his girlfriend. Bernardo wasn’t in the Village.” Chase raised his left brow. I love it when he does that. “Why? What have you heard?”

  I couldn’t exactly relate the conversation I’d overheard between the two brothers—he’d know I’d been there when he was talking to the suits from Adventure Land. “Roger told me about the confrontation between Andre and Cesar.”

  “Roger told everybody else about that, too,” Chase replied.

  “Well, that’s it then. I’ll see you later. For that romantic dinner.”

  We actually parted on that note. I wished I could just stay with him the rest of the day, but I was sure he had fights to resolve, visitors to appease, and animals to take to the Main Gate because the vet wouldn’t come in the Village anymore. I had things to do, too. But I couldn’t wait for tonight.

  To keep myself occupied, I went back over everything I knew about Cesar’s death. Andre seemed guilty—really guilty on so many different levels. Bernardo seemed guilty, again on many different fronts. Beth, not so much. I thought she would’ve killed Andre. Eloise was a less likely suspect, as much as I wanted to think it was her. The evil twins? Maybe not involved at all except as a link in the gossip chain.

  Maybe I was wrong about Andre. I hadn’t known him for long. It was more a gut feeling, the kind cops and private detectives rely on to find the truth, at least on TV. But maybe my gut was wrong. He had motive. He had opportunity. And, probably worst of all, he might have done it before. In a lot of ways, I wondered why the police hadn’t already arrested him, like Roger said.