by Eryn Scott
After the market, Hadley stopped by the grocery store again—it was getting easier each time. If Tara was surprised to see her in the store for a third time that week, she didn’t say anything, simply rung up the coarse salt, onions, dill, and vinegar Hadley placed on the conveyor belt.
She had a few hours until the funeral and she couldn’t think of a better way to spend it. Once she got to her kitchen, she lost herself in the preparation of the ingredients and the canning process.
Hours later, Hadley swiped her hands across her apron, smiling at the jars of asparagus cooling on the rack. They’d be perfect for Edith’s fundraiser.
Pickled Asparagus Needles, she’d labeled them. Perfect for any bitter knitter.
Once she’d cleaned up her workspace, Hadley packed up and set out on her bike for home. She only got a few pedal-strokes down Main Street, however, before she passed by Suze’s studio.
Like Hadley’s kitchen, Suze’s space had huge front windows that gave shoppers a glimpse of both her finished art displays and her workspace. And Hadley couldn’t help but pass those windows without checking in on her friend. If Suze was working, she wouldn’t bother her, knowing that an artistic muse was a fickle one, and she got grumpy when she was interrupted while she was in the zone.
Today, however, the muse seemed to be the woman of the hour herself. Hadley stood under her lime-green-and-white awning and watched as Suze swiped at a few finishing strokes of a beautiful, large portrait of Edith Butler. Her friend had an amazing way of taking her paintings to a particularly abstract level, yet still maintaining the spirit of the subject. And the portrait she was staring at was Edith through and through.
Even though Hadley hadn’t made a sound, Suze glanced back. It was as if she’d felt Hadley’s intense gaze burning through her back. Her eyebrows creased tight and she motioned to the door with a tip of her head.
Hadley met Suze at the entrance, flipping the lock but leaving the “Art happening. Please come back later” sign in place.
“What’s up?” she asked, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand and spreading a streak of indigo across her skin.
“Guess I wasn’t the only one who needed to get lost in my work before this funeral.” Hadley smiled.
Suze nodded, letting her inside. “What you were talking about—someone holding on to a grudge toward Edith—makes sense; it just felt overwhelming. I mean, there’s practically a whole town of suspects, then.”
The door shut behind them, and Hadley plopped herself down on the couch in the corner. “But remember, it still needs to be someone who was recently reminded of this problem, so it can’t be just anybody. I keep thinking back to Dirk. The man is just about the same age as Edith was, right?”
Suze nodded.
Hadley continued. “Which means he could easily still be our guy. If we are looking at a crime from the past, I doubt Robert’s got anything to do with that. He’s our age, so I doubt he hung around Edith when he was younger.”
Suze washed her hands. “Yeah. Well, if we’re going to learn anything new, we’d better get to this funeral.”
Hadley agreed. They left, splitting off to their respective houses to get ready. Hadley was sure, though, that she would never feel ready to say goodbye to Edith until she managed to bring her killer to justice.
23
Back at her house, Hadley smoothed the soft fabric of her trusty black dress. She frowned slightly as she plucked a few white hairs off the hem, then glanced back at the little black-and-white cat perched on her bed who watched her intently with his amber eyes.
“You been getting in my closet?” she asked, pointing accusingly at him, but erased any censure with a smirk.
Ansel only purred louder and blinked happily at her.
“I wish you could come with me to pay your respects to Edith.” Hadley walked over to him, holding her hand out. She ran her fingers over his sleek fur. “But she knew how much you loved her, didn’t she?”
He meowed in response.
Glancing back in the mirror, she tugged on a long curl and watched as it bounced up when she released it. She normally pulled her dark hair into a bun or ponytail, preferring the simplicity, but for special occasions, she’d break out her curling iron and put a little more effort into it. That, in addition to makeup above her normal chapstick and hastily applied mascara, and Hadley had to admit she didn’t look half bad.
With a goodbye pat on Ansel’s head, Hadley grabbed her purse and walked out the door.
Suze was picking her up, as Hadley wasn’t keen on riding her bike in a dress, and her shoes were too uncomfortable to walk the mile into town. She’d said she’d pick her up at five thirty, so Hadley traipsed outside and leaned on her fence at five fifty. Suze was late at the best of times, but when she was expected to wear anything other than paint-splattered overalls and a bandana covering her curly locks, Hadley knew the wait would be longer than normal.
As it was, Hadley knew she was still early, but she didn’t mind. Since the market ended, the sun had managed to break through the cloud cover, and it had warmed up considerably. She sighed, tipped her head back, and listened to the rush of the river. While she and Tyler had hoped to purchase a house right on the river, this one had come up for sale, and it had ticked all of their boxes but that one, so they’d conceded on that point. And even though she couldn’t see the river from her place, there weren’t many spots in Stoneybrook where the rushing current wasn’t audible on some level.
About five minutes later, Suze pulled up. Hadley spotted the portrait Suze had been working on earlier stuck sideways in the back seat.
The automatic window rolled down, and her friend gave a wolf whistle. “Climb in, hot stuff.”
Hadley chuckled as she followed directions. “You’re not too bad yourself, lady.”
Suze was wearing a black tank top and a flowing black skirt, but she looked put together and gorgeous. With her light brown hair, she could get away with doing smokier eye makeup than Hadley. Whenever Hadley put anything more than a light pink on her lids or lips, she felt like some sort of vampire princess with her almost-black hair.
Before putting the car in drive, Suze lifted up one foot, showing off her Birkenstock-clad foot.
“You can make the girl from the northwest dress up, but you can’t take away her Birks.”
Hadley laughed, having a very similar connection with her many pairs of the earthy sandals. She buckled herself in and Suze took off toward town.
The more spread-out houses of Hadley’s neighborhood began to clump closer and closer together as they neared Main Street. Hadley loved taking the last curve, where downtown came into view. The brick buildings all lined up looked cute as could be. Suze pulled into the church parking lot and nodded.
They followed a crowd of people walking in from the parking lot, waving and smiling at the other locals who’d come to pay their respects.
Paul nodded to them from across the room and they moved in his direction. He was speaking with a blond woman in her fifties who dabbed at her eyes with a mascara-spotted tissue.
“Hadley, Suze, this is Jennifer, Edith’s sister.” Paul motioned to the woman, adding, “Jennifer, my sister Hadley was the one who was taking care of Edith’s place… or, was supposed to.” He dropped his gaze, obviously a little embarrassed by his slip.
Jennifer stepped forward and clasped Hadley’s hand in hers. “Of course, Edie was telling me about you. How sweet you were to watch over her cat. I’m sorry I couldn’t take him.”
“Oh, he’s no trouble at all. Are you staying at Edith’s place while you’re in town?”
She shook her head. “I’m at the River Inn, but I will have to spend some time cleaning the house out and getting it ready to sell in the next few days.” Her lips twitched down. “I just can’t handle the cat fur for that long, not to mention the fact that I’d rather not be there at night, if you know what I mean.”
Hadley smiled. It was hard to think of Edith’s cheery little y
ellow house being anything but welcoming, but she understood Jennifer’s feelings, especially with the circumstances of Edith’s death.
“And what do we have here?” Jennifer asked, gesturing toward the portrait Suze clutched next to her.
“I thought we could put it up today,” Suze said, flipping around the painting so Jennifer and Paul could see it. “Do you have a place where you’re putting pictures of her?”
“That’s lovely.” Jennifer beamed. “Yes, there’s a picture table down in the basement for the reception after. Thank you.”
Suze nodded. “Edith was Stoneybrook through and through. She will be missed.”
Suze hadn’t said she would miss her, Hadley caught, but still applauded her friend for maintaining a respectful demeanor in front of Jennifer.
Jennifer’s nostrils flared slightly, and then she stifled a laugh.
Suze’s eyes went wide, and Hadley watched the woman to make sure she wasn’t having a mental breakdown or something.
“Oh, it’s okay, dear. I know you’re just being nice. She could be difficult. You don’t have to lie to me. She was my half-sister, actually, and twenty years older than me, so we had an interesting relationship. But I loved her, and you’re right, she will be missed by a few special people.”
Before Suze could even close her mouth from the shock, the knitting group pulled Jennifer away from them to go talk to someone else. She waved and said they’d catch up later.
“She seems nice,” Hadley said, unsure how to fill the odd silence.
Paul said, “She’s having a harder time than she’s letting on, I think.”
The women agreed, and they took their seats as Kenny Harkin began playing the piano, signaling the beginning of the service.
At the last moment, just as Louise led Jennifer toward the front row and they had a seat, someone slipped into the empty chair to Hadley’s right. Even dressed up in a dark-gray suit, the man still managed to smell like earth and fresh air. She leaned over to Luke as Pastor Grant took her place at the podium.
“Cutting it a little close there, Fenton,” Hadley whispered out the corner of her mouth.
He leaned close before whispering, “Saving the best till last.”
When she glanced up at him, he winked, making her unsure if she wanted to laugh at his antics or groan at his arrogance. She did have to admit he looked handsome. His sandy-blond hair was combed back out of his face, and he’d shaved the couple weeks’ worth of stubble he’d been sporting since he got back into town. Hadley bit back a smile as she noticed a small piece of tissue paper still clinging to a nick on his jawline.
Plucking it off, she said, “Or some people just take a lot longer to primp.”
He chuckled and rubbed the spot with the back of his hand. Bumping her with his shoulder, he whispered, “Shhh, you’re distracting me and I don’t want Pastor Grant getting mad at me. She still hasn’t forgiven me for backing into her mailbox… those five times.” Facing forward, he schooled his features into a focused scowl.
Kenny stopped playing the piano and once everyone was silent, Pastor Grant smiled and said, “Welcome, friends. Forgiveness is such an important word.”
Hadley and Luke turned to look at each other. Either the pastor had heard them or the woman could read minds. Hadley giggled quietly, and Luke pressed his lips together to stifle his own laugh.
Suze elbowed her, frowning as Hadley turned to face her. “You two are acting like silly teenagers over there.”
Paul leaned forward and shook his head at them, dark eyebrows furrowed in forced disappointment.
Luke cleared his throat and focused on the pastor, as did Hadley. She moved her leg to bump into his, signaling to him that she didn’t want to get in trouble again as the pastor started in on her sermon.
It was, as promised, all about forgiveness. Hadley thought she did a very good job highlighting the fact that Edith hadn’t gotten along with everyone, while focusing on the fact that they still wanted to honor her memory and celebrate her life. A few people got up to speak, saying kind things about Edith’s role as a local business owner and her charity efforts when it came to organizing knit-a-thons for newborn hats and afghans for the Grande County Hospital up in Cascade Ridge.
Hadley made sure to watch for anyone who seemed disgruntled or mad, but it was hard to tell with a view of the backs of people’s heads, and she felt rude constantly turning to look behind her. She would have to wait until the reception.
Once Pastor Grant dismissed everyone, they went down to the church basement for the reception. Even with just about the whole town in attendance, there was still room to move around and for Hadley to stand back and observe. People from Stoneybrook often joked that if there were ever a natural disaster such as an earthquake, they could all fit into one building and live together in harmony.
And while Hadley couldn’t argue with the size of her town, she had begun to wonder about the harmony part. Harmonious towns didn’t have people who went around murdering old ladies… or anyone, for that matter.
Hadley leaned her back into the church basement wall and sighed. She wasn’t used to viewing her friends, the people she’d grown up with and around, in such a distrustful and scrutinizing way.
Spotting Jennifer across the room by a table of pictures of Edith, Hadley sucked in a short breath. Maybe what she needed was an outsider’s perspective. She headed for Jennifer, determination pushing back her shoulders as she walked.
And if not an outsider, at least someone who knew Edith when she was younger and might know of any long-held grudges against her.
24
Jennifer was staring down at a picture of her sister on her wedding day. Edith looked gorgeous. She’d always been a pretty lady, with bright eyes and a large smile. But it seemed as she grew older that light had faded slightly, and she showed fewer and fewer people her smile.
“She’s back with Henry, finally,” Jennifer said as Hadley sidled up next to her.
In the picture, Edith’s late husband, Henry, stood next to her. His handsome face was just about split in half by the huge smile he wore. Hadley remembered when he’d passed away while she was in high school. Edith had been almost inconsolable.
In fact, that had been when Edith had turned so sour, when her anger took over. It had been the beginning of the passive-aggressive notes, the picking of fights with other business owners, and the retreating into her knitting shop.
“They sure were a perfect couple, weren’t they?” Hadley said.
She hadn’t ever thought about it through her self-centered, youthful lens, but the Butlers were a beautiful, happy couple who really seemed to understand what it meant to be soul mates. Thinking of the past brought to mind the very reason she’d sought Jennifer out. Before she lost her nerve, she decided to just go ahead and ask.
“Jennifer, I know this is probably a painful subject, but you mentioned to the police that Edith had been eager to come for a visit because something from her past was bothering her. Do you have any idea what that was?”
Frowning, Jennifer shook her head. “Like I told your brother, she was vague on the phone.”
“And there’s nothing you remember from back when you were growing up? No one that would’ve held a grudge this long?”
“Well…” She pulled in a deep breath. “There were decades between us, and Edith had graduated from high school before our parents got together and had me. So we didn’t share everything like you would think. We actually didn’t grow close until we were much older.”
Hadley sighed, resigned to the fact that Edith had taken some secrets to the grave with her.
But then Jennifer said, “When Henry passed all of those years ago, however, I do remember her talking about something…” The woman pursed her lips as she seemed to be locating the memory in her brain. “She mentioned how she and Henry had gotten together amid a bit of scandal, that it had been a bit of a triangle situation.” Jennifer squinted. “I’m not sure if I’m remembering that co
rrectly.”
“That could be something.” Hadley straightened at the tip. “An affair would definitely be something for a person to hold on to this long.”
Jennifer giggled a little. “Oh, dear. We’re not talking about an affair at all. They were much too young for that. Didn’t you know they were high school sweethearts?” She picked up the old Stoneybrook High yearbook sitting on the table next to the guestbook and flipped through it until she landed on a picture of Henry and Edith standing with crowns on their heads, big grins on their faces.
Hadley smiled. “I didn’t…” She wanted to say more, but felt sort of mesmerized by the photo of a young Edith and Henry.
A chill danced down her spine. At home, in a newer, but still aged Stoneybrook High yearbook, she had an almost identical picture of her and Tyler. High school sweethearts, homecoming king and queen. Alike in so many ways, but different in so many that mattered.
Edith and Henry had met the “Until death do us part” part of their vows.
“Hadley, is everything okay?” Jennifer placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned forward to meet her eyes.
She hadn’t realized it, but her face had pulled into a tight frown, and a tear had slipped down her cheek as she’d been staring at the photo. Relaxing her face and swiping away the tear, Hadley said, “I’m so sorry, I’ve—it’s just been a rough couple of months.”
Jennifer tipped her head to one side. “Would you like to talk about it, hon?”
Hadley exhaled a small, sad laugh. Of course she wanted to talk about it. She wanted to spend all day talking through her feelings about Tyler and what he’d done and the doubts running through her head about what she’d done to contribute to the problem. And at the same time, she wanted to shove all of those feelings inside and never think about them again, pretend they didn’t exist and that her life was all smiles, and sugar, and jam, and laughs.
“I—I don’t know how…” She blinked over at Jennifer. The woman was still watching her, kindness evident in her soft eyes as she waited. Hadley sucked in a deep breath. “Actually, yeah, I kind of do.”