Final Sale (A Bittersweet-Hollow Mystery Book 1)

by Annie Irvin

  Violet snorted, “Gawkers. They act like they might catch sight of Grace’s ghost floating across the front yard. I should sic the cops on them.”

  “You should be nice and tell them there’s nothing to see here,” Lonnie insisted.

  “I’d rather meet them at the door with a meat cleaver in my hand,” Violet replied firmly, her hands on her hips. “This may surprise you but I’m not really all that nice.”

  Harper and Lonnie tried to refrain from laughing at Violet’s self-description.

  “We all love you, Violet,” Harper said, smiling. “We’ll see you later, Mom. Go have a nap now.”

  “Would you do me a favor, dear?” Olivia asked Harper. “I need some more yarn. I’m doing some knitting and need a few more skeins. Mona Potter has had her shop closed up since the murder but I hear she’ll be opening it again tomorrow. Could you stop by and pick up four skeins for me? Mona will know what I need. Just tell her it’s the peach color.”

  “Sure, Mom. And I’ll drop it off for you tomorrow.”

  The sisters hugged Olivia and Violet, and then headed out to Harper’s pickup.

  “I’ve been dying to tell you something, Lonnie,” Harper said, putting the Ford into gear and filling Lonnie in on her conversation with Ida Aldwinkle.

  “Sounds as though Grace was doing more than trying to return some Turnbuckle Hardware merchandise without a receipt,” Lonnie said.

  “That’s not all. Fred identified the couple he and Maggie saw out by the shed right before Grace was murdered. It was Roy and Glennis Turnbuckle.”

  “Shut the front door! Do you think Roy and Grace’s quarrel might have something to do with her murder?”

  “I don’t know what to think,” Harper replied. “That’s the problem. The more I think, the more I believe some people considered murdering Grace had to be their only solution.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Thursday morning Harper sniffed the aromas of fragrant potpourri and scented candles while looking through the bins of colorful yarns at Mona Potter’s Knit N Needle shop. It always felt snug and cozy inside the yarn shop and Harper soaked up the atmosphere while she waited for Mona to take care of the only other customer in the store.

  Finally free, Mona asked Harper, “Are you finding what you need?”

  “Mom asked me to pick up four more skeins of yarn. She said you would know the color. Peach.”

  Mona smiled. “Olivia fell in love with that particular shade. It’s right over here.”

  Harper followed Mona beyond the bins of yarn until they reached a far corner of the store. Puzzled as to why Mona led her past all the skeins, she started to question her when Mona whispered, “If I found out someone had a good motive to kill Grace, I should tell someone shouldn’t I?”

  Ah ha, Harper thought excitedly, so she does know something.

  “Yes, indeed, you definitely should tell someone. Did you find out something?”

  “I did, and it’s huge. But Wagner told me to mind my own business, and I don’t want to spread rumors around like Grace always did. Wagner even said he didn’t want to hear what I know, so I didn’t tell him. But I simply have to tell someone because I think it might be important.”

  “Well, go ahead, I’m listening,” Harper said.

  Mona cast a furtive look around, took a deep breath, and spoke hurriedly. “Grace came over to the house one evening a few days before she was killed. She could barely control herself, said she’d hit pay dirt, the mother load, a gusher. She finally calmed down enough to tell me what she was talking about.”

  Mona sighed and shook her head in disgust. “The woman was such a gossipmonger. Anyway, you know Grace helped out at the church. One of her little jobs there was picking up the money from the offering every week and depositing it at the bank. Well, that day she’d gone to the church office to pick up the deposit. When she arrived, Pastor Hart was sitting at his desk writing in a journal. A minute later, Joyce Holder, she’s the church pianist, walked by the office on her way to the sanctuary with her arms full of sheet music, some of which fell to the floor, and Pastor Hart hurried out of the office to help Joyce.”

  Harper hoped Grace hadn’t caught Joyce Holder and the pastor in an incriminating position. She waited for Mona to continue.

  “Grace got the deposit together and was about to leave the office when the pastor’s journal caught her eye. She said she couldn’t resist taking a peek. She pulled a pair of reading glasses out of her purse and shoved them onto her face in order to get a clearer look. And that’s when she uncovered what she considered to be one of the biggest scandals ever to hit Bittersweet Hollow.”

  Harper could think of two other big scandals Grace had uncovered days before she died, but she wasn’t about to share them with Mona.

  “According to the notes in the journal, Rachel Turnbuckle had been getting counseling from Pastor Hart.”

  Lawrence Hart would be officiating at Rachel and Roger Strumsky’s wedding in a few weeks and pre-marital counseling was required. No big surprise there. Extremely plain and painfully shy, with a nervous personality to boot, the surprise to most people in town, including Harper, was Rachel’s accomplishment of getting any man to put a ring on her finger. In his fifties, Roger was as plain and unassuming as Rachel. Never married, he’d lived with his mother until her passing, and then relocated to Bittersweet Hollow where he accepted a position teaching at Bittersweet Hollow High. According to Rachel, he made a trip to the hardware store to purchase some paint for his new apartment, she mixed the color just right, and the rest was history.

  “Or historical,” Violet said privately to Harper and Olivia after Rachel announced her engagement.

  The nuptials were planned for late October. Harper cut in. “Rachel is getting married in a few weeks. Don’t engaged couples usually receive premarital counseling from their pastor?”

  “Usually, yes. But Rachel apparently sought a different kind of counsel. You see, when she was sixteen years old she learned the facts of life the hard way. She became completely infatuated with a street-smart carnie working the midway at the county fair. The romance ended when the fair did. Unfortunately for Rachel, the sexual encounters, few though they were, left her pregnant. Roy and Glennis tried unsuccessfully to track down the young man. Dr. Parker, Bittersweet Hollow’s only physician at the time, recommended a home for unwed mothers in an adjoining state. Rachel spent six months away, supposedly as an exchange student in Mexico, put the baby up for adoption, came back to town and finished high school.”

  “Oh,” was the only word Harper could muster at the moment.

  “Grace said Pastor Hart noted his encouragement for Rachel to confess her past indiscretion to Roger. However, Rachel was afraid she might lose her fiancé if she told him the truth, so she told Pastor Hart she had decided to keep her lips zipped. Apparently that was where the counseling ended.”

  “Goodness, if Rachel knew Grace had found out…”

  Mona pursed her lips and nodded. “True, but I haven’t told you the worst of it. Grace said she intended to go to Roy and Glennis, tell them she knew all about Rachel’s ‘sin,’ as she called it, and insist they tell Roger Strumsky or else she’d tell him!”

  And that must be just what Grace did, Harper thought to herself, convinced Ida Aldwinkle had witnessed the aftermath of Grace’s threat to Roy and Glennis. No wonder Roy had unceremoniously escorted Grace out of his store.

  “Roy sits on the Bittersweet Hollow Community Improvement Committee with Wagner and after the last meeting he told Wagner that he and Glennis were in the process of shelling out thousands of their hard earned dollars for the once-in-a-lifetime wedding of Rachel’s dreams. They pushed back their own longtime dream of retiring to Arizona in order to fund the wedding, and they deleted their savings and went into hock with a bank loan. But Roy told Wagner they would willingly give up more to finally walk Rachel down the aisle. So now you see, don’t you?” Mona asked Harper.

  “See what?”

&
nbsp; “That Roy had a perfectly good reason to want Grace dead.”

  Roy wasn’t alone, Harper thought grimly before asking Mona, “When did Grace go to Roy with her news?”

  “Last week.”

  So last week Grace uncovered two potential scandals in church and one at a cheap motel. She threatened Mickey and Summer with exposure within a week, and did the same to Roy and Glennis.

  And I’ll bet she gave Lawrence Hart and Fannie Abbott the same deal, Harper thought soberly. But Grace ended up dead before she had a chance to make good on her blackmail. Lawrence and Fannie, Mickey and Summer. They were in the running to have wanted Grace’s big mouth permanently shut before she had the chance to cruelly and completely destroy them. Ditto Roy and Glennis. As parents, they would not want to stand by and watch Grace callously ruin Rachel’s chance to finally live happily ever after. Lord, why did there have to be so damn many suspects for one lousy murder anyway?

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Hey, girlfriend,” a happy contralto voice sang out, pulling Harper, lost in thought, back to the here and now. Naylor had stood in the doorway of his store and watched Harper march down the street with her hands stuffed deep in the pockets of her jacket, a Knit N’ Needle bag tucked under one arm and her eyes directed at her feet. “Sugar, you look like you are contemplating the fate of the entire world this morning.”

  Harper glanced up at Naylor, taking in his dark gray merino sweater and the peony pink shirt he’d topped off with a black and white striped ascot.

  “Really, Harper, you look way too serious for a Thursday,” Naylor protested, holding open the door. “You want to do lunch or something and have a girl talk?”

  “That’s sweet of you, Naylor, but I have a lot to do this morning.”

  “Maybe some other time; what are friends for anyway?” he said.

  Naylor’s remark about lunch put an idea in Harper’s head. She would try to corner Lucy O’Connell on the woman’s lunch break.

  Harper didn’t consider Lucy a close friend but they were more than casual acquaintances mainly because Lucy had been a good customer of Our Earthly Remains over the years, purchasing several antique pieces and a number of collectibles from the shop.

  There were two questions Harper wanted to ask Mickey O’Connell’s wife—had Mickey remained with her throughout the entire Pumpkin Patch Festival, and did she notice Grace quarreling with anyone? She might even be able to pick up on whether or not Lucy knew Mickey was running around again.

  If she finds out he’s boinking her sister, it’s bound to put a strain on Thanksgiving dinner at the O’Connell house, Harper mumbled to herself.

  Usually a few of the clinic staff, including Lucy, gathered at Woody’s Burger Barn across the street from the clinic every day for lunch. Harper would go there at noon––she needed to eat anyway––and try to get a word or two with Lucy. She’d ask Lonnie to go with her. Then, when they ran into Lucy, it would seem like a casual encounter. She grabbed her cell phone and gave her sister a call. Lonnie agreed to meet her at twelve sharp.

  Woody’s was always packed at noon, partly because the place was small but mostly because the burgers were big. By five after twelve, Harper and Lonnie had lucked out and found an empty table in the crowded diner. While they waited for their baskets of burgers and fries, Harper recited Mona’s narrative of how Grace had tried to put the squeeze on Roy and Glennis.

  “Grace was one wicked old gal,” Lonnie said. “I can’t understand how she could possibly get pleasure out of hurting Rachel. I’m almost glad myself that someone shut her up before she could take away such an important occasion for the Turnbuckles. I hope Rachel never has to find out how close Roger came to hearing about her, umm, past predicament.”

  Lonnie took a swig of iced tea and followed Harper’s gaze to where Lucy stood just inside the door of the cafe.

  “What luck,” Harper hissed. “She’s alone.”

  Before Lucy had an opportunity to find an empty seat next to any of her co-workers, Harper scrambled across the room and flashed a big smile.

  Give Summer another ten years, add a bit of gray to her hair, and she’ll look just like Lucy does now, Harper figured. She wondered briefly if Mickey ever compared Summer’s big brown eyes, smattering of freckles, and dark brown hair to Lucy’s. Perhaps the likeness was part of the turn on for the big jerk. The thought gave Harper a sour taste in her mouth.

  “Hey, Lucy. How about joining Lonnie and me? I think we’ve got the only extra seat in here.”

  Looking somewhat surprised at the invitation, Lucy replied, “Oh, sure, thanks,” and followed Harper to the booth.

  “How’s Olivia handling all the notoriety out at the Inn?” Lucy asked as she gave her order to the waitress.

  “Mom’s worried about the Hoovers backing out of the deal on the Inn, thanks to the murder.”

  “Why? I’d heard things were pretty much cut and dried with the sale.” Lucy ordered a soda and a pulled pork sandwich and waited for Harper to answer.

  “Alice Hoover seems to think Grace Potter’s spirit haunts the Inn and believes her ghost isn’t about to leave until the killer gets nailed,” Harper said, a little embarrassed at mentioning Alice’s conviction in the supernatural.

  Lucy smiled. “Alice must be the sensitive type. Does she give those psychic readings?”

  Lonnie piped up. “I don’t think she does readings. Her thing seems to be feeling the vibes.”

  The waitress plunked Lucy’s order down in front of her and rushed off.

  “I’ve known Grace for years,” Lucy said. “That woman would give off bad vibes even if she hadn’t been murdered.”

  “You didn’t notice Grace quarreling with anyone on Sunday when you were at the festival, did you?” Harper asked while Lucy took a bite of her sandwich.

  “Hmmm, no. But I did see her around. You know how it is when you’re in a crowd. You see people but what they’re doing at the time doesn’t really register.” Lucy sipped her soda.

  “So if she’d been arguing with someone you wouldn’t have paid much attention to it?” Harper asked.

  “Afraid not, although I’m pretty certain I didn’t notice her arguing with anyone. It was late afternoon when Mickey and I got to the festival. We had our son, Jeff, with us for awhile. At his age he doesn’t want to hang with the parents,” Lucy chuckled. “Mickey and I milled around, bought a hotdog, chatted with friends. Typical things.”

  “I suppose Summer didn’t have much time to visit with you or Mickey?” Lonnie asked.

  Lucy frowned slightly, picking up her soda glass. “She seemed pretty busy whenever we were around her. She acted a little distant actually. Sometimes I just don’t understand where Summer is coming from. She’s been in her own little world lately.”

  “Kid sisters, right?” Harper shot a sideways glance at Lonnie. Lonnie wrinkled her nose at Harper.

  Lucy nodded in agreement and Harper felt Lucy had no clue Summer’s little world included cheap motels and a cheating husband.

  “Have the authorities got any leads on the murder?” Lucy asked.

  “They think they do. However, I’m not so sure they’re on the right track,” Harper said.

  While the women ate their lunch, Harper worked the conversation back to the Pumpkin Patch Festival.

  “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself Sunday,” Harper said, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “Did you and Mickey approve of Ezra’s bonfire finale?”

  “It was a fitting ending. I guess Mickey enjoyed it. He disappeared a little before, said he needed to visit one of those portable toilets, and I didn’t see him again until the fire had almost burned itself out. It was late enough by then that we needed to get Jeff home so we missed the whole murder thing. We heard about it the next morning.”

  Harper knew she should be subtle with her next question, but before she could stop herself she blurted out, “So you don’t have any idea what Mickey was up to around eight o’clock?”

  Lucy kept her eyes
on her plate, a blush creeping across her face. Harper thought for a moment that she wasn’t going to answer her question. But after clearing her throat, Lucy said, “No, I didn’t know where Mickey was for awhile. Are you playing detective, Harper? If you find out what my husband was up to, let me know, okay?”

  “I just thought Mickey might have been over by the Inn, maybe he saw something that could be important.”

  “You’d have to ask Mickey about that,” Lucy said, a touch of coolness in her voice. “Now I really need to get back to work. Thanks for the seat.”

  While Lucy made her way out of the café, Lonnie said, “She acted like you suspect Mickey was up to some hanky panky. I think you ticked her off.”