Invitation to Murder (Book 1 in the Candlemaking Mysteries)

by Tim Myers

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” He gestured to the table and I saw my disguise still sitting there. Okay, that was a boneheaded mistake, but I was new at all this subterfuge stuff. “Thanks,” I said as I snugged the wig in place and belted the jacket up. Once we were outside, I felt really conspicuous in my Halloween outfit, but Bradford was right. If the killer was watching the house, I didn’t want her to know that I was snooping around. I wondered if she realized she’d lost that earring yet. When she did, I had a feeling that there was going to be another break-in at that house. “Bradford, shouldn’t you assign somebody to watch the house in case she comes back?” I explained my reasoning to him. “I wish I could afford to do it, but I’m shorthanded as it is, and there’s no way I’ve got the manpower to do any surveillance.”

  “You could always ask the state police for help,” I said.

  “Tell you what, why don’t you let me handle that end of it, okay? You don’t want to lose that dollar, do you?”

  I covered my pocket with my hand. “You’ll have to arrest me to get it back. I think it’s the first buck you n ever gave me in your life.”

  “I didn’t give you anything; you earned it.” As he held the door to the squad car open for me, he said, “Now let’s see what you can turn up at the Mast house.”

  We were halfway there when the radio in Bradford’s cruiser squawked. “Chief, are you out there?”

  “Right here, Jody. What’s up?”

  “There’s a wreck on Third and Milton. The caller was pretty hysterical. It sounds like there might be a fatality or two.”

  “I’m on my way,” he said as he pulled over to the curb. “Sorry, Jen, but the Mast house is going to have to wait. I don’t know how long I’ll be, so we’ll check out Tina’s house another time.”

  “Her parents are coming back tomorrow, right?”

  “First thing in the morning. Listen, I don’t have time to debate this. Hop out.”

  As I jumped out of the car, I said, “Come by my apartment as soon as you’re finished. We need to look around before her parents get home.”

  “We’ll see,” Bradford said as he sped away. I knew he had to respond to the accident, but it was frustrating not being able to go to Tina’s and see what I could find there. Maybe I could drive over and check it out myself. I didn’t have a key, but neither did Bradford. I was willing to bet one of the neighbors did, though, and with my new official status, it shouldn’t be too tough getting them to let me in. Okay, maybe I was reaching, but it was still worth a shot.

  I was about half a mile from my car, and as I walked down the road I was suddenly very glad I’d decided against the high heels I’d planned for my disguise. The shoulder, what there was of it, was filled with debris and castoffs that tend to collect at the side of large roads everywhere. It was dark out, and though a few cars passed right by me, no one offered to give me a ride. To my surprise, I saw Sara Lynn’s car approach, and before I could stop myself, I started to wave her down. She raced past me like she owed me money, and only then did I remember that I still had on my disguise. I must have done a pretty good job at that if my own sister couldn’t recognize me.

  A few minutes later, a convertible with four teenage boys drove by—hooting and whistling at me as they passed—but I didn’t let it go to my head. They were out doing some young-male bonding, no doubt on a hormone rage that would have spurred them on to give my aunt Lillian the same reaction. I’d dismissed them from my thoughts when I saw a car coming back from the other direction, and wondered if they were looking for a little more sport than just harassing me from the road. I watched as the car approached, but I was relieved to see that it was a different make. That was about all I could say for sure, since I’ve never been someone who cared about the difference between a Chrysler and a Chevrolet, if there was one. I’d always driven cars with character, like my sweet little Gremlin.

  I was still watching the headlights when I saw the driver suddenly jerk the wheel and send the car careening right at me. I couldn’t tell if the driver was on a cell phone or reaching for a dropped doughnut, but I was about to get run over if I didn’t do something fast. I jumped off the road into a tangle of briars, and the car still barely missed me as it raced past. As I pulled myself out of the brush, I looked down the road to see if the driver was at least going to come back to see if I was all right. The car just kept going, though. He probably didn’t even realize he nearly killed me. Except for a few scrapes on one hand and a scratch on my right cheek, I was no worse for the k encounter, though my legs did shake a bit as I started walking again. I was a fair distance from the Gremlin when a car’s headlights picked me up and the vehicle slowed down. Oh, no, whoever had run me off the road was coming back to take another stab at it. Without waiting this time, I jumped off the pavement to b get clear when I heard a voice I knew. “Where are you going, Girl? Have you lost your mind?”

  With a sigh of relief, I turned back toward the car and greeted my aunt Lillian.

  “What happened to your big investigation?”

  “Bradford had to answer an emergency call,” I said, not wanting to go into too many details, “So you decided to keep the disguise on and go for a midnight stroll along the highway? I would have spotted that coat anywhere. There’s not another one like it in all of Virginia.”

  For good reason, I thought, but kept it to myself, “Thanks for giving me a ride. Bradford had to drop me off kind of fast.”

  She snorted once. “That figures. Would it have killed your brother to at least drive you back to your car?”

  “There was an accident out on the highway, Lillian. They needed him out there.”

  Lillian caught a glimpse of my face. “What happened to you? You look like you just wrestled an. alligator and lost.”

  I explained about being forced to jump off the road to keep from being hit.

  Lillian paused, then asked, “Jennifer, how can you be so sure it was an accident?”

  “What, you think someone just felt like committing a little homicide and chose me?”

  “Remember why you’re wearing my outfit? You wanted to disguise yourself. Well, have you considered the possibility that you failed, and that the killer was trying to tie up one more loose end?”

  The idea chilled me to my soul. “I liked it a lot better when it was just a random act of violence.”

  “No one wants to be targeted, my dear. You really should take some precautions.”

  Before she could say another word, I snapped, “If you invite me to stay with you tonight, I swear, I’ll get out of the car this instant and take my chances with another drive-by.”

  Lillian looked absolutely startled as she pulled in behind my Gremlin. “Honestly, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just trying to help.”

  I seemed to be alienating everyone who loved me. I put a hand on hers and said, “Listen, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have overreacted. It’s just that no one thinks I can take care of myself, and it’s starting to get to me.

  “Jennifer, my dear, we all realize you’re quite capable of dealing with adulthood, but none of us want to see you in danger. You’re our family, and we love you.”

  “I love you, too,” I said.

  “We’ve discussed everything but what I’m dying to know. Did you have a chance to go to the crime scene?”

  I thought about refusing to answer, since Bradford had gone out on a limb to get me into the murder scene, but I knew my aunt well enough to know that she wasn’t about to be thwarted, so I took the path that was easiest. “I found an earring on the scene that I had to be the killer’s.”

  “So it was the woman from the phone after all.”

  “It looks more and more like it. There were pieces of a battered telephone there, and I don’t even want to talk about the blood.” It was odd, but the scene I’d explored hadn’t bothered me nearly as much when it’d been there as the memory was doing at the moment. Somehow it was just sinking in that a young woman had lost her life rig
ht where I’d stood. Hearing it on the telephone was bad enough; seeing it was pretty horrible, too; but putting the two together was beginning to scare the wits out of me. Maybe I should I stop being so pigheaded and take one of my relatives up on their offer to relocate for a while. But if I did that, I was admitting that I couldn’t handle the situation on my own, and I wasn’t about to concede anything like that.

  Lillian patted my shoulder. “It must have been difficult seeing it like that.”

  “It wasn’t a treat, but I’ll manage,” I said.

  “If you don’t mind my asking, where are you off to now? I trust you’re going home.” I had a decision to make, and I didn’t hesitate for second. “Actually, I’m going over to Tina Mast’s house to see if I can learn anything about the girl from her room.”

  “That sounds like a solid plan. I don’t suppose you have a key, do you?”

  “No,” I said, “I planned to wing it once I got there.”

  Lillian laughed. “I just love a little breaking and entering. Count me in.”

  “Who said you were invited?” I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to put my aunt in jeopardy. After all, I’d been drawn into it when Tina had dialed my number by mistake, but it wasn’t fair to put Lillian’s life in danger just because I wanted some company.

  Lillian said, “My dear, try to stop me. My life has been so stale lately. Thank you for livening it up.”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t get too lively,” I said. Leaving my car behind, Lillian pulled out and started driving toward the outskirts of town. “How do you know where she lived?” I asked.

  “Child, I had a feeling you’d be going there next, so I looked the address up in the phone book. We make quite a team, wouldn’t you agree?”

  All I could do was laugh. My aunt was many things, but predictable wasn’t one of them.

  I was excited about the prospects of searching Tina’s room, but as we approached her house, I saw a patrol car sitting in the driveway. Wayne Davidson, one of my brother’s deputies, was leaning against the side of his squad car as we parked behind it. Before we could even get out, he approached us. “Nice night for a drive, isn’t it?”

  “Let me guess. Your boss sent you over here to keep us out of the house.”

  He smiled and took the toothpick out of his mouth. “Don’t think you know everything about the sheriff just because he’s your brother. As a matter of fact, he had me get a key from the neighbor so you could look around.” He gestured to my aunt. “Bradford didn’t say anything about her, though.”

  “We come as a package deal, young man,” Lillian said.

  “I still have to get his approval before I let you both inside.”

  As Wayne got into his patrol car to call Bradford, I said to my aunt, “He’ll never let you in; you know that, don’t you?”

  “Just because your brother and I don’t get along doesn’t mean he won’t do the right thing. He knows I could be of some help to you, and as sheriff he can’t afford to thwart me on this.”

  t I looked at her to see if she was kidding, but from the stern line of Lillian’s lips, I knew she believed every word of it. Personally, I didn’t see any possible way my brother was about to let her inside. In all honesty, I was kind of surprised he was letting me go in without him.

  Wayne came back a minute later and handed Lillian a dollar. “You can go in, too. He said Jennifer would know what the dollar meant. Only thing is, I have to be right with you both the entire time we’re inside, so you two have to stick together.”

  “Of course, Officer,” Lillian said, giving me a smug look as she did so. “Okay, you were right and I was wrong,” I said as I started toward the house.

  “Nonsense, I’ve just seen your brother’s sense of fairness at work more than you probably have.” We went into the Mast house—both wearing the gloves that Wayne had urged on us—and flipped on the lights as we walked through the place. I found Tina’s bedroom on the third try. Inside, there were posters of rock stars on the walls, beads where a closet door should have been and a lava lamp on the dresser. The walls and ceiling were painted midnight blue, and one wall sported a hand-drawn mural of a coconut tree, a setting sun, and a bird painted over the top of the window molding. The room looked like a cave even with the light on.

  Lillian asked, “What exactly are we looking for?”

  “Anything that doesn’t belong.”

  “Where should I start the list?” Lillian asked.

  I ignored her comment and looked at the open suitcase on the bed. Being careful not to disturb anything, I searched through Tina’s things with a feeling of violation. This poor girl had no idea she was going to die so soon, and here we were pawing through her belongings barely a day later. I couldn’t find anything that looked out of place, and Lillian wasn’t having much luck, either. I’d expected Wayne to search with us, but he spent most of his time just watching the two of us.

  “Could this mean anything?” Lillian asked as she held up a newspaper clipping.

  One side was from a tire ad, and the other was a listing of movie times for our duplex theater. “I’ll ask Bradford if she had a ticket stub on her when they found her,” I said. “Lillian, I’m stumped. If there’s anything important here, I don’t have a single idea what it could be.”

  “I confess I’m at a loss, too. Does that mean I have to give the dollar back?”

  I tried to smile, but there was too much sadness in that room. “I’d keep it. We tried, didn’t we?”

  She took my hands in hers. “Jennifer, we did our best, but we’re not trained at this sort of thing.”

  Wayne said, “It’s not as easy as it looks, is it?”

  I rolled my eyes. “And how would you know? All you’ve done is stand there.”

  His cheeks reddened, and I felt bad about the cab, but I hated failing at anything, especially this, since there was more at stake than bragging rights with my brother. “Let’s go, Lillian.”

  As we walked back to her car, my aunt said, “You were a little rough on him, weren’t you?”

  “I know, but blast it all, I was hoping to find something.”

  “Perhaps the movie ad will turn something up.”

  “Maybe.” I started to get in the passenger door of Lillian’s car, then knew what I had to do first. As Wayne was locking the front door of the house, I said, “Listen, I’m sorry about that crack. I’m just aggravated, but I had no right to take it out on you.” I was a master at apologizing; I’d had enough practice at it over the years.

  Wayne smiled briefly. “That’s okay. You did your best.”

  “Yeah, that’s what bothers me so much about it. I just hate it when my best isn’t good enough. Now I It have to call Bradford and tell him I couldn’t do it.”

  “If you’d like me to, I can tell him about the clipping. You know I’ll give you both credit for it, but it might be easier for you that way.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate that.”

  “Listen,” Wayne said softly, “you want to go get something to eat or something?”

  “Are you asking me out?” His cheeks immediately reddened. “It’s not a real date. You know, we could just grab a bite or something. Forget it. It was a lousy idea.”

  “The idea is fine; the timing’s just off.” He shrugged. “Yeah, that’s the story of my life.”

  I tried to ease the reaction. “It’s got nothing to do with you, and I’m flattered that you’d ask, really. But with the shop just opening up and everything involved with that, I don’t have much time for anything else. Is that okay with you?”

  “I don’t have much choice, do I?” he asked. Then, adding a slight smile, he said, “Don’t sweat it, Jennifer. It was just an idea.”

  When I got back to the car, Lillian asked, “What was that all about?”

  “You’re not going to believe this, but Wayne Davidson just asked me out.”

  “So when are you going?”

  “Lillian, I’ve got too many complications in my life wit
hout adding a man to them.”

  My aunt laughed dryly. “My dear, there’s always room for that particular complication.”

  By the time I was back home with my car parked in front of my apartment building, I began to wonder Lillian was right. I knew there was more to life than work, but did I really want to go out with one of my Brother’s deputies? I’d known Wayne casually for rears, and in all honesty, I wasn’t exactly attracted to him that way. It was hard for me to make the transition from a man who was a friend to someone who could be more. When I fell, and it had happened a few times in my life, it was usually for a man I didn’t already know, a mystery to be unveiled, not a guy I’d seen play junior varsity basketball or eat watermelon on my back porch with my older brother. No, Wayne was just going to have to go in the file of “Might Have Been but Never Would,” a folder that seemed to grow thicker with each year.

  There was a sound behind me of scuffling shoes as I approached my front door. It was all I could do not to run when I heard someone behind me say, “It’s okay, Jennifer. It’s just me.”

  “Why did you follow me home, Wayne? Wait, let me guess. It was my dear brother’s idea, wasn’t it?”

  “I won’t deny it or confirm it,” he said. “I’m just glad you’re home safe.” He lingered near me, and for the oddest reason, I thought he was about to try to kiss me. That was the last thing on earth I wanted him to do, and I knew in an instant that I’d made the right decision earlier about turning him down.

  “If that’s all, I need to get inside so I can feed my cats.”

  “Good night,” he said, showing no signs of moving on.

  I unbolted my door and rushed inside, suddenly glad to have a lock between us. As I turned around, Oggie stood there staring at me, and Nash ran and hid under the sofa. I couldn’t figure out what had gotten into my weird cats when I suddenly realized that I was still in disguise. As I pulled off the wig and tossed the coat on the sofa, I could swear Oggie nodded in approval.

  I wanted to tell someone about it, but there was no one I could call. I knew I’d done the right thing turning down Wayne’s invitation, but it still would have been nice to have someone there.