Hannah was going to go ballistic when she found out Annie was a maid. “She’s saving for college. The girl must be smart; she was accepted at Stanford.”
“So why isn’t she there right now? Is it the money? They have student loans and such.”
“She wants to pay her own way.”
Hannah bit her lip. “How is she going to afford it on her own? What does she do?” She frowned, then added, “Don’t tell me, she’s an exotic dancer.”
“No, she cleans houses,” I said simply.
“She’s a maid? That’s even worse.”
“Really? Would you mind explaining that to me, because I don’t see it. Not that I have anything against either occupation, but I find your stand interesting.”
“Don’t be difficult. You know what I mean.”
I wasn’t about to let her off the hook that easily. “Actually, I don’t. She’s working hard at an honest profession making people’s lives a little easier, and earning more than I do while she’s at it, by the way. What’s the problem?”
When Hannah didn’t answer, I lowered my voice and said, “I couldn’t love you more if you were my sister, but sometimes you drive me absolutely insane. Your son has just met a nice girl with a solid work ethic and a goal in life. She’s smart and driven, and if you must know, she wasn’t at all sure about dating David because she didn’t want to lose her focus. I’m just curious. Has there been a woman born who would get your approval?”
Hannah looked as though she wanted to cry. “Oh, no, am I really that bad?”
I patted her hand. “You love your son, and you want the best for him. I understand that. But you’ve got to let him go.”
She stared at her coffee, and I thought I might have gone too far. But it needed to be said, and Hannah needed to hear it. “Is she really nice?”
“From what I’ve seen, I’d have been delighted if one of my sons had brought her home.”
“Then I’ll give her a chance.”
I grinned at her. “I’m not sure you’ll have much choice. David’s pretty smitten.”
She smiled. “He was so happy this evening, he was walking on air. I miss having that feeling myself.”
“It’s not too late for you, too, you know,” I said. “You should try dating again.”
“I’m a magnet for disastrous choices, and you know it.”
“I admit you’ve met a few duds since I’ve known you.”
She laughed, which was a good sign. “A few? That’s being generous, and you know it.”
“So the odds are with you to meet someone great,” I said. “You’ll never know if you don’t try.”
“Now who’s speaking in platitudes?” she asked.
“Guilty as charged,” I said.
A voice behind me said, “You’re out late, aren’t you?”
I didn’t even have to turn around to see that it was Sheriff Hodges. “I didn’t know you were keeping track of my movements.”
“Well, now you know.”
“You can’t be serious,” I said as I stood to face him. My voice was hard and loud, but I didn’t care who heard me. “I’m innocent.”
“So you say.”
“Is that why you’re here, to harass me?”
He laughed without humor. “I’m here to tell you to leave my wife alone.”
“You can’t make me,” I said, reverting to a childhood retort.
“Don’t bet on it.” He paid for his coffee and left.
Hannah said softly, “That man’s not particularly fond of you, is he?”
“I don’t know. I think he is deep down inside, but he’s just hiding it.”
“If he’s that good, then he should hide the eggs at Easter for the kids.”
I saw Hannah’s concerned expression. “Don’t worry about the sheriff. He’s more bark than bite.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that.”
Our coffees were gone, and I asked Hannah, “Would you like another one? It’s my treat this time.”
“Thanks, but I’d better run. I’m still wading through those essays.”
“Okay, then we’ll meet again tomorrow morning. I just have to grab a bowl of soup and then I’ll be ready to go.”
“I thought you already ate,” she said.
“This is for Kendra. Herman told me she was under the weather.”
“Well, aren’t you a sweetheart?”
“I like to think so,” I said. I could have told her my real motivation, but why not let her think I had the heart of a saint?
Hannah nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. And Carolyn, thanks for the talk. I know it’s not easy telling someone the truth.”
“If I can’t be brutally honest with you, who can?”
Outside, we split up, and I carried the soup back to Kendra’s place.
I knocked on the front door, but Kendra didn’t answer. “Kendra? Can I come in?” Was she asleep? I had this soup, and even if I couldn’t talk to her, the least I could do was leave it for her to eat when she woke up. I tried the door, and it opened at my touch. A light was on in the hallway, so there was enough illumination for me to see my way into the kitchen. As I put the soup on the counter, I saw something that made my heart freeze.
It was an awl from my pottery shop—its handle stained with clay slip—nearly identical to the one that had killed Betty Wickline. It was hard to believe, but it looked like Kendra Williams had killed Betty. Why else would she have a duplicate of the murder weapon in her kitchen? The shaft had been wiped clean, but a trace of dark red still stained it, and the dish towel nearby was tainted as well. It looked like blood to me. So who had Kendra used this one on?
I started for the front door, but then I heard something from the bedroom. For a second I considered going back there, but then common sense slapped me in the face. Let the sheriff deal with Kendra. I was getting out of there.
That’s when a hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Where are you going, Carolyn?”
“Herman? Keep your voice down. I don’t want Kendra to hear us. What are you still doing here?”
“I haven’t been here the whole time,” he admitted as he peered out the window. “Where is he?”
“Who are you talking about?”
“The sheriff,” he said as he continued to look outside. There was something different about him, and I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I didn’t like the tone of his voice.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” I said. “It’s dangerous.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Kendra. I think she killed Betty.”
A look of relief spread over his face, followed by a burst of amusement. “Is that what you think?”
“I know it,” I lied. Herman’s expression had given him away. I’d narrowed the killer down to one of two people—which wasn’t bad considering how many suspects I’d started out with—and now I realized how close I’d come to the truth.
Herman realized it, too. In a blur of motion he made a lightning grab for the awl, and before I could get out the door, he had the sharp, skewered tip at my throat.
“I gave you way too much credit,” he said. “I thought you had it figured out when I saw you talking to the sheriff at the coffee shop.”
“You followed me there?”
“I’ve been tailing you for days. When Bill was watching you from the shadows, I was watching both of you. You made it too easy.”
“But why focus on me?” My mind was racing, searching for something I could use as a weapon. I had the diamond-shaped clay in my pocket, but could I use the sharp edge in my defense? Not while I had an awl at my throat. But if he let up for even a second, I might have a chance. It was my only hope.
“I had a suspicion you knew I was using your shop for my trysts with Betty. I couldn’t take any chances. We only used it twice, but I know how nosy you are, and I was afraid you’d figure it out.” He frowned. “It killed me to throw a brick through my own window, but I had to throw you off my t
rail.”
“Why didn’t you use your own place?”
“You saw where I’ve been living. Not even Betty was willing to meet me there, and she rarely let me come to her place. You had a couch, and I had a key. It was that simple.”
“Why did you have to hide your relationship in the first place?”
Herman’s ears grew red. “She wasn’t all that keen on being seen with me. Can you believe that?”
“Is that why you killed her?” I had to stall, but I was running out of questions. Where was that blasted sheriff when I needed him?
He shrugged. “It was sort of an accident. Things got a little out of hand when she dumped me. I tried to talk her out of kicking me to the curb, but she’d already made up her mind.”
I couldn’t believe he was actually justifying the murder. It was time to change the subject. I didn’t want him thinking about homicide at the moment. “So you left the note for her. I found it at her place.”
Herman nodded. “I was counting on it turning up, but I didn’t expect you’d be the one to find it. I threw the note on the floor after I came across it. It’s not like it had my name on it, and I was hoping it might keep the sheriff’s suspicion off me. I tore up the whole house searching for something I knew Betty had, but it wasn’t the note I was after. Some idiot started rattling the front doorknob, and I had to get out of there before I was able to find what I was really looking for.”
“So, did she get her extra money from you?” I had to keep drawing him out.
“Are you out of your mind? It was going to be the other way around. I wanted to cut myself in on some of her action.”
“I don’t get it.”
Herman shook his head. “The evidence she was using as leverage was what I was really searching for when I was there.”
“Leverage? For what?”
He grinned. “Betty liked to spice up her life with a touch of blackmail. I found out when I was going through her closet one night while she was asleep. She caught me—that’s why we didn’t go to her place anymore. She said she didn’t trust me. Can you believe that? There was enough for both of us, but she wouldn’t share. As a matter of fact, that’s probably the real reason she broke up with me.”
“You never loved her at all, did you?”
“Does it matter? We were convenient for each other, that’s about it. But that didn’t mean she could just throw me away like that. She had to pay for what she did. You know what’s funny? When I came back to look for her evidence, somebody else must have beaten me to it. It was already gone.” He glanced out the window again, then said, “That’s enough chatter. It’s time to get this over with.”
“Aren’t you afraid Kendra is going to hear us?”
“I already took care of her. I had a devil of time getting the awl clean again.”
“Why did you have to kill her?” I couldn’t believe that she was dead.
“Apparently she’s a lot smarter than you are. She figured it out on her own, and she threatened to go to the police. I didn’t have any choice, so I had to get rid of her.”
“Too bad you botched the job.” Kendra stood in the bedroom doorway. The front of her muumuu was heavily stained with blood. Yet somehow she found the strength to throw an ashtray toward us. Herman spun around, pointing the awl toward Kendra. It was the opening I’d been waiting for. I took the diamond-shaped piece of pottery out of my pocket and jabbed it as hard as I could into the back of his neck. It wasn’t enough to do serious damage, but it must have hurt like the devil. Herman started clawing for it, but he couldn’t reach it. While he was busy trying to extricate it, I picked up the nearest chair and brought it crashing down on his head.
As he slumped to the ground, Kendra said, “I wish you hadn’t done that.”
“I shouldn’t have hit him?” Had she lost her mind?
“Not with that. It was the only genuine antique I had in here.”
And then she fell face forward, landing squarely on top of the murderer.
I wasn’t sure who was angrier with me, Bill or the sheriff. They were both yelling at me at the police station; finally, I’d had enough. “Stop it, you two. I keep telling you, I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Bill said, “You don’t call going to Kendra’s by yourself the wrong thing to do?”
“I was taking her soup,” I said. There was no way I was going to admit to either one of them that I’d suspected her of murder. “How is she, by the way?”
Hodges said, “Her size worked in her favor. Herman didn’t hit anything vital, but she probably would have bled to death if you hadn’t come along when you did.” He turned to Bill and asked, “Can I have a second alone with your wife?”
Bill looked at me, and I nodded. After Bill was gone, the sheriff said, “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”
“About anything in particular, or just in general?”
“You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?”
“Not if I can help it. You haven’t exactly been making my life rosy lately.” I was a little jittery from the confrontation with Herman, but I was finally starting to wrap my head around the concept that my landlord was a murderer. How could I stay where I was? Fire at Will was home, and I hated to move. One thing I knew for sure. No matter what happened, I was getting a new couch.
“Yeah, well, that’s why I’m sorry.”
Bill knocked on the door before I could answer. “Are you two about finished up in there?”
“Just a second,” I said, then turned to the sheriff. “And I’m sorry for not trusting you more than I did.”
“Can’t say I blame you,” he said. “Let’s just call it a truce, okay?”
“I can live with that.”
There was a pounding on the door, then my husband called out, “Carolyn, are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Bill. For goodness sake, if I knew you were going to be such a baby about it, I would have let you stay.”
“I was just worried about you,” he said as I let him back in.
I kissed him soundly, then said, “That’s why I keep you around. Let’s go home.” I turned to the sheriff and asked, “Is that okay with you?”
“Sure,” he said. “And Carolyn, try to stay out of trouble, will you?”
“I’ll do my best, but I can’t make any promises. Trouble seems to find me wherever I go.”
“Then it’ll have to look at home,” Bill said, “because that’s where we’re going right now.”
The only thing worse than having Kendra suspect me of being a murderer was Kendra thinking I’d saved her life. No matter how many times I tried to tell her that we’d saved each other, she steadfastly refused to believe it.
It was almost enough to make me think about committing a little murder myself.
I couldn’t have been more surprised when the Firing Squad threw me a party the next night at Fire at Will. There was food everywhere, and the best part was, the place was starting to feel like home again now that the murder tainting the place had been solved.
“Tell us how you figured it out again,” Sandy asked.
“It all happened so quickly,” I said. I wasn’t about to tell them how long it had taken me to make the connection between my former landlord and the murder.
Martha asked, “What was the blackmailing all about? Did you ever find out what Betty knew?”
I looked at Butch and waited for him to answer, but he met my gaze with a shrug. When I realized he wasn’t going to say anything, I said, “I guess we’ll never know.” Once again, I wondered just how reformed Butch really was. On the other hand, did I really want to know?
“All that really matters is that you’re safe,” Jenna said.
“And that we’ve put this all behind us,” I replied. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m fine, honestly I am.”
David said, “If that’s the case, why don’t we do something new, since we’re all here? Does anyone have any ideas?”
“I’d like to l
earn how to make that face jug you did,” Butch said, ready to pounce on anything that dropped the current line of conversation.
David looked at me and grinned. “What do you say? It’s your shop.”
I glanced at the Firing Squad—my circle of true friends—and realized that there was nothing in the world that I’d like more.
Clay-crafting Tips
Making Carolyn’s Wind Ornaments
Carolyn’s wind ornaments are easy to create yourself and add a nice touch of whimsy to any tree branch. They also make great additions for the wrapping of any gift, giving a real splash of class to packages wherever you use them. I like to make my own personalized wind ornaments every year to use at home and to give as simple, inexpensive gifts.
You don’t need a potter’s kiln, or any other special equipment, to make these ornaments. Polymer clay—the Sculpey brand for example—will do wonderfully. This clay is readily available at craft stores everywhere and comes in a variety of colors so you don’t have to paint the finished product. When the clay is baked in your oven, it becomes rock hard. You can use your own cookie cutters on the material, and they yield beautiful results.
Knead the polymer clay and roll it out to a quarter of an inch thick. Then take your favorite cookie cutters and simply cut out the shapes you like. I prefer using heavy plastic cutters when I do this, since they hold their shape and don’t deflect under the pressure. Cutters come in many different sizes and shapes, and they’re inexpensive, too.
I also like to add textures to some of my shapes and leave others unadorned. Round ornaments are especially nice to embellish. Adding layers of wavy lines and colorful stars helps create variety. Using different colors of clay will give your ornaments even more life and dimension.
After you’re happy with your designs, simply punch a hole in one corner of the ornament and bake them in your main oven, or a toaster oven if you’d prefer. Once the ornaments bake and cool, they’re hard and ready to use.
If you’re making the ornaments with regular potter’s clay and a kiln, follow the steps above with regular clay, then bisque-fire the ornaments after you’ve rolled them out and cut the shapes. After that, paint or glaze your pieces however you’d like. When you’re finished with the second firing, you have something special—handcrafted, inexpensive, and easy to create ornaments. Most importantly, they’re ready to share!
A Murderous Glaze Page 19