Silenced in Sequins

by Debra Sennefelder

  “Right. I should get back out to the sales floor. I’m here for a couple more hours, then I need to leave. Mom is watching Tori and has to leave to visit Grandpa at the nursing home.”

  “How is Tori feeling? Any better?”

  “Yeah. It’s one of those twenty-four-hour bugs. I think I’ll keep her home tomorrow, just to be safe.” Breena stood and left the staff room, and moments later, Kelly did the same. She headed upstairs to her apartment.

  Kelly padded into her bedroom with her shoulder-length blond hair gathered up in a twisty-towel and a bath towel tied around her. She’d spent more time under the spray of hot water than she expected, but it was well worth it because she felt warmer. She guessed that, having been chilled to her core, her body would take a while to thaw out. Waiting for her was Howard. He was stretched out on the bed. He lifted his head and made eye contact with her.

  When she’d first moved into the apartment, the cat made himself scarce. It’d taken weeks to coax him out with bribes, but eventually, he’d warmed up to her. Either he liked her or he realized she was his only chance at survival. After all, who else would feed him?

  She moved over to the bed and scratched his head, eliciting a purr. His contentment did a lot more to warm her than the shower had. Howard rolled to his side and licked a paw. So much for their bonding time. He was done with her—for the time being.

  She walked to her closet and opened the door. The closet was about the same size as the one she’d had when she lived in the city, and just like then, she had to use rolling garment racks for extra clothing storage. She hated the messy, unkempt, and nomadic look. After a few weeks of living in the one-bedroom apartment, she’d scoped out space where she could add a closet and not lose too much living square footage. Now she needed the money for her new project. With a bunch of other expenses ahead of a new closet, she accepted she’d be living with rolling garment racks galore.

  Her cell phone rang, and she dashed to the nightstand. When she lifted the phone, she saw Mark’s name. She hesitated a moment before accepting the call.

  “Hey.” She walked back to the closet.

  “Hey, yourself. I heard what happened. Are you okay?” His voice was thick with concern, and she suspected he’d drop whatever he was doing and come over if she asked him to. She wanted to, but she was a big girl and could weather the unfortunate incident on her own. Well, maybe a pint of chocolate chip ice cream would help.

  She couldn’t help but wonder if he was referring to finding Diana’s body or to talking with his sister. She figured it was the former. “Okay, I guess. I still can’t believe someone murdered her.”

  “I’m relieved the killer wasn’t still there when you arrived. Why did you go to her house? Was she a customer?”

  Kelly waded through her dresses. After the morning she’d had, she wanted something comfy, yet she wanted to look like the owner of a fashionable resale boutique. Who happened to have found a dead body only hours ago. A long-sleeved dusty green A-line dress caught her eye. She pulled the hanger from the rod.

  “Kelly, are you still there?”

  “Yes. Sorry. Diana bought a dress here the other day. I went there . . . wait, you mean you didn’t hear about what happened at my uncle’s party last night?”

  “No. I’ve been in the city since Friday and got back early this morning. What happened?”

  She filled Mark in on the highlights of the party as she moved to the full-length mirror that had come with her granny’s bedroom set. She held the dress up in front of her. She’d gotten the dress at a trendy retail chain store that catered to the under-thirty and on-a-budget set. Not the best quality, but pretty good for the price.

  “Wow. Those women sound very . . . interesting.”

  “Talk about an understatement.” She stepped back from the mirror and went to lay the dress on the bed.

  “I’m glad you’re okay. Maybe we can get together for coffee or something. No pressure.”

  “I’d like that. Thanks for calling.” She disconnected the call and set her phone on the bed. Her eye caught a little shimmer from the dresser. Her granny’s faux baubles.

  Martha Blake had been a collector of many things over the years. Kelly was now wading through the collections and the memories of the one person in her life who always believed in her. Why on earth had her granny collected those gaudy necklaces and rings? Set out on a tarnished silver tray, they caught the sunlight when it streamed in through the room’s two windows. The flash of shimmer took Kelly back to finding Diana’s body. The beautiful shimmery gown had been stained with so much blood.

  She shook her head hard to chase the image out of her mind.

  When her head steadied, her gaze landed on a framed photograph of Juniper. The baby was a beautiful little angel. Rosy cheeks, a lyrical laugh, and the happiest smile. Shouldn’t a happy, healthy baby, a good marriage, and a successful fitness studio be enough for Juniper’s mom? Why did Summer want to be on LIL?

  A coldness lodged in Kelly again, displacing the warmth that was there just moments ago. Maybe it wasn’t Wendy who’d killed Diana. Maybe there was an obsessed fan or disgruntled LIL wannabe who killed Diana. If so, could Summer be in danger?

  It was official. Kelly’s imagination was working overtime. There wasn’t some deranged murderer targeting LIL cast members. Unfortunately, it probably was Wendy or someone else close to Diana. Maybe her soon-to-be ex-husband. Wasn’t a husband most likely to be responsible for his wife’s murder?

  She had to stop thinking about murder. She had a business to run and an employee who was leaving for the day, so she needed to hustle. At her jewelry box, she pulled out a handful of bangles and her gold-tone watch and then dashed into the bathroom to blow-dry her hair, letting its natural waves do their thing, and applied her makeup. She’d added a multi-color blanket scarf around her neck and let it drape down the front of her dress, and she’d slipped on a pair of Sam Edelman suede knee-high boots in a golden caramel color. She finished her cozy chic look with simple stud earrings and her bangles and watch.

  Less than an hour later, she was ready to head back downstairs to the boutique. Walking out of the bedroom, she took one final look at Juniper’s photograph. Even though her earlier thoughts were very unlikely, she had to make sure Summer was safe for her daughter’s sake.

  * * * *

  By Monday morning, Lucky Cove was abuzz with speculation and theories since news had broken about Diana’s murder the day before. The Internet wasn’t far behind. Celebrity websites, pop culture bloggers, and fan sites shared every detail of Diana’s riches-to-fame-to-dead story. Kelly tried her best to stay off those sites while working on her article for Budget Chic, but it was hard not to click and travel down the rabbit hole of gossip and conjecture.

  She should have been writing the last two paragraphs of her article, not looking at photographs of Diana when she was a young bride. She was beautiful and clueless about how her life would turn out and eventually how it would end. The groom standing and smiling beside her was handsome and years older. Aaron Delacourte had had wealth, power, a mansion, and a brand-spanking-new bride to replace his first wife.

  What happened to the first Mrs. Delacourte? None of the articles Kelly read talked about her in any detail.

  Staring at the wedding photograph, Kelly wondered if there wasn’t a little voice somewhere deep inside Diana that whispered to her she’d end up like his first wife, cast aside for a replacement?

  Kelly gazed off into space. Did Summer ever have those thoughts since she was Uncle Ralph’s wife number three?

  “I thought you were going upstairs to work on the apartment.” Pepper entered the staff room and walked to the sink, where she refilled her water bottle.

  “I’m heading up now. I wanted to finish the first draft of this article.”

  “Have you finished it?” Pepper turned to face Kelly and leaned against
the countertop. She took a swig from her bottle.

  “Not really. I got sucked into all these articles about Diana.” Kelly closed out of the website she was on and lowered the top of her laptop.

  “Talk about a waste of time. It’s all gossip.”

  “How’s business?”

  “Steady. Nothing I can’t handle.” Pepper pushed off from the counter.

  “I’m sure. Guess I’m procrastinating. There’s a lot to go through upstairs. I’ve been trying very, very hard to think of Granny as a collector, but the word ‘hoarder’ keeps creeping into my brain.”

  Pepper laughed. After taking another drink of her water, she walked to the swinging door. “Collector. Hoarder. Tomato. Tomahto. Don’t work too hard.” She pushed the door and stepped out into the small hall that led to the upstairs staircase and the main room downstairs.

  “Let me know if you need help!” Kelly doubted Pepper would send up an SOS if things got busy. The woman was thirty years older than her and had more energy than she could ever imagine possessing.

  She stood, picked up her laptop and six-key holder, and headed out of the staff room. A locked door enclosed the staircase. Granny hadn’t had the budget to create a separate entrance to the apartment, and the door was the best option to keep shoppers from popping up into her living space. The staircase was also close to the changing rooms, which were modest spaces with simple curtains for privacy. Updating those areas was top on her to-do list.

  “I can’t believe someone murdered Diana yesterday,” a woman said from behind a curtain in the first changing room.

  “Seriously? Have you been living under a rock? She’d gotten so messed up, it was only a matter of time before something bad happened to her. You know, I think her husband did it. I think he didn’t want to pay her anything,” said another woman from behind a curtain in the second dressing room.

  “Or maybe his new fiancée did Diana in. Not only would she get rid of the obstacle to her wedding, but that also would ensure that Diana didn’t return to Long Island Ladies.”

  The second woman gasped. “That’s a terrible thing to say. She’s my favorite one.”

  “And did you hear? I think the woman who owns this shop found Diana’s body yesterday.”

  The second woman gasped again. “No. I hadn’t heard. Is it morbid to want to know what it was like for her finding the body?”

  Yes, it is morbid.

  Kelly quickly unlocked the door and dashed inside the small landing, the size of a closet. After relocking it, she hurried up the stairs and arrived inside her apartment, letting out a whoosh of relief.

  She set her laptop on the dining table. Her plan was to continue to declutter the dining area. So far, she’d torn up the carpet in the living room area with the help of Gabe and Liv. She was grateful the hardwood floor was revealed to be in good shape; maybe she’d purchase an area rug to warm up the space. The three of them had also rearranged the furniture. While not her style, it was free, so it stayed. She was looking online for sales on slipcovers. Perhaps white slipcovers for a shabby-chic vibe. She’d ordered a new refrigerator and stove, and they’d be arriving within a couple of weeks.

  She was keeping most of the furniture, but there were a few pieces she wanted to move out and store in her granny’s storage unit until the spring. She planned on having a tag sale in the parking lot behind the boutique. One of the items on the sell list was the domineering hutch in the dining area. Tall, wide, and not retro-cool, it was an eyesore that was a catchall for countless knickknacks.

  Decluttering the hutch was a project she’d started weeks ago, before Halloween, but thanks to nonstop workdays and coming face-to-face with a killer who intended for her to be the next victim, clearing out the hutch had fallen to the back burner.

  She propped her hands on her hips and stared down the space-guzzling monster piece of furniture. How her granny had gotten it up the staircase was beyond her. A twinge of guilt hit her when she thought of Gabe and Liv’s brother, the only person she knew with a box truck, lugging that monstrosity back down the stairs.

  She’d definitely have to have a lot of food to feed them on moving day.

  Time to stop thinking, and time to declutter.

  She approached the hutch and opened the glass doors and sighed. So many memories of her granny flooded her, and her eyes misted.

  Don’t go there.

  She couldn’t think about her childhood, about the lazy days of summer on the beach with Granny or the cold, wintry nights cuddled up on Granny’s big sofa with hot cocoa and a book. No, she needed to stay focused on the job at hand because time was short, thanks to her never-ending to-do list.

  For the next twenty minutes, she removed all the small knickknacks from the shelves and set them on the dining table. She had to wipe down the items, along with all the shelves. Even with the doors closed, a thick layer of dust had settled on every surface. She wrapped the knickknacks in layers of tissue paper and stored them in plastic bins she’d purchased. Yeah, that was a purchase she hadn’t budgeted for, but she didn’t want to risk breaking anything by using a cardboard box.

  Set center on the middle shelf was the gaudiest floral-pattern platter she’d ever seen. It seemed her granny had had the platter forever but never used it. The dish only served as a decoration. A gaudy decoration. But it still brought a smile to Kelly’s lips.

  Martha Blake had had eclectic tastes and a borderline hoarding problem, but every item she owned she loved. Torn, Kelly wasn’t sure if she wanted to store the platter.

  No. I’m starting fresh.

  She reached for the platter. She’d wrap it securely, store it, and then revisit it. She was certain she’d be displaying it somewhere, but it was now important to stand firm on her plan.

  When she pulled the platter from the glass shelf, she discovered a plain white envelope with her grandmother’s name written on it, stuck to the back wall of the hutch.

  She set the platter on the table and peeled the envelope from the hutch and studied the printed return address.

  The Chapel of the Rose. Las Vegas, Nevada.

  What was the Chapel of the Rose? Why on earth did her granny hide the envelope behind the platter?

  Her fingers began to unseal the envelope, but they stopped.

  Opening her granny’s mail seemed intrusive. Not to mention nosy and wrong.

  She set the envelope down and stepped back. She leaned against the table and glowered at the envelope. Why did she have to clean out the hutch? If she’d left all the knickknacks alone, she wouldn’t be wrestling with an ethical dilemma.

  Ethical dilemma?

  She was being dramatic and overthinking the situation. Maybe she should audition for a spot on LIL. She reached forward and snatched up the envelope and unsealed it.

  She pulled out the trifold document and unfolded it.

  It took a moment for her brain to catch up with her eyes as she scanned the document. The official certificate listed her granny’s name, the name of a man, and the name of a reverend.

  Then the date.

  Five years ago last March.

  It was a marriage certificate.

  Kelly swallowed hard, falling onto a chair and letting the certificate fall from her grasp.

  Her granny had remarried? To Marvin Childers? Who the heck was he? Why hadn’t Granny told anyone? She’d been a widow a long time, and certainly no one would blame her for remarrying.

  Well, except for Ralph, because he would’ve been fearful of losing what he considered rightfully his.

  Then the realization slammed her chest. If Granny was married to this Marvin Childers guy before her death, did that mean she’d lose her inheritance? Her home?

  Chapter Five

  A good old-fashioned cry and finishing off what was left in the pint of chocolate-chip ice cream didn’t leave Kelly feeling much bette
r. She kept the ice cream on hand for emergencies, and lately she’d been having a lot of emergencies. Maybe it would be more economical for her to buy a gallon the next time she was at the store.

  After she scraped the bottom of the container, she tore into the bag of M&Ms she kept stashed away for earth-shattering emergencies.

  Learning that your grandmother had been secretly married and thus threatening your new home and business was earth-shattering.

  A text message from her friend Ariel Barnes stopped her from inhaling the whole bag of candy.

  Just barely.

  Kelly pushed the bag of candy away and reached for her phone. Ariel was asking to meet her for dinner. She glanced at the table. An empty pint of ice cream, a spoon, and the open bag of M&Ms. She considered passing on the invite, preferring to hit Doug’s Variety Store to stock up for a long, sad night of preparing to leave her home.

  But she decided not to pass on dinner. Instead, she replied she’d meet Ariel in an hour. She needed to snap out of her funk, and meeting up with a friend she’d lost contact with for close to a decade was a perfect way.

  The decision to attend a summer party ten years ago had ended tragically. Kelly had snuck away with Davey, leaving Ariel to get into a car with a drunk friend to go home. What happened next was a horrific car accident. Ariel was paralyzed from the waist down and forced to live the rest of her life in a wheelchair. Kelly was guilt-ridden for abandoning her. Davey left Lucky Cove before the start of the new school year. The fallout wasn’t pretty. The driver went to jail, Kelly’s family made it clear they were fed up with her flighty behavior, and her sister had put up a wall because she agreed with Kelly—Ariel’s paralysis was her fault.

  Moving back to Lucky Cove meant more than Kelly keeping her granny’s consignment shop open; it also meant she had to face her past, including Ariel. Renewing a long-dormant friendship wasn’t something that happened overnight. The two had to work through feelings, emotions, and baggage. So far, they were headed in the right direction. They had met a few times since the middle of October for lunch or dinner. Ariel occasionally stopped by the boutique on her way home from her part-time job at the library.