A Flicker of Doubt (Book 4 in the Candlemaking Mysteries)

by Tim Myers

Sanora grabbed another pen and said, “Don’t worry, Harrison, I’m not someone who looks everywhere for hidden signs.” She jotted her name down in all the marked boxes, then handed the document back to me. There, it’s official. I’m staying.” “And it’s official that I’m glad.” I headed back to my apartment, happy the dry pen had been with Sanora and not Heather. There was no doubt my New Age friend would have indeed taken the dry pen as an omen. I’d have to find a brand-new one before I asked Heather to renew her lease. I took Sanora’s signed contract back upstairs, then dug into my desk drawer for a pen that wrote. I found one nearly brand-new and clipped it onto the side of Heather’s lease. She was the last one on my list, but from the way things were going, I wasn’t at all sure she was going to stay.

  The New Age shop she owned had a few folks browsing inside, so Heather wasn’t too busy to talk tome.

  “I brought your new lease,” I said.

  “So Sanora’s moving?”

  “No, she said if you had a problem with her, you were just going to have to deal with it She’s sure you’re leaving.”

  Heather looked at me as if I’d slapped her. “She said that?”

  “She didn’t have to. She signed her lease. That says it all, doesn’t it?”

  Heather said, “Give me my lease.”

  “Wait a second and think about this. As much as I want you here, I don’t want to force you to stay.”

  “If you want me here, give me the lease.”

  I slid it across the counter, with the pen still attached. She signed her name so hard the lease agreement paper tore under the assault.

  I said, “Heather, I’m glad you’re staying.”

  She snapped, “Go tell her I’m not budging, either. She’s not going to run me out”

  I started to leave, but I swear Esmeralda winked at me as I walked past her. I had been reading way too much in that cat’s expressions lately. While I wasn’t particularly proud of the way I’d manipulated Heather and Sanora into staying, I was happy they were both going to be around. If it turned out that one of them was miserable with the arrangement later, I’d tear up lease and let them off the hook, and what’s more, they both knew it. But I’d given them both a reason to stay, and evidently it had been enough.

  “Nice of you to grace the place with your presence,” Eve said as I walked into At Wick’s End.

  ‘I’m the landlord at River’s Edge, too, you know. These new leases have thrown a wrench into everything.”

  Eve actually looked guilty for chastising me, a first in our working relationship. “I’m sorry, I forgot all, about that. Are we losing Heather or Sanora?”

  “Guess again,” I said, keeping my face expressionless.

  “Oh, dear, not both of them. Harrison, you’ve got to do something.”

  “There’s another option you didn’t mention. They’re both staying.”

  Eve startled me by throwing her arms around me in hug. As soon as she realized what she’d done, she quickly away. “How did you manage it?”

  “I had a nudge from Pearly.”

  There was a history of bad blood between the two of them, so Eve dropped her inquiry. “So the family stays together,” she said.

  “For now,” I amended, fully intending to release anyone from their lease if they ever requested it. River’s Edge was more than just a place to do business. Eve was right; it was a family, and if someone wanted to leave, I wouldn’t stand in their way.

  I was selling a block of bee’s wax for pouring when ‘ the telephone rang. I’d taken to carrying the portable phone around with me when I worked the candleshop, so it was easy enough to answer as I worked.

  “At Wick’s End.”

  “Harrison, this is Jeanie from Greg Runion’s office.”

  “Hi, Jeanie. What can I do for you?”

  She said, “Greg’s going on a sudden business trip that I didn’t know about I’ve got a feeling he’s not coming back.”

  “What makes you say that?” I asked.

  “He stormed in here ten minutes ago, then rushed out the door again just now with a box full of papers. Harrison, he looked scared, and in all the time I’ve worked for him, I’ve never seen Greg Runion afraid of anything. I thought you should know.”

  “And you don’t have any idea where he’s going?”

  “That’s just it,” she said. “He always makes such a fuss about traveling. I have to get his tickets, make the Intel reservations, everything. He stopped at my desk and told me he’d be back in a day or two, but I don’t believe him. Should you call the sheriff?”

  “And tell him what that your boss decided to leave town? Jeanie, Morton thinks I’ve got an overactive imagination as it is. There’s nothing I can do.”

  She hesitated, then said, “I just thought you should know.”

  “I’m sorry, you’re right. I shouldn’t have been so abrupt. I do appreciate you calling me. Listen, if you come across anything else I should know about, call me is back, okay? And thanks again. I mean it.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said. As I finished ringing up my customer’s wax, I wondered what had gotten into Runion. Jeanie knew him better than anyone else in the world, and if he was running scared, she’d know it But what could have shaken him up so much? I wish I knew, but I couldn’t do anything about it at the moment

  I waited on another customer or two, happy to be back in the groove of working the candleshop while my mind wandered among the possibilities. Becka’s death, Cyrus’s mysterious debilitation and Runion’s odd behavior swirled through my mind.

  I was pulled out of my musings by the chime over the front door. One look at Mrs. Jorgenson’s face and I knew I was in serious trouble.

  “Harrison Black, I knew you could be dense at times, but I always gave you credit for having a minimum of common sense. It appears that I was wrong.”

  “Good morning, Mrs. Jorgenson. And how are you today?”

  “In your office. Now.”

  I followed her back to my cubbyhole, wondering what I’d done to infuriate her so much. Eve looked ashen as we walked by, her gaze begging for an answer, too. I just wished I could illuminate things for her. Honestly didn’t have a clue what I’d done this time. We got back to my office and she closed the door behind us. “What were you possibly thinking? Or was actual cogent thought a part of your process?”

  “This might be easier if I knew exactly what you were chewing me out about,” I said.

  “Have you made any more grievous errors lately that you’re blissfully unaware of?”

  “Ma’am, it seems lately I’ve been making them all the time.”

  “I’m talking about Grover. What did you do, confront him with what I’d told you?”

  “I went by to see him. That was your suggestion, wasn’t it?”

  She fought to control her temper, and after a few moments, she said, “Harrison, it should have been handled delicately. You’ve done more than jeopardize your chance to eat the best barbeque around here. You’ve put me in a tenuous position with the man at exactly the wrong time.”

  “Wait a second,” I said. “I never mentioned your name. In fact I made it a point not to.”

  She picked up a candle-shaped letter opener from my desk. It had been Belle’s, and I liked the look and heft to it. What was she going to do with it though? As angry as she was with me, I was half-afraid she was going to skewer me with it.

  “Do you honestly believe that in a town as small as Micah’s Ridge that it’s possible for any visits here to go unnoticed? I daresay everyone in town knows about our candlemaking lessons. Honestly, how hard do you think it was for Grover to decipher where you got your information?”

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Jorgenson, but I honestly didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  She frowned, then said, “Of course you didn’t but the damage has been done nonetheless. The question is, what do we do about it now?”

  “I’ll go apologize again, but I doubt it will do any good.”

  “Harr
ison, we need to pay him a visit together, and I mean right now.”

  “You’re coming, too?” I asked. It reminded me uneasily of the time as a child I’d taken a candy bar from the store without bothering to pay for it. My mother had marched me back there and lorded over my full confession. I’d learned that lesson well enough, and my criminal act was never repeated.

  “Of course I’m coming,” she said. ‘This is too important to leave in your hands.”

  “Gee thanks. Your confidence in me is overwhelming.”

  That brought the hint of a smile to her face. “Harrison, you’re a wonderful teacher and a skilled candlemaker, but I’m afraid you’re out of your league on this one. Let’s go.”

  “Do you honestly mean at this very moment?”

  She said, “The sooner we do this, the better. Let your staff handle the store.”

  “My ‘staff’ has been covering for me most of the last week.”

  Mrs. Jorgenson said, “And if she hopes to have place to work, she’ll continue to do so.”

  I followed her out of the office and called out to Eve, “I’ll be back.”

  She managed to nod, but the worried expression her face spoke volumes. I wasn’t too pleased with way things were working out either.

  We took her car, and as we approached place, I saw that his red T-shirt signal was out on the bush. I said, “This won’t work, there will be lots of people around.”

  “Trust me, Harrison.”

  I thought it was a bad move, but then my own ideas hadn’t been all that hot lately, either. I followed Mrs. Jorgenson as if I were on a leash. There was a smattering of customers sitting at their tables, and I wondered how word managed to spread so quickly that Grover was serving barbeque.

  He stared holes through me as I approached. Before Mrs. Jorgenson could say a word, Grover snapped, “He’s not welcome here.”

  “He’s with me,” Mrs. Jorgenson said.

  “You’re not bulletproof yourself, you know that don’t you?”

  She frowned. “Why are you being so difficult about this?”

  I felt like grabbing her arm and shaking her. If this was Mrs. Jorgenson’s idea of an apology, she could take a lesson or two from me.

  “I won’t discuss it. Not in front of him.”

  Mrs. Jorgenson turned to me. “Wait for me by the car.”

  I nodded, then said to Grover, “I really am sorry.”

  He didn’t acknowledge my apology, though I hadn’t expected him to. As I walked back to Mrs. Jorgenson’s car, I noticed that not a soul there was willing to make eye contact with me. I suddenly knew how a pariah felt

  Mrs. Jorgenson was track in less than five minutes, and from the expression on her face, she hadn’t had any more luck than I had.

  “Of ail the unmitigated nerve, that man actually banished me from coming back. I still can’t believe it”

  “I’m sorry I got you into this mess,” I said.

  “Never mind, Harrison, this isn’t about you anymore. If Grover Blake thinks he can treat me like that, he’s sadly mistaken. I won’t tolerate it.”

  “But what can you do?”

  “More than he realizes,” she said tightly, and I was glad I wasn’t in Grover’s position. I wasn’t sure what Mrs. Jorgenson’s next move was going to be, but I knew it would most likely be unpleasant for Grover.

  She dropped me back at River’s Edge with barely a nod, and I went inside At Wick’s End, my head hung low. Somehow I’d managed to make things even worse. What else could go wrong?

  Unfortunately, I didn’t have long to find out

  Chapter 18

  Gary Cragg stormed into the candleshop, with Sanora right on his heels. “Harrison, we’ve got a serious problem.”

  Sanora added, “They’re getting ready to bulldoze the woods beside us.”

  “What? That can’t be.”

  “Then how else do you explain four bulldozers unloading next door?” Sanora said. “I’ve seen this before. They won’t wait for a permit. They’ll go ahead and knock all the trees down, then pay the fines. We’ve got to stop them!”

  “Hang on a second,” I said. “I want to call Ruth Nash.”

  Sanora said, “There’s no time for that. We’ve got to move on this now.”

  Then give me a chance to do something,” I said as I grabbed the telephone. I looked up the number for the hospital, and five minutes later I was talking to Ruth.

  “Did you know that they’re getting ready to demolish the trees beside River’s Edge?” I asked.

  “On Walters land? I don’t think so.”

  “I can hear the dozers rumbling from here. Ask Cyrus if he sold that land to Runion, or anybody else for that matter.”

  “If he did sell it to that scoundrel, he was under some kind of undue influence. They’ve found drugs in Cyrus’s system designed to make him weaker every day. Thank God you called me when you did.”

  “I’m glad for you, but what do I do about this?”

  She barely hesitated, then said, “Stall them for as long as you can. I’ll get a lawyer on this immediately.”

  “I have one standing right here with me, if you’d like to speak with him.”

  “Is he any good?”

  “I’d hate to go up against him,” I said simply.

  “Put him on.”

  Cragg had a hurried conversation with Ruth, Sanora growing more and more impatient by the second.

  Heather burst into the candle shop. She was so upset, she barely missed a beat when she saw Sanora standing beside me. “Harrison, what’s going on?”

  “That’s what we’re trying to find out”

  She didn’t say anything else, but she didn’t leave, either. Cragg whispered again, then hung up. “It’s obviously I a duplicitous move on Runion’s part There shouldn’t be any problem getting an injunction to stop it”

  “We don’t have time for that, Gary,” Sanora said. It was clear why Cragg was so interested in the environment all of a sudden: his crush on Sanora was quite obvious, and what’s more, she knew it, and was using it to her advantage.

  Heather said, “I’ve got the chains we used to protest when they razed the old theater downtown.”

  Sanora looked at Heather and said, “You were a part of that?”

  “I want to preserve what we’ve got, not pave over it,” Heather said snippily.

  “I wasn’t criticizing, I’m impressed,” Sanora said.

  Heather didn’t know how to take that “Hang on, I’ll be right back.”

  Two minutes later she showed up with a hefty length of chain and a padlock. “I’m going to chain myself to the biggest tree I can find so they can’t do anything.”

  Cragg said, “I don’t recommend it. Let me handle this the legal way.”

  Sanora said, “We don’t have time for that. You go do your paperwork and we’ll hold them off as long as we can.”

  “We?” Heather asked abruptly.

  Sanora smiled. “You don’t think you’re going to have all the fun, do you?”

  “I thought you were all for development” I said.

  “Not like this,” Sanora said. “This is where we need to take a stand.”

  I made up my mind in an instant “Wait a second. I’m going with you, too.”

  Eve, who had remained silent through the discussion, piped up. “Harrison, this isn’t the kind of publicity we need. You can’t afford to offend our customers by being arrested.”

  “They’ll just have to live with it,” I said. “I’m doing this for Cyrus, too.”

  Cragg drove off to the courthouse while Heather, Sanora and I raced through the woods toward the sound of the bulldozers.

  “I hope we’re in time,” Sanora said.

  “We’ve got to be,” Heather answered.

  We came into the clearing and stopped behind a giant oak that would be the first tree that had to come down. A crew was unloading the last bulldozer from a massive flatbed truck. Heather said, “We’re just in time. ^ Ta
ke this end, Harrison.”

  We circled the tree, putting our bodies inside the loop of steel. Nobody noticed us as we faced the heavy equipment, and once the lock was snapped in place, we stood waiting for someone to see our protest I tried yelling at the workers to get their attention, but the bulldozers were making too much noise.

  The first monster started lumbering toward us, and for a second I didn’t think he was going to see us in time to stop. Heather and Sanora joined me as I screamed at him, waving my arms to try to capture the driver’s attention. I was silently glad Heather had done this before. What a nightmare it would have been if we hadn’t pulled our arms out before attaching the chains.

  I could smell the dozer’s diesel breath when the operator finally spotted us. He shut off the engine, and a man in a hard hat raced toward him. “Johnson, what do you think you’re doing?”

  He pointed to us in disgust, and the foreman turned I to the other operators and made a killing gesture with his hand at his throat.

  The woods were suddenly filled with an echoing silence.

  “What do you clowns think you’re doing?” he shouted as he stormed toward us.

  “We’re saving the woods,” I said.

  “What you’re doing is delaying me, and I hate to be delayed. Unlock that chain and get out of the way.”

  Heather said, “Sorry, we didn’t bring the key with us. We’re waiting for an injunction to stop you.”

  That’s not going to happen, lady. You’d better hope you find the key.”

  “We’re not leaving,” I said.

  “We’ll see about that”

  He turned to the man on the nearest bulldozer and said, “Run them down.”

  The operator looked at him like he was insane. “Come on, Mr. Kirk, you know I can’t do that.”

  “Then get out of the seat so I can. They’re here illegally, and I’m sick of these tree-huggers trying to stop every job we take on.”

  The operator climbed out of the seat and Kirk took hit place. This is your last chance to unlock yourselves and go home like good little boys and girls.”

  “We can’t” I said, a little too loudly in the quiet round us. “She told you, we don’t have the key.”