Caprice’s dad said, “We have to get home to Blitz. I don’t want to leave him alone too long.”
Since Caprice’s mom didn’t roll her eyes or make a comment, Caprice realized her mother was settling in with the dog too.
Nana gave Caprice an extra-long hug and whispered in her ear, “You make sure you take time for you and Grant. Don’t let this murder investigation and your work eat it all away. Christmas is a time to come together.”
Caprice never minded getting advice from Nana. She couldn’t think of one time her Nana hadn’t been right on the mark.
Lingering to speak to people they knew, Caprice and Grant congratulated Bella again as she gathered the kids and Joe. He was holding little Benny who was asleep in his arms.
“Tomorrow the cleanup work starts,” Bella said. “But Joe’s taking the day off to help move the sets to somebody’s barn. They’ll be stored there until next year.”
“Are you going to do this again?” Caprice asked.
“I don’t know. We’ll see what the coming year brings,” Bella said.
Caprice and Grant walked Bella and Joe and the kids to their van, gave them all hugs, and said good-bye. Nikki was the only one who hadn’t made the pageant tonight because of double catering gigs. Everyone understood that.
A light snow began to fall as Joe pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. Caprice and Grant had driven their own cars because Caprice had arrived early to help with dressing the kids. Now he walked her to her car, his arm around her. She should be cold with the temperature around thirty-two and snow falling. But one look at him and she didn’t feel the cold. She just felt his love.
They had approached her car from the passenger side. As they rounded the hood, they were intent on each other and not much else. Grant wrapped his arms around her and gave her a huge kiss.
After he pulled away, he said, “I’d like to stop over for a while, but I should get home and pick up Patches from Simon’s.”
“I know. Lady’s with Dulcina. After I bring her home, I still have a proposal to get ready tonight.” Though as she said it, she remembered what Nana had said. “Maybe tomorrow night after the town council meeting you can come over. The vote will be taken at the meeting for the rezoning of those houses on Restoration Row.”
“Why don’t I bring Patches over before the meeting, and she and Lady can keep each other company.”
“That sounds like a good idea. The meeting shouldn’t last long.”
“Or we don’t have to stay for all of it,” Grant said with a wiggle of his brow.
Caprice laughed and kissed his cheek. “You are so right.”
They both turned toward the driver’s side door of her Camaro. Grant started to say, “You be careful driving in this snow—”
He stopped mid-sentence and Caprice saw why.
“What are they?” he asked, puzzled.
Caprice could see that the sleigh bells from her door decoration were now hanging on the car door handle with a plastic twist tie. Snow was accumulating on them. She stepped closer and spied something wedged underneath the bells. A Ziplock bag. She pulled it out and as she did, she saw the note within.
In black marker on lined paper were the words Stop asking questions or your sleigh bells will never ring again.
Grant read it over her shoulder and asked, “Are you going to call Brett or am I?”
Her hand shaking, Caprice pulled her cell phone from her purse, found Brett in her contacts, and tapped his number. Soon she was going to have to put him on speed-dial.
Fortunately, she reached him. When he was on a case, that phone hardly left his hand. She explained what she’d found.
He asked, “Can you go back in the building?”
“They’re about to close up.”
“Don’t touch anything. I’ll be there in five.”
As good as his word, Brett pulled into the lot five minutes later. There were only a few cars left, and he pulled up beside hers. When he got out, she could see he was wearing a black fleece-lined windbreaker. He jogged over to them, prepared with evidence bags and latex gloves.
“Sorry to keep you out in this weather,” he said.
“We stood under the overhang at the theater until we saw you coming,” Grant said. “We’re fine.”
Brett pointed to Caprice. “She’s not fine.” He looked at the snow-covered door handle as well as the bells and the note. “No chance we’re going to get prints off that handle in this weather.” He carefully collected the rest of the evidence and held it up. “But with this we might get lucky. Do you have a clue who did this?”
“I noticed when I got back from Baltimore today that the sleigh bells were missing from my front door. Those are my bells.”
“Whoever it is wants you to know they’re watching and they can get close—to your front door. I don’t like it. You’ve ruffled somebody’s feathers, probably the killer’s.”
Grant was grim-faced. “Are you trying to scare her?”
“Sure, I’m trying to scare her. She has to let this alone.” He pointed his finger at her. “I want you to keep your family around you and enjoy Christmas.”
“Not much chance any of us are going to enjoy it if this killer isn’t caught before then,” Caprice murmured, shaken more than she wanted to admit.
“You’re right about that. All I need is one good lead. But I’m taking time for Nikki too. Did she tell you I’m meeting her for coffee early tomorrow morning at the Koffee Klatch? I have to have a hefty caffeine fix so I might as well have her company while I’m doing it.”
Apparently, he was trying to take some of the sting from his earlier words and reassure her about his relationship with her sister.
“With her working tonight, we haven’t had time to talk,” she said.
“Well, when you do, she’ll tell you I’m invited to Christmas dinner. I just hope I can make it.”
“I hope you can too. I’m sure nothing would make Nikki happier.”
Brett said gruffly, “Now get out of this weather. Go home, have hot chocolate, and make sure your security system is turned on. Got it?”
“I’m going to go home and get Patches and come over and stay at your place tonight,” Grant told her.
“You are not,” Caprice protested. “I’m a big girl. I’m not going to let anybody scare me or make me afraid to be in my own house.”
Grant and Brett exchanged a look.
“What if I just want to come over, have a sleepover, and make you breakfast in the morning?” Grant asked reasonably. He lowered his voice and whispered in her ear, “I promise I’ll be a perfect gentleman and let you work and make up my own bed in the spare room.” They’d made a pact that they wouldn’t have sex until their wedding night, and they were sticking to it.
Brett nudged her shoulder. “Take him up on his offer. You give me enough advice. Take mine.”
She saw the worried look in Grant’s eyes and knew he’d be concerned about her all night if she didn’t do what he asked. So, in a way it did make sense, and she would love having him there.
“You two are ganging up on me. But before we turn into snow people, I agree.”
“Thank goodness the De Luca women have some good sense,” Brett muttered as he waved at them and jogged to his car.
As Caprice opened the door and settled in her driver’s seat, Grant leaned over the window. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“I’ll make hot chocolate,” she promised him.
He winked and shut her door.
* * *
When Caprice came downstairs the following morning, she smelled coffee and bacon and scrambled eggs. Grant had already let Patches and Lady outside and was cooking breakfast.
He opened an arm to her as he flipped the bacon. After he kissed her, he said, “I don’t like the reason I was here last night, but I sure like waking up with you here in the morning.”
“Me too,” she murmured into his neck. “Everything looks and smells great. Toast w
ith that?” she asked.
“Sure. I think I switched Mirabelle and Sophia’s dishes, and they didn’t seem too happy about that. But other than that, we’re all good.”
Caprice laughed. “Creatures of habit, just like humans. I’ll give Sophia a dollop of cream before we leave.”
“Are you leaving too this morning?” he asked.
“I want to talk to you about that. Do you have early appointments?”
“I was going to take Patches downtown and work until my ten thirty appointment. Why?”
“I was thinking.”
He shook his head and kept silent, and Caprice imagined he knew what was coming.
“I remembered something last night before I fell asleep.”
“What?”
“When I was examining that LetsGetTogether.com dating website, I remembered seeing Bailey Adler’s face on it. He had a profile. He was younger but it was definitely him.”
“So, what are you thinking?” Grant asked.
“I want to know if he’s the one who threatened me.”
“And you’re going to find that out how?”
“I want to go see him. And I’d like you to listen in to make sure nothing happens to me. After all, if I see him at his office, it’s a public place. I’ve done this kind of thing before. I’ll be perfectly fine, especially if you’re on the other end. What do you say?”
Although Grant was sometimes an unwilling participant in Caprice’s investigation methods, this morning he agreed. “That might be the best way to go. I don’t want you in danger. But I know there isn’t anything the police can do unless someone moves in on you and tries to harm you. If you go see Adler, I’ll park nearby and listen in on your conversation.”
This morning Caprice decided to wear an eighties-style red-and-navy floral-print wrap dress. Her slim boots went almost to her knees.
Grant’s gaze moved up and down her outfit. “Why so dressed up for a visit to Adler?”
“If I catch Bailey’s eye, I can distract him. If I distract him, maybe he’ll let something slip.”
Grant frowned as if he didn’t approve. But he didn’t comment on her plan.
* * *
A half hour later, Caprice stood outside of the building where Adler’s office was located. It was situated on the first floor of a three-story, brick row house located near the community center. There was nothing pretentious about it. There were black shutters on the windows and a plain black door with a bell and an intercom.
She tested her phone connection with Grant. “Are you there?”
“I sure am. And Patches is snoozing beside me. So, you don’t have to worry about him barking.”
“Sounds good,” she said. “I’m going to press the bell.” She slid her phone into the pocket of her dress. When she took off her coat, Grant should be able to hear just fine.
She rang the bell, not knowing what to expect. It was possible Bailey had a receptionist or someone who would screen his appointments. She didn’t have an appointment. She didn’t even know if he was in. But it was nine o’clock on the dot and she expected he might be.
A male voice came over the intercom and she recognized it as Bailey Adler’s. “Who’s there?” he asked in a clipped tone.
“It’s Caprice De Luca. Do you have a few minutes to talk?”
“I’ll unlock the door,” he said. “I’m in the first office on the left.”
As she opened the door, she stepped into a foyer. There was nothing in it but coat hooks tacked onto one wall. Taking advantage of them, she slipped off her coat and hung it on one of them. She turned to the first door on her left and saw the brass plate screwed onto it: BAILEY ADLER. No title, just his name. That’s because he wore many hats, she supposed. She just wanted to find out if one of them was criminal.
She opened the door and didn’t find a suite of offices. She found a single office and Bailey Adler sitting behind a huge, mahogany desk.
He stood and came around the desk.
When he extended his hand, she took it, hoping to at least keep the beginning of the meeting congenial. “Hello, Mr. Adler. Thank you for giving me a few minutes of your time.”
He motioned to the mountain of paperwork on his desk. “I’ll be at that all day.” He looked her over, and she didn’t like the way he studied her. “I know who you are. You run that home-staging business that seems to be flying high right now.”
“I’m booked up, and that’s a nice feeling.”
“That TV publicity probably got you a lot of clients. That was a smart move.”
He was speaking about the home-decorating competition in Baltimore that she’d taken part in and won. “Thank you. I suppose that even if I hadn’t won, the publicity would be helpful.”
“But you won, and I like a winner. How can I help you?”
Again, he was looking up and down her dress, and that look made her want to run into the foyer, get her coat, put it on, and button it. But she told herself to remain calm, breathe, and remember Grant was in her pocket.
Sitting behind his desk, motioning her to the chair in front of it, he asked with a smile, “Since you’re such a smart woman, are you here because you want to invest in one of my projects?”
Here’s where the whole conversation got sticky. She wasn’t going to pretend she approved of his business tactics. “No, Mr. Adler. That’s not my intention. In fact, I was very much on Chris Merriweather’s side not to have those old houses torn down and replaced with glitzy new storefronts.”
“I see,” Adler said, scowling now.
“I’ve been asking questions, helping to gather information about Chris Merriweather’s murder.”
Adler’s eyes narrowed. “What does that have to do with me?”
“I understand you and he were enemies.”
“That’s putting it a little strongly. We were just on opposing sides of an issue. That’s all.”
“That was an issue that could have cost you money if Chris won it.”
“If you’re here to accuse me of something, you can leave right now.”
Whoa! A little testy, wasn’t he? Had someone else accused him of hurting Chris?
“Someone has warned me to stop looking into Chris’s death,” Caprice said. “I guess I’d like to know if you’re that person.”
The silence in his office took on a life of its own as he arranged his face. First, she saw a blush of anger. That was replaced with a coldness that gave him a frozen expression. “And just why should I do that?”
“Because I believe you’re one of the suspects. I think Chris might have dug up dirt on you so you’d stop pushing him about voting your way on the rezoning.”
The darkness that shadowed Adler’s eyes told her she could be on the right track. She went on. “Maybe you thought by eliminating your problem altogether, you could push the yea vote through.”
“You’re crazy. And you’d better not go to the police with that theory.”
Caprice wasn’t about to reveal that Maura already had, because that could put Chris’s daughter in danger.
“Tell me this, Mr. Adler. Do you have an alibi for the night Chris was killed?”
Adler was silent and that silence told her he did not have an alibi. His lips pressed together and then he stood. “Leave.”
Knowing that Grant was probably out of his car, ready to come in and rescue her, she said, “Oh, I’ll leave. But just remember one thing. The truth always comes out, one way or another. I suppose I’ll see you at the town council meeting tonight. I’d wish you luck, but the truth is, I hope the vote doesn’t go your way. Have a good day.”
Floored now by what she’d said, Adler opened his mouth, probably to threaten her. She didn’t wait to hear. She hurried out his office door and closed it firmly behind her. Then she breathed a sigh of relief. She might have shaken up a hornet’s nest. The town council vote tonight could tell the tale, and maybe even reveal if Adler had anything to do with Chris’s murder.
Chapter Seventeen
>
One of Caprice’s favorite shops was Older and Better. The proprietor, Isaac Hobbs, was more than the shopkeeper—he was a friend. When she stepped into that shop, it was like stepping back into the past. She often found furniture there for her more primitive or rustic stagings. Today, however, she wasn’t looking for furniture. She was looking for an antique picture frame for a photo of her and Grant that she wanted to give him as part of his Christmas present. The other part would be an afghan she’d been crocheting in shades of blue. He often commented on the one her Nana had made her, and she thought it would go well with his sofa and living room. At least until they moved in together, whenever and wherever that was.
After she’d said good-bye to Grant that morning—he’d given her a huge kiss and a warning to stay away from Adler in the future—she’d gone home to pick up Lady and make sure she had everything she needed for lunch with Dulcina. Her cocker was good about not running around Older and Better. Lady knew Isaac always had a treat for her behind his counter.
When Caprice opened the door to the antique shop, the security bell jangled. She saw Isaac standing at his counter having a cup of coffee, studying a ledger. His business was computerized, but he was still old-school in the lists he made of pieces he was looking for and new inventory that came in.
He called to her from the back of the shop. “Look at that Queen Anne table to your left. I don’t think you’ll want it for staging. A little too expensive. But I think I already have a buyer for it. It’s a beauty.”
Caprice went to her left and saw an antique, cherry tea table that was a tilting one.
Isaac went on. “It dates back to 1770. It was made right here in Pennsylvania, possibly Chester county. It’s in outstanding condition. It’s been restored, but I bet I can still get around three thousand for it.”
Isaac knew his antiques. Caprice was familiar with a lot of them, but not as informed as he was. “It’s a beauty,” she agreed.
“At that same sale, I managed to win an auction on an 1800s, primitive, Mahantongo rope bed. That’s still out in my storage shed. And just wait until you see the Pennsylvania German Dutch painted wedding trunk coming in.”
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