I had been right, even if I didn’t understand why. “I didn’t know you could do that.” Suzanne looked at me like I was a bit of an idiot. “Sorry, I don’t know anything about keeping bees.”
“I guess not. Well, of course, you can. Growers rent bees all the time to help with pollination, or I can move the hive to another location if I’m looking to make a particular honey. Of course, we usually move them at night when it’s cooler and they’re not flying, but this was a special order.”
“Really? That’s pretty cool. I would’ve never thought of that.” It wasn’t a job I was about to sign up for, but it was still interesting.
“So, how can I help you?” Suzanne put the top on the bee box, and I followed her down the row toward the back of her house.
“I actually had a couple things. One is business related. You know I have my own beauty line, and a lot of my products use honey and wax. I was hoping you could help me out. I’d love to use a local supplier.”
“Absolutely. How much are you thinking?”
“A few gallons to start and then maybe a pound or two of wax?”
“No problem. JEFFERY!” Susanne hollered and I jumped back. Captain Jack shivered in my arms. What the heck? “Where did he go? I swear, that man. Jeffery!”
“It’s okay. I don’t need it right now. I can come back.” Just stop yelling. I looked around to make sure the bees weren’t getting agitated.
“JEFFERY!”
“Or I can get it. Just point me in the right direction.” I looked around as if I could figure out where it was. Thankfully, Jeffery opened the door to the back porch and peered out. He seemed to smile slightly when he saw that I was there. With his long legs, he reached us in a couple of seconds. He went right to Captain Jack and scratched his ears.
“Hey, little guy.” Captain Jack licked at his hand. “He’s pink?”
“Don’t ask,” I said, and laughed.
“Jeffery, grab Ziva a couple jugs of honey and that wax bag from the inventory room,” Suzanne ordered, interrupting us. No please, no thank you, just orders.
“I can give you a hand,” I offered.
“It’s okay, he’s got it,” Suzanne said.
“Sorry,” I mouthed to Jeffery. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say he was used to it, and walked off to fetch the goods.
“Jeffery’s your husband?” I asked Suzanne when he was out of earshot.
Suzanne snorted. “Good heavens, no! Why would you think that?”
“I’m sorry, I just assumed. I saw him with you at the farmers market, and he lives here, right?” I mean, why else would the guy stick around? He looked a bit younger than her, but not by that much.
“Jeffery’s my stepson. My husband passed away a few years ago, but left the business to the two of us.”
“Oh…,” I guess that made sense. Jeffery was forced to be here or he had to give up his inheritance. Nice.
“Jeffery’s just like his father—has brains, but not an ounce of business sense. Forget motivation. He’d have honey pouring out of his hiney if it wasn’t for me. Bit sad, really. Now, what else do you need?”
“Well, I talked with Randy Berger today.”
“Ha, another winner. Smartest thing Paulette ever did was divorcing him. He was going nowhere fast.”
I wasn’t sure about that. “I don’t know, he seemed like an okay guy. His business seemed to be doing pretty well.”
“Being an okay guy and doing pretty well sometimes isn’t good enough. Know what I’m saying?”
Nope. I didn’t. I was thinking good enough was just great. I was beginning to realize just how hard Suzanne, and probably Paulette, were to please, especially if you were a man. Maybe that’s why Mayor Potts wasn’t so torn up to see Paulette gone? Maybe he had a motive after all…
“What were you visiting that lug for?” Suzanne asked.
“I wanted to know what he thought about Paulette. Check him off the list, you know, due diligence. Anyway, he mentioned Vicki Kline. Thinks there’s something off about her.”
Suzanne laughed. “Of course, there is. She’s a bit nutty, always has been.”
“What’s the story with you guys? I had heard you were friends of sorts.” That was putting it nicely.
“Our mothers were all friends.”
As if that explained it all. “And?”
“I’ve been stuck with her for one reason or another ever since. Never been able to shake her.” Suzanne brushed a bee off her shoulder as if it was Vicki.
“Paulette too?”
“Vicki annoyed the bejesus out of her. She couldn’t stand her. Pretty sure the feeling was mutual.”
“Just how strong was this dislike?”
“If you’re thinking Vicki had something to do with Paulette…”
“It’s possible, isn’t it?”
Suzanne just laughed and laughed and laughed. “Vicki? Oh, that’s hilarious. The woman cries whenever a flower dies.”
I could believe that, but I could also believe that a lifetime of not fitting in could take its toll. It’s always the quiet ones you have to watch out for.
“Besides, what are you poking around for? Heard they arrested Birdie this morning. About time. That crazy kook’s turned into a killer. Everyone knows she hated Paulette. There’s a special place, you know where, she can just go.”
Jeffery met us again with a wood crate full of the honey and wax. “This is awesome. Thank you so much. What do I owe you?” I asked him.
“Consider this a free sample.” Suzanne spoke for him. “We can talk price if you decide to use it in your products.”
11
I left Suzy-Bee Farm and drove back home. Captain Jack pawed at the window until I rolled it down just a crack. I was all in favor for blasting the air conditioning, but the puppy wasn’t having it. I just didn’t want to roll down the window too far and have him fall out. Do they make puppy car seats?
Back home, I couldn’t shake that there was more to Vicki, regardless of what Suzanne had said. Vicki seemed sweet to me, unless you messed with her plants. Then watch out. I dug in my purse and pulled out the flyer she gave me yesterday. I had never taken a gardening class before, but I could really use one. Just ask my parents. They no longer asked me to water their plants when they went out of town. Instead, they relied on those automatic water bulbs that you stick in the soil. Something they should’ve invested in long ago.
I read the information on the flyer. As luck would have it, she taught a class tonight at seven PM. Even better, it was on poisonous plants. I wondered just how much Vicki knew about deadly plants … and how to make poison. Was it an easy thing to do? Maybe tonight I would find out, or better yet, maybe she would slip up and give me a clue. I used my phone to jump online and register for the class, nabbing the last spot. It looked like I wasn’t the only curious person in town.
Other than Vicki, who else did I need to consider? Whip McGovern. More and more I had a feeling that Mayor Pott’s had something to do with Paulette’s murder, whether intentional or not. I needed to rule out Vicki and then look to Mayor Potts and his associates.
I spent the rest of my afternoon thinking about how I was going to arrange a run-in with the mayoral candidate. What was his story? According to his online campaign schedule, he was hosting a fundraising luncheon tomorrow. Tickets were a hundred dollars a pop, and I couldn’t justify spending that kind of dough for a luncheon, murder suspect or not. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t crash it. I was still thinking about the best way to pull it off when Aria called.
She didn’t even wait for me to say hello. “This wedding is a disaster.”
“Oh no, what now?” I closed my laptop and stood up to stretch.
“Where in the heck do I even start? You know my dress?” Rhetorical question. “It’s gone. I went to pick it up today and they can’t even find it. Poof! Just like that. It was there on Friday when I went by.”
“How do you lose someone’s wedding dress?” I wasn’t a fan o
f the dress, but I still didn’t want it to go missing. Talk about a stressful situation.
“I know, right? I have no idea.”
“What’s your game plan? Do they have another one there, or can they get you one?”
“It’s a custom gown!”
“I know, but dude, Vince knows everyone. If anyone can make it happen, he can.”
“I know, but he’s so stressed out with the kids and work, I don’t even want to tell him. He’s not even back in town yet. Christina wants me to go dress shopping back home with her to Atlanta, but I don’t know. Part of me wants to hold out and see if the shop finds my dress, but I don’t want to wait too long.”
Aria’s family lives in Atlanta and they did have some amazing bridal salons there, but I could see wanting to hold out. “Girl, I’m sorry. That sucks.”
“I’m breaking out in even more hives just thinking about it!”
“Okay, just take a breath. You’re not driving, are you?”
“I pulled over before I called.”
“Okay, good.” I didn’t need my bestie crashing.
“That’s not the worst of it though.”
“There’s more?” I couldn’t even imagine.
“Oh yeah. I called the florist, and they don’t have any record of my wedding order. Nothing. They told me to stop in and see what they could do, but there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to get the flowers I wanted.” Aria was like me; she didn’t really like flowers. But I’m pretty sure that was a moot point. “I’m headed over there now, and was wondering if you wanted to meet me? Prevent me from throttling someone.” You knew Aria was hot if she was looking at me to be the calm, rational one. I mean, she was a yoga instructor. She was paid to spend her days all Zen-like.
I looked at the clock; it was two PM. I could do that, but I wanted to stop by the pet store first and buy a crate for Captain Jack. I couldn’t keep taking him everywhere with me, and I needed to make sure he stayed out of trouble. I told Aria to give me thirty minutes and I would meet her at the shop. Fortunately for me, it was just down the street from my apartment. Playing detective was going to have to take a time out. Right now, my girl needed me.
Oh, sweet sugar. Aria needed to hurry up and get this wedding business over with before she aged herself over the hill. I wasn’t sure my beauty products would be enough to give her that wedding day glow as it was. I’ve had dark circles before, but my oh my, Aria was rocking the raccoon look, and it wasn’t pretty.
“Are you sleeping?” I asked by way of greeting.
“Ha,” is all she offered, an un-humorous laugh.
“I don’t know, maybe you should go see a doctor, or maybe an acupuncturist or a day spa or something.” Anything.
“I wouldn’t say no to any of those.”
I made a mental note to stop by our favorite spa and pick her up a gift certificate.
The flower shop was hopping. It turned out, the mayor had a ton of friends and everyone wanted to send him flowers. The place was crazy. I was betting it wasn’t even this busy on Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, the store only had two ladies working, who I knew happened to also be the owners. Betsy and Claire were super sweet ladies, and entirely in over their heads. The elderly sisters had owned Lovely Blossoms since inheriting the shop from their aunt decades ago. Rumor had it that Claire was ready to retire, but Betsy wouldn’t hear of it. In fact, she refused to hear much of anything as she never wore her hearing aids.
We tried to wait patiently at the bridal table while the ladies waited on their customers. Betsy rang up sales while Claire customized the order.
“Would you like another rose? Yellow or pink?” she asked the gentlemen at the front of the line. I could appreciate Claire’s attention to detail, but man, she was killing me here.
“How about a daisy? Now, one or two?”
I popped an antihistamine.
“What about a card? Did you fill out a card yet? We have a lovely selection,” she said to another man, leading him over to the card display.
Noooooo! I looked over at Aria. She was totally zoned out. I let her take a mental vacation. She needed it. In fact, I thought about joining her.
“Sorry about that, girls,” Claire addressed us … ten minutes later. “Now, where is that binder? Betsy, have you seen it?”
“Seen what?” Betsy asked.
“The bridal binder.”
“The what?”
“The binder. You know, where we write down our wedding orders?” Betsy still had no idea what Claire was talking about.
“You don’t by chance take computer orders, do you?” I asked Claire.
“Oh no, we don’t have anything fancy like that. Excuse me for one minute, girls.” Claire went back behind the counter and began to rummage through various bins and boxes.
I whispered to Aria, “Who did you place your order with?” She pointed to Betsy. I had a feeling that explained it all.
“Did they give you a written receipt? Anything?”
“No, I didn’t think to get one. I placed the order with Betsy and she just asked me to stop in a few days before to pay.”
Claire rejoined us with her binder in hand. I could relate. Up until a couple months ago, I lugged all my clients’ info around in a similar binder, AKA my Beauty Bible. I’ve since digitized the whole thing and all my orders are online. It made my life easier. Although, I never lost a client’s order like Claire here. I saw that the store’s orders were paper punched and clipped into the three-ring binder. One could easily slip out. I looked under the table to be sure Aria’s wasn’t sitting right under our nose. It wasn’t.
“Sorry, girls. Now what’s the problem again?” Claire had a blank order form in front of her and a pen at the ready.
“My wedding flowers. We’re trying to find the order. Everything was red: the roses, lilies, peonies, and I had floating orchids at each place setting.”
Claire started writing everything down. “Now when is your wedding, dear?”
“Friday.”
“This Friday?” Claire looked incredulous.
“Yes, this Friday,” Aria stated as a matter of fact.
“Oh honey, I don’t think that’s possible. That’s a custom order. You needed to make that in advance.”
“Yes, you really should’ve made an advanced order,” Betsy had joined us.
I was thinking they both might want to back up. Aria’s head might just explode. I put my hand on her arm. “Not worth it.” Aria would disagree, but she relented. Not before giving the women a look to end all looks, however.
I took the lead. “Is there any way you could tell us what you could get in?” I asked Claire.
“How about some daisies? They really are the friendliest flower, or what about carnations? I just love carnations. Don’t you?” Betsy bobbed her head up and down like Claire had the perfect solution.
Aria dropped her head into her hands.
No, just no. We weren’t going to get far here.
12
After leaving Aria and promising her we could order some awesome wedding flowers online, I decided I needed a little pick-me-up, especially if I was going to attend Vicki’s class in a couple hours. That meant a stop in at Sweet Thangs. The bakery was my happy place. Not only did they make the best chai latte ever (seriously, it came with crystalized cinnamon sprinkled on top), but the pastries were heavenly.
I tried to get Aria to come with me, but she was focused on clean eating. I still wasn’t sure what that meant, but if chocolate wasn’t allowed, then it wasn’t for me. Wait, is chocolate allowed?
I walked into Sweet Thangs and did a double take. Sitting at a back table, laughing like besties, were Justine and Detective Roxy. I’d like to think Detective Roxy was asking Justine about my sabotaged product launch, but I had a feeling their little get together was more of a social visit. I smiled at Detective Roxy and she looked away. Yep, Justine definitely told her a thing or two about me. Only part of it, if that, would be true. Did I mention
that I hated Justine? She was my Paulette, and then I thought the worst. What if someone murdered Justine? Horrible to think about, but honestly if it happened, and given our history, I know I’d be a prime suspect. I could only hope nothing suspicious would come of her, even if I’d like to imagine her disappearing every now and then. Meaning move to Hawaii, I swear.
I got a chocolate-filled croissant and chai latte and was going to walk out the door when I changed my mind and walked over to them instead. Younger Ziva would’ve ignored them, scarfed down her croissant, and cried over how mean girls could be. Mature Ziva didn’t tolerate people talking crap about her, especially when I doubted any of it was true. Besides, I was still convinced Justine messed with my products somehow. She would always be guilty until proven otherwise, in my book. I would just have to be careful not to threaten her in front of Detective Roxy.
“Did she ever tell you about the time she keyed Aria’s car?” I asked the detective, interrupting their conversation.
“How about the time she banged my boyfriend?” Justine retorted.
“Ex-boyfriend. And you’re going to have to be more specific. At the rate you go through men, that pretty much includes all eligible bachelors in a fifty-mile radius.” I could’ve kept going, but I stopped when I took in Justine’s wardrobe choice. She was wearing a long-sleeved, high-necked blouse. It was ninety-some degrees outside with the humidity level set to sweat, and Justine was the type who liked to show off all her assets, even if they were silicone-filled. I don’t think she even owned a bathing suit cover up. Today’s wardrobe choice was so unlike her that it begged me to question what she was hiding, but before I could, Detective Roxy broke up their little tête-à-tête.
“Well, I hate to end this lovely conversation, but I need to get back to work. Justine, it was nice chatting with you. Thanks for all the …um … information.”
“Oh, I’m sure she was full of all sorts of helpful information,” I said.
“Anytime,” Justine replied. We did the stare-down-each-other thing that we had perfected over the last twenty years.
Kiss & Makeup: Beauty Secrets Mystery Book 2 Page 8