by Ann Yost
Table of Contents
For Better or Hearse
Copyright
Praise for…
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
A word about the author...
Thank you for purchasing this Wild Rose Press publication.
For Better
or
Hearse
by
Ann Yost
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
For Better or Hearse
COPYRIGHT © 2012 by Ann Yost
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Cover Art by Kim Mendoza
The Wild Rose Press
PO Box 708
Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708
Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com
Publishing History
First Crimson Rose Edition, 2012
Digital ISBN 978-1-61217-204-0
Print ISBN 1-60154-991-1
Published in the United States of America
Praise for…
THAT VOODOO THAT YOU DO
The Wild Rose Press, 2009
—First place Romantic Suspense,
First Coast Published Beacon Contest
—Finalist WisRWA Write Touch contest
—Long and Short Reviews Book of the Week
~
“A thoroughly enjoyable and engaging story with twists, turns, mystery, suspense, humor and just about everything else you could possibly imagine—including a dash of magic.”
~Long and Short Reviews
~*~
ABOUT A BABY
The Wild Rose Press, 2010
—Finalist in contemporary,
Southern Magic Romance Writer’s
Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence Contest.
—Finalist 2011 WisRWA
Write Touch Reader’s Contest
—Winner short contemporary, 2011,
Phoenix Desert Rose Golden Quill Contest
~
“I absolutely loved this book. It was well written and fun to get into. Just a good, sweet read, well worth my time.”
~You Gotta Read Reviews
~
“I loved ABOUT A BABY. The characters breathe life right out of the pages! It’s emotional, a page turner and leaves the reader with a smile at the end.”
~Siren Book Reviews
Dedication
To Emily and Peter:
May you, too, have a happily ever after.
Chapter One
Happily Ever After still looked like a funeral home.
The cleanup had helped some. The yard looked neater. The shutters no longer tilted at drunken angles. Tall, narrow front windows were detailed in barn red. The paint brightened the aspect of the weathered Victorian affectionately nicknamed the “Gray Lady.” Unfortunately, it also made the building look less like a wedding boutique than a haunted house with a hangover.
This morning, though, Daisy Budd had more important things on her mind than cosmetics. Today’s Renaissance re-enactment ceremony represented her maiden voyage into the brave new world of wedding planning and it had to be a slam dunk. The future of her family depended upon it.
The early morning humidity, typical for July in central Michigan, glued Daisy’s apricot-colored sundress to her back. The hair she’d straightened with such care only an hour earlier was already tightening into frizzy knots as she inserted the old-fashioned key into the big iron lock on the front door. It opened easily. Too easily. There was no resistance at all.
Daisy sucked in a harsh breath. Under normal circumstances the unlocked door wouldn’t have bothered her. Crime was so rare in Mayville the police department had essentially relocated its office to the front booth of the Buttered Biscuit.
But these weren’t normal circumstance. Not for Daisy.
The unlocked door was only the latest in a series of unsettling incidents. She’d managed to laugh off the ghostly sounds in the cellar that had sifted upward courtesy of the old laundry chute but the laughter died when she discovered a bouquet of black roses in her foyer, accompanied by a succinct suggestion that she “Rest in Peace.”
And then there were the anonymous letters.
Leave this house while you can. Get out before someone is hurt.
She shivered, despite the rising heat. She’d met with some opposition from folks around town when she’d decided to turn the old mortuary into a wedding boutique but the two anonymous letters were in a class by themselves. Someone was anxious to get Budd sisters out of the Gray Lady.
The question was why?
Daisy pushed open the door. She shut her eyes, willing the antique reception desk to be clear but her heart jerked at the sight of the plain white envelope and her fingers trembled as she scooped it up and shoved it into her oversized straw purse. Dang. She’d believed that if she ignored the stalker, he would get discouraged and give up. Her optimism hadn’t been rewarded. Perhaps it was time to go to the cops.
She sighed and forced the worry onto the backburner. Today, of all days, she needed to focus, she thought, as she headed for the curved staircase that led to her office in the former living quarters of the late J. Randolph Bowman. Someone had left the chapel door ajar. She paused briefly to admire metamorphosis of the room where she and her sisters had focused most of their efforts. Dull, gray walls were now angel’s wing-white and lacy Priscilla curtains replaced the heavy, dark drapes. Ancient, stained carpet had been pulled up and the walnut floors now shone with a high gloss. The black bier at the back was gone supplanted by a white trellis twined with cream-colored silk roses.
Like Junie said, a bride lucky enough to be married in this room would feel as if she were floating on a meringue. Daisy focused, suddenly, on the large object at the altar. Was she imagining things? Was that a coffin? She squinted, her heart rapping a fast tattoo within her chest. The casket, with its satin-lined, raised lid, looked like a gigantic, empty, jewelry box. Only it wasn’t a jewelry box. And it wasn’t empty.
****
Nick Bowman lounged against the thick trunk of a Dutch elm under a For Rent sign. He’d spent most of an hour scoping out the house across the street, his late, great Uncle Randolph’s funeral home where Nick’s occasional childhood visits had been restricted to the parlor and the chapel. There had never been any reason to study the arrangement of entrances and windows or to examine the cellar that ran the length and breadth of the house.
There was a reason now.
Damn Theo anyway.
Nick put his irritation aside and focused on his task.
Only ten feet separated the wide front por
ch from the curb which meant anyone strolling down Pine Street could see who entered or exited the Gray Lady. The carport attached to the east side of the structure hid the side entrance and the backdoor was generally concealed from view by the thick yew bushes that surrounded the back of the property.
Nick rolled his eyes as he recalled his earlier survey of the backyard. Uncle Randolph’s well-trimmed lawn remained intact but the new owner had created a courtyard effect by adding a gilt Cupid statue, benches and beds full of summer flowers. Today the place was decorated with colorful banners of unicorns and griffins and several large, wooden tables were lined up, no doubt in preparation for an outdoor feast. Nick continued the inventory.
Ground floor windows with old-fashioned latches and a storm cellar that opened into the main cellar provided any intruder with relatively easy access to the old house.
He could break in with little trouble but he preferred to gain entrance another way—through finesse and charm. He permitted himself a small grin. His approach invariably worked well with chicks and the Gray Lady’s new owner was definitely female.
Nick stepped into the shadow of the elm as a battered red Wrangler roared up the street and careened into the parking lot. The young woman who emerged reminded Nick of a flickering candle and not just because of her short stature, orange dress and unruly auburn curls. She moved with a quick, light step, like a fast-forwarded TiVo.
Did she make love at that speed?
His lips twisted. He hoped he would not have to find out. He was more than willing to use charm but he’d prefer not to stoop to seduction. A starry-eyed, small-town girl who would turn a mortuary into a wedding boutique and name it Happily Ever After was not his type.
Nick Bowman made it a practice to stay far away from romantic fools.
The boutique’s owner disappeared through the front door and he detached himself from the tree. It was time to confront Ms Budd. He’d already been in town sixty minutes longer than he liked. He figured he could wrap up this mission in forty-eight hours, twenty-four, if Ms. Budd was as gullible as she looked. And then his debt would be paid and he could leave this godforsaken place for the last time.
****
Daisy’s legs trembled but she forced herself to walk toward the body in the coffin. Was her anonymous pen pal also a murderer? Had he escalated from threatening letters to bodies? With her mind in a frenzied jumble it took a few moments for Daisy to recognize the waxy-faced figure in the black bombazine with the delicate ruching at the neckline but at length she exhaled a sigh of relief. Miss Ora Bunson looked much the way she had each of the hundreds of times she’d sat near this very spot to play There is a Balm in Gilead for Mayville’s deceased.
This was not the work of the poisonous note writer but of Miss Ora Bunson’s twin, Miss Olive. Daisy’s heart slowed to normal.
The moment of relief passed quickly as she identified a new concern. Miss Ora simply could not be present for the afternoon service. Somehow Daisy had to get rid of the body. But how? Call Goodwill?
She slipped her hand into her oversized purse. Her fingers had just closed around her cell phone when a sense of danger caused the tiny hairs on the back of her neck to stand at attention. She had seen nothing, heard nothing, smelled nothing but she knew suddenly and without a doubt she was no longer the only one in the chapel with a pulse.
Daisy forced herself to turn around to look at the man lounging in the arched doorway. The sun behind him half-shadowed his harsh features, a strong nose and determined chin, a slash of a mouth. He was a shade under six feet tall, lean and rangy with the masked tension of a predator.
Awareness shuddered through her body. His low, rough voice was the only one that had ever turned her blood to lava and her knees to butter.
Nick Bowman.
“Maybe,” he drawled, nodding at the coffin, “you should’ve called this place the Happy Hereafter.”
The butterflies in her stomach multiplied as he moved toward her. She noticed his dark hair was no longer neatly trimmed. The thick strands brushed the collar of his khaki shirt but it was the streaks of silver that grabbed her attention.
Nick Bowman was going gray.
“You get a lot of bodies these days?”
She realized she hadn’t spoken yet. She managed a careless shrug. “This is just a protest.” She realized she was making no sense but she couldn’t seem to get her thoughts unscrambled. “You know Mayville. Nobody likes change. I imagine that’s why you left.”
One dark eyebrow lifted and heat surged into Daisy’s face.
“So you know who I am.”
The recognition wasn’t mutual. What a surprise. She grinned to herself as she remembered their one and only conversation on the phone.
Her: Hello
Nick: Hey. Is Caroline there?
Her: Uh, yup.
Nick: Could I speak with her?
Her: Oh. (giggle) Sure.
Not exactly poetry.
She was certain he’d remember Caro.
“I’m Daisy Budd.” She held out a hand and he took it in his strong, warm one. The contact set off jolts of electricity that reverberated through her entire system. It clearly did not have the same effect on him. His expression was blank. She waited in vain for him to put two and two together. “Daisy Bowman,” she repeated. “You dated my sister.”
“I did?”
He really was a piece of work. She knew he’d dated plenty of women in the past six years. She’d seen the pictures online of Nick with various tall, tanned blondes hanging off of his arm but Caro was the most beautiful girl in Clark County.
“Caroline Budd.” Daisy winced at the edge in her own voice. “She was Biscuit Queen the summer you left town. Why are you here, anyway?”
“Your front door was open. I wanted to make sure everything was all right.”
The force field of testosterone that surrounded him hadn’t turned her into a complete idiot.
“You expect me to believe you flew to Michigan just to take a morning constitutional down Pine Street during which you noticed my door was open? Hah. Anyway, it wasn’t. I’m sure I shut it behind me.” Pretty sure.
He held up his hands and flashed his white teeth at her.
“The mortuary belonged to my uncle. Can you blame me for being curious about the new owner?
She studied his hard face.
“I don’t buy it.”
He shrugged. “I’m a guy. You’re a pretty girl. I followed you in here by instinct.”
Daisy narrowed her eyes. Surely he didn’t expect her to swallow a line like that. He stared back at her, his face unreadable and she felt a sudden jolt of fear. Nick Bowman wasn’t here to flirt with her. He had an agenda. And then it came to her.
“This is about buying the Gray Lady, isn’t it? I’ve already told Arthur Sneed it’s not for sale. There was no need for your family to send to California for the big guns. You wasted a trip, Mr. Bowman.”
His lashes flickered almost imperceptibly.
“Bowman’s Biscuits interest in this property has nothing to do with me. And stop calling me Mr. Bowman. My name’s Nick, Dolly.”
She cast her eyes heavenward. “Daisy,” she corrected. “Since you’re here, you can take a message to your brother. Your Aunt Isabelle sold me this property in good faith and I and my sisters have invested a lot of time and money in it. If Bowman’s Biscuits needs to expand they are going to have to do it somewhere else.” Adrenaline surged through her system. “And, while you’re at it, tell the rest of your family to lay off the anonymous letters and the rest of it. Nothing is going to change my mind.”
Even as she spoke the words she knew they weren’t true. The Bowmans were the first family in town. Surely they wouldn’t try to frighten her out of the house with anonymous letters.
The expression of honest confusion on Nick’s face bore her out.
“What anonymous letters?”
Before she could answer, the metallic notes of Mendelssohn caught her atten
tion and she fumbled for her phone then answered it in her most professional-sounding voice.
“Happily Ever After, this is Daisy.”
“This codpiece is totally unacceptable!”
Daisy winced. When her ex-brother-in-law was really agitated his high voice tended to scale into a Pavarotti-like register. It also became deafening. She infused a calming note into her own voice.
“What can I do for you, Quentin?”
“Didn’t you hear me? This codpiece is too small. I. Simply. Must. Have. Something. Bigger.” He paused between each word for emphasis. “My entire Renaissance history class will be in attendance.” He pronounced the term Re-nay-sance. “No anachronisms, Daisy. Everything must be accurate, including my proportions.”
Daisy suspected the community college students lured to the wedding by promises of extra credit would be less interested in their professor’s dimensions than in the free grog.
“You’re a knight,” she pointed out. “Your tunic will cover the codpiece.”
“Not,” he paused again for additional dramatic effect, “if I lunge.”
“Ah. Well, I see what you mean. I’ll have Junie take care of it.”
“And Daisy, I hope you remembered to get the hand-hewn, oaken benches.”
Daisy visualized the five dozen plastic chairs she’d arranged to borrow from St. Mary Star of the Sea down on Elm.
“Everything will be perfect,” she assured him. “I’ve got to go now. Lots to do.” She hung up then made a face as she noticed Nick hadn’t left. In fact, he’d drawn closer. Too close. His low, rough voice sent shivers up her spine.
“Tell him to get a cup.”
She stared. “A cup of what?”
“An athletic supporter. The kind a baseball catcher wears to protect the family jewels.”
Daisy blinked. It had never occurred to her to wonder what equipment a catcher wore to protect the family jewels. Heat rose inside her accompanied by irritation. She did not wish to discuss family jewels with Nick Bowman.
She opened her mouth to ask him, again, to leave.
“Merde!” Her younger sister’s fluting tones were accompanied by a stampede of hurried footsteps in the hall. Junie always moved at the speed of light. She exploded into the room, her tall, slim figure clad in a hot pink halter top and white shorts the size of a postage stamp. Her blonde ponytail swung freely, as if it had not a care in the world. “My deodorant is so not working! I’ve got a Secret. This stuff is worthless!”