Carnations and Deadly Fixations
Page 8
“So spill it already!” Rose added as they sat to talk.
“I just got word that they made an arrest.”
“Oh, God….not that poor John White, I hope.” Rose said.
“No, but thanks for playing, Aunt Rose. You have a guess, Tiffany?” Tracy replied with a chortle.
“Um…it seems too obvious…but not all that surprising if I am right…but Emily Maher?”
“Ooooh…so close, but no cigar I am afraid. Johnny, can you tell our young contestant what she won as our consolation prize?”
“Man, you are full of yourself today, Tracy.” Rose said. “How about you end the suspense and just tell us.”
“OK…OK…ready? Roger Fullerton!”
“Fullerton?” Rose exclaimed. “There must be a great story behind this.”
“As a matter of fact there is, and yours truly is the one who broke the case!”
They both gaped at her and sat back to hear the details.
“It was after he dropped by our booth at the summer fete, on Saturday, to run Emily off and then supposedly chat about doing business with us.”
She filled them in on all the specifics of what Fullerton had said to her about seeing her around town running in her neon green running shoes and his off-hand comment about Becky not being willing to “play ball”. Also, how he phrased Emily’s tirade against them as the “last nail in the Blooming Bouquets’ coffin. How once she had passed all that along to Detective Copeland, he had taken over from there.
“What really sealed it, though,” Tracy continued, “was when Fullerton said he had seen me running in my neon green running shoes around Fern Grove, in the daylight.”
“How so?” Rose asked.
“Well…the only time I ever wear those neon green shoes—which I find a bit hideous by the way—is at night because they are highly reflective. The only way he could have known about those shoes was to have seen me up on that ridge at night. And when Copeland and his team searched Fullerton’s house, they found my missing shoe.”
“Man…it really hurts when a great-looking guy like that goes bad!” Tiffany said with a snort.
They all three burst out laughing.
“So, as calm and collected and suave as Roger tried to appear all the time, I guess he saw he was trapped and he confessed.”
“Wow!” Rose exclaimed, “just like that?”
“Well….not right away, but when Copeland told him they had his prints on a leather jacket that Becky was wearing, I guess he saw there was no way out. He did admit to pushing Becky off of Lawson Cliff, that night, when she refused his offer to buy Blooming Bouquets, but he claimed it was an accident.”
“I never would have thought Roger capable of such a thing.” Rose offered.
“But that’s not the really creepy part.” Tracy replied.
“There’s more?” Tiffany asked.
“There is. Roger, it appears, was having trouble with some of his big corporate clients who were squeezing his margins and thereby rendering his business unprofitable. Roger’s apparent solution to his dilemma was to take over the floral shops in town. Becky White, it seems, wasn’t playing ball and sadly, she paid the ultimate price for it. I guess he saw the potential In Season had, when he attended our grand re-opening.”
“Seems as if your stalker concerns were not so far-fetched after all.” Rose interjected.
“I guess not.”
“Before you came back from Portland, when things were not so great at In Season, I do recall Roger pitching me an offer to buy the shop, but I told him I would have to think it over. I forgot all about that until just now.”
“Are you thinking Tracy maybe became a target when she came back to help you get In Season back on track? No offense intended, Rose.” Tiffany asked.
“None taken, dear. I am well aware of what shape the shop was in back then. No idea for sure, but it does seem likely.”
*************
Meanwhile, across Fern Grove other pieces of the puzzle were falling into place following the public announcement that Roger Fullerton had been arrested for the murder of Becky White. Despite his nefarious plot, Fullerton had been right about one thing. Emily’s little tantrum at the summer fete had indeed been the death toll for Blooming Bouquets. Ever since that day, it was rare to see more than one or two people a day in the shop and John White finally stepped in. He summarily dismissed Emily from any association with the shop and told her it was likely she would be hearing from his lawyer about her being responsible for the collapse of the once viable business. That might or might not happen, John told close friends, but he had always despised Emily Maher and figured putting a little fear into her heart was appropriate.
In fact, John was thrilled that Blooming Bouquets had tanked. He had never been more than a figure head from the beginning and had never had any real interest in it. It was now the last reminder to him of what a sham of a marriage he and Becky had shared. A few months later, he put up the space for sale and a new tenant moved in offering homemade ice cream and sorbet and gelato. John liked that, —he loved ice cream and Fern Grove really could use a shop like that. Following the closing of the sale, John packed up the house and just disappeared without much of a word to anyone. While many thought it was because he was so distraught over Becky’s murder and did not want to stay in the place where she had been killed, Tracy knew better. She knew John was moving on to perhaps try and recoup the dreams he felt he had been cheated out of in Fern Grove.
The one person other than John White who benefited financially from the liquidation of Blooming Bouquets—besides perhaps In Season, indirectly—was Morgan Riley, the long-time suffering assistant to Becky and then Emily at Blooming Bouquets. John had been well aware of how shabbily both Becky and Emily had treated her, and how Morgan desperately needed the extra money to get by until her husband returned from what was hopefully his last deployment with the army. Just before he left Fern Grove for good, he dropped by Morgan’s apartment and slipped a check in an envelope under her door with a note. He did not want her to try and refuse his offer, and knowing her pride he was sure she would see his gift as charity. In fact, he made this clear in the note, just to reinforce his reasons:
Morgan,
Do not mistake this gift for charity. Other than myself, no one in Fern Grove has suffered at the heavy hand of Becky White more than you. Then when Emily waltzed in and thought she was taking over, I know it got worse for you. I have always admired you for doing whatever it took to give your kids everything possible in Larry’s absence. Though it is empty words these days for our servicemen overseas, I will offer my thanks to him as well for his dedication and service. I did not want to see you left out in the cold with nothing once I sold off the shop, so please take this as an apology for my wife and Emily. Take it and use it as you see fit and I wish you nothing but the best.
John White
Pastor Kevin Butler continued serving as the spiritual leader and advisor to many in Fern Grove in the aftermath as well, and to his surprise he even saw Tracy Adams, from time to time, as a new parishioner. He did not know if this was simply a show of good faith—please excuse the pun— for his hiring them on as the church’s floral supplier or if the whole ordeal in the Becky White murder case had perhaps shaken something in her to return her to her faith. He just felt extra blessed to see her whenever the notion struck her.
**************
“I’m just glad the whole thing is over,” Tracy said with a sigh, “and we can get back to normal here in Fern Grove.”
“That makes two of us, Tracy,” Rose replied, “I cannot thank you enough for all your encouragement and enthusiasm to help me get In Season on the move again. It was once my life’s blood, and I think all it needed was a pair of fresh eyes, a new perspective, and lots of energy.”
“Thanks, Aunt Rose, but I must say it has been a wild ride, even without being considered a suspect in a murder case.”
“One other thing, Tracy?”
“Yes?”
>
“I’m not going anywhere for a while, but the day is coming around the corner where I will have to turn over the reins to a new owner. And I know who would be perfect.”
“Really?”
“Yes…you!”
Tracy was initially speechless, but once she really considered her aunt’s offer, the idea felt right. She had been so anxious to escape from the small-town vibe of Fern Grove to get to the big city to be a corporate executive one day, she had forgotten why she loved her hometown so much. Coming back and reconnecting with everyone had reminded her of that and also reminded her of how soured she still was on her experiences in Portland.
“If you think I’ve got what it takes, Aunt Rose, I’d love to learn the business and take over one day. Our little shop helps its customers preserve old memories and build new ones. It would be my honor to uphold that tradition.”
“Now, that’s a word in season.” Rose said, looking proudly at her niece.
The End
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