“Planned that,” Scott said, with a smile that faded when our aunt stepped out into the hall.
“Scott Webber, it’s about time you showed up. We were worried sick.”
He lifted his hands in a remorseful gesture. “Sorry. I couldn’t contact anyone. Orders.”
Aunt Lydia tapped her foot against the hardwood floor. “Next time, I expect some sort of warning. Even if it’s simply that you’ll be out of touch for a while.”
Scott hung his head. “I promise. Am I forgiven?” As he lifted his head, I couldn’t help but notice the sparkle in his dark eyes. “At least enough to join the dinner party? The aromas are tantalizing.”
“I suppose,” Aunt Lydia said with a sniff. But her eyes were just as bright. “Come along and help Amy and me carry the dishes into the dining room.” As Scott and I followed her to the kitchen, she called over her shoulder. “Your parents are here. You’ll have to explain yourself to them—don’t expect me to help you with that.”
“I’ll take the hit,” Scott said, shooting me a conspiratorial grin.
After we carried the food into the dining room and Scott received both hugs and hectoring from my parents, I took a seat at the table between Richard and my mother.
“Glad to see I won’t have to scrounge up another groomsman,” Richard said, motioning with his wineglass at Scott, who was seated across the table from us, next to Aunt Lydia.
“I promise not to disappear again. Not before the wedding, anyway. Which is only a week away, you know.” Scott winked at Richard. “Scared yet?”
“Not at all.” Richard draped his free arm across the back of my chair. “I’m only worried that Amy will get so involved in helping with this latest murder mystery that she’ll forget to show up.”
I leaned back against his arm. “Not going to happen. I’d have to be locked up somewhere to miss out on marrying you.”
“It’s happened before. The locked-up part, I mean.” Richard looked down at me, his gray eyes sparkling with good humor. “Let’s try to avoid that this time.”
I crossed my heart. “I promise to do my best.”
“So, Scott,” Karla said, “it seems you’re almost as mysterious as my enigmatic sponsor, Kurt Kendrick.”
Scott raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t realize Kendrick was your benefactor, Karla.”
Karla brushed a lock of her silky hair behind her ear. “One of them. Kurt’s donated a considerable amount to support my work with physically and emotionally challenged young dancers.”
“I didn’t know that either,” Mom said, fixing Karla with a thoughtful gaze. “He is quite a puzzle. Sometimes I think he’s the most gracious man alive, but then there are other times when I catch a glimpse of his expression and get the shivers.”
“He’s definitely a man of mystery,” Richard said. “Although perhaps we need to reserve that term for Scott now.”
“But that’s due to Scott’s job, not a natural inclination to be secretive.” Dad swirled his wine before lifting the glass. “Anyway, enough of that. I propose a toast prior to digging into this delicious food. To Amy and Richard,” he said.
Everyone followed suit, repeating his toast, with Sunny adding, “Here’s to my bestie and her beau.”
I rubbed at my nose, using my hand to hide the blush rising in my face. “Thanks. But let’s also thank Aunt Lydia for this lovely dinner.”
“I’ll second that,” said a voice from the hall.
Turning in my chair, I spied Hugh in the doorway, with Fred Nash standing behind him.
“I hope I’m still invited?” Hugh asked, his focus on my aunt.
“Of course.” Despite the coolness of her tone, Aunt Lydia’s face betrayed her true feelings. Happiness mixed with caution brightened her blue eyes.
Hugh strolled over to an empty chair next to Scott. “I brought Fred along. I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“It’s perfectly fine.” Aunt Lydia looked down, arranging her linen napkin across her lap.
Sunny waved Fred over. “There’s an extra chair there against the wall. Just pull it up to the table next to me. I can scoot over a little.”
Aunt Lydia shifted and dug her fingernails into the tablecloth, as if bracing herself before standing. “We’ll need an additional place setting …”
“I’ll get it, dear. You’ve done quite enough for one day,” Zelda said, before rising to her feet and bustling out of the room.
Hugh surveyed the laden table before casting Aunt Lydia a quick glance. “It all looks delicious, as always. I’m looking forward to enjoying the meal, as well as the company.”
My aunt finally lifted her head and met his steady gaze. “As am I.”
While the food was passed around the table, Zelda entertained us with a story from her childhood, one that also included mentions of Aunt Lydia and Walt.
“So your big sister wasn’t always the picture of respectability?” Dad asked, nudging my mom with his elbow as he handed her a basket of dinner rolls.
“Hardly. Why, there was the one time I remember …” Mom caught a glimpse of Aunt Lydia’s icy glare and tightened her lips. “But that’s all in the past. Why don’t we enjoy this amazing food and talk about other things? Like a certain upcoming wedding, for example.”
“Or the bachelor party?” Walt said with a smile. “Do you have anything special planned to surprise Richard, Scott? Oh, and Karla too, I guess, since she is filling the best man’s role.”
Karla widened her eyes. “If we told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
Richard paused with a forkful of broccoli poised halfway between his plate and his mouth. “Let me clear up one thing right now. I thought we all agreed that there isn’t going to be any bachelor party.”
“Or so you think.” Karla batted her eyes at him over the rim of her water glass.
Richard pointed his fork at her. “I said I didn’t want one, and I meant it.”
“Hmmmm, I heard that. But then Scott and I had an idea that even you might approve of, Mr. Stick-in-the-Mud.”
Richard placed the fork on his plate with a clang. “You’ll have to drag me to any such event. Which means you’ll have to find me first.”
Scott grinned. “Kind of my specialty.”
Richard muttered something under his breath while Sunny laughed.
I glanced at her. “I hope you aren’t planning to surprise me as well. We also agreed—no silly party. I think I’m a little too old for all that nonsense.”
Sunny held up her hands. “I’m innocent of any scheming, I swear. We’re still going on that hike Wednesday instead of having a party. Although”—she flashed a smile at Karla—“I might be convinced to help you and Scott with your surprise.”
Richard turned to me, dramatically widening his eyes. “They’re all ganging up on me.”
I patted his hand. “Don’t worry. I’m sure my brother and your best friend wouldn’t do anything that might embarrass you …” I lifted my fingers and pressed them briefly to my lips before adding, “What am I saying? Of course they would. You’ll just have to bear it, I’m afraid.”
Most of the people around the table laughed at this, although I noticed that Fred appeared preoccupied. He wasn’t really looking at anyone, just using his fork to shove cooked carrots around on his plate.
Strangely, I noticed that he seemed distracted throughout the meal, barely speaking two words to Sunny, who kept shooting him concerned glances from under the golden fringe of her lowered lashes. Everyone else, including Hugh and Aunt Lydia, relaxed after the banter about the bachelor party turned into a discussion of other aspects of the wedding, but Fred remained on edge.
Sunny and Zelda helped Aunt Lydia clear the table, insisting that I stay seated.
“This is a party celebrating you and Richard, so you should just enjoy yourselves,” Zelda chided when I protested.
“Perhaps Nick and Scott can carry in the gifts after I serve the coffee and cake. You can open them at the table once it’s cleared,
” Aunt Lydia said. “I believe you brought them all over earlier, didn’t you, Richard?”
“They’re in the sitting room,” Richard said, looking over at me. “Except for that odd one we already opened.”
“That’s right, the antique necklace. Hold on, let me grab that from my room. Maybe someone here will have a clue as to who sent it.” I sprang up from my chair and headed out into the hall as Richard explained how we’d discovered the strange, unmarked box among our other gifts.
When I returned to the dining room clutching the white jewelry box, I was pleased to see that Hugh had left the room with Aunt Lydia.
“He offered to help her with the coffee and cake,” Mom said, but I could tell by her expression that she hoped, as I did, that her sister and Hugh were finally having the conversation that would restore their relationship.
This hope seemed to be answered when, after serving the coffee, Aunt Lydia asked Scott to slide over one seat to allow her to sit next to Hugh.
My mom side-eyed me and flashed a smile as Hugh pressed his fingers over the hand my aunt had laid on the table.
“Before we all become distracted by this delicious cake and the gifts, I want to apologize. Publicly, to you”—Hugh intertwined my aunt’s fingers with his and gave them a squeeze before looking around the table—“but also to others here. I should have been honest and given you fair warning about my investigation into Kurt Kendrick. I realize he’s someone who many of you know well. That was thoughtless of me.”
Fred cleared his throat and settled back in his chair, leaving his cake untouched. “I need to apologize as well. I’ve already explained this to Hugh, but the truth is, I haven’t been entirely honest either.”
“Oh?” Sunny swiveled to face him. “About what, exactly?”
“Why I’m in Taylorsford,” Fred said, tearing his gaze away from her to look across the table. “I explained all this to Hugh on the drive here, and I suspect he was about to confess the truth to you, Ms. Talbot, but I think I should do so instead. My lies had nothing to do with Hugh. He shouldn’t take the blame.”
“I’m not sure I understand, Mr. Nash,” my aunt said. “Are you admitting you lied to Hugh as well as to the rest of us?”
“I did. Well”—Fred fiddled with the cake fork, absently tapping it against the tablecloth—“I didn’t exactly lie. I just didn’t tell him, or any of you, the whole truth. You see, I took the job with Hugh under false pretenses. I agreed to help him dig into Kurt Kendrick’s business operations to hopefully discover any irregularities, but that wasn’t my main focus …”
“It was a convenient cover,” Scott said dryly.
“Very true, just like your family visit.” Fred’s tone held a razor edge.
Scott took a long sip of wine instead of replying.
“Anyway, just like Scott, I’m part of a team of investigators and federal agents—a task force established to track down a specific individual. It just so happens that assisting Hugh’s investigation allowed me the opportunity to hide my true mission.” Fred glanced at Sunny, who was eyeing him with a dubious expression. “Not that I didn’t do the work that Hugh requested, I just combined it with other activities.”
I cast Fred a sympathetic glance before focusing my gaze on Scott. “You told me some of this already but haven’t really said whether you think Oscar Selvaggio’s death is tied up in this investigation in any way.”
“Because I’m not sure that it is,” Scott said. “Except in a very peripheral sense. But enough shop talk. Let me grab those gifts so we can continue to enjoy the festivities.” As he stood, Scott shot Fred a warning glance.
He obviously doesn’t want him sharing any more information on the case, I thought. Which I could understand. If Fred wanted to explain more about his recent activities to Sunny later, that would probably be okay, but I had to agree with Scott about not sharing everything with the entire group of guests.
Walt joined my dad and Scott as they left the room, saying, “Another pair of hands can’t hurt.”
“Especially since there’s quite a tidy little pile of gifts, from what I saw earlier,” Zelda said.
“Including this one, which is the mystery.” I popped open the lid and held up the jeweler’s box, moving it from side to side so that everyone could see the necklace nestled inside. “Does anyone have a clue as to who gave us this?”
Despite murmurs about the uniqueness of the pendant, no one spoke up with any knowledge about where it had come from.
“I think you’re going to have to ask Fiona,” Aunt Lydia said. “As I’ve said before, it could have been one of her acquaintances. I know she likes antique jewelry, so maybe a few of her friends do as well.”
“I guess that’s our only option at this point,” I said, snapping the lid closed and setting the box on the table. Despite my curiosity, I’d avoided mentioning the necklace to my future mother-in-law. If one of her friends had sent it and we didn’t have the card, I was sure she’d blame us, not the giver. But then again, she did pay off our catering bill. I glanced up at Richard. “I’ll ask her next time we see her.”
“Which won’t be until the rehearsal dinner, I’m afraid,” he said. “But as long as we can eventually track down the sender to thank them, I guess the timing doesn’t really matter.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Aunt Lydia said firmly. “Now—let’s get to this unwrapping, shall we?” She motioned for Scott, Dad, and Walt to deposit the gifts on the table.
“Just a minute.” My mom dug through the purse she’d set on the floor next to her chair before holding up a small notebook and pen. “I thought I’d write down each gift and the name of the giver. That way there won’t be any more chances of misplacing a card or anything like that.”
“Good idea,” I said, before handing Richard one of the wrapped boxes. “Here, you start.”
After that, the conversation focused on admiring the gifts, although there were a few items, like the Dresden china figurine of a milkmaid and cow, that elicited some humorous comments.
Sunny wrinkled her nose. “What do you do with that?”
“Thank the person kindly and then donate it to the next library yard sale,” I said.
“That’s dangerous, don’t you think?” Karla asked. “I mean, if the person who sent it sees it in a local sale …”
“I doubt they will. I suspect it’s from someone in Fiona’s social circle.” I held out the card for Richard to examine.
“It is,” he said. “And knowing this woman, she’s probably just regifting anyway.”
“Really?” Zelda batted her eyelashes. “Your mother’s friends would do a thing like that? It’s so tacky.”
“My mother’s friends definitely would. Which is why they aren’t really my friends,” Richard replied.
“But, to be fair, Fiona surprised us recently, in a nice way.” I shared a smile with Richard. “Believe it or not, she actually paid off our catering bill. The entire remaining amount.”
“That is …” My dad appeared to be searching for the appropriate word. “Very generous.”
“Extremely,” Aunt Lydia said. “But as I’ve said before, I think Fiona actually does approve of you, Amy. And your marriage.”
“Which is really one of the best gifts she could give us,” Richard said, his expression sobering.
I leaned over and placed my head on his shoulder. “I am prepared to like her for that reason alone.”
“A mother wants what’s best for her children, at least if she’s any kind of mother at all,” my mom said. “I feel blessed that Amy and Richard have found one another. Now”—she cast Scott a sly look—“we just have to find the right person for my other child.”
“Working on it,” Scott said, which made both my mom and dad sit up in the chairs and turn to stare at him. “Early days,” he added, before taking a sip of coffee. “But I do have a date for the wedding.”
“So do I.” Sunny glanced over at Fred, her eyes very bright. “I hope.”
He slid his arm around her shoulders. “Absolutely.”
“So I’m the only poor soul without a plus one?” Karla fluffed her bobbed hair. “Not that I mind, especially if Amy will share Richard for a few of the dances.”
“Of course. Just not the first one.” I gave her a surreptitious wink.
Aunt Lydia shifted in her chair. “To be honest, I’m not sure of my status either, Karla.”
“Don’t worry, my dear,” Hugh said, taking her hand again. “I still plan to be your date, if you’ll have me.”
She turned to him, a brilliant smile illuminating her lovely face. “I will.”
Which was close enough to “I do” to make everyone in the room share conspiratorial, but delighted, glances.
Chapter Twenty-Three
On Sunday, I decided to escape. The house felt so full of people, and even though they were people I loved, the closeness was getting on my nerves, already frayed by wedding preparations.
I asked Richard to come with me, but he said he had to run an errand. I was a little miffed until Dad pulled me aside and told me Richard had confided that he was actually driving into the city to pick up a special wedding gift he’d had made for me.
“I guess I’ll forgive him then,” I told my father with a smile.
“I think you’d better.” Dad gave me a hug before I headed outside.
It was a beautiful May day. The sky was so clear that it held only a hint of blue, and the fully leafed-out trees offered counterpoints of emerald and jade. I strolled down the cracked cement sidewalk toward the center of town, noting the spray-painted lines marking the areas that were to be replaced, on Sunny’s initiative, with brick pavers. She was making good on her promise to repair and replace the aged sidewalks with walkways that would blend in with the historic nature of the town.
I passed the library and continued on to the edge of the historic district, where a sprawling brick building separated the quainter part of town from the more modern section and its strip of auto repair shops, car dealerships, pizza and burger joints, and dollar stores.
The Taylorsford Inn was located in a renovated mill. The owners had seamlessly incorporated the original structure, complete with its now stationary waterwheel, into a two-story hotel. The newer section housed the guest rooms, but the owners had converted the mill into a restaurant and meeting rooms. There was also a shop that sold handicrafts, mountain music CDs, photographs and paintings of the area, and even a few dulcimers and other instruments built by local craftsman Delbert Frye. Richard and I had actually considered renting out the restaurant for our reception until the quoted cost had sent us scurrying back to the idea of using Aunt Lydia’s garden.
A Deadly Edition Page 22