Elizabeth C. Main - Jane Serrano 02 - No Rest for the Wicked (4 page)

“
Where’s Alix?
”
I repeated.

“
Aren’t you listening?
”
Minnie paused in mid-rant to wave her arms even more
erratically.
“
I just told you.
”

“
No, you didn’t.
”
I grasped her plu
mp hands.
“
Please concentrate.
”

“
That
impossible
Arnie
Kraft
took her to the station … about that
man’s
murder.
”

“
What?
”
The sprinklers clicked to life on the lawn, injecting some normalcy into the bizarre scene.
“
Why?
”

Minnie shrugged her ample shoulders. Bianca and Tyler
looked bewildered.

I was completely at a loss,
too,
crazy thoughts whirling in the silence until my gaze encountered the front
-page
picture from yesterday’s
Journal
, still lying on the counter. I dropped Minnie’s hands and stepped back.
“
Ha ha. Nice try. The new marketing plan, right? You know, you almost got me this time.
”

Tyler and Bianca looked blank, but they were better at jokes than Minnie, so I rounded on her, expecting a telltale glimmer of humor in her blue eyes. Nothing. Minnie’s flushed face
merely re
flected outrage at Arnie
’s attitude. This was no joke.

“
G
et her some water. Here, Minnie, sit down before you have a stroke.
”
As I eased
Minnie
onto the floor
,
her back against the door frame, the sprinklers continued to whir in
orderly circles. How soothing to sit there and listen, while the tranquility of my life evaporated faster than the droplets falling on the lawn.

Minnie, Tyler, and Bianca watched for my response. Even Wendell stared at me. The tick, tick, tick of the sprinklers almost obscured Tyler’s whispered comment.

“
Here we go again
.
”

Chapter 2

Minnie’s words came firmly.
“
You’ll straighten it out, Jane.
”
No question.

It’d been a long day, and Minnie’s attitude hit me exactly wrong. I
aimed for patience and lost.
“
Well, Minnie, why don’t you just run down to the
station
,
and
solve things
yourself?
”

Minnie leaned back, a look of bewilderment on her usually smiling face.
“
Why I … I just thought that once I told you . .
.
”
I knew for the first time how it must feel to kick a puppy. Minnie’s full lower lip quivered.
“
You’re her best friend, and, besides, you always know what to do.
”

My impatience melted. I put my arms around her and patted her broad back.
“
Sorry I snapped at you. You just … just took me by surprise.
”

Minnie accepted my inane apology on the spot, straightening up to fumble in her voluminous straw bag for a handkerchief. She blew her nose vigorously, happy again now that the natural order had been restored to the world.
“
That’s okay, Jane. I understand. It was my fault for not explaining the situation better.
”
Clarity of thought was not Minnie’s forte, but at least she looked hopeful again, which was about all I could ask for.
“
Well, it’s a good thing we settled that. We have work to do. Remember, ‘If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?’
”

“
Another Bible verse.
”
Tyler rolled his eyes.

Minnie sprinkled conversation with random, often incomprehensible, Bible verses as plentiful as raisins in her oatmeal cookies. Sometimes she even mixed in lines from Shakespeare that she felt ought to have been in the Bible. The sly smile on her face now invited me to challenge this one, tipping me to the likelihood she was on firm ecclesiastical ground today. I didn’t rise to the bait, but Bianca did.

“
What does it mean?
”

“
Why bless you, child. It’s First Corinthians 14:8,
”
Minnie said, with a nod in my direction
.
“
A
nd it means we need to pull together to get Alix out of the clink.
”

“
Coulda fooled me,
”
Tyler said.

“
There’s no rest for the wicked, you know,
”
Minnie said.
“
I’m paraphrasing now, Jane, so don’t expect another citation. It’s somewhere in Isaiah. Anyway, here we are. The Murder of the Month Book Club is ready to ride to the rescue, almost exactly like last year, only it was Bianca in jail that time instead of Alix. Same miscarriage of justice though.
”
Minnie’s eyes sparkled.
“
Let’s saddle up.
”

“
Whoa!
”
I had to stop the stampede now. I’d been down this trail before with Minnie and the John Wayne dialogue was an ominous sign.
“
What miscarriage of justice? Alix is simply being questioned. Probably some mistake. And you remember what happened last year. Arnie won’t appreciate another scene like that a
t the clink, as you call it.
”

“
Oh.
”
Minnie frowned at the memory, caught between her zest for action and her knowledge that I was the acknowledged super sleuth. For once, discretion won the day.
“
But you’ll straighten thing
s out.
”
Again, not a question.

“
Don’t get your hopes too high. I got lucky.
”

“
Mom, you caught a murderer!
”
Bianca chimed in.
“
You jumped out a—
”

“
Different situation,
”
I reminded them, though without much hope. They had long since dismissed my disclaimer as modesty, so they merely smiled patiently and waited for me to fix things.
“
Okay, I’m going. But first, did anything unusual happe
n at the Wedding Belle today?
”

“
The cash register b
alanced,
”
Bianca said promptly.

“
Excellent,
”
I said encouragingly. With Bianca, the handling of money was often a challenge.
“
Anything else? Maybe late in the afternoon?
”

“
Well, let’s see. Alix and I were talking about how many flowers have to die each time there’s a wedding. She thinks I’m silly to worry about that, of course, but it bothers me to cut them off in their prime. On the other hand, silk flowers are so expensive.
”

“
Bianca?
”
I interrupted as gently as possible.
“
I meant something that might have had a bearing on why Arnie might want to question Alix.
”

“
I can’t think of anything. Mrs. Starrett was going over samples for Amy’s bridesmaids’ dresses, but she does that about three times a week, so it wasn’t unusual. I don’t think she’s ever going to make a decision, but she studies every sample each time, so Alix told me I might as well come along to the meeting.
”
She shrugged.
“
Alix had to wait for Minnie anyway.
”

Minnie took over.
“
Jeannette Starrett had left
,
and Alix was locking up by the time I arrived. I don’t know whether she settled on a sample this time
,
either, but she was gone. Arnie pulled his cruiser up to the curb right behind me. Didn’t say hello or anything. Just told Alix she needed to come to the
station
so he could talk to her. Brady Newman was with him
,
and he was being very official, too, calling him Sheriff Kraft instead of Arnie, and
he
didn’t even look at me. I’ve known him since he was five years old
,
and it’s the first time that ever happened.
”

“
Arnie
just
wanted to talk to Alix
.
”
Brady’s reaction to his old Sunday school teacher did sound odd, but I stuck to the main point.
“
That’s not
so bad.
”

“
That’s exactly what Alix
said
, though she seemed a little pale to me. Maybe it was just the light though. She made a joke out of it—you know how she does—and asked whether Brady just wanted an excuse to get her into his patrol car, and he blushed—you know how he does—but he went all formal, saying this was official business. And then I guess Arnie didn’t think Alix was taking them seriously enough because he got mad and sort of grab
bed
Alix by the arm. ‘You think a murder investigation’s funny?’ Alix pulled away and said,
‘
No, but the idea of you running one sure is
.’
That did it. Arnie got real red and then Brady stepped between them and asked, real nice, like his regular self again, if Alix would please get in the car.
She smiled and went all friendly, ‘Well, of course I will, Brady,’ and they left. I came straight here.
”

I made more
reassuring noises, but pri
vately I wondered
what was going on.
Whatever
it was, I knew better than
to feed Minnie’s fascination with
the dramatic.

Bianca
looked stricken
.
“
You know, maybe Alix has been worried about something. She actually forgot about a client appointment yesterday, and that wasn’t like her at all. And she’s smoking more again.
”

Not
a good omen, since Alix had been proud she’d cut down. And
forgetting
an appointment?
Completely out of character.
“
But she hasn’t said anything?
”

“
No. You don’t suppose she’s sick or something
?
Wouldn’t she have to
ld you if something was wrong?
”

“
Maybe, but y
ou work with her every day.
”

“
S
he doesn’t ever talk about personal stuff, you know, like confiding about guys or anything. We just work together. You’re her
friend
.
”

Bianca apparently knew even less about Alix than I did. Now that I thought about it,
how much did I know
about Alix
?
She
typically stuck to mundane topics and
rarely volunteered information about herself. Beyond making a few caustic remarks, she hadn’t ever discussed the irony of owning a bridal shop when her multiple marriages had been, by her own admission, total disasters. Reluctant to pry into an obviously sensitive subject, I had always put her reticence down to a general disappointment with life. She had been a staunch friend to all of us over the past year, and great fun to have in the book club, but I
realized how little I really knew her. I
certainly didn’t know much about her innermost thoughts.
But of
one thing I was certain. Alix was no more lethal than I was, except perhaps with stinging quips. What kind of craziness was it to question her about a murder?
I gave myself a mental shake.
Far better to
check this out myself than to leave everyone stirred up.
“
You’re right.
I’ll just run
down to
the station
.
Shouldn’t take long
to straighten this out
.
”

Minnie clapped her hands, all smiles again.
“
Everything’s going to be fine now. Shall we start the meeting later, after Jane gets Alix, or just wait until tomorrow?
”

“
I’m supposed to meet Nick later,
”
I said
.
“
So
if we’re running late, maybe tomorrow would be better.
”

“
Oh ho. Then by all means, let’s meet tomorrow.
”
Minnie was all for romance.
“
Tyler, could you help me carry the gingerbread guns I have in the car?
”

Watching Minnie and Tyler amble down the sidewalk, I wondered how many of the guns would make it
from the car to the cookie jar.

“
I k
new we could count on you,
Mom. And
now that
the meeting’s off
,
I can run back to the Wedding Belle to see a lady who wanted to meet with Wendell tonight.
”

Amazing, the ease with which order had been restored for everyone. I flashed back to the days when a kiss on my daughter’s skinned knee could make everything all better. Bianca apparently still had perfect faith in my ability to work magic, right up to and including getting a friend out of jail.
I wish I had the same optimism.
D
read
lurked in the corners of my mind, whispering that s
omething wasn’t right.
“
Sure. Wendell has an appointment?
”

“
To test colors. You know, for a special collar to match some bridesmaids’ dresses. No, not the Starrett wedding.
”

I looked at the all-black dog. Should be easy to accessorize, no matter what the bridal color palette.
Maybe if I concentrated on Wendell, the fact that my friend was being questioned about a murder wouldn’t see
m
so surreal.
Bending down to pat Wendell’s sleek head, I murmured,
“
Fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You even have to work nights.
”
My hand encountered a folded paper attached to his collar.
“
What’s this?
”

Bianca clapped her hand to her mouth.
“
Nick told me to deliver it the minute I got here. Sorry, in all the excitement . .
.
”

“
No problem. You’ve delivered it now.
”