Laced with Poison (27 page)

“Wonderful!” Emma exclaimed. “I’m sure she’s relieved.”

“She sure is. Said it’s a real load off her mind.”

“I’ll pretend to be surprised when she tells me.” Emma grinned at Brian.

He ducked his head. “Thanks.” He glanced at his watch. “Listen, Emma, do you have
a second?” He gestured toward the door of the shop. “There’s something I want to talk
to you about.”

“Sure. I’ll be right back,” Emma called over her shoulder to Arabella as Brian led
her out the front door.

They found a park bench in front of the Taffy Pull and sat down.

Brian ran a finger around the collar of his shirt. “I’ve decided to go see Amy,” he
blurted out.

Emma was startled. “Oh,” was all she could think to say.

“She claims she wants closure.” He looked at Emma out of the corner of his eye. “I
mean she just walked out one
day saying it was over between us. There’d been no indication…” He swallowed hard.

“How do you feel?” Emma asked with trepidation.

Brian threw his hands in the air. “I don’t ever want to see her again, but if this
will stop her calling me all the time.” He put his head in his hands.

“Then you should go.” She put her arm around his shoulders.

“I don’t want you to think…”

Emma shook her head. “I understand. Really,” she said when Brian continued to hesitate.

Brian gave a gigantic sigh and began to get up. “Guess I’ll be going then. I’ll call
you when I get back, okay?”

Emma smiled. “I’ll be waiting.” She stood and watched as Brian headed to his car and
then turned and went back to Sweet Nothings.

“What was that all about? Or can’t you tell me?” Arabella said when Emma returned
to the shop.

Emma couldn’t help it. A tear escaped and dribbled down her cheek. She brushed at
it impatiently. “Brian is off to see his ex, Amy. For closure.” She smiled at her
aunt. “I’m trying not to imagine Amy winning him back.”

“She won’t.” Arabella pulled a tissue from the box on the counter and handed it to
Emma. Emma wiped her eyes and nose under Arabella’s watchful eye. Her aunt’s face
looked drawn and tired, and there were circles under her eyes.

“Has there been any news about Francis?” Emma felt a sudden pang of guilt. Arabella
had her own worries.

A shadow crossed over Arabella’s face, and her shoulders sagged. She shook her head.
“No. Apparently there’s been no word from the kidnappers for several days. It doesn’t
look good.”

“Oh no!” Emma rushed to her aunt’s side and put her arms around her. She could feel
Arabella’s shoulders shake.

The door opened, and they jumped apart. Arabella squared her shoulders, lifted her
chin and glided toward the woman who had entered. “Welcome to Sweet Nothings,” she
said with barely a tremor in her voice.

Emma looked on in admiration. She knew Arabella was a strong woman. Hopefully that
strength would get her through this. If only the police would rescue Francis!

Emma took her laptop into the stockroom and set it up on Arabella’s desk. She wrinkled
her nose as she turned it on. She had some bookkeeping to do—not her favorite task.
She stifled a yawn as she scrolled through the figures. Sweet Nothings was inching
its way into the black despite her mistaking the cost of those items from Monique
Berthole. Emma still felt guilty about that, although the lingerie was selling well
and they were almost out.

Emma was entering some deposits into her spreadsheet when her cell phone rang.

“Hello,” she said without thinking, as she continued to peruse the figures in front
of her.

“Is this…” The voice hesitated. It sounded like a young man.

Emma glanced at the caller ID display, but she didn’t recognize the number. Was this
some kind of prank caller?

“Is this Emma?”

“Yes.”

“You gave me your card and told me to call this number.”

“Oh?”

“You said you wanted to know if that woman who lived next door, Crystal, came back.”

Now Emma was all ears. She had a sudden vision of a
young fellow with curly hair and gigantic Elton John–style glasses. She sat up straighter
in her chair. “Yes, I did say that.”

“Good, because that’s why I’m calling. She’s come back.”

“Is she there now?”

“Let me check.”

There was silence then the sound of footsteps in the background retreating and then
returning. “Yes, she’s here now. Saw her car outside. She’s taking stuff out of it
and bringing it back in. I remember when she left it was packed to the roof.”

Emma glanced at her watch. The shop was quiet. If Arabella could spare her, she could
run over there right now and catch Crystal before she disappeared again.

*   *   *

EMMA hated leaving Arabella alone when she was feeling so down. Hopefully tracking
down Crystal Davis wouldn’t take more than an hour.

Emma pulled into the drive leading to the Sunny Farms town house condominiums. She
passed the small clubhouse, the blue-tinted pond with a fountain spouting halfheartedly
in the middle, and finally turned into the row where Crystal lived. A car was parked
outside the center town house. Emma recognized Crystal’s bright blue door. Hopefully
that was Crystal’s car.

She drove past the silver Ford Focus and pulled up to the curb beyond. The trunk of
the car was open, and the front door of the town house was slightly ajar. It looked
as if Crystal was in the process of unpacking.

Emma held her breath as she approached the right side of the Focus. She stood and
stared for several long seconds. The right headlight was smashed, and the fender had
a huge
dent in it. Crystal had obviously hit something…or someone…with the car. Emma shuddered.
She glanced toward the door to the condo, but there was no sign of Crystal. She jumped
when a voice came toward her from behind the Focus, as Crystal backed away from the
trunk, a large box in her hands.

“What are you doing?” Crystal demanded.

Emma was at a loss for words. She sent up a prayer for inspiration.

“I wanted to ask you some questions about Sunny Days.”

Crystal’s face puckered into a frown. “That’s all over with. We agreed. I left like
I said I would.” She clutched the box in front of her protectively.

Emma struggled with her conscience. She hated upsetting people—she had been brought
up not to—but being nice wasn’t going to get her the answers she was after.

“How did you get that dent in your fender?” She tilted her head toward Crystal’s front
bumper.

Crystal’s face turned white, and she dropped the carton she was holding. Emma heard
the sound of glass or china breaking as the box hit the ground.

“I didn’t do it. And you can’t say I did. That happened before.” She pointed at the
front of her car.

“Why did you run away, then?”

“I knew the police were looking for a car that had been damaged, and I was afraid
they wouldn’t believe me. I went to stay with my sister, but with her and Ray and
the four boys living in a single-wide, she said I had to leave and take my chances,
so I came home.”

“How did you get the dent, then?”

“I don’t know.”

Emma frowned in disbelief. “You don’t
know
?”

Crystal shook her head vehemently. “I come out to the
parking lot after work, and what do I find? A big old dent in my front bumper that
wasn’t there that morning. No note on the windshield or nothing.”

“Can you prove it happened before Gladys’s death?”

Crystal tossed her head. “I don’t see why I have to prove anything to you, but I don’t
want you running around telling people I did it.” She pointed at the car. “It was
the day I loaned it to Jessica. Her own car was in the shop, and she needed to run
an errand at lunchtime. She swore up and down that the dent wasn’t there when she
brought the car back.” Crystal snorted. “I didn’t believe her, but I couldn’t prove
it, could I? Besides, she was my boss, and I didn’t know what she might do. She’d
already made my life hell enough as it was.”

“Well, I don’t suppose I can ask Jessica to confirm that, can I?” Emma ran a hand
through her hair in frustration.

“We had a big argument about it. You can ask anybody. I’m sure everyone in the place
heard us. I was that mad.”

*   *   *

EMMA returned to Sweet Nothings and thought about what Crystal had said as she served
the day’s customers. Arabella had left early saying she was tired. Emma was beginning
to worry about her in earnest.

She had offered to volunteer at Sunny Days that evening, or she would have gone straight
to Arabella’s to check on her. She gave Arabella a quick call before closing up the
shop, and Arabella insisted she was fine and that all she really needed was an early
night.

Emma didn’t really believe her, but she knew Arabella hated being fussed over. Besides,
it was movie night at Sunny Days, and Emma had agreed to help make popcorn.
They were showing an old movie,
Roman Holiday
with Audrey Hepburn, that she’d always wanted to see, so she planned to grab a seat
in back and stay for the show.

The parking lot was nearly empty, and Emma scooted into a spot up front near the door.
Clouds had rolled in, and she felt a few drops of rain splatter on her arms as she
dashed into the building. The halls were quiet as Emma headed toward the activity
room. The residents at Sunny Farms ate early and had finished dinner over an hour
ago. They were probably resting prior to the evening’s program.

A woman was already fiddling with the popcorn machine in the activity room when Emma
got there. Emma recognized her as one of Sunny Days’ longtime volunteers. She was
tall and very slim with graying hair curled tightly to her head and a pair of reading
glasses slipping down her nose.

“Do you know how this thing works?” she asked as Emma entered the room.

Emma peered into the depths of the popcorn machine.

“I’m Grace, by the way.” The woman gave Emma a sideways smile.

Emma spied a manual sticking out from under the machine and pulled it out. She read
through the directions quickly.

“First, we need to briefly preheat the machine. No more than ten or fifteen seconds.”
She located the heat switch and turned it on.

“Here’s the oil and the popcorn.” Grace handed Emma a packet and a pair of scissors.

Emma cut open one side of the packet and squeezed the coconut oil into the kettle.
It began to melt almost on contact. Then she slit open the packets of popcorn and
salt, added them and activated the motor that turned the agitator, which
kept the kernels from sticking. Shortly thereafter the sound of popping filled the
room. As soon as the popping slowed, Emma turned off the heat and dumped out the kettle.
A heat lamp would keep the popcorn warm while they dished it out.

The low murmur of voices floated down the hall, followed shortly by footsteps.

“Brace yourself,” Grace said with a smile.

Within minutes the room was buzzing with seniors lining up to get their bag of popcorn.
Emma and Grace took turns filling the small bags and handing them out. Emma helped
a few residents in wheelchairs position themselves in the area that had been left
open for them.

“Doing your good deed for the day, kid?” Sylvia came up behind Emma.

Emma smiled. Earl was right behind Sylvia, leaning heavily on his silver-headed walking
stick.

“Nice to see a pretty, young face around here.” He patted Emma on the shoulder.

Sylvia slapped him on the arm playfully. “Let’s go find a seat. It looks like we’ve
got a full house tonight.”

They moved off as the lights began to blink, signaling the start of the movie.

There was a short delay as first Missy Fanning and then a bearded young man with a
strand of beads around his neck fiddled with the computer and projection equipment,
but finally the credits to
Roman Holiday
were rolling on the screen. Emma edged her way around the assembled residents toward
an empty row in the back. She settled into a seat just as the movie began.

Emma thought it was a charming movie, and she was glad she’d stayed. Gregory Peck
was handsome enough to put today’s young actors to shame, and Audrey Hepburn was lyrical
in her performance as the runaway princess.
Emma watched, rapt, as Hepburn had her hair cut into the pixie style she made famous.
Emma put a hand to the back of her neck. No wonder Arabella always said Emma’s hairdo
reminded her of Hepburn.

Emma was thoroughly engrossed in the movie when she heard voices behind her. She swung
around in annoyance. It was Missy Fanning talking to Grace in a loud whisper. Emma
tried to turn her attention back to the movie, but their conversation kept intruding.
Suddenly several words caught her ear, and she began to listen in earnest.

She leaned back in her chair slightly while pretending to watch the movie.

“She wasn’t doing things by the book, that’s for sure,” Missy said in a whiny voice.
“I’ve had the surveyors breathing down my neck to fix half a dozen things Jessica
should have taken care of a long time ago.”

Grace made soothing noises.

“I don’t know what she did all day. File her nails?”

Grace’s voice dropped even lower, but by leaning back, Emma was able to hear her.

“Well, I heard it was those long lunches with Jimmy Calhoun that were taking up her
time.”

Emma could almost hear the smirk in her voice.

Missy made a gagging sound.

“The residents liked her, though.”

“Hmmmph.” Missy bristled. “I heard they were getting fed up with her for not doing
anything about the stealing that was going on.”

The movie suddenly got louder, and Emma was afraid she would miss what Missy and Grace
were saying. She quietly pushed her chair back as far as she dared.

“Do you know,” Missy continued, “that weeks ago Gladys Smit reported having seen Crystal
come out of one
of the resident rooms shortly before the resident reported some of their personal
property having been stolen?”