Death Waxed Over - Tim Myers [46]
“No, he didn’t arrest me, but he probably wanted to. He’s after Pearly, though. There’s going to be an article in tomorrow’s paper about him, and the sheriff wants to find him first.”
“Poor Pearly,” she said.
“I made the mistake of saying the newspaper was running the sheriff’s department. I thought he was going to arrest me on the spot.”
Millie said, “You probably shouldn’t have done that.”
“I know, but who knew he’d be so touchy?”
“During the last election, there were complaints that Morton received too much press, and that Coburn was barely mentioned at all, even though he was the incumbent. The sheriff’s been kind of touchy since then.”
“Wonderful. I seem to always manage to say exactly the wrong thing.”
“You couldn’t know, Harrison. So what are we going to do about Pearly?” She picked up the candle I’d shown Eve and spun it in her hands.
“We can hope he stays away until this blows over,” I said.
“We’ve got to do more than that. Harrison, you need to get to the bottom of this. You’re good at puzzles. You should look into this.”
“I’ve been so busy trying to clear my own name, I haven’t had time to think about Pearly.”
Millie said, “Well, you’d better start. We can’t lose him, Harrison; he’s the glue that holds this place together.”
“I’ll do what I can,” I said.
She studied the candle a moment more, then put it back on the display table. “That’s a lovely candle. Was it one of Belle’s?”
“I made it myself,” I admitted.
“My, you’re getting quite good at it.”
I picked the candle up and handed it to her.
She said, “What’s this?”
“Accept it as a token of my friendship and appreciation,” I said.
“Oh, Harrison, I can’t do that. You sell these.”
“And you sell your muffins, Pan Dowdies and everything else you let me sample. Come on, Millie, it would mean a lot to me.”
She nodded. “Thank you, Harrison. I’ll display it on my counter, and tell everyone where I got it.”
I laughed. “Hey, I wasn’t looking for free advertising.”
“Just consider it a bonus, then.”
After she was gone, I worked until closing selling a few supplies but barely making enough to pay the electric bill. At least there was enough to deposit, something I wouldn’t have bet on a few days earlier. I made out the slip, locked the candleshop and drove into town to get the money into the bank’s night deposit. While I was in town, I decided to swing by Erin’s on the off chance she was in. Unfortunately, the lights were off at her rental place, and though we’d been building something, a friendship or a budding relationship or what I wasn’t sure, I wasn’t ready to just show up on her doorstep.
There was someone I could visit unannounced, though.
When I pulled into Wayne’s driveway, I was happy to see his car parked there. With his new girlfriend, he hadn’t had much time for me, but it looked like I was in luck.
I had to ring the doorbell twice before he answered.
“Hey, what’s up? Did we have something planned tonight?” he asked.
“No, I just thought I’d drop in and grace you with my presence. Come on, there’s got to be some kind of game somewhere on television. Let’s watch it.”
In the background, I heard a woman’s voice calling out, “Wayne? Who is it?”
I started to back away. “Sorry, I should have called first.”
“No, it’s all right,” he said. “Come on in. You really should meet Nichole.”
“Another time,” I said as I headed back to my truck.
“Sorry,” he called out.
“Not a problem.”
Of course I should have realized he’d be with his new girlfriend. I drove back to River’s Edge and decided to find that game on television myself. That all changed suddenly, though. As I drove up to the complex, I saw a light burning in one of the windows that had no business being on.
Chapter 12
“I didn’t realize you were still around,” I said to Heather after she let me into her shop.
“I had some cleaning to do,” she said, looking toward the back of her store, The New Age. At that moment, we both heard something fall.
“Is there somebody back there?” I asked. “Or is it just Esmeralda?”
“It must be,” she said. “Wait right here and I’ll go get her.