Death Waxed Over - Tim Myers [84]
“Listen, I shouldn’t have yelled at you before. It’s just—”
He interrupted. “You don’t have to apologize for anything. I’m just sorry you had to be the one to find her.”
“Me, too,” I said, “Hang on a second; I’ll walk out with you.”
Before I left, I walked behind the counter and hugged Millie, maybe a little harder than I needed to. “Thank you.”
She smiled when I pulled away. “You’re most welcome. If you need me, I’m right here.”
“I know that, and I appreciate it, honestly I do.”
Markum and I walked outside, and I saw that the kayak was still perched on the lowest step near the water.
He followed my gaze and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that for you.”
“Don’t bother. I can’t see myself ever using it again.”
He said, “You never know.”
Pearly Gray, the handyman to all of River’s Edge, joined us and said, “What happened? I was just getting out of my barber’s chair when I heard there was some excitement out here.”
I started to explain when Markum said, “Pearly, if you’ll help me carry the kayak up, I’ll fill you in.” The kayak had handles on both ends for easy portage, but I normally just threw it over one shoulder. Markum was a lot stronger than I was, but I realized he was deflecting attention away from me by enlisting Pearly’s aid, and I appreciated it.
Pearly nodded to Markum after catching the expression on my face. He had a full head of white hair that was nearly luminescent and an IQ that was off the charts. Pearly had been a psychologist in an earlier life, but he’d come to River’s Edge to work with his hands a few years before I’d inherited the place.
I said, “Thanks guys, I appreciate the help.”
“It’s our pleasure, Harrison,” Pearly said.
I left them with the kayak and walked to At Wick’s End. Maybe it was a good thing that Eve Pleasants—my lone employee and candlemaking mentor—wasn’t scheduled to come in until noon. I was glad for the respite, and for the first time since I’d taken over the candle-shop, I found myself hoping that no customers came in. It was a shock realizing that Becka was really dead, compounded astronomically by being the one who had found her body. Becka’s sister had died a few months earlier in a car accident and I had helped her get over her grief. Suzanne had been her last close relative, and now I had no one from her immediate family to share my own grief with. I needed some time to come to grips with what had happened, but I couldn’t think of a better place to do that than inside my candleshop.
I was there twenty minutes when Eve joined me. Her normally dour expression had been replaced by one of genuine concern. “Harrison, I came as soon as I heard.”
“You’re not scheduled to work until noon,” I said. “Let me guess. Millie called you.”
“She was worried about you,” Eve said.
“She shouldn’t be,” I said, “And neither should you. Go,” I insisted.
“Harrison, I’m already here. What sense does it make for me to leave and just have to come back in three hours.”
I shrugged. “Go shopping, go back to bed, I don’t care. Eve, thanks for coming in, but I’m going to be okay.”
She took it better than I had any right to expect. As she started putting her coat back on, she said, “You’re sure about this?”
“Absolutely. Don’t worry, I’ll tell Millie that you tried.”
She was shaking her head as she left, but I was glad she hadn’t put up a fight Eve still knew more about candle-making than I did, but I was starting to catch up, and after all, it was my name on the mortgage now, and she knew it.
I was waiting on my second customer of the day when the telephone rang.
It was Morton, and he had news for me about what had ended Becka Lane’s life.
Table of Contents
Death Waxed Over (Book 3 in the Candlemaking Mysteries)