Snuffed Out - Tim Myers [67]
“What’s up?” she asked as she walked in ahead of me.
I followed her, then said, “Do you happen to know anything about this?”
She took the note from me and read it, then shoved it back at me. “It looks like Sanora didn’t take too kindly to your interference yesterday.”
“So you didn’t write this?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. How long have we known each other, Harrison? If I felt this way, do you honestly think I’d write you a note?”
“Of course not,” I said. “Not if I was around to yell at,” I added with a grin.
“Exactly. Go talk to Sanora.”
The potter was outside in front of her shop displaying some small pieces on a table.
“Aren’t you afraid somebody will steal these pieces?” I asked.
“From my bargain table? They’re welcome to them, if they’re that desperate. I put my culls out here, marked down of course, then if they like what they see, it brings them inside. You should try it with some of your candles.”
“It sounds like a good idea,” I admitted.
“So is that why you’re here, looking for retailing tips?”
I shook my head. “It’s about this.”
She didn’t even touch it, but read it in my hands. “My goodness, you certainly made Heather mad yesterday. You should talk to her about it. Look how hard she wrote the letters. The paper’s even torn in a place or two.”
“So you didn’t write it either, then.”
She frowned. “Of course not. I’m an adult, Harrison. If I have a problem with you, you won’t find out about it from a note, believe me.”
“Heather denies writing it, too. So if you didn’t write it, and she didn’t, who did?”
Sanora said jokingly, “Who else have you offended lately? For a candlemaker, you certainly do cultivate trouble, don’t you?”
“More than I ever imagined,” I said as I excused myself and headed back to At Wick’s End. If Sanora and Heather were both telling the truth, then I had offended someone else with my meddling. Could one of the other tenants have resented my inquiries the day before? Or was this about something else entirely? If it involved Aaron’s murder, then I’d struck closer to home than I’d realized. If I only knew which arrow had hit its mark.
In the meantime, I decided to take Markum’s advice a little more seriously than I had up to then. It was time to start watching my back.
I found Cragg in his office after my lunch break and decided to show him the note as well.
“And you think I wrote this,” he said after examining it.
“I don’t think anything. I’m just asking.”
“If I ever decide to write you, it will be in the body of a lawsuit,” the attorney said.
There wasn’t much room for doubt in that, either.
I went through the rest of the day at the shop, but Eve would have probably been better off if I had called in sick. I couldn’t get the warning out of my mind, wondering what it meant.
She said, “Harrison, I need your key to the back door. Mine is at home.”
“Sorry, what was that, Eve?”
She shook her head. “Honestly, what world are you in? Let me borrow your key to the back, I need to get to the dumpster.”
I fished into my pockets and pulled out my keys, bringing out the crystal piece Sanora had found in her shop along with them.
“That’s pretty,” Eve said, spying it. “What is it?”
“I’m not quite sure,” I said as I handed her the keys.
Eve said, “Can I trust you to wait on our customers while I’m throwing out those boxes?”
“I’m fine.”
A customer came in while Eve was throwing out the trash, and I found myself debating the merits of stearins versus releases with him by the time she came back. The rest of the day passed quickly enough, though I was no closer to the truth than I had been earlier. At least I’d sold a fair amount of supplies and candles, enough to make my nut for the day, at any rate. I was going to have to leave the detecting to Sheriff Morton and stick to what I knew.
Payday was the next day, and I’d managed to spend my last check completely, even given my free rent and utilities. It was sandwiches tonight, but I promised myself steak the next