Snuffed Out - Tim Myers [68]
Though the meal wasn’t all that formal, I lit the braided candle again and watched it burn as I ate. There was something about the way the lights brightened when the wicks burned together, then lessened as they separated. I felt in my pocket for the piece of quartz and held it up to the candlelight. Light danced through the facets, throwing off a glow that intensified the candle’s output.
Suddenly I knew where the piece had come from. And unless I missed my guess, I had a good idea who had dropped it in Aaron’s shop. Following the logic of all I’d seen and heard, that led me to the murderer. I thought about confronting the killer, but decided to call the sheriff instead. It was his job, after all, to take the risks.
He was singularly unimpressed with my detective work. “Harrison, I’ve got a fever and a case of the trots. I’m not getting dressed and driving all the way over there at night based on one of your wild theories.”
“Will you at least come by in the morning?”
“We’ll see,” he said and hung up.
I wasn’t about to wait until morning, though. While the killer was away, I was going to do a little detective work on my own. Maybe if I had more hard evidence by morning, Morton would be more inclined to listen to me.
I pulled the key I needed off Pearly’s board in the maintenance room, glad I’d insisted on having the key to that area myself. What I was doing was probably breaking and entering, but if I happened to be caught in the act of snooping, I was all ready with my story. I was going to claim that I’d smelled something burning and had investigated before calling the fire department.
I wasn’t eager to be caught, though. Before I entered the shop in question, I went by the candleshop and grabbed a taper. Overhead lights would surely give me away, and even a flashlight could be suspect, but I was betting that a shielded candle wouldn’t be that easily seen from the outside.
I unlocked the door, glad my tenant didn’t have an alarm system, and started exploring the shop. I was about to give up after an hour’s search, failing to match the piece in my pocket with anything there.
Then I stumbled across its mates in the workshop in back. Holding the piece of crystal up to the desk lamp, I knew in an instant it was a perfect match.
Then the overhead lights came on, nearly blinding me with their intensity.
“Harrison, what are you doing stumbling around in here in the dark?”
“I thought I smelled something,” I said.
“If that were true, you would have turned on the lights.” A look of quiet desperation softened the hard edges of her face. “You know, don’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She pulled a gun from her purse almost reluctantly, and I could see the scrolls and curlicues on the barrel.
Tick said, “It’s an antique, like everything else in my shop, but let me assure you, it works perfectly.”
The candle in my hand started to shake as I saw Tick’s finger start to tighten on the trigger.
“Can I at least know why?” I asked, hoping to buy a little time.
“Come now, there won’t be any rescuers tonight, Harrison. You ask why? Aaron destroyed my heart. He honestly thought he could cast me away like some bauble he grew tired of playing with.”
“But why go after Sanora? What did she do to you?”
“Are you talking about the hit and run? Happenstance, Harrison, purely an accident, and one I had nothing to do with. How delightful it would have been if it had happened though. I’m not a fan of Sanora’s. She and Aaron talked about everything, or so she told me. However, my name somehow never came up, if Sanora is to be believed. I was home free until you started nosing around.”
“Why write that note? I don’t understand that.”
She said, “That was foolish of me. I’m not prone to acting rash, but you visited my shop, and you suddenly seemed to take an interest in me, so I panicked.”
“I was just trying to get to know you better,” I said.
“Oh, Harrison, I’m truly sorry about this,” she said as her finger started to tighten on the trigger.
Behind her, we both heard the sneeze at the same time. Her gun