Snuffed Out - Tim Myers [69]
“Drop it,” Morton said. Without taking his eyes of her, he said, “I knew you couldn’t leave it alone, Harrison.” He said to her, “Give up.”
“I hardly think so,” Tick said. “I’ll have to do some staging, but I think I can make this work. You shot Harrison thinking him a prowler, and he shot you thinking the same.”
“It’s not going to work out that way,” Morton said.
“Oh, I think it is.”
I didn’t want anyone shooting anyone else. I had an idea. Tick had told me once of her fear of fire, and I still had a lit candle in my hand. I threw it at her, hoping that she wouldn’t squeeze off a shot by accident, and was rewarded with a direct strike of flames in the mass of her hair. It caught fire from the hairspray and she dropped the gun as she beat out the fire with her hands. I grabbed a soda from her workbench and poured the remnants out on her head, effectively quenching the fire. After we were certain it was out, Morton cuffed her and led her away.
“Can you come down to the police station?” Morton , asked after he blew his nose. “I need to interview you.”
“I’m right behind you,” I said.
Tick never said another word as he led her away.
The next day, I made a sign that said, closed for good and put it in Tick’s window. Millie saw me doing it and said, “I heard what happened. I can’t imagine all that happening right under our noses.”
I said, “You never know about people, do you?”
“Poor Aaron,” she said. “He wasn’t a prince, not by any means, but he deserved better than he got.”
“He crossed the wrong woman, there’s no doubt about that,” I said.
Sanora and Heather approached together, and it looked like the two of them were starting to patch up their differences.
“Harrison,” Sanora said, “Thank you.”
“Are you two friends now?” I asked.
“Let’s just say we’re making an effort to leave the past where it belongs,” Heather said. “After all, we both loved the same man at one time in our lives, even if he wasn’t perfect.”
“It’s a start,” Sanora said. “What’s going to happen to the shop?”
I groaned and said, “It looks like I’m going to have to find another tenant.”
Millie said, “I’ve got a friend in Hickory who would be perfect for us. As a matter of fact, I’m going to go call her right now. Why don’t you all join me at The Crocked Pot? Coffee and doughnuts are on me.”
“Why not?” Sanora said as Heather nodded her agreement.
“I’ll be there in a second,” I said as I bolted Tick’s door shut.
I went back to the candleshop and finished my display in the window first. It featured one of Mrs. Jorgenson’s fanciest four-taper braids in the center of it, and the steps to making it all around.
It was the least I could do, since her candle had helped show me the way. Four lives had touched at different times; Aaron’s, Heather’s, Sanora’s, and Tick’s; burning separately, together, and then all apart again as time passed. And now one of the tapers had been extinguished forever.
Candlemaking Tips and Fun with Dipped Candles
Dipped candles, sometimes called tapers, can be great fun, and once you’ve mastered the basic technique there are lots of variations to experiment with. After your melted wax reaches the proper temperature, the layers build up on your wick at a satisfying pace; but be careful, that wax is hot! Each dip of the wick builds another layer on the growing candle, and before you know it, you’ve made your very own taper. You can add scents and dyes to your wax, and make lots of different sizes, too. Sometimes I like to make small tapers the size of birthday candles for fun.
One of my favorite things to do with a freshly-dipped candle is to twist it. The wax needs to be warm and flexible for this technique, so it works best on a brand new candle. Take the warm candle and place it on a hard surface, then use an old rolling pin to flatten the middle part of the candle. You need to press firmly here to get the wax flat enough for a pretty twist. The flattened section should be about half an inch thick after it’s rolled out. Pick the candle up, grasp the top edge of the flat section