Read Online A Bead in the Hand (Glass Bead Mystery Series Book 2) by Janice Peacock - Free Book Online

indulging in what I like to call Double Bubbles—a bubble bath and a bottle of champagne. Instead, I was going to sit here and sell my beads, and try to recoup my expenses from this trip, and try not to think about dead bodies.
    I had many questions from customers.
    “Are these made from clay from the craft store?” “No, they’re glass,” I responded.
    “Are these made in China?” “No, I made them myself,” I answered.
    “What kinds of molds do you use?” “I don’t use molds, each bead is sculpted individually,” I told them.
    “I’ll give you a buck for it.” “Sorry, this is not a swap meet or a garage sale,” I said, disappointed that a handmade item could be worth so little to some people.
    I did it all with a smile on my face, and was glad I had the opportunity to teach people who stopped by about handmade glass beads. Mine were lampworked, sometimes called flameworked beads. I’d made each one by melting glass in a torch, and then wrapping and sculpting different colors of glass around a long thin metal rod, called a mandrel. After completing a bead, I cooled it overnight in a kiln. The next day when I removed the mandrel from the middle of the glass, a hole remained. The bead was now ready to be used in jewelry.
    Minnie waved at me from across the aisle. She was about four booths down from my new location. She got up and scurried over to me, since she didn’t have any customers at her booth.
    “I’ve got to go tinkle. Can you watch my table?” Minnie asked.
    “Don’t forget to come back,” I said, remembering that just a few hours ago, I had had a hard time extracting her from the bathroom. “Miles, why don’t you go and ‘man’ Minnie’s table,” I suggested.
    “You want me to go over there?”
    “Seriously, Miles, if you’re going to hang out with me all day, you might as well be useful.” I could see why this guy had gotten on Saundra’s nerves—he was not the shiniest bead on the strand. “Maybe you’ll make a new friend.”
    Miles got up and moved to Minnie’s table, taking a seat behind it. He still looked distraught over Saundra’s death. He was limp—limper than usual—and his unfocused gaze seemed to be keeping customers away.
    Minnie was back a few minutes later and sat down next to Miles. They talked for a little while, and he started to perk up. She pulled out her Muppets lunchbox, and he smiled with appreciation. Minnie had been looking despondent about Saundra’s demise as well, but she seemed to be feeling better as she continued talking with Miles. She had a constant stream of customers at her table, not just looking, but making large purchases. Minnie helped customers make selections and wrote up receipts. Then Miles collected payments and wrapped the purchases.
    Minnie made hipster beads. There was no other way to describe them. She covered all of the basic hipster motifs: owls, hedgehogs, handlebar mustaches, candy-colored skulls, and anything else that was retro, funky, cute, or odd. They were not my style, but boy oh boy, there were a lot of people out there who were crazy about her beads.
    She had a lull in business around noon and scampered over to my table.
    “Miles is going watch my booth while I get some lunch for us over at the snack bar. You want me to get you something, too?”
    “What do they have?”
    “Hot dogs and some sort of salad thing wrapped up in a tortilla. At least I think it’s a salad—it’s green. Whatever it is, I guess it might just be moldy.”
    “Geez, such great choices. I guess I’ll have the hot dog.” If it was cooked, maybe the micro-organisms would be dead, at least. I popped ten bucks into her hand. “And a Coke and chips, too.” It was not a day to diet.
    I wondered how Miles was going to be able to eat at the snack bar. There wasn’t going to be much that was edible, let alone gluten-free.
    “Okay, that works,” Minnie said, as she headed off across the show floor, swinging her hips (maybe that’s