Read Online Deadly Greetings (Book 2 in the Cardmaking Mysteries) by Tim Myers - Free Book Online

murder, from the way things were starting
to look.
    “ That’s not my decision to
make. You’ll have to talk to the county coroner about
that.”
    I wasn’t about to let him derail me.
“Bradford Shane, you know he’ll never discuss that with me. That’s
why I’m asking you.”
    He was interrupted when the front door
opened. I was in no mood to be disturbed at the moment unless a
customer had an American Express Platinum Card clutched in her hand
and was ready to put a serious dent in it. Not only was it not a
customer, but it was my least favorite person in all of Rebel
Forge: Deputy Wayne Davidson, a man who gave me the complete and
utter creeps.
    Bradford didn’t look happy about his
presence there, either. “What do you want?” he asked abruptly.
    “ I saw your car parked out
front. I need to talk to you about something.”
    Bradford said, “Wait outside. I’ll be there
in a minute.”
    Wayne looked right through me, without a
nod, a wave or any acknowledgment that I counted for anything.
“It’ll just take a second.”
    “ I said go,” my brother
snapped, and Wayne left quickly.
    “ Why is he still working for
you?” I asked Bradford. “He’s a complete and utter jerk. I can’t
believe you are keeping him around.”
    “ Jennifer, I can’t fire the
man just because you don’t like him. Hold on a second,” he said as
he saw I was about ready to explode. “You don’t have anything to
worry about. I told him to steer clear of you.”
    So at least Bradford was willing to
acknowledge that Wayne wasn’t a model employee. I still didn’t like
him coming into my shop. “Yeah, I can see how much he listens to
you. You practically had to throw him out.”
    It appeared that my brother wanted to say
something, but then changed his mind. “It won’t happen again; you
can believe it.”
    As Bradford headed for the door, I grabbed
his shoulder. “Wait a second. We’re not through here.”
    “ Jennifer, I have real work
to do.”
    I waved the card under his nose. “So you’re
going to completely ignore the message Maggie sent me?”
    He nodded. “You might not like it, but I
don’t have much choice. It was a bad joke, and even worse timing.
I’m sorry she’s gone, Jen, but there’s nothing I can do about it.
It really was an accident.” He left before I could say another
word. I hated when he did that. It was Bradford’s way of fighting
without raising his voice.
    I was still fuming about my brother’s
reaction when Lillian walked in two hours later. As promised, she
had two bags from The Lunch Box with her, but for the second time
in two days, I was in no mood to eat.
    When I refused the bag, she said, “My dear,
I’m sorry I’m so late. I hope you can forgive me.”
    “ Lillian, I’m not angry with
you. I got a card in the mail today you should see.”
    As she read the note from Maggie, I
discreetly pulled her note from the night before off the board,
hoping she hadn’t noticed it. I didn’t really want to tease her
anymore.
    After she read it, Lillian handed it back to
me and said, “Jennifer, you’ve got to call Bradford and show this
to him.”
    “ I already did. He wasn’t
all that impressed with it. In fact, he assumed it was just another
one of Maggie’s joke cards gone bad.”
    Lillian pursed her lips. “That’s absolutely
ridiculous.
    Couldn’t he see that the tone is deadly
serious? It’s perfectly clear that this is no joke.”
    “ We know that, but he
doesn’t. The question is, what do we do about it?”
    Lillian smiled grimly. “I think it’s time to
get out our whiteboard and make some notes about what we know and
what we suspect. We can work while we eat.”
    It felt good having my aunt on my side. My
brother was a pragmatist by nature, but sometimes it absolutely
drove me crazy. He might need more proof that Maggie had been
murdered, but that card was enough to convince Lillian and me that
something very real had happened to her.

Chapter 5

    “ Should we