Read Online Murder and Salutations by Elizabeth Bright - Free Book Online Page A

me.
    Addie looked surprised when she saw that Lillian and I were her customers. She said curtly, “Don’t tell me you’re out in this mess shopping.”
    I held my card out to her. “We just wanted to come by and tell you how sorry we are about Eliza.”
    She took the card, but didn’t open it. “I should probably thank you for the thought,” Addie said, “but to be honest with you, I’m kind of surprised to see you both here.”
    “ Why? Can’t we visit you to express our sympathy?” Lillian asked.
    Addie frowned. “Don’t pretend we all don’t know who did it. Sara Lynn didn’t try that hard to hide it.”
    “ My sister didn’t kill your partner,” I said.
    Addie didn’t answer, but her eye roll was enough for me.
    “ Come on, you know Sara Lynn isn’t capable of doing that.”
    She said, “You’re wrong. There’s no doubt in my mind that she did it.”
    The blunt callousness of her words shocked me. Without thinking, I said, “What makes you think the police aren’t looking at you as a suspect?” Lillian touched my arm. “Jennifer, that’s enough.”
    I pulled away. “She started it. Sara Lynn didn’t kill Eliza.”
    Addie nearly shouted, “You’re her sister, I understand why you’d take up for her, but I’m not about to let anybody pin it on me. I’m innocent.” There was real anger in Addie’s eyes as she stared at me.
    “ So you say.” I gestured around the room. “Who gets her share of the business now? Does it all go to you?”
    Addie blushed—an easy giveaway, considering her pale skin. “So what if it does? That doesn’t mean I killed her. Your sister had a lot more reason to want Eliza dead than I did. Since it’s pretty obvious you didn’t come here to buy anything, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
    “ I wouldn’t dream of staying somewhere I wasn’t welcome,” I said.
    I’d started for the door when she called out, “You forgot something.”
    She held the card out to me, but I wouldn’t take it. “Whether you believe it or not, the sentiment in there is real,” I said.
    “ I don’t need your sympathy,” Addie said. Then she tore the card I’d worked so hard on in half, and dropped both pieces on the floor. I started toward her, but I couldn’t break through Lillian’s restraining grip.
    “ Come on, Jennifer. Let’s go.”
    My aunt practically dragged me out of the shop onto the sidewalk. The rain had lessened some, but it was still coming down at a good clip.
    “ Where do we go now?” I asked.
    “ Back to the card shop,” Lillian said as she stormed off, and I had little choice but to follow her.
    We got back to Custom Card Creations and I unlocked the door. By the time we got inside, the rain had practically stopped. Lillian grabbed a few towels from the back and threw one to me.
    “ That went well, wouldn’t you say?” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.
    “ She started it,” I said.
    “ What are you, in third grade? We went there to get information, not start a common brawl.”
    “ We found out what we wanted to know,” I said. “She practically admitted that she would inherit Eliza’s share of the shop. What else do we need to know?”
    Lillian thought about it a moment, then said, “Let’s see, I wanted to ask her if she had an alibi for last night, if she knew anyone else who might want her partner dead, if Eliza had any family she was close to, who was handling the estate . . . little things like that. Jennifer, if you’re going to keep looking into this, you’re going to have to learn to control your temper.”
    “ I’m sorry,” I muttered, hating every second that Lillian was right. I’d lost it when that woman had accused my sister of murder, and by blowing up, I’d cut us off from a possible source of information.
    “ I can fix this,” I said softly.
    “ I don’t see how. Give me a second to think this through.” Lillian paced around the shop as I dried my hair with the towel. It would be frizzier