Read Online White Colander Crime by Victoria Hamilton - Free Book Online Page B

dinner. She was so
rude
to me!”
    â€œWait a sec,” Jaymie said, before Heidi could complain more. “You and Joel went out with Shelby and Cody? But Cody Wainwright’s not in the pharmaceutical business.”
    â€œCody Wainwright? Who’s that?” Heidi asked.
    Valetta laughed. “While you two talk at cross purposes, I’m going in. I have work to do.”
    Shelby and Meadows had disappeared around a bend in the road. Jaymie eyed the sky, which was a robin’s egg blue with light puffy clouds skidding along like paper sailboats on a stream. She wasn’t fooled; the crystalline nature of the day meant snow by nightfall, hopefully not enough to interfere with the evening’s festivities. Jaymie grabbed Heidi’s sleeve and tugged. “Come in and talk in the store. It’s too cold out here.”
    Heidi trailed after her into the Emporium and slipped off her ski coat while Jaymie served a couple of customers who had followed them in, one wanting buttermilk, which they had, and another wanting pickled quince, which they did not have, and in fact no one in the history of retail had ever carried. Jaymie then turned to Heidi, who was perched on a chair by the part of the counter where Jaymie had her picnic basket rental counter. Good, she had some stuff to do there anyway, to make the display more festive.
    â€œYou’ve got such nice handwriting, Heidi. Would you make me up a sign saying special Christmas themed baskets are available for rental for the Dickens Days festivities?”
    As Heidi lettered the sign using red and green felt pens, Jaymie redid her rental basket display and quizzed her friend on what she meant by saying she went out with Shelby Fretter and a boyfriend who worked in the same industry as Joel, pharmaceutical sales.
    â€œJoel knows this guy, Glenn Brennan, and he wanted to find out how the guy was stealing doctors.”
    â€œStealing doctors?”
    â€œI guess Glenn managed to get some doctor who Joel has been wooing for ages to refer his drugs over the ones Joel’s company makes. It’s a similar drug, something for man private parts or something. I don’t ask.”
    â€œCan’t say I blame you. So you all went out to dinner: you, Joel, Glenn and Shelby?”
    She nodded. “Shelby and Glenn had gone out a couple of times, and he was totally into her. She treated him awful, but then she treated me awful, too. She seemed angry to be there and said they were supposed to be out to dinner alone.”
    Jaymie’s mind teemed with questions, but she let Heidi print the advertising card first. The girl was on her fourth attempt; she’d never get one done if Jaymie kept distracting her with conversation. Jaymie focused on her rental basket display instead, set up on a wooden shelf behind the sales counter. She had a fifties-era poinsettia-printed tablecloth draped on the shelf. The display was a little aluminum Christmas tree and a vintage tin red-plaid basket. She propped the lid of the basket open, created a snowy scene inside with a miniature mountaintop of felt “snow” and bottle-brush trees. Tiny Christmas village figurines were set on the slope, skiing, building a snow man and having a snowball fight. She created a stack of snowballs with cotton puffs.
    â€œWhen was this?” Jaymie finally asked, righting one of the figurines that had fallen over.
    â€œHmm?” Heidi said, carefully adding a holly drawing on the bottom of the sign.
    Jaymie looked over her shoulder, then turned and examined the sign more closely. “Wow, you’re good at that, Heidi!”
    â€œReally?”
    â€œSure!” Jaymie said. “I was asking when this was that you all went out.” She expected the answer to be some months past, because she knew Cody and Shelby had been dating for over a month and a half.
    â€œAbout three weeks ago. And I saw them out together just last week when Joel and I went to