“Benjamin, I’m sorry,” Mom said, her tone contrite. “You did the right thing.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find Diana.”
Mom looked puzzled. “She left right after you went in back to get the contessa. I must say, Diana’s face was the ghastliest shade of white, and when I tried to ask her what was wrong, she acted as though she didn’t even hear me. Did you two have a fight, Ben?”
“Not that I know of,” I admitted, though I’d had altercations in the past with girlfriends without really having a clue what I’d said or done to make them mad.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Mom said. “Still, you should find her and talk to her.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said as I headed for the front door. The only problem was that I couldn’t get out. A beefy young cop who looked like he gobbled steroids was standing just outside the door, and I doubted I could force my way through with all three brothers’ help. Diana must not have had any trouble leaving, though. She’d gone before I’d discovered the body. But why had she left without saying anything to me? She could have at least mentioned her abrupt departure to one of my siblings. I’d have to check with them all just in case she had, but in the meantime, several of our customers were taking advantage of my discount offer and were loading up their baskets with scents, soaps, and kits. Even with the price break, we’d still at least make something. It might have been cold-hearted to think that way, but there was nothing I could do to help Contessa New Berne, and my family needed to make a living. We had an awful lot of mouths to feed.
There was a disturbance at the front door, and I turned to see what the yelling was about. I recognized Sharon, Contessa New Berne’s assistant, immediately. She was struggling to get past the cop at the door.
I tried to push past him, and the oaf snapped at me, “You’re not allowed out. Get back inside.”
“Ben, tell him I belong in there. I overslept, and the contessa’s going to kill me for being late.”
“It’s all right,” I told the cop, “She’s the victim’s assistant,” I added, without realizing what I was blurting out.
Sharon crumbled. “Did something happen to Connie? She can’t be dead. Is this some kind of sick joke?”
“I’m sorry. She was murdered,” I admitted.
With a wail of despair, Sharon collapsed against me, sobbing in hysteria.
“I’m bringing her inside,” I said, doing my best to console her.
“No one comes in or goes out,” he protested. “Those are my orders.”
“I don’t care what your orders are. She needs my help,” I said.
“It could be a trick,” he answered.
“Get out of our way,” I demanded, and he finally stepped aside as I led her into the shop. Sharon didn’t look that heavy, but she was dead weight against me as I staggered to the break room to put her on our couch. There were a few murmurs from the crowd, but for the most part they moved aside as I neared them. Bless my sister Louisa. She’d seen where I was heading and met me at the door to the break room.
“Bring her in here,” she said as she opened the door and stepped out of my way. “What happened?”
“She fell apart when I told her the contessa was dead,” I admitted as I helped her to the couch.
Louisa got a washcloth, doused it with cold water, then applied it to Sharon’s forehead.
Her hard, gasping sobs finally started to ease.
“Are you all right?” I asked gently.
“No, but I will be,” she said as she pressed the cloth to her head. “I’m feeling a little better now. I’m sorry I made such a scene.”
“You had every right to act the way you did.”
“The shock of it hit me like a club. I can’t believe she’s gone.”
“You called her Connie before you passed out. Was that her real name?”
Sharon nodded, holding the washcloth in place with one hand as she straightened up. “It was such a secret to the world, you know? I even had to sign a nondisclosure agreement that I wouldn’t tell anyone her real name, ever.”
“I guess you’re free of that now, aren’t you?”
Sharon shook her head. “You’d think so, but no. It was worded most carefully. As long as I’m alive, I’m not allowed to say her name aloud. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell anyone what I said.”
Before I could reply, Louisa said, “Don’t worry, child, we didn’t hear a thing.”
“Thanks,” she said. “How about you, Ben?”
“I won’t say anything, but you can bet that cop out front will mention it to his boss.”
Sharon shrugged. “The contessa used to tell me not to worry about anything I couldn’t control. I’m going to miss her.”
“What happens to you now?” I asked.
I’d meant it to be a thoughtful question, so I was surprised by her reaction. With a tremor in her voice, she said, “I don’t know. This job was all I had.” And then she started sobbing again.
“What? What did I say?” I looked over at Louisa to see if I’d said anything inadvertently, but she shook her head, evidently as confused by the outburst as I’d been.
“I’m sorry,” Sharon said after a moment’s pause. “I’m just going to be so lost without her.”
I leaned down toward her and asked, “Would you like me to get a doctor? We’ve got one in the boutique shopping right now.” I was going to make sure Doctor Weiss received an extra 30 percent off, as well as getting the 20 we were giving everyone else.
“No, I’ll be fine. I just need a few seconds to accept this.”
Louisa and I were trying to decide what to do when Molly walked in, a scowl on her face.
“Are you the assistant?” she asked Sharon.
“I am. This is just awful.”
Molly said, “If you two will excuse us, we need to talk.”
I wasn’t about to let her just kick us out without a fight. “Should the ladies step outside, or should you and I go somewhere else where we can have some privacy?”
“Funny, Ben. Go on. You and Louisa take off.”
My sister and I stepped outside so Molly could interview Sharon. I tried to listen in at the door, but Louisa said, “Give it up. I’ve been trying for years, and I’ve never heard a word I could understand.”
“You’ve been spying on your brothers and sisters?” I asked, trying my best to feign shock.
“Not just them, I’ve tried it with Mom and Grandpa, too. They built this place too well, if you ask me.”
“I guess,” I said as I scanned the crowd of shoppers. I don’t know how long we waited outside the break room, but the door finally reopened and Molly came out, with Sharon on her heels.
“Remember what I said,” Molly said to her as she moved toward the front door.
“What did she say?” Louisa asked before I could.
“I can’t leave town,” Sharon admitted. “She thinks I might be able to help her solve the contessa’s murder. I wasn’t even here. How can I be of any help to her?”
“You might know more than you realize,” I said.
Sharon sounded desolate as she asked, “Why did this have to happen here, of all places?”
I jumped all over that statement. “What’s so bad about Harper’s Landing?”
Sharon looked startled as she replied, “Forget you heard that. I should learn to keep my mouth shut.”
“Well, it’s a little too late for that,” Louisa said. “We heard you call her Connie, so you might as well tell us the rest of it.”
“You weren’t even nearby when I said that,” Sharon said shrilly.
“I was right behind Ben. You must not have seen me,” Louisa said.
I thought my sister was lying, too, but I couldn’t be sure.
Sharon looked as though she wanted to cry, and I said softly, “We’ll keep both of your secrets, as long as you told the police the truth.”
“That’s the only reason I’m telling you now,” Sharon said. “That policewoman Molly made me tell her, and I know it won’t be long before the whole town knows. The contessa’s real name was Connie Brown. She’s been in Harper’s Landing before.”
The name was familiar, but I couldn’t quite remember why. “Now where have I heard that name?”
Sharon looked miserable as she admitted, “It was a long time ago, but she was driving drunk and killed a couple coming home from a party; she got off with not much more than a slap on the wrist.”
And suddenly I knew where I’d heard the name before. Connie Brown had killed Diana’s parents a long time ago, and I had to wonder if my girlfriend had gotten her revenge in my family’s soap shop.
THREE
I
really needed to talk to Diana now. “Excuse me,” I said as I ducked into the break room so I could call the bookstore. Rufus—Diana’s clerk and coworker at Dying To Read—hadn’t seen his boss all day, and she wasn’t answering her cellular phone. I thought about trying her aunt and uncle’s house, but I couldn’t remember their last name for the life of me, though we’d met a couple of times in the past.
Molly was interviewing customers at the front door as they left when I walked back out onto the sales floor, and at least some of them were carrying bags from our shop. The contessa, or more rightfully, Connie Brown—which was how I was going to start referring to her in my mind, because the title was a little much, honestly—had met an unhappy end in our shop, and I felt terrible that I’d been the cause of her demise, no matter how indirectly. Still, there was no sense wishing ill for the store. I was surprised by how quickly Molly was clearing the customers out, so I moved up front to hear just what she was asking each of them. It didn’t take long before she had a new person in front of her.
Molly asked, in rapid-fire order, “Did you see Contessa New Berne alive today or yesterday? Did you know Connie Brown, or what she did? Do you know anything that might help our investigation into the murder?”
When she got null responses to all of her questions, she said, “Give your name and address to Officer Higgins. He’ll need to see a photo ID as well. Next,” she called out.
I slipped past the next woman in line. Molly started asking her questions before she realized it was me. “I need to get outside,” I said, interrupting her.
“You need to stay right where you are,” Molly said. “You, more than anyone else here. When I’m through with your customers, we’ll have time to talk.”
“I need to find Diana,” I said.
“Don’t you think that’s my priority at the moment, too? I’ve got half our police force out looking for her.”
Why was I not surprised? “Molly, you can’t honestly think that Diana had anything to do with the murder.”
“You bet your soap on a rope I do,” she said. “She had more reason than anyone else in town to want to harm that woman. I need to find her.”
“I’m not denying that she had a motive,” I said as calmly as I could muster. “But there have to be other suspects in your mind. What about Sharon?”
“Her assistant?” Molly asked. “What does she have to gain from killing her boss? All she gets out of it is the hassle of looking for another job.”
“How do you know that’s true? For all we know, Sharon could be her sole heir.”
“What have you heard, Ben?” There was a sharpness to her question, like a shark going after bleeding prey.
“I haven’t heard anything,” I admitted, “but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be true. It’s all conjecture at this point,” I said. “I just don’t want you focusing on Diana and letting the real murderer get away.”
Molly shook her head. “And none of this has anything to do with the fact that my prime suspect just happens to be your girlfriend, does it?”
“Of course it does,” I said a little louder than I’d intended to. “But just because I’m prejudiced doesn’t mean she’s not innocent.”
Molly shook her head in disgust. “Ben, go back inside. I don’t have time for this right now.”
I was about to protest when I saw Diana coming up the steps. I tried to motion her away, but she must have thought I was waving at her, because she hurried up to Molly and me.
“Hi, Ben. What’s going on? Sorry I had to duck out, but I spilled a drink on my outfit so I had to go home and change. Hi, Molly. What’s wrong?”
Molly pulled her aside as she said, “I’ve got the entire force out looking for you. You’re in some real trouble, Diana.”
“What did I do?” she asked with total innocence. “Is it about that stop sign? Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t come to a complete stop, but no one else was around. I was in a hurry to get back here, I knew the contessa had probably already started her presentation, and I had to be back here before she finished. I’m really sorry.”
“The contessa is dead,” I said, and Molly gave me a dirty look.
Diana looked honestly surprised by the news. “Oh, no. What happened to her?”
Before I could answer, Molly put a hand roughly over my mouth. “Let me handle this.”
“Ben? What’s going on?” There was a hint of panic in her voice, and I could see that she was worried. I couldn’t blame her. She might not have known it yet, but she had every right to be.
I pulled my mouth away from Molly’s hand and said, “The contessa’s real name was Connie Brown.”
Diana reacted exactly as if I’d just shot her. Without a word, a whimper, or a sigh, she collapsed on the porch in front of Where There’s Soap as if she were a puppet and someone had just cut her strings.
“Nice, Ben, really nice,” Molly said as she knelt down to check Diana’s pulse. After a few moments, she added, “Well, she’s not dead, you can be thankful for that, at least. Help me get her inside, could you?”
I was helping far too many distraught women into our break room lately. We managed to get Diana inside, and another officer took over Molly’s routine questioning out front. There was no doubt Diana was her sole suspect at the moment.
“Shouldn’t we do something?” I asked Molly as I looked at Diana.
“I sent Nate Green to get the smelling salts from my first aid kit. He’ll be right back.”
“I don’t want to wait. Let me see if Dr. Weiss is still here.”
Molly shook her head. “Sorry, I let her go ten minutes ago. Ben, don’t worry, she’s going to be fine.”