To Love and To Perish (7 page)

A series of chimes sounded as Kate and I stepped into the Wedding Shoppe. The Dupont Circle store was narrow and long, with wedding paraphernalia stacked on built-in shelves almost all the way to the ceiling. Round tables with displays of wedding books, planning guides, and boxes of bridal themed stationery ran the length of the shop. With some shelves full of lacy wedding accessories, some featuring items with puffy satin bows and others sporting dried flowers on anything imaginable, it was where wedding themes came to die.

“Can I help you?” A thin twenty-something woman with short dark hair approached us. “Are both of you brides?”

Kate gave an involuntary gasp. Despite her chosen profession, she wasn't in any hurry to walk down the aisle herself. I think she realized that marriage would put a damper on her active dating life.

“Actually, neither of us are brides,” I said. “We're wedding planners.”

The woman's smile faltered. I guess the competition didn't stop by too often.

“We're looking for a ring bearer's pillow and a guest book.” Kate scanned the shelves. “Something in off-white with beads.”

“No problem.” The woman rallied her selling skills and led us to a shelf that featured wedding items covered in lace and seed pearls. “This is the Venetian collection. It's very popular with our traditional brides.”

I studied the display and frowned. “I think our client wants something with a little more flash.”

“Flash?” The woman ran her eyes up and down the shelves, then led us back to the front of the store and climbed on a sliding step ladder to reach a top shelf. She pulled down a small pillow delicately embroidered with iridescent beads and ribbon. “How about the Parisian collection?”

Kate looked at me and shook her head. “Not enough glitz,” she called up to the saleswoman.

“Really?” She stepped down and put her hands on her hips as she looked around at the various displays. “More glitz than the Venetian or Parisian?”

“I probably should mention that the bride is from Texas,” I said. “Actually, she was Miss Texas.”

The woman's face relaxed into a wide smile. “Why didn't you say that in the first place? Come with me.”

We followed her to the very back of the store, where she pulled a heavily beaded oversized ring bearer's pillow off the shelf. “The Liberace collec
tion. It's very popular with brides from Texas.”

Kate took it from her and inspected it. “I'm guessing there's a pillow somewhere under the beads.”

“It's perfect,” I said. “Do you have a matching guest book?”

“Of course.” The sales clerk produced a glittery book from the shelf. The bugle beads dangling off the wide cover made it the noisiest guest book I'd seen. Not to mention the largest. I could see why it was so popular with the Texas crowd.

“We'll take them both.” I produced Kitty's credit card and handed it over.

“Annabelle? Kate?” Lucille's warbling voice came from the door leading to the back of the shop. “Is that really you?”

“I'm surprised she's working,” Kate said to me in a low voice. “Shouldn't she be in grief counseling or something?”

“That's what I said,” the sales clerk mumbled as she walked past us on the way to the cash register up front.

Lucille came toward us wearing a colorful Christmas sweater. With her snow white hair she would have looked remarkably like Mrs. Claus if it hadn't been for her red, swollen eyes. “It's good of you to come. Margery and I didn't think we'd see anyone before the viewing on Thursday.”

“We wanted to see how you two are holding up.” Kate patted Lucille on the arm. If I didn't know better I'd have thought she sounded sincere.

Lucille sniffled. “It's hard to go on without her. The shop isn't the same.”

I nodded, even though this was the first time I'd actually set foot in the Wedding Shoppe. My only interaction with Carolyn Crabbe hadn't been a particularly pleasant one, so I had a hard time imagining her bringing sunshine to the work-place.

“At least you have good help.” I motioned to the sales clerk ringing up our purchases.

“Dora is wonderful, but she's the only sales associate we have left.” Lucille shook her head. “Carolyn had to let two longtime employees go last week, so now we're very short-staffed.”

“She probably didn't plan on getting murdered when she fired them,” Kate said.

Lucille dissolved into tears, and I glared at Kate.
Nice going,
I mouthed.

“Lucille.” Margery appeared behind her in a conservative beige tweed suit. It seemed like everything she wore was a shade of brown. “You're in no state to be on the sales floor.”

“You're right.” Lucille wiped away her tears. “Please excuse me, girls.”

“I'm sorry if we upset her,” I said once Lucille had disappeared into the back of the store.

“It's not your fault.” Margery gave a wave of her hand. “She's always been the emotional one. She cries every time she hears Pachelbel's Canon, and you know how many brides use that for a processional song. She's been hysterical since she saw Carolyn's body, though. Yesterday didn't help matters, either.”

“Wasn't it awful about Eleanor?” I shook my head. “The second dead wedding planner must have sent Lucille over the edge.”

Margery looked over her shoulder toward the back of the shop. “Two dead planners and two dead bosses.”

“Pardon?” I tried to keep the surprise out of my voice.

“You knew that Eleanor was Carolyn's original business partner, didn't you?” Margery said. “Of course that was ages ago. Lucille and I had just started working for them when she and Carolyn split.”

“Was it a friendly split?” Kate asked.

Margery raised an eyebrow. “You really didn't know Carolyn, did you? Even back then Eleanor wasn't very sophisticated, but she was a whiz at paperwork. Carolyn used her to get the business set up but then dumped her once the company started getting high-end weddings.”

I gave a low whistle. “That explains Eleanor's obsession with celebrity weddings. She must have been trying to compete with Carolyn.”

Margery nodded. “Even though Carolyn dropped her like a hot potato, I hear she had quite a following in the suburbs. She ended up doing well enough on her own.”

“Except that she was strangled to death,” Kate said. I almost smacked her.

The door chimes rang, and Margery looked to the front door as several women entered. “You will excuse me, won't you? We're a little short on staff.”

When Margery walked out of earshot I elbowed Kate. “Do you think you could have brought up the murders many more times?”

“Not without looking suspicious,” Kate said, lowering her voice, missing my point entirely. “Can you believe that Eleanor and Carolyn used to be business partners?”

“It does make the case more complicated.”

Kate darted a look over her shoulder. “The pot thickens.”

“Parking is a nightmare.” Richard breezed past the host stand at the Peacock Café and joined us at the window table we'd nabbed before the restaurant had gotten busy.

Kate and I had been watching the lights of rush hour traffic as we'd sipped our glasses of wine and waited for Richard to join us. Since the sun had set before most people got off work, it felt like nighttime instead of only happy hour. The bar sat behind an arched wood and glass partition to one side of the dining room and had filled up quickly with the stylish set.

“It's Georgetown,” Kate said. “Parking is always a nightmare.”

“Too true, darlings.” Richard gave us each a pair of air kisses before sitting down. He'd recently taken up the European custom of kissing on both cheeks as a tribute to his French heritage. Not that any of his ancestors had set foot in France for the past few generations.

Richard ordered a Campari and soda from the closest passing waiter and relaxed into his low wooden chair.

“Stressful day?” I asked.

“You have no idea.” Richard slipped his black jacket off and rolled up the sleeves of his melon green shirt. “Jim's flying squirrel got loose in the office.”

“Was it Bring Your Illegal Pet to Work Day and no one told me?” Kate said.

Richard gave her a withering look. “Don't even ask why the creature was in the building to begin with because it will get me all whipped up.”

I suppressed a smile. “Doesn't Jim keep him on a leash?”

Richard took his drink from the waiter before it reached the table. “Apparently, flying squirrels are nocturnal. He was supposed to sleep all day in the closet.”

“The closet?” Kate asked.

Richard took a long drink. “In the pocket of Jim's coat, to be exact.”

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. “That sounds like a foolproof plan.”

“Doesn't it?” Richard raised an eyebrow.

“I hope for the squirrel's sake he didn't get loose in your office,” I said. I could only imagine Richard's tolerance for a squirrel running amok in his pristine office, which consisted of a black wooden desk and two designer Plexiglas chairs.

Richard shook his head. “No, but suffice it to say that the animal had never seen a Christmas tree before.”

“You didn't tell us you had your holiday dec
orations up already,” Kate said. “What's your theme this year?”

Every year Richard decked his offices in his own totally unique spin on a theme that over the years had ranged from Bolshevik glamour to Tibetan chic.

“Christmas in the Casbah. It's an Arabic interpretation of the holidays.”

Kate raised an eyebrow at me. “That should be interesting. I can't wait to see it.”

“Well, don't bother.” Richard drained his glass. “That insane squirrel ruined it all. He scattered the sand I'd put around the Christmas tree so it would look like it was sitting in the desert. My sand dunes are ruined. Then he ran up the tree and clung to the very top, bending it over until it almost touched the floor before he jumped off. Of course the tree snapped back and my camel tree topper flew across the room and crashed into the bay window. It was awful.”

“You have a camel Christmas tree topper?” I bit the inside of my mouth to keep from laughing.

“It wasn't easy to find, believe me,” Richard said. “Enough about my horrific day. You didn't stumble across any more corpses that you neglected to mention, did you?”

“Nope.” I took a sip of my wine. “We had a normal afternoon for a change. After we met a bride for a final dress fitting, we bought a few last minute things for the wedding, and then came here.”

Richard gave me a suspicious look. “I'm surprised you stayed away from trouble for an entire day.”

“You should see some of the stuff they have at
the Wedding Shoppe,” Kate said. “Did you know that you can get rhinestone-studded ‘Bride' and ‘Groom' thongs?”

Richard shuddered. “And people are afraid of gay marriage.” He paused, and then narrowed his eyes at me. “Wait a second. What were you doing at the Wedding Shoppe?”

“We needed a guest book and ring bearer pillow and thought they'd have the best selection,” I said.

“You've never shopped there before.” Richard looked unconvinced. “Do you expect me to believe that you didn't go there to scout out information on Carolyn?”

“Wow. He's good,” Kate said. “So much for pulling the wolf over his eyes.”

“Wool, Kate.” I rolled my eyes. “You pull the wool over someone's eyes.”

“Really?” Kate said. “Well, that doesn't make any sense at all.”

“I knew you couldn't resist the temptation to poke around in this murder investigation.” Richard wagged a finger at me. “If you're not careful, you're going to be next.”

“That's exactly why we're trying to find out who has it out for wedding planners and why,” I said. “If there really is a serial killer on the loose, we're potential victims.”

Richard tapped his chin. “You have a point. You have been a little too close to both murders for comfort.”

“We're doing a little harmless information gathering,” Kate explained. “We plan to tell anything we find out to the cops.”

“Well?” Richard looked back and forth between us. “Did you find out anything good?”

Kate scooted to the edge of her chair. “Eleanor Applebaum used to be Carolyn's business partner and Carolyn got rid of her once the business started to take off.”

“And?” Richard asked. “That's old news.”

“Not to us,” I said. “Why didn't you ever tell us?”

“Why bother? There's much better gossip than something boring that happened twenty years ago.”

“Boring?” I asked. “I'll bet the police won't think the connection between the two murder victims is boring.”

“They will once they find out
why
Eleanor left the business without much of a fuss,” Richard said in a singsong voice. “That's not boring.”

Kate leaned across the table. “You know?”

Richard nodded gleefully. “Rumor has it that Carolyn blackmailed her. Either Eleanor could leave quietly or Carolyn would make sure that everyone saw the pictures of her with Maxwell.”

Kate's mouth dropped open. “Eleanor Applebaum and Maxwell Gray? The wedding photographer who always tries to seduce the bridesmaids?”

“And sometimes the bride,” Richard muttered.

“He's very popular with wedding planners, too,” I admitted. I'd heard rumors about my colleagues and the Don Juan of D.C.'s wedding world, although Eleanor really didn't seem like his type.

“Apparently he and Carolyn set her up,” Rich
ard continued. “The affair with Maxwell and the kinky photos were all part of Carolyn's plan.”

“Why would Maxwell go to all that trouble to help Carolyn?” I asked. “I know she asked for commissions from vendors but that's a bit extreme.”

“Probably because he and Carolyn had been having an on-again-off-again affair for years,” Richard said. “There was a time he would have done anything for her. That was before her looks went, of course.”

“I don't think I saw her before her looks went.” Kate made a face. “Remind me to disinfect myself the next time I shake Maxwell's hand.” Bold words coming from the woman who would have held the Guinness world's record for dating the most men consecutively, if there had been such a category.

“The two victims had a lot more in common than we first thought.” I swallowed hard. “Finding what links them to the killer may not be such an easy feat after all.”

Richard leaned over and patted our hands. “But your lives may depend upon it, darlings.”