Page 21 of Vows of Murder

“No, sir. We are just shopping for my new daughter-in-law’s wedding this weekend. We’re making birdseed favors for the guests to throw at the happy couple. It’s so much better for the environment than the traditional rice.” She held up the ribbon. “And we’re using both of her colors on the ribbon. Blue and silver. Won’tit be lovely?”

The officer blinked at the information overload. “Well, please stay where you are until we leave the area. I don’t expect a problem from a religious organization”—he turned and looked hard at Maryanne before continuing—“but it’s better not to put civiliansin harm’s way.”

He turned away and started moving the women toward the door. Once they were outside, I turned toward Amanda as I watched Carlie and the other woman getting into the back of a police car. Maryanne stood with Fred and watched the car pull away as Keith loaded the bags from the fabric shop into the back. Then they all got into the vanand drove away.

“You overwhelmed him with information about the wedding so he’d leave us alone.” I grinned at her while the clerk finished cutting our ribbon.

“He didn’t have a wedding ring on so I took a chance that talking about a wedding would make him uncomfortable. And it did. He didn’t even ask us our names.” Amanda took the ribbon and the receipt the clerk gave us to use to check out. “He’s probably going to hear about that from his captain.”

“Especially if the lawyer starts talking about overstepping.” I was impressed by Amanda’s plan. I had used the ploy of giving too much information about unimportant facts before, but not with this level of finesse. I might just learn a few tricks from hanging out with Greg’s mom.

We left the fabric store and glanced around the strip mall to see what other stores were there. Amanda took a deep breath. “The air here is so warm. And I’m starving. Any good Tex-Mex places around? I haven’t had good Mexican food sincemy last trip.”

We were in the middle of lunch when Greg called me. “We’re eating at the Three Tequilas. Do you want me to get youa to-go order?”

“Sounds good, but no. I’ve already eaten. I thought you were in the fabric store with the New Hope women,” Greg said.

“We were. Your mom’s doing a birdseed packet to replace the traditional rice.”

A second of silence held on the phone. “I’m not sure what that means, but great. Anyway, the report doesn’t list your names.”

“The officer didn’t ask us our names. Or the women who were working in the store, for that matter,” I added.

“Sloppy work. Now the attorney will have holes to punch through. Anyway, Toby’s running Molly into Bakerstown to talk to Carlie. I suspect Vince will show up at the station too.”

I didn’t respond, as Amanda was focusing on her food but listening carefully to my side of the conversation. “Okay, well, are you still going to be home for dinner?”

“Probably.” He sighed. “I guess they found another missing girl with Carlie. Bakerstown has this facial recognition program that they spent a pretty penny to buy last year. I have to walk around with high school yearbook pictures in my pocket to identify people.”

“It’s not nice to have tech envy. Especially if it solves another case.” I smiled as I dunked a chip into salsa and took a bite.

“It’s not solving my case. In fact, now I have another possible suspect—the father of this other girl who sent Kane Matthews death threats last year when Kane wouldn’t let him talk to his kid.” He sighed again. “Esmeralda just buzzed me. I have a call from Bakerstown PD. I better take it. Where are you headed now?”

“We’ll be heading back to go play on the beach after lunch.” I smiled at Amanda, who nodded. “Let me know if you’re not coming home. I’ll grab a couple of pizzas from the winery for dinner.”

“Sounds like a plan, eitherway. Love you.”

He ended the call and I putmy phone aside.

“Someone’s in trouble?”Amanda smiled.

“I think they’re going to be once Greg rats us out as being there. I just hope that they don’t want to interview us before next week. He did say that the other girl’s father had sent death threats to Kane.”

“Sounds like there were several people not happy with New Hope’s former leader. Maybe that will help Greg solve the case sooner rather than later. I’d hate to think you’d have to delay the honeymoon any longer than you have already.” Amanda sipped her strawberry margarita. “This thing is strong. I might just take a nap when we head to the beach. I love the soundof the waves.”

Chapter 9

Darla Taylor showed up at the house around nine on Wednesday morning. She brought coffee from the bookstore as well as a dozen of Sadie’s snowflake cookies. I’d already taken Emma running and Amanda was up and making birdseed packets. We’d stopped at a garden supply store and bought the seed on the wayhome yesterday.

Greg hadn’t made it home for dinner, but he’d promised he’d be here tonight since Jim and Beth were coming for family dinner. We were grilling steaks, and I was making mac and cheese to go with it along with a salad. Simple, but filling. I’d put off picking up my dress until tomorrow because Amanda wanted to take Beth to Santa Barbara for the day. We had two more days to fit in all the tourist stops Amanda wanted to hit before the wedding. Friday was busy with the rehearsal dinner and Saturday was all about the wedding. Greg and I had a room in a nearby upscale hotel on the beach for Saturday night and he’d promised we’d have brunch together Sunday morning. Then life would go back to normal, which was actually crazy, until the honeymoon. Maybe Amanda and I would havemore time then.

Or whenever Greg found out who killed Kane. The guy was dead and he was still messing with my life. At least he wouldn’t be attending any more of the business-to-business meetings. But now I had to deal with hisbrother, Roger.

“So, Jill, what have you heard about Kane’s death? Is it going to affect you having the wedding at the mission?” Darla directed a question to me after opening with a few conversational questions for Amanda. Darla never showed up without an agenda. She was my friend, but she also was the local newspaper reporter. And when Darlawas on an assignment, she didn’t let go until she found out what she needed to know. “I know the two of you weren’t friends.”

“I barely knew him. Go interview the mayor. He and Kane were buddy-buddy. Or they were until the mayor found out Kane was filing for a religious exemption on the property.” I broke a cookie in half and nibbled on one side. I would eat the whole thing, but maybe this would keep me from eating two. Or more.

“Wouldn’t that be a thing? Maybe the mayor killed Kane for failing to add to his tax base.” Darla giggled. “Of course, he wouldn’t have killed him. It would have been Tina. Tina always does the wet work in thatrelationship.”

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