Page 32 of Smoldering Nights
What the hell?
The arrangements had been perfect when they left the shop.She and Ms.Jillie had double-checked everything.She rushed to the front and grabbed her purse, and texted Mitch.
Call me.Something’s wrong with the funeral flowers.Heading to Harper’s now.
Before she left, she hurried to the back."Ms.Jillie, Edgar Harper just called.He said the flowers are horrible.He said they were wilted and the arrangements were terrible."
"That's just not true.I delivered them myself.They were perfect as always."
"I have to go over there.Please keep the shop open for me."
"Of course, dear."
As she drove, panic twisted in her gut.Who would do this?Who wouldtoucha family’s funeral flowers and sabotage them?
She arrived at the funeral home and rushed inside.Edgar met her with arms crossed, glaring like she’d vandalized the entire chapel.
“In here,” he barked.
Izzy stepped into the viewing room, and her breath hitched.He wasn’t exaggerating.
The once-immaculate sprays sagged, several blooms drooping from stems that were clearly no longer water-soaked.The casket arrangement had been dismantled and poorly reconstructed, with carnations hastily jammed between gaps.The vases had visible brown edges on the lilies.One had even been tipped slightly, dripping onto the linen.
Her chest tightened.“This wasn’t like this when it left the shop.I swear.”
“I don’t care where it happened.I care that it’s fixed.”
Izzy nodded, jaw clenched.“I’ll handle it.”
She returned to her car and called Mitch, hands trembling.
“Someone tampered with the funeral flowers,” she said the moment he picked up.“They were perfect when Ms.Jillie delivered them, and now they look like they’ve been swapped out or sabotaged.They're wilted and they've been pulled apart and rearranged horribly.”Her voice cracked as the tears threatened to spill over."This was done on purpose to hurt my reputation."
There was a beat of silence before Mitch’s voice came low and serious.“I’ll see what kind of cam footage I can find around the funeral home.If someone got to them, we’ll find out how.”He was silent for only a moment."Honey, I promise you I'm working to find out who's doing this."
Izzy swallowed.Her heart was pounding, not just from the panic of disappointing a grieving family, but from something worse.
This wasn’t random.
This was personal.
Chapter15
Mitch gripped his phone tightly, Izzy’s distressed voice still ringing in his ears as he stared out the windshield of his truck.His heart ached as he recalled the sound of her voice.So sad.So bewildered why anyone would do this.She hadn't done anything to anyone for all they knew.Not willingly.But these attacks were purposeful and deliberate.
Sabotaging funeral flowers?That was a new low.
He’d been about to pull onto Travis’s street when Izzy called.The detour to Harper’s Funeral Home wasn’t optional anymore.Someone had targeted her again, publicly this time, and they weren’t just playing games.They were escalating.
He peeled away from the curb, heart hammering.His mind cataloged possibilities like a checklist: Noah, Travis, Delilah.Was one of them so petty, so calculated, they’d tamper with a grieving family’s arrangements just to ruin Izzy’s business?
Five minutes later, he pulled into the small parking lot behind the funeral home, parked close to the service entrance, and killed the engine.The place looked quiet.Too quiet.He scanned the exterior, basic security cams over the back door, and the side lot.No visible blind spots.Good.
Inside, he found Edgar Harper pacing in the hallway like a pressure cooker.The older man scowled when he spotted Mitch.
"We're not open for visitation yet."
Mitch took a deep breath."I'm not here for visitation.I'm here to discuss Izzy Payton and the incident with the flowers."
