Part 15 (1/2)

She calmed down long enough to ask, ”How's Sara Lynn?”

”She's pretty upset,” I said. ”She made me promise to find out who killed Eliza Glade, as if we haven't been trying to figure that out all along, anyway.”

”Then we need to redouble our efforts,” Lillian said. ”And we will, just as soon as you take care of something else.”

”What's that?” I asked, looking around the store. ”Is there a customer I'm missing?”

”No, but we did have a visitor while you were gone.

Greg Langston was here, and he was determined to talk to you.”

”Well, I'm not ready to talk to him,” I said. One confrontation this morning was one too many, as far as I was concerned. Greg was just going to have to wait.

”Jennifer, you need to tie up this loose end so we can work without distraction,” she said.

The bad thing was that I knew she was right. ”Fine. I won't be gone long.”

”I won't hold you to that,” Lillian said.

”Trust me, what I've got to say can be handled in thirty seconds.”

”It's not your opening statement I'm worried about,” Lillian said. ”It's his reb.u.t.tal.”

”He's not talking me into anything else,” I said. ”I promise.”

”Jennifer, you know how I feel about people making promises they can't keep.”

”Just watch me.”

I left the card shop and walked down to Greg's pottery store. If Greg wanted to talk to me, he was going to get more than he'd bargained for.

He was with a customer when I walked in. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that he'd planned it that way just to defuse my temper. I didn't care how irrational that sounded, even in my head. I wasn't in the mood to have anyone cross me, including my own subconscious.

The customer finally left, clutching two of Greg's kiln salamanders like they were made of gold. Greg took the partially melted and twisted triangular cones used to gauge the temperature in his kiln, added a few features like legs and a face, glazed them, then retailed them to the public as small knickknacks. ”I sell more of those than I have any right to, especially since they're basically free to create. Jennifer, I honestly tried to get to you last night, but your family wouldn't let me near you. I'm so happy you're all right.” He gestured toward my wrist tenderly. ”Are you all right? Were you scared?”

”What? No. Yes, of course I was. Listen, we need to talk.”

”I came by your shop a little while ago,” he said, ”but your aunt told me that you were with Sara Lynn. How's she holding up?”

I shook my head. ”Greg, right now we're talking about us. You and me, for the last time there will ever be a you and me. Last night was the biggest summation of our relations.h.i.+p that there could ever be. Anybody who thinks G.o.d or Fate or whatever Supreme Being they believe in doesn't have a sense of humor is insane. We can't even have a farewell dinner without it being interrupted by gunplay. If that's not a sign, what is?”

Greg stared at me a few seconds, then said, ”I believe it was a sign, too. Just not the same one you think.”

”What are you talking about?”

”I don't think we should have ever broken up,” he said, his words coming out in a rush. ”Think about it, Jennifer. There's a reason we didn't finish this between us.”

”Yeah, some lunatic took a couple of shots at me.” My voice was shriller than I liked, but I couldn't help it. ”Greg, we don't belong together, not anymore. I loved you at one time, I've never denied it, but there's no future in this relations.h.i.+p for either one of us.”

He stepped closer than I would have liked, but I didn't back away. ”Jennifer, look into my eyes and tell me you don't still love me.”

I felt his presence, a strong aura that made my knees go weak. ”It's no use,” I said, but even I was aware of the lack of conviction in my voice. ”I can't do this.”

”You're right,” he said, stepping even closer. ”There's no use fighting it anymore.”

It would have been easy enough to turn my cheek as he started to kiss me. I'd done it enough times in the past to be an expert at it. But I didn't even move, I'm sorry to say. Ten seconds into the kiss, I'd forgotten why I'd come there in the first place. I'd also forgotten my name and my birthday. Wow. I was about ready to give in completely, regardless of the consequences, when Greg's front door opened. As he pulled away from me, I caught a glimpse of Stephanie's back as she ran back out the door.

And then Greg gave me the only real answer I'd been expecting all along. If he was really interested in being with me, he would have at least said something to me before he raced out after her. Instead, all I heard were his pleas to Stephanie to stop. He didn't even look back at me as he bolted down the street after her.

I shook my head, trying to wipe the images I'd been entertaining out of my mind. At last I knew that whatever Greg and I had shared was finally dead. It still stung as I saw him race through traffic to catch the woman he loved. More than a little part of me was sad that I wasn't the one for him, though I knew in my head that he wasn't the one for me, either. There was no denying we had a physical pull between us, but that was all it was, and I refused to try to build anything more solid on just that. I needed more, and to be fair, I was sure that Greg did, too. It was finally time to move on.

I couldn't exactly lock his shop up, since I didn't have a key, but I did the next best thing. I flipped his sign to the closed position, then turned off all the lights. It would have to do until he got back. Waiting there for him was out of the question. I just hoped he understood what had transpired between us as clearly as I had.

I walked back into the card shop and Lillian was about to say something when she must have caught the look on my face. Without a word, she stepped up to me and wrapped me in her embrace. No doubt we looked ridiculous, with me towering over her and trying to bury my head in her shoulder, but I didn't care. I let my tears out, and the ferocity of the outburst startled me. After I'd cried for a few minutes, I pulled away. ”Wow, I haven't cried like that in ages.”

”You were past due,” Lillian said. ”I gather it didn't go as smoothly as you'd hoped.”

”It was awful,” I said, dabbing at my eyes with a Kleenex. ”He kissed me.”

”Was it really that bad?” Lillian asked, obviously surprised by the admission.

”No, that's the point. It was so good it curled my toes.”

”So what's the awful part?”

”Stephanie caught us, and he ran after her without saying a word to me. It's over. It probably has been for a long time-I've known that in my head-but my heart's just catching up with the fact.”

”I'm so sorry,” Lillian said. ”Give it some time, and you'll feel better. Would you like to go home early today?”

”No, thanks,” I said. ”As a matter of fact, I'd like something to throw myself into. Like a murder investigation.”

”Jennifer, are you certain that's what you want to do?”

”I've never been more sure of anything in my life,” I said. ”Let's get started.”

Lillian got out our whiteboard and erased the day's specials we'd tried last week. Every day we'd offered a different discount on something, and it hadn't been worth the time it had taken to come up with the specials. Perhaps it would work when we had more foot traffic in the store, but it was a bust this time of year.

I took a soft cloth and erased the board so we could start fresh. I replicated the listings we'd done on her mirror at home a few nights ago.

”Do we have anything new to add?” I asked as I studied it.

”I'm not sure how the shooting fits in, or Bailey's mysterious stalker,” Lillian said.

”I'm not, either. So who do we tackle first?”

She tapped the board under Addie's name. ”Why don't we look at motives? She gets the shop. That's got to be worth a fortune. Is greed a big enough motive?”

”You'd better believe it,” I said and wrote that single word under her name. I wished I had a green marker to write it in, but our St. Patrick's Day blowout had turned into a flop, and I'd killed the marker in the process.

”So how about the others?” I asked as I studied the list.