Gilt by Association (7 page)

Caprice capped her mom's shoulder with her hand. “You could only be the kind of friend to Louise that Louise would let you be. You can't force friendship, just like you can't force love. I don't think a text will really tell you what's in somebody's heart.”

How could you really know what was in a person's heart unless he or she told you?

Automatically Grant came to mind. Because he'd saved her life? Possibly. That night last summer, he'd really seemed to care. Yet he wouldn't tell her what he felt. He wouldn't make a stand. Heck, he wouldn't even ask her to go with him to the Valentine's Day dance.

Maybe she should push a little if she wanted to know Grant better. Yet if she had to push, would anything about their friendship be right?

Caprice's mom sighed. “I need to make a salad, then check on your father. Handling a newborn isn't as easy as it seems. He might have forgotten that. And if you want to be part of this snowman building, you'd better get outside or they'll be finished. If Grant and Vince are competing, they'll be men on a mission.”

“I think I'll find a hat in the closet upstairs. The last time I looked, you had an old straw one you use for gardening. Do you mind if I use that?”

“I don't mind. It's getting a little dilapidated. Whose team is it for?”

“Team Grant,” Caprice said with a wink.

“Of course,” her mother responded with a knowing look.

Ten minutes later, hat in hand, Caprice stepped out the door onto the side porch. She'd no sooner reached one of the brown rope-style pillars that supported the porch when she heard Bella and Joe arguing. That wasn't an unusual occurrence, but since last summer, they'd argued less.

Joe was saying, “It's too soon for you to go back to work.”

Bella kicked the clump of snow at her foot. “I'm in the house all day with the baby. You're at work. Of course you can handle it all better at night. Maybe if I was at work all day, I could handle it all better at night.”

“And who's going to take care of Benny? If we have to pay through the nose for daycare, you might as well not work.”

“I found someone who's reasonable through a network at church. Her kids are teenagers now and she loves babies.”

“Has anyone done a background check?”

Suspecting this argument wasn't going to go anywhere soon, Caprice quietly stepped away from the pillar and went down the porch steps, hoping to reach Vince and Timmy before Bella and Joe had even known she'd passed by. But her boots must have clicked on a patch of bare pavement, and Joe swung around her way.

She gave him an I-didn't-hear-anything expression and was going to keep walking when he beckoned to her.

“Caprice, come here, would you?”

Uh oh. She really didn't want to get into the middle of this. “I have to warn Vince that Grant's team is going to use a hat.”

Joe stared blankly at the two partially assembled snowpersons. “I want your opinion on this,” he said firmly.

She had no choice but to cross to the couple and enter the conversation. Maybe the cold wind would convince them this discussion was better if held inside . . . or later.

“Are you sure you want my opinion? I know nothing about marriage, remember?”

“Maybe not,” he conceded, “but I've seen the way you look at Benny. I've seen how you hold him, and how you walk him, and how you burp him. So just answer one question for me. If he were yours, could you leave him this soon?”

Caprice shook her head vigorously. “Joe, that's not fair. Bella isn't thinking about herself, or Benny. She's thinking about all of you. She's thinking about the extra money, especially if you're considering buying a house. Right, Bee?”

“Of course, that's what I'm thinking about. I've already told him that. This babysitter would be reasonable, and I'd still have money that we can sock away, or use toward a mortgage.”

Joe's expression was set. He still wasn't buying it. Caprice looked at Bella and knew she had to support her sister. That's what sisters were for. So she considered a tactful way to do it. Tact was all important with these two.

She studied Bella again. “You want to go to work.”

She changed her focus to Joe. “You want her to stay home. I understand both of you. But working isn't like making a marriage succeed. I mean, it's not all or nothing. Why can't Bella talk to Roz about working part-time for now? Maybe she can increase her hours as Benny gets older. Maybe she could work a good part of a Saturday and you can watch the kids, instead of taking Benny to a babysitter. I don't know. That's for the two of you to work out. But isn't this like everything else? Wouldn't compromise be best?”

They were both quiet. She took that opportunity to say, “You two mull that over while I take a look at these snowpersons.”

After telling Vince that he and Timmy would have to do something spectacular to compete with her straw hat, she let her boots sink into the snow as she clomped through it to Grant and Megan. Their snowperson was smaller than Vince's, but it seemed to have a little more character. It actually had arms on the sides. With this hat, they could win this challenge.

Megan showed Caprice a handful of stones she'd picked up somewhere in the yard. “These are for the eyes and mouth.”

“You'll have to ask Gram for a carrot for her nose.”

“I'll go in right now,” Megan said, and ran up the walk to the porch steps.

Caprice called, “Wipe your feet before you go in.” Turning to Grant, she asked, “Are you having fun out here?”

“Playing with kids is always a life-altering experience.” From the look in Grant's eyes, he was serious.

“I suppose so. You look at life differently when you're with kids.”

He never talked about the child he'd lost, and she'd never pushed that button. Standing out here in the snow with the wind kicking up wasn't the right time to do it, either.

He stared at the house—Caprice's childhood home. “I want to start looking at houses soon. It could take a while to find something I'll like.”

A house that didn't remind him of a house he'd once shared with a wife and child?

“That
could
take a while,” she agreed.

“You have a fireplace. Your mom and dad have two. Do I want a fireplace or don't I?”

His question surprised her. He was thinking about details already.

“I like my fireplace. Dad keeps telling me I should put a wood-burning unit in it to make it more efficient. But that's not the same thing at all. And he hasn't done that, either. When I light a fire, even the animals feel mellow. So, yes, if I bought a house, I'd want a fireplace. Not a gas fireplace, but a
real
fireplace.”

Grant cocked his head, and the breeze tousled his black hair. “I had a feeling you'd say that. I've been looking at photos online, just sort of deciding how big a house I want and neighborhoods where I might want to look.”

“Wouldn't you miss Donna if you moved from your town house?”

Uh oh. What imp made her ask
that
question? A jealous one maybe. No, she shouldn't be jealous of Grant's divorced neighbor. He'd said they were just friends, hadn't he?

Grant's lips quirked up in almost a smile. “Friends stay in touch no matter where they live.”

Caprice thought about Seth's last rushed e-mail. Had their romance changed into simple friendship? Did he think about her as much as she thought about him? Or tried not to think about him?

And why was she trying to distract herself with thoughts of Seth when Grant was right here?

“Would you go along and give your opinion if I find something I like?” he asked. “February isn't the best month for house hunting, but I thought I'd start actually touring some.”

“I always have an opinion no matter what month it is.”

Grant laughed. And when he did, she felt the two of them were making progress toward . . . something. Something more than friendship?

 

 

Caprice hoped dinner, as well as family around the long table, helped ease her mom's sense of loss. After cleanup, she was about to join the men and dogs in the living room when Bella swooped in beside her and grabbed her arm.

“I want to show you something,” her sister said, pulling Caprice toward the library. Lady wandered after them at Caprice's side now.

The fireplace in the library shared a chimney with the one in the living room. Built-in bookshelves lined the wall around it. Caprice could remember her dad working on those bookshelves when she was little. He was somewhat of a perfectionist in his work and the project had lasted months as he'd found the time to do it. After they were finished, they all had shelved favorite books there. Two of hers were
Anne of Green Gables
and
The Black Stallion
. They were still there.

Bella led her to the two comfy club chairs that were covered with a nubby deep claret upholstery fabric. As Caprice sat in one chair, Lady rested on the floor at her feet. Bella perched on the ottoman.

Pulling a folded sheet of paper from her pocket, she opened it, pressing the folds. “I couldn't sleep last night. So instead of staring at the ceiling thinking about Louise being shot, I did this.”

Caprice took the piece of paper Bella handed her. She recognized the sketch right away—the dress in Louise's closet. “This is terrific, Bee. You've captured it perfectly!”

“You forget I used to want to be an artist before I decided to go to fashion school.”

Yes, sometimes she did. She had the habit of seeing her sister in one dimension—as a woman who'd wanted a home, family, and children more than anything else. But Bella
was
talented and expressed that talent in ways other than a career.

“I would have never remembered all this detail.” She pointed to a design on the lace.

“That detail is what led me to something else.” She turned the sketch over and Caprice saw notes on the other side.

Bella seemed pleased with herself.

“Did you do some research, too?”

“I did. I have access to a few design databases. I thought this style looked very seventies. So I pored over some of the designers from that decade. I found Boyce Johnson. He had a brief period of fame designing one-of-a-kind wedding dresses. But in addition to those, he designed ‘coming-out' dresses.”

“Like debutante gowns?”

“Exactly. And I found one almost identical to this—the sleeve detail, the neckline, the skirt, the lace. Same design on the lace.”

“Do you think we could get hold of this Boyce Johnson?”

“He died in a car accident about eight years ago. From what I found, after a few years of success, he went downhill. Died penniless.”

Caprice tapped the sketch. “Where did he design from? New York?”

When Bella shook her head, the curls around her face bobbed. “Nope. He sold his first gown to an oilman's daughter in Houston.”

Considering that, Caprice murmured, “Mom said she thought Louise had a Texas drawl when she first met her.”

“Maybe she was right.”

And maybe Caprice had just gained her first clue to Louise Benton Downing and her background before she came to Kismet.

Chapter Seven

After an evening with the family, Caprice had no sooner stepped inside her house with Lady when her dog ran over to the sofa and barked.

Caprice kept a light on a timer in the foyer. The small Tiffany lamp glowed its warmth into the living room. She could barely see Sophia at the far side of the area, stretched out on the afghan Nana had made that was folded over the back of the sofa. But she didn't seem to be concerned about Lady's greeting.

Since that was true, Lady barked again.

This time, Sophia rose slowly, stretched her front legs before her, and lifted her tail high in the air. Then she jumped down to the sofa, right above Lady.

Lady barked a third time as Sophia jumped to the coffee table, then landed on the rug. With Lady chasing her, she dashed to the kitchen. Apparently they were going to participate in before-bedtime gymnastics this evening.

Caprice took off her coat and hung it on the high mirrored, oak clothes-tree bench in her foyer while Lady and Sophia ran around the circle she called home. A few times around, and they'd both be ready for their bedtime snack. This was their way of communing after an absence.

She was making her way through the dining room to the kitchen, turning lights on as she went, when her cell phone played. She pulled it from her pocket and saw Nikki's picture.

Swiping her finger across the screen, she put the phone to her ear and asked, “Didn't I just see you?”

“You saw me, but we really didn't get a chance to talk, not with Mom feeling so sad, and snowperson building, and Bella corralling you. It's no surprise Grant and Megan won the snowman contest, you know. Grant has a much more artistic eye than Vince does.”

“And you know this how?”

“Because Grant has actual artwork in his law office, and Vince doesn't.”

Caprice smiled. That was true. Grant's office had a masculine Southwestern flavor to it while Vince's was . . . executive boring.

“So you called to talk to me about the snowman competition?”

“No.” Nikki paused, and Caprice wondered why her sister was hesitating. The two of them were usually pretty free with each other. She waited.

“I want to run something by you. What do you think about me taking on a partner?”

Nikki had grown her catering business from simple hors d'oeuvres and desserts to much more elaborate fare. But she was often busier than she could handle and had to turn down work.

“I'm certainly not complaining that I have clients who want me to cater for them,” she went on. “But I'd like to have a life, too. As it is, I'm working sixty hours a week.”

“I understand.”

Sometimes Caprice's weeks were like that. “You want to know if I approve?”

“Sort of. How would you feel about working with me and someone else? I mean, I'd still cater all of your open houses, but a partner could help and could give me some time off.”

“Do you have anybody in mind?”

“No, not specifically. I'm going to be interviewing three possibilities this week.”

“So you've already decided to do this.”

“Not if you're totally opposed. I don't know how this will affect us working together. I'd like to do all of your open houses, and I'll still help you plan them. But it would all depend on what kind of schedule a partner and I would come up with.”

Caprice thought about it. She tried to roll with the punches in her life. That seemed to be the least stressful way to handle her family and her job. But this was one very big roll with the punches. Nikki understood her, and she understood Nikki. They had discussions about their menus, but their ideas always gelled and meshed. What would happen if she had to work with Nikki's partner?

Still, she couldn't just think about her own stake in this. Nikki did need a life. She also needed time off, or she'd burn out.

“Nikki, you do what you have to do. We'll adjust.”

“You're saying you'd just rather work with me.”

“Well, of course I would. But we never know what's going to happen tomorrow, do we? Louise's murder proves that. So interview your candidates for partner, then we'll talk.”

“Are you going to investigate who murdered Louise?”

“I'm going to do some snooping, starting with Isaac's antique shop tomorrow morning. I need pretty touches for the model homes I'm decorating. Valentine's Day might be a big weekend for them. While I'm looking around for some interesting glassware, I'll see what Isaac knows about the Downings. You know Isaac. He has his ear to the ground, and gossip is almost as rampant at Older and Better as it is at the Koffee Klatch.”

“At least I don't have to worry about you at Isaac's shop.”

“No, you don't, or at anyplace else. When do you interview your first candidate?”

“Tuesday morning.”

“Let me know how it goes.”

“I will.”

After Caprice said good-bye and ended the call, she set her phone on the counter and plugged it in to charge. She had a charger down here and one upstairs to make life a little more convenient.

Convenient. She had a feeling Nikki having a partner wasn't going to be convenient at all.

 

 

When Caprice stepped into Isaac Hobb's antique shop, Older and Better, she stepped back in time. Some of the furniture, such as the apothecary cabinet and a vintage icebox, were more than a hundred years old. She'd purchased 1940s glassware here for her mom's birthday and her mom had added it to the glassware Nana Celia had bestowed on her.

Caprice waved to Isaac who was sitting in his captain's chair behind the cashier's desk. As she wended her way through the musky scent of old wood, a dash of potpourri, and the vestiges from the past, she called to Isaac, who was tall, husky, and in his early sixties. His life was this shop, and the trips he took to find more unique pieces for it.

Lady snuffled along the wood plank flooring as if she'd caught scent of the past and was following its trail. The first time Lady had accompanied Caprice to the shop, Caprice had worried that she might be too rambunctious and break something. But ever since that first trip, after a few sniffs, she made her way around the cashier's desk to Isaac. Today was no different. Caprice firmly believed animals were a good judge of character. Lady confirmed that on a day-by-day basis.

Now, Isaac chuckled as he spotted Lady. “I know what you want,” he said. “You know I keep a pack of dog treats back here just for you.”

“We had a walk this morning, and she and Sophia had a grand chase through the house. So she's probably ready to sit on your foot and nap.”

“She's welcome to do that after I sell you something. What are you here for today?”

“Maybe I just came to visit,” Caprice teased.

“I know that look. You have something in mind. I went to an estate sale this weekend and found a cute turquoise-colored glass Fenton cat. It's signed and hand painted.”

“That's the problem, Isaac. I come in here for my business and I end up buying something personal.”

He laughed out loud this time. “If you buy enough other stuff, I might give you the cat at a discount.”

She shook her head, and eyed the many tabletops and cubbyholes that held glassware. “I staged the model homes in Keystone Village. We're hoping for a good turnout of looky-loos over Valentine's Day weekend. Garden Glory will be delivering potted plants, but I need those extraspecial touches that a woman would look at. As silly as it seems, a piece like a hobnail vase can sell a house. A prospective buyer could look at a piece of glassware in the hutch and think, ‘My dishes will look good here, too.' I'm thinking of maybe a lead crystal nappy that can hold rose petals, possibly a Capodimonte vase, maybe pink Depression glass.”

“I have all three. Let me see what I can scrounge up.”

For the next half hour, Lady followed them around the shop as Isaac produced possibilities, and Caprice made choices and bargained. She and Isaac always bargained like thieves, but that was part of the fun of coming here.

After Caprice had made her selections, and Isaac wrapped the little turquoise glass cat, too, he asked. “Do you have time for coffee?”

This was another reason Caprice came to Isaac's shop. He liked to talk when other customers weren't standing around waiting, although his coffee often tasted stale and grainy. Caprice ignored that for the conversation.

This time of the day, the coffee should be fresh.

“If I brought you a pound of caramel-cinnamon coffee, would you use it?”

“Caramel-cinnamon? That sounds like coffee for the petticoat set.”

“How about blackberry rum?”

Isaac hiked one gray brow. “Now you're talking.” Caprice laughed and went around the back of the desk to one of the captain's chairs with its red plaid cushion. She sank onto it as Lady plopped right by her boot. She shrugged out of her coat, letting it cushion the back of the wood chair. Then she straightened the Peter Pan collar of her blue plaid blouse that looked as if it had come straight from the
Happy Days
wardrobe. Her wool slacks had a pleat from calf to ankle that flared when she walked. How she loved retro fashion that was definitely making a comeback.

Isaac took milk from a refrigerator under the counter, then handed her a mug that he'd doused with a teaspoon of sugar. “I hear your open house was canceled over the weekend,” he said casually.

“It certainly was.”

He gave her a sideways glance. “The
Kismet Crier
reported the murder. I happened to have my scanner on when the police were called in. Were you involved?”

Isaac's records had been a huge help when she'd solved her first murder case. It seemed everyone in Kismet had passed through his doors at one time or another and he could be an encyclopedia of information.

“I found Louise Downing.”

Isaac sighed heavily. “Does this mean you're going to be involved in figuring out who did it?”

“Louise was a good friend of my mom's.”

“Uh oh. It looks as if you didn't learn your lesson when you almost got dead yourself last summer.”

Caprice was quiet because Isaac was right. If it hadn't been for Grant—

She shoved thoughts away of what had happened last summer. “Did you know Louise or Chet Downing?”

“I don't know if I know anybody who walks through that door,” Isaac said honestly. “But if they come in more than once, I usually learn something personal about them. Chet Downing never came in here. I think I was too low-brow for him. But Louise came in now and then. She particularly liked hand-crocheted doilies. She would stop by every so often to see if I'd found any more. She was also on the lookout for dresser scarves with lace trim, and anything with hearts and gold trim, from perfume bottles to candy dishes.”

“Her house was full of all that. Her theme for the open house was hearts and flowers.”

“Is Downing still going to sell?”

“I'm not sure. His real estate agent is giving him time and space to absorb everything that happened.”

“Hard enough with a death, let alone with a murder.”

Caprice took a sip of coffee. Not too bad. “My mom wants me to help figure this out, and I can't let her down.”

“Where are you starting?”

“Louise's background, I think. My mom doesn't know much about her before Louise moved here. Louise was pretty quiet about it. When someone's quiet about their past, that usually means there's a secret hidden there.”

“There are lots of secrets hidden in the past,” Isaac mused, glancing around his shop.

Lady stood, shook herself off, and wandered over to Isaac's chair, where she promptly sat on his foot. He smiled down at her and patted her back.

“When Louise came in here,” Isaac started, “she mostly talked about the Garden Club and her greenhouse. Once in a while, a trip she and Chet were taking. I do remember one time, though—”

“What?” Caprice asked, knowing Isaac remembered details better than almost anyone she knew.

“She liked antique jewelry, too. She always stopped and looked at the case. One day when she came in, she saw a diamond necklace. I took it out and she thought about buying it. But then she said, ‘I had one almost like this that was stolen.' She didn't say any more.”

“What kind of necklace was it . . . besides the diamonds, I mean?”

“It was delicate. From the seventies.”

Caprice thought about that.

The seventies again. A diamond necklace that was stolen. Another clue.

 

 

When Caprice returned home, she decided to take Lady for a walk before she went inside. She'd feed both Sophia and Lady an early lunch before she went shopping for a dress for the Valentine's Day dance. Then her pets could settle down for the afternoon. Of course, she'd leave Lady's play ball with kibble to keep her busy if she wasn't napping.

As she and Lady walked down her driveway, she saw that her neighbor across the street, Dulcina Mendez, was at home. She was outside on her front walk, shoveling away some of the slush that had accumulated. As soon as they crossed the road, Lady was in a hurry to get to Dulcina. Caprice jogged a little until they reached her neighbor, who was smiling already.

Dulcina was in her late forties, and usually wore her pretty black hair tied back in a ponytail. Strands of gray laced through it, but she seemed unmindful of it. She worked at home doing medical transcription for a local pediatrician's practice. She and Caprice both liked to garden, and they'd easily talked about that once Caprice had moved in across the street. Since then, they'd had coffee now and then, and always chatted when they ran into each other. They'd actually gotten friendlier since Lady had joined Caprice's family. Dulcina often looked in on Lady for her, or took her on a walk when Caprice was going to be late. Caprice didn't know a lot about her neighbor, just that she'd grown up in York and had lost her husband unexpectedly to a car accident when she was in her thirties.