Murder and Salutations (Book 3 in the Cardmaking Mysteries) Read Free Page B

in his sheriff’s uniform, and as he
took the stage, he said in a loud voice, “I need everyone to be
quiet and sit back down.”
    There were a few people muttering in
conversation before everyone finally did as they were told. My
brother was well respected in Rebel Forge, and he wielded his
influence in that room like a club.
    After everyone was seated, Bradford said,
“Now I need you all to cooperate. We’re going to find out what’s
going on, but it’s going to take a little time, so I’m asking for
your patience.”
    “ Who was stabbed?” a voice
asked from the audience.
    “ Is she dead?” someone else
asked.
    Bradford held up his hands, then said, “When
it’s time to answer your questions, I will. For the moment, I need
you all to cooperate and let me and my people do our jobs.”
    He went back into the kitchen, but I noticed
not every cop followed him. There was a new man in uniform I didn’t
recognize guarding the door. Bradford had been forced to fire one
of the men on his force. I’d been lobbying him to hire a woman to
replace him, but my brother had told me he’d hire the best
available candidate, and then he’d made a crack about me sticking
to greeting cards and leaving the law enforcement to him. My
brother wasn’t a chauvinist, not by any means, but I still thought
he could use a nudge in the right direction now and then. He’d
thought otherwise.
    I started back to my seat when the new
deputy called out, “Ma’am, you need to sit down.”
    “ I’m trying to,” I said. “My
table is back there.”
    “ Just find an empty chair,”
he snapped.
    I ignored him and headed back to my group
anyway. If he thought that snarling tone of voice was going to work
on me, he was mistaken. I couldn’t believe it when he started
toward me, and without meaning to, I scampered back to my original
seat and sat down, as if we were playing musical chairs and it was
the last one available.
    He kept coming, and loomed over me. “Am I
going to have trouble from you?”
    Lillian butted in, as was her nature. “If
you don’t, you’ll be the first man in her life to make that claim.”
She stuck out her hand. “I’m Lillian. You must be new.”
    He wanted to scold me more, I could see it
in his eyes, but Lillian had defused the tension. “I’m Hank,” he
admitted as he took her hand.
    “ How delightful to meet you.
These are my nieces Jennifer and Sara Lynn, and these are my dear
friends, Savannah and Peter Jones.”
    He tipped his chin down for a moment. “Nice
to meet you folks. Now I’d better get back to the door.” Hank
stared at me a second longer before he left, as if challenging me
to say anything or move an inch off my chair, and for a moment I
was tempted to do both. Then I remembered that Bradford was back in
the kitchen investigating a murder, and it was no time to have a
tantrum.
    When he saw that I was going to behave
myself, Hank turned his back to me and walked to his former station
by the door.
    He was barely out of earshot when Lillian
said, “My, he’s awfully cute, isn’t he?”
    I stared openly at my aunt. “You’re kidding,
right? I thought he was going to handcuff me for a minute there.
What a jerk.”
    “ Jennifer, you’ve got to be
a little more relaxed with your standards if you’re ever going to
meet anyone new.”
    I couldn’t believe Lillian was trying to
discuss my love life after what had just happened. “Can we put my
personal life on hold for the moment? I wonder who was stabbed.
What an awful scream.”
    Savannah nodded. “It was terrible, all
right. Who would do such a thing right here with everyone
around?”
    Sara Lynn was strangely quiet.
    I looked at her a second, then asked, “Are
you all right?”
    “ No, but I will
be.”
    I was still trying to figure out exactly
what she meant by that when Bradford came back out of the kitchen.
He was pelted with questions as he made his way to the stage, but
he didn’t answer any of them until he was at the