Snuffed Out (Book 2 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) Read Free Page A

nothing idle about
this. A man died here last night.”
    Millie blanched slightly, then asked, “How
did it happen?”
    “ I’ll answer your question
if you answer mine,” I said.
    “ You first,” Millie
insisted.
    I nodded. “It was an accident. It appears
that a bucket of water spilled on a frayed power cord while he was
working.”
    Millie looked somehow relieved by the news.
“Okay then. Heather and Aaron used to go out together.”
    “ How long ago was this?” I
couldn’t imagine Heather and Aaron together. She’d treated him with
frost the few times they’d bumped into each other when I’d been
around them both.
    “ They broke it off just
before you came to River’s Edge,” Millie said evenly. “Evidently it
was Aaron’s idea. Something about his wife. His ex-wife, I guess I
should say.”
    “ Heather must have taken it
pretty hard,” I said.
    “ You could say that.
Harrison, you should know that Aaron Gaston was a nice enough man
most of the time, but he could be a real jerk when it came to his
love life. The second his precious ex came back into his life, he
dropped Heather in a heartbeat. Of course the reconciliation didn’t
last, not with that woman’s history, but Aaron couldn’t even manage
to be cordial to Heather after that. It was as if he somehow blamed
her for his wife leaving him again.”
    “ Funny, the last time I
talked to Aaron, he told me there was a new woman in his life. Then
he chuckled and said that he wasn’t sure you could call her exactly
new. I wonder if it’s possible he was talking about his ex-wife?
Who knows, he could have even meant Heather.”
    I took a bite of doughnut, then Millie said,
“Are you eating those exclusively, or would you like to branch out
a little?”
    “ What did you have in mind?”
I asked. “I’m always open to new things, but you’re going to have
to go quite a ways to top these.”
    “ The recipe’s not quite
there yet, but I’m getting close. Maybe you can be my guinea pig
tomorrow if I’m ready.”
    “ I’m your man,” I said, “But
if you keep feeding me like this, I’m going to have start
exercising more than just a walk every now and then.”
    “ You can join my health
club,” Millie said, “Though I confess, all I seem to do lately is
pay the monthly fee.”
    “ Thanks, but I think I’ll
stick with walking for now.”
    She said, “Then you might want to add an
extra lap or two today. This treat isn’t exactly low calorie.”
    “ That’s my favorite kind,” I
said as I grabbed my last doughnut, along with the coffee, and
headed over to At Wick’s End.
    Tick Dearborn was opening her antique shop
as I walked past, and I thought about moving on to the candleshop,
but it appeared I was the designated deliverer of bad news. Tick
was a middle-aged woman who’d never grown out of her big-hair
phase, and I wondered how much ozone she’d personally destroyed
with hairspray every morning in the course of her lifetime. What I
liked best about her was that she had a ready smile and always
seemed to think the best of people.
    “ Tick, have you heard the
news?”
    She turned to me and said, “Were you talking
to me, Harrison?”
    I saw her eyes were red and she had a
handkerchief to her nose. “Never mind. Somebody already told
you.”
    “ Told me what?” she said as
she dabbed at her eyes. “These allergies are killing me. I’m
dripping and stopped up and sneezing my head off. I swear I’m going
to move to Arizona.”
    “ Aaron Gaston died last
night.”
    She took a deep breath, then said, “How sad.
Was it a car accident? I’m always worried about traveling by
automobile.”
    “ No, he died in his
shop.”
    “ How tragic. Just like
Belle.”
    I certainly hoped not. I said, “I guess so.
Well, I’ll let you get back to work.”
    “ Harrison, let me know if
there’s a service. I think we should all be there.”
    “ I’ll do that.”
    Tick went back to opening her store, Aunt
Tick’s Antiques. Her real