Free Scene of the Brine by Mary Ellen Hughes Page A

them as well.”
    Would that affect Piper’s invitation? To find out and possibly put Lydia on the spot, Piper asked, “When is your tea?”
    â€œThis coming Sunday,” Lydia answered smoothly, apparently still willing to welcome a simple pickling shop proprietor. “I did put it off a few days,” she said, and Piper expected the reason to be Dirk Unger’s death until Lydia explained, “We’ve had to have a few renovations done on the house. Not too surprisingly, things took much longer than promised to get done.” She laughed deprecatingly. “One can never rely on guarantees from the working class, can one?”
    â€œActually, I’ve had very good experience, lately. Ralph Strawbridge installed my new front door two days ahead of his own deadline.”
    â€œYes, well . . .” Lydia glanced vaguely at Piper’s door but was clearly unimpressed.
    Piper could contain herself no more. “I was sorry to hear about Mr. Unger’s death. That must be very upsetting to your family.”
    â€œOh, yes, terribly,” Lydia said, appearing quite unruffled. “Jeremy relied on Dirk quite a bit. But nobody is irreplaceable, of course. I’m sure the entire situation will be sorted out very soon.” Lydia turned toward Piper’s shelf of preserves. “While I’m here, I should pick up a jar of your lovely brandied cherries. Oh, there they are!” She plucked a jar from its spot and handed it to Piper to ring up, having smoothly changed the subject to something more “tasteful.” Piper, however, was not to be deterred.
    â€œSheriff Carlyle,” she said, carrying the cherries toward her cash register, “will certainly discover the truth of the matter—in time. As the people who knew Mr. Unger best, your family must have been able to provide him with good information about the man’s movements on the day he died.”
    â€œOh! Heavens!” Lydia laughed and flapped a hand. “Hardly. At least not Mallory or myself. Mallory, of course, is my daughter. You’ll get to meet her at the tea,” Lydia said, as though that were an added treat for Piper to look forward to. “Neither of us had much to do with Dirk Unger. He was Jeremy’s employee.” Her pinched lips as she said that confirmed Tammy Butterworth’s claim of battles with Jeremy over the man.
    Piper was eager to pursue the topic more but her shop door opened at that moment, admitting Mrs. Tilley, whose face lit up like a Christmas tree at the sight of Lydia Porter.
    â€œLydia, imagine finding you here! You poor, dear thing. What a terrible time you all must be going through. How are you holding up?”
    Quite well,
Piper thought, but Lydia Porter shook her head and sighed as Mrs. Tilley twittered away, full of sympathy for Lydia’s imagined distress. Amy emerged from the back at that point and caught Piper’s eye, rolling hers in exasperation. The two waited silently, Piper beginning to wish she could ease the pair out and onto the sidewalk as the exchange continued.
    Finally Lydia Porter said, “Well, I must be going. There are one or two more stops I need to make concerning my tea.”
    â€œI hope you found a replacement caterer as good as Sugar Heywood,” Piper said.
    â€œOh, Sugar couldn’t do it?” Mrs. Tilley piped up, apparently not up to speed on all the recent developments. “What a shame. She really is the best around.”
    Lydia Porter’s eyes narrowed but she quickly regained her composure. “Actually, I’ve found someone in Bellingham who came with the highest references. I’m positive he . . .” She took Mrs. Tilley’s arm at that point and walked her out of the shop as she enthused over her new caterer, leaving Piper and Amy to stare wordlessly.
    â€œMy gosh!” Amy said as Ralph Strawbridge’s beautiful door closed behind the