Free Silence of the Lamps by Karen Rose Smith Page A

pulled out when fall came.
    Caprice moved the basket she and Nikki had put together from one hand to the other. Nana had baked a fresh batch of biscotti and they’d included a canister of those. After taking Lady to Dulcina’s house, they’d stopped at Country Fields Shopping Center where they’d visited the specialty tea shop Tea For You. While Caprice bought tea, Nikki had gone to a bath and body shop, purchasing cucumber and melon hand lotion and body wash. They’d put all of it into a basket, and Caprice hoped it would help Rowena feel just a little better. Her grandson murdered. How must she be feeling? If Rowena had raised Drew, he’d be like a son.
    Kiki answered the door looking very solemn. “Thank you for coming,” she said to Caprice and Nikki when she saw the basket of goodies. “Rowena hasn’t received many condolences. With murder involved, even people she thought were her friends are staying away.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that,” Caprice said. “She needs her friends now more than ever. It’s nice of you to let her stay here.”
    Kiki waved her age-spotted hand. “Nonsense. That’s what real friends do. I’ve offered her my downstairs bedroom. She’s in my den right now watching an old movie, but I don’t think she’s paying much attention to it. Come on in.”
    Kiki’s house was a mixture of comfortable and stylish. The multi-cushioned sofa wore a fabric of bright flowery blooms, most of them hydrangeas in pink and blue. An oversized chair with an ottoman accompanied it. Glass-topped tables were sparkling bright and streak-free. Kiki, in her late sixties, obviously took good care of herself and her surroundings.
    She led them to a room adjacent to the living room. In this parlor, the color theme was sage green and gray. Two recliners in sage faced a flat-screen TV. The furniture was polished pine. Although the entertainment center housed the TV, all of its shelves were filled with books. Caprice caught sight of mysteries and romances, spy thrillers, and nonfiction titles too.
    “You have visitors,” Kiki announced to her guest.
    Rowena began to lower her footrest, but Caprice stopped her.
    “Don’t get up. We brought you a basket of goodies we thought you might enjoy. Nana included some of her biscotti.”
    Rowena smiled. “Everyone loves Celia’s biscotti. They’re so different from those hard cookies you buy at the market.”
    Nana’s biscotti were lemon-iced, soft cookies that went well with coffee or tea. Caprice tried to replicate them and did to a certain extent, but they never tasted just like Nana’s.
    Kiki said, “I’ll let you talk. Just call me if you need anything.”
    After she left the room, Nikki sat in the other recliner and Caprice sat cross-legged on the floor near Rowena.
    “How are you doing?” she asked gently.
    “Not so well, I’m afraid. I want to get back into my house. I don’t even have clothes. Kiki let me borrow some of hers.” She motioned to the black slacks that were a little too long, and the green striped blouse that was a bit too big.
    “Jeanie was here for awhile last night,” she offered. “She’s taking care of many of the arrangements. She’s a go-getter, that one, though she and Drew were never really close.”
    “You said they came to live with you after their parents died?”
    “They did,” Rowena assured her. “There wasn’t anyone else. My husband had passed away, and somehow we all muddled through. They were so lost for a while. And Drew?” Rowena shook her head. “I was really worried about him. As a teenager, he was a handful. Even when he received his inheritance—”
    Rowena stopped as if remembering Drew and the years they’d spent together was a little much right now.
    To keep the conversation going and to help Rowena, Nikki jumped in. “I suppose Drew used his inheritance to fund chef school.”
    Rowena seemed to rally. “I was the trustee for Jeanie and Drew’s inheritance until they were twenty-one. Then