Free Murder and Salutations by Elizabeth Bright Page A

mystery I’d been reading during my spare moments, from where it was stored safely away in my purse.
    Dame Agatha Christie herself couldn’t hold my attention as I kept thinking about Eliza Glade’s killer. Someone had to have had the guts of a second-story man to kill her with all those potential witnesses just on the other side of the door. Had the perpetrator planned to kill her with the letter opener from the start, or had it been a weapon of opportunity once the murderer was on-site? I knew Bradford thought that anybody could be a killer given the right circumstances. I couldn’t imagine being able to bring myself to do it, and I hoped I never would.
    The next few hours felt like an eternity until Lillian finally showed up again.
    “ How was lunch?” she asked as she took off her coat.
    “ It was great. Let me pay you for it,” I said as I reached for my purse, “Please, it was the least I could do,” she said. “Have you had many customers since I left?”
    “ For all the good I did, I might as well have gone home right after you left.”
    “ Don’t worry, Jennifer, soon enough we’ll be longing for the good old quiet days.”
    “ I hope you’re right,” I said as I straightened the counter displays for the fourth time in two hours. “If you’d like, why don’t we just shut the shop down an hour early and you can go home, too.”
    Lillian shook her head. “I don’t mind working until five,” she said.
    “ Really, I’m fine with it. In fact, I’d feel better if you took off, too.”
    “ That’s nonsense. I have nothing else I need to do.”
    Something was going on. Normally my aunt would jump at the chance to go home early, even though she was only a volunteer and could come and go as she wished. “What is it? What aren’t you telling me? You’re not having a man meet you here, are you?”
    “ Jennifer Shane, I have enough places to entertain my gentleman friends without using your store as a rendezvous point.”
    “ Then what is it? I’m not going until you tell me.”
    She frowned, then finally said, “If you must know, I’ve made a few telephone calls, and I’m hoping I get some answers before we close.”
    “ Is there anything I should know about?” I asked.
    “ I won’t know that until I get my answers,” Lillian said plainly.
    I held her hands in mine. “You didn’t do anything silly, did you? I won’t have you taking unnecessary risks, Lillian.”
    “ You worry too much,” she said as she withdrew her hands. “Now go. Have a lovely evening.”
    “ Be careful,” I said as she ushered me out of the door of my own shop.
    “ I’d say the same thing to you, but it might just do you some good to take a chance tonight. I expect a full report in the morning, Jennifer.”
    “ You’re overly optimistic about a blind date,” I said.
    “ I thought you said it wasn’t anything like that.”
    I was outside by that point. “So I lied. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    Oggie and Nash were waiting by my door when I walked into my apartment. They both looked too smug for my taste, so I looked around, and sure enough, someone had been foolish enough to slide a note to me under my door. Short of a roomful of catnip, there was nothing my cats loved more than shredding paper. I found remnants spread throughout the apartment, and to their credit, my roommates had been terribly efficient. There wasn’t even enough of it left to read the handwriting, a monumental feat given the required level of destruction.
    “ So who came by?” I asked. “Did you happen to see enough of the handwriting to tell who it was from before you shredded it?”
    They both stared at me as if they were fascinated by my discourse, but I knew better. Most likely they were waiting for dinner. Of course, they were waiting for dinner at most times of the day or night.
    “ What am I going to do with you two?” I asked as I knelt down to stroke Nash’s coat. Oggie, normally not one to seek out attention, joined