Free Invitation to Murder (Book 1 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) by Tim Myers

said as I started toward the
house.
    “ Nonsense, I’ve just seen
your brother’s sense of fairness at work more than you probably
have.” We went into the Mast house—both wearing the gloves that
Wayne had urged on us—and flipped on the lights as we walked
through the place. I found Tina’s bedroom on the third try. Inside,
there were posters of rock stars on the walls, beads where a closet
door should have been and a lava lamp on the dresser. The walls and
ceiling were painted midnight blue, and one wall sported a
hand-drawn mural of a coconut tree, a setting sun, and a bird
painted over the top of the window molding. The room looked like a
cave even with the light on.
    Lillian asked, “What exactly are we looking
for?”
    “ Anything that doesn’t
belong.”
    “ Where should I start the
list?” Lillian asked.
    I ignored her comment and looked at the open
suitcase on the bed. Being careful not to disturb anything, I
searched through Tina’s things with a feeling of violation. This
poor girl had no idea she was going to die so soon, and here we
were pawing through her belongings barely a day later. I couldn’t
find anything that looked out of place, and Lillian wasn’t having
much luck, either. I’d expected Wayne to search with us, but he
spent most of his time just watching the two of us.
    “ Could this mean
anything?” Lillian asked as she held up a newspaper
clipping.
    One side was from a tire ad, and the other
was a listing of movie times for our duplex theater. “I’ll ask
Bradford if she had a ticket stub on her when they found her,” I
said. “Lillian, I’m stumped. If there’s anything important here, I
don’t have a single idea what it could be.”
    “ I confess I’m at a loss,
too. Does that mean I have to give the dollar back?”
    I tried to smile, but there was too much
sadness in that room. “I’d keep it. We tried, didn’t we?”
    She took my hands in hers. “Jennifer, we did
our best, but we’re not trained at this sort of thing.”
    Wayne said, “It’s not as easy as it looks,
is it?”
    I rolled my eyes. “And how would you know?
All you’ve done is stand there.”
    His cheeks reddened, and I felt bad about
the cab, but I hated failing at anything, especially this, since
there was more at stake than bragging rights with my brother.
“Let’s go, Lillian.”
    As we walked back to her car, my aunt said,
“You were a little rough on him, weren’t you?”
    “ I know, but blast it all,
I was hoping to find something.”
    “ Perhaps the movie ad will
turn something up.”
    “ Maybe.” I started to get
in the passenger door of Lillian’s car, then knew what I had to do
first. As Wayne was locking the front door of the house, I said,
“Listen, I’m sorry about that crack. I’m just aggravated, but I had
no right to take it out on you.” I was a master at apologizing; I’d
had enough practice at it over the years.
    Wayne smiled briefly. “That’s okay. You did
your best.”
    “ Yeah, that’s what bothers
me so much about it. I just hate it when my best isn’t good enough.
Now I It have to call Bradford and tell him I couldn’t do
it.”
    “ If you’d like me to, I
can tell him about the clipping. You know I’ll give you both credit
for it, but it might be easier for you that way.”
    “ Thanks, I appreciate
that.”
    “ Listen,” Wayne said
softly, “you want to go get something to eat or
something?”
    “ Are you asking me out?”
His cheeks immediately reddened. “It’s not a real date. You know,
we could just grab a bite or something. Forget it. It was a lousy
idea.”
    “ The idea is fine; the
timing’s just off.” He shrugged. “Yeah, that’s the story of my
life.”
    I tried to ease the reaction. “It’s got
nothing to do with you, and I’m flattered that you’d ask, really.
But with the shop just opening up and everything involved with
that, I don’t have much time for anything else. Is that okay with
you?”
    “ I don’t have much