Free Keepsake Crimes by Laura Childs Page B

and on instead of him acting like such a dunce? And why was Shamus suddenly in this terrible fix?
    As Carmela and Tandy wound their way through the tangle of tombstones and graves, they could see the very proud Ruby Dumaine dragging her daughter, Swan, over to a cluster of women. Even from forty feet away, they could hear Ruby’s high-pitched bray.
    “Swan’s going to be Pluvius queen this year!” bragged Ruby. “Just look at her, isn’t my girl absolutely gorgeous?”
    Swan, who was indeed very pretty, squirmed uncomfortably under the heavy-handedness of her mother’s words.
    “This will be a year to remember for all of us,” continued Ruby Dumaine. “Swan’s official coming out as a New Orleans debutante and the beginning of her reign as Pluvius queen. Don’t you know, her poppa and I are soooo proud.”
    “Does she know something we don’t?” asked Tandy out of the corner of her mouth. “Swan has to get elected first, doesn’t she?”
    Carmela, again wondering whether poor Shelby Clayton had, in fact, formally withdrawn from the queen contest, shook her head in disgust at Ruby Dumaine’s braggadocio manner. “Poor girl,” she said, “to have such an overbearing momma.”

Chapter 8
    “ H AVE you seen this?” asked Gabby, not long after Carmela returned to the store. She hesitantly held up a copy of the New Orleans Times-Picayune .
    “Yes,” Carmela sighed, “I read it first thing this morning.”
    “And you still went to Jimmy Earl’s funeral?” asked Gabby, surprised.
    “I’m afraid so. I thought maybe I’d be able to—” Carmela stopped in midsentence. She’d be able to what? Figure out what really happened? Yeah, right. Lotsa luck, kiddo.
    “I thought I’d shoot some current photos of Saint Cyril’s for the scrapbook,” Carmela told Gabby instead.
    Gabby seemed to accept that as a plausible answer. “Oh, right. I can see where you might want to do that,” she said.
    Fifty minutes later, Baby pushed her way through the front door of Memory Mine.
    “Carmela, honey, I’m really sorry I didn’t get a chance to talk to you at Jimmy Earl’s funeral. Del wanted to leave immediately so he could get back to his office.” Del was a hotshot attorney.
    Carmela waved a hand. “Not a problem. As it was, my time was fairly well occupied.”
    Baby blinked her blue eyes in a quizzical gesture.
    “Oh my, yes,” continued Carmela. “Fending off Granger Rathbone, getting hate looks from Rhonda Lee . . .”
    “Say, Rhonda Lee was in a fairly foul mood, wasn’t she?” gushed Baby as she shifted her scrapbooking bag off her shoulder to the front counter. “Of course, the poor woman was burying her husband. I suppose you wouldn’t classify that as a major social event where you were obligated to appear totally hidebound and proper .”
    “Ruby Dumaine would have,” said Tandy as the front door closed behind her and she hastened to join in the conversation. “She was all gussied up, with her hair in those weird little wiener rolls.”
    Gabby put a hand to her face and laughed, despite herself. “Oh no!”
    “My gosh,” said Baby, “did you get a load of that wrap dress Ruby was wearing! Did that look go out in the sev enties, or did I miss something?”
    “Maybe she just dresses vintage,” suggested Gabby. “There are lots of stores where you can get stuff like that today.”
    “Vintage shmintage,” hooted Tandy, “Ruby just pulled it from the back of her closet. That old gal is so tight with her money she doesn’t throw a thing away!” This produced absolute howls from the women, including Gabby, who normally refrained from gossiping and cracking jokes at the expense of others.
    “Say now,” said Baby, delicately wiping tears from her eyes. “Carmela mentioned something last week about making keepsake boxes. What say we press her into action and have her deliver a quick lesson?”
    “Carmela?” said Tandy eagerly. “Would you?”
    Carmela nodded. Why not? The store