Free Red Julie (An Olivia Miller Mystery Book 2) by J A Whiting Page A

called over her shoulder, “I forgot to tell you. The gala is being held at the restored Victorian. The new owner has graciously offered the use of the grounds to the committee at no charge.”
    Olivia looked at Brad and groaned.

Chapter 9
    Aggie’s antique shop was on Shore Road just before the turn in the road that led down to Perkin’s Cove. It was a good spot, Aggie always said, because she got the foot traffic to and from the cove, but she could make the hours as she wanted. If the store was in the cove next to all the other shops, she would have felt obligated to stay open early and close up late. Her shop sold a variety of different antiques, music boxes, jewelry, photographs, paintings, china, and sterling silver flatware. She also sold online through a website she had set up.
    Olivia stood at the door of the shop. She had helped Aggie with the store since she was a little girl. She peered inside through the wide plate glass window and saw the crystal chandelier, the wooden display cases, and the desk in the corner where Aggie worked on broken jewelry. Olivia swallowed hard. She put the key in the lock and pushed open the door. A little bell tinkled when the door swung open. The air inside was hot and still from being locked up for weeks. Olivia walked from case to case and ran her hand over the smooth wood of the counters. She saw a gold bracelet and some small tools on the desk. Aggie must have been fixing the clasp. Olivia brushed tears from her eyes.
    Some of the display cases had been pushed away from the wall and had been covered with drop cloths. Aggie had been in the middle of painting the walls a soft mocha color. Olivia peered among the tools and papers for Aggie’s cellphone, and bent to see if Aggie had placed her laptop under the desk. Olivia opened all the drawers of the desk and searched the display cases and cabinets. She stepped into the back storage room and checked the file cabinets, the closet, under the sink, under the small wooden table where Aggie would eat her lunch. She even opened the small refrigerator to see if the laptop or phone was inside. She put her hands on her hips and, standing in the middle of the cramped room, turned in a circle, gazing over every inch of the space to decide if she had overlooked any spot that might hold the items.
    Aggie kept a small safe in the closet and even though she knew it couldn’t fit the laptop, Olivia opened it anyway to check for papers that might indicate inventory, receipts, names of buyers and sellers, and any pending sales that needed to be taken care of. It was empty. Olivia sighed and took off her sweater. She would have to search through the house again. She returned to the front room of the store. There was lots of work to do, starting with finishing the painting of the shop. And Olivia was determined to finish what Aggie had started.
    ***
    Joe came home early so he could get cleaned up and get started on dinner since Brad was coming. Olivia heard his truck and took her bag of groceries over to Joe’s house so they could work on the chili together. She also took her laptop.
    “So, I told you how Andersen went to London the day after Aggie died and was only back in the US for a day when he was killed,” Olivia said. Joe had showered and was in the kitchen chopping onions and peppers. Olivia was cooking ground beef in one pan and bulgur wheat in another pot.
    “Strange,” Joe said.
    “There must be a connection between Aggie and Andersen. He had my picture in his wallet. They must have known each other and were on to something,” Olivia surmised. “Something dangerous obviously, since someone killed them.”
    Joe looked up. “Who would want to kill Aggie?”
    “The same person who cut out Andersen’s tongue?” she asked. “The person who shot him?” She paused. “Why did Aggie have a gun?”
    Joe ignored that last part. “This is all speculation,” he said.
    “Someone shot Andersen,” Olivia said. “Why was Aggie on that