Free Evil In Carnations by Kate Collins Page A

thought we didn’t keep secrets from each other.”
    “I don’t usually, Nikki, but I asked Marco not to tell anyone, so I felt obligated to stick to the same rule. And it was only to keep my parents and his family from finding out. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”
    “I’ll survive. And don’t worry about leaving me alone. I’ve got my guys Ben and Jerry to keep me company. Besides, once you and Marco are down in the Keys, you won’t even remember I exist.”
    “That’s not true!”
    Okay, so once in a while I was wrong.

CHAPTER SIX

Monday, January 31
    “ N ikki was right,” I told Lottie and Grace. “Once we stepped off the plane at the Key West airport, I forgot all about her dating problem. Sunshine, perfect weather, a cozy B and B . . . it was wonderful. Then we came home and all hell broke loose.”
    I finished my story with an account of the cops showing up at our door to take Nikki away for questioning, and their later return for her clothing and shoes, and how I felt responsible for her predicament because I’d insisted she go.
    “Don’t feel bad, sweetie,” Lottie said. “As you said, if Nikki had taken your advice, she wouldn’t be in this pickle. You didn’t arrange that date with Jonas. She did.”
    “If I thought about it,” I said, “I could get really pissed off with Nikki about that.”
    “Yet, as you also pointed out, dear,” Grace said, “it’s water under the bridge now, isn’t it? What’s important is that Nikki be cleared right away and brought home. Shall I call Dave’s secretary for a status report?”
    We trooped to the workroom and waited while Grace made the call from my desk. After a full minute of saying, “I see,” she hung up and turned to face us. “It appears the police have released Nikki for now.”
    “For now? They might have to bring her back?” I asked in alarm.
    “All Helen would say is that Nikki is supposed to meet with Dave at his office at eleven thirty this morning.”
    Lottie glanced at her wristwatch and gasped. “Lordy, it’s nine o’clock. I’d better run up front and unlock the door.”
    “I don’t have a good feeling about Nikki, Grace,” I said. “The police should have released her unconditionally.”
    “Don’t be hasty,” Grace said, rising. She cleared her throat. “As Helen Keller, that inspiring woman, once said—”
    Lottie stuck her head through the curtain. “Six customers are headed for the parlor.”
    Grace gave her a nod and continued, “ ‘Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.’ And now I must go.”
    Hastily, too, I noticed.
    I called home to see how Nikki was faring but got our answering machine. After leaving a message for her, I tried her cell phone, only to be sent straight to her voice mail. Why wasn’t she answering? Was she so distraught that she’d shut off her phone?
    Trying to keep my mind occupied so my worry motor didn’t kick into overdrive, I sorted the orders on the spindle, then started on one that was to be delivered to the courthouse at noon, a birthday bouquet a group of secretaries had ordered for one of the judges. While I put together an arrangement of callas and roses, I heard the bell over the door chime repeatedly as customers came and went. It was music to my ears.
    Then I heard, “Where’s my fave little cuz?” and the music became crashing cymbals as the curtains parted and Jillian glided in.
    “Abs!” she cried, as though we hadn’t seen each other in years.
    Jillian Knight Osborne was my only female cousin. She was a year younger, pounds lighter, and tons prettier. I used to say that she was much luckier, too, but that was until she married Claymore Osborne, my ex-fiancé’s younger brother, in a ceremony that remained legendary in New Chapel’s history for the murder that took place during it.
    Always the fashionista, today my cousin sported a white faux-fur swing coat, black faux-fur earmuffs, red mittens, black boots, and a red leather