Read Death Waxed Over (Book 3 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) for Free Online

think Belle would have liked this?”
    My Great-Aunt had loved candlemaking, so I’d
been told by those closest to her, but she hadn’t been that
enthusiastic about marketing and promoting her wares. I was more
concerned with the bottom line. Besides, it wasn’t like I was
trying to benefit from Gretel’s murder. There was a good chance
many of my regular customers might shun me until I was cleared of
suspicion, and if I was going to keep my business afloat, I had to
take advantage of the opportunities as they presented
themselves.
    “ The thing you’ve got to
remember is that Belle wanted the candleshop to stay
open.”
    “ But at what
cost?”
    I didn’t know how to answer that, and
fortunately the line was re-forming. There was a man up front with
a basket full of our most expensive stock, both kits and actual
candles that Eve and Belle had poured themselves. There was even
one of my creations in his selection, something I felt very good
about.
    He handed the basket to Eve and said, “Take
your time.” He then turned to me and said, “Harrison, I understand
there was bad blood from the start between you and Gretel
Barnett.”
    “ I wasn’t exactly thrilled
she was opening up a candleshop franchise so close to my shop, but
I was willing to extend a neighborly hand to her.”
    “ So what’s this I hear about
you two facing down in a shouting match this morning?”
    This guy was relentless. “We had a
disagreement, plain and simple. I’m sorry we won’t have the
opportunity to resolve it.” And that was true. I felt a little sick
that Gretel had died with bad blood brewing between us. She wasn’t
my favorite person in the world, but that still didn’t mean I’d
wanted to see her dead.
    “ Were you trying to bury
her, like you said?”
    I was doing my best not to lose my temper,
but he was goading me. “She said she was going to bury me, not the
other way around.”
    Finally Eve handed the man his card slip and
he signed a hasty scrawl. As our customer took it, he said, “How
about this relationship between the murder victim and one of the
men here at River’s Edge?”
    Before I could answer, Eve said, “That’s it,
I knew your name sounded familiar. You’re Tom Francis from The
Gunpowder Gazette, aren’t you?”
    Oh, no! I hadn’t realized I was being
interviewed by the newspaper trying to hang me.
    It was time to get rid of him. “Your
shopping trip is over, and if you quote me, I’ll deny every word of
it.”
    He grinned and held up a tape recorder he’d
retrieved from his front pocket. “Just try it.”
    As he scurried away, I said, “No more
interviews. Buy or don’t buy, I’m finished talking.”
    Half the people left at the announcement,
but the rest lingered, hoping I’d change my mind. Eve said,
“Nothing like locking the barn after the horses are all gone.”
    “ Was it that bad? Did I say
anything I shouldn’t have?”
    “ Harrison, anything more
than ‘no comment’ would have been too much.”
    I nodded. “Okay, maybe I should have given
it a little more thought before I made my offer to them.”
    As Eve rang up another sale, she said, “I
wouldn’t waste my time worrying about it. Chances are they would
have smeared you without the interview.”
    “ If that’s supposed to make
me feel better, it’s not working.”
    We got through the rest of the customers as
closing time neared. I had had enough. “Why don’t we lock up early?
All I want to do is to go upstairs, take a hot shower and lose
myself in a good book.”
    Eve said, “I thought our table was still at
the fair? And weren’t you supposed to help Heather take her display
down, too?”
    “ Blast it, I forgot all
about that.”
    “ If you’d like, I suppose I
could do it.”
    I shook my head. “No, I need to do it
myself. I promised Heather I’d be there. You can shut down early if
you’d like.”
    “ You know how I feel about
that. I’ll stay open till the posted store hours are
over.”
    “ Just