Cloche and Dagger Read online

  ‘Speaking.’

  ‘This is Scarlett Parker with Mim’s Whims—’ I began but she cut me off.

  ‘What do you want?’ she asked. Her voice sounded suspicious.

  ‘I wanted to inform you that in light of recent events, we’re going to be open by appointment only,’ I said.

  ‘You’re “the party crasher,” aren’t you?’ the woman asked.

  ‘I—’

  ‘I’ve seen the video. You looked demented,’ the woman continued. ‘And your cousin Vivian murdered Lady Ellis! To think I let her measure my head!’

  Claudia Reese said it with such horror. She made it sound as if Vivian had tried to lop off her head while taking her measurement.

  ‘She did not murder anyone!’ I argued. My usual way with people was abandoned as I choked back the anger in my throat like a dry biscuit.

  ‘Of course, you’d say that,’ the woman said. ‘You’re a nutter.’

  ‘I am not!’ I snapped. ‘And if this is how you feel about my cousin and me then may I suggest you take your business elsewhere.’

  ‘Count on it!’ Claudia snapped back and hung up.

  Chapter 31

  I stared at the phone in my hand for a beat or two. ‘Why… that’s… just… oh!’ I slammed my phone down, too.

  ‘Problem?’ Fee asked. She was pinning the soaked sinamay around a crown form now.

  ‘That horrible woman just called me a nutter,’ I said.

  ‘One client down,’ she said. She said it with a sigh that made me think she anticipated a lot more of this.

  One of the workmen came back into the room and began working on the lock on the back door. He was young, and I realized that, like Fee, he was probably an apprentice, maybe learning the locksmith trade from Mac with the hope of opening his own business one day.

  Well, if I didn’t start getting better responses from my calls, there wasn’t going to be a business for Fee to apprentice and Viv would come back to an alarm system with nothing to protect.

  ‘Who was the woman Nick told us about yesterday?’ I asked Fee. ‘The friend of Lady Ellis?’

  ‘Marianne Richards,’ she said. She wrinkled her nose and I took it that Ms. Richards was not one of her favorites. ‘There’s a whole pack of them. Lady Ellis and Lady Cheevers are the social leaders and then Marianne Richards, Chelsea Cline and Susie Musselman tend to follow them.’

  ‘Are they just ladies of leisure?’

  ‘Mostly. Marianne Richards has a career but the rest, yeah, they all have too much money, not enough brains and the emotional depths of turnips.’

  ‘Okay then, somehow I need to get Lady Ellis’s friends into the shop to show that they don’t hold Viv responsible for Lady Ellis’s death,’ I said.

  I tapped a pencil on the desktop while I mulled it over.

  ‘How do you plan to do that?’ Fee asked.

  I watched her for a moment. Her nimble brown fingers, moving swiftly over the fabric-wrapped wood. Hats!

  ‘Fee, do we have any special stock that’s been packed away?’

  She tipped her head and considered me. ‘Meaning?’

  ‘Special hats that were ordered but never picked up, that sort of thing,’ I said.

  ‘A fair few,’ she said.

  ‘Do you think you could gather five or six of them for me?’

  ‘Whatever for?’ she asked.

  ‘I have an idea,’ I said. I was planning to keep it vague until I knew whether my gambit would work or not.

  Turning back to the computer, I looked up Lady Cheever’s number and called her. She was the remaining leader, so I figured it’d be best to get her on board first.

  I dialed the number. Four rings. I braced for the voice mail to pick up but instead, a man answered. He had a pleasant voice as if talking on the phone were his profession.

  ‘Lord and Lady Cheevers’s residence, how may I assist you?’

  ‘This is Scarlett Parker, of Mim’s Whims. May I speak with Lady Cheevers please?’ I asked.

  ‘One moment,’ he said.

  Fee looked up from where she was painting stiffener on the fabric wrapped on the crown form. She had twisted back the one long strand of hair that always fell over her eyes and she looked at me curiously. I gave her a small smile.

  ‘This is Lady Cheevers. How may I help you?’ a woman’s voice asked.

  ‘I was hoping you might have need of some hats,’ I said.

  ‘Excuse me?’ she asked.

  ‘I’m Scarlett Parker from Mim’s Whims. Sadly, we have several hats here that were ordered by Lady Ellis,’ I said. I kept my voice low with just the right amount of regret. ‘Given the circumstances, we would like to spare her family the painful chore of having to acquire them for no good purpose and would like to offer them to her friends instead.’

  ‘I’m sorry, are you trying to sell me my dead friend’s hats?’ Lady Cheevers sniffed with disdain.

  ‘No, they would be gratis, yours for the taking,’ I said. ‘Just a token, something to remember your friend by.’

  I saw Fee clap a hand over her eyes and tilt her head back as if she couldn’t believe the amount of stupidity she was being forced to watch.

  ‘Oh, well, that’s thoughtful of you,’ Lady Cheevers said. I could tell by the way she said it that she knew exactly what I was trying to do. If I could bring her in, and the media found out, it could save our business.

  ‘We would include, of course, Lady Ellis’s other close friends.’

  ‘I am surprised that Vivian did not make the call,’ Lady Cheevers said, and I knew she was fishing. There was no point in not telling her the truth.

  ‘Vivian has been out of town on business since the beginning of last week,’ I said.

  ‘Oh.’ Lady Cheevers perked up at the sound of that.

  ‘Yes, I’m sure once the media gets all of the facts, they will be more accurate in their reporting,’ I said.

  ‘Indeed,’ she agreed.

  ‘How would tomorrow be?’ I pressed. ‘Around tea time? We’ll provide refreshments of course.’

  ‘One moment. Let me check,’ Lady Cheevers said.

  I waited, convinced she was going to leave me hanging while she came up with fifteen excuses to blow me off, but to my surprise she was back in no time.

  ‘Yes, I’m free,’ she said. ‘I’ll be there at five.’

  ‘Thank you,’ I said. I was a bit stunned that this was going to work. ‘We’ll see you then.’

  I ended the call and turned to look at Fee.

  ‘What are you playing at?’ Fee asked.

  ‘I’m trying to save the business,’ I said. ‘And it looks like we’re having a tea party tomorrow. Are you available?’

  ‘I can be,’ she said.

  ‘Great!’ I said.

  The three other friends of Lady Ellis were available as well. So Sunday tea at the hat shop was a go. Now I just needed to get my supplies, hunt down some spare and amazing hats and get Fee up to speed, all of which took the rest of the morning.

  ‘So, to recap,’ Fee said. ‘You told a big, fat lie about having extra hats that Lady Ellis had ordered so you could get her mean girlfriends to come here,’ she said. ‘How am I doing?’

  ‘Spot-on so far,’ I said.

  ‘And I can only guess that you’re doing this because if word gets out that these ladies are still coming here despite the fact that one of you is a nutter and one is a killer, then you think the business will be saved.’

  ‘Brilliant, right?’

  Fee crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her gaze. ‘Is that the only reason?’

  ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ I said.

  Mercifully, Mac chose that moment to appear to talk to me about how I wanted the upper levels monitored. I trotted after him, pretending that I was unaware that Fee was frowning after me.

  * * *

  I checked and rechecked all of the doors and windows. I did the same with the new alarm system. The small square panel indicated that a
ll was well, but still I took an old cricket bat from my grandmother’s closet and brought it to bed with me.

  I slept in my old room. Well, I should say that I rested because there really wasn’t much sleep happening. I thumbed through several of Mim’s and Viv’s mystery and romance novels but nothing was distracting me.

  Every little creak in the house made me jump and clutch the bat close. I figured I must be having a mild sort of post-traumatic stress episode as every time I tried to close my eyes I felt paranoid that a pillow was going to be held down on me.

  It was midnight and I still wasn’t sleeping when my cell phone on my nightstand chimed. Who would be calling this late? Maybe it was Viv, she was never one to observe the no-calls-after-ten rule. I scrambled for my phone and checked the display. Not Viv, but I smiled, surprised at how pleased I was to see his name.

  ‘Hi, Harry,’ I answered. ‘What’s the matter? Did you miss my lumpy couch and want to crash on it again?’

  ‘Not exactly.’ His laugh was deep and rich and tickled me right between my ribs.

  ‘Did I wake you?’ he asked. ‘I’m sorry if I did, but I rather thought you’d be up.’

  His voice was full of understanding and it made me feel better about my paranoia, as if it were perfectly reasonable to sleep with a bat in the bed.

  ‘No, I’ve just been listening to the house settle and creak. It’s noisier than one would think,’ I said.

  ‘It has a lot to say.’

  ‘Well, I wish it could tell me who broke in last night,’ I said. ‘That would be helpful.’

  ‘The alarm system is top-notch,’ he said. ‘No one can break into your shop or your flat without the security company being instantly alerted.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘I know that. I just wish Viv were here. It’s been a week now. Why hasn’t she been in touch? Why hasn’t she come home?’

  ‘You miss her.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘She’ll be home soon,’ he said. His voice was so certain that I felt myself relax, believing his words even though I doubted he knew anything with any more certainty than I did.

  ‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘I know you’re right.’

  We were both silent. There were so many things I wanted to say to him, and I realized my exhaustion at the end of a long day was making me careless with my words and feelings. I decided the best course of action was to maintain the friendly distance we’d always kept until I’d been attacked.

  ‘Thank you for all that you’ve done,’ I said. ‘I really appreciate it.’

  ‘That’s what I’m here for,’ he said. ‘My family has been taking care of your family forever.’

  There was something so comforting about his words that I felt myself sink deeper into my pillows and a yawn slipped out as my eyes grew heavy.

  ‘Get some sleep, Ginger,’ he said.

  ‘Good night,’ I mumbled.

  I had barely hit the end button when I was out.

  * * *

  The shop was generally closed on Sundays, so that gave me the opportunity to clean it up. I dusted every hat, every shelf; I swept, I mopped and I even plumped the pillows.

  Tea would be served on Mim’s good Wedgwood country rose china. Thankfully, Fee knew how to brew a pot of tea, because it was yet another thing I had never mastered during my time here. It was a wonder Mim left me half of the hat shop, given how truly hopeless I was at respecting my own heritage.

  I glanced around the store. I could see Mim here, bustling about the place, chatting up her customers about the doings of the royal family. She was a true monarchist, probably because as hat wearers they supported her business, but I think she would have been one anyway. She had great respect for Queen Elizabeth.

  I wondered briefly what she would have made of the situation Viv and I were in now. Would she have been her usual pragmatic self and forged ahead or would she have been terribly disappointed in us? I hoped it was the former.

  The raven was staring down at me, so I reached up with my dust cloth and gave his beak a nice polishing.

  ‘Be nice,’ I admonished him.

  At midafternoon, I hurried upstairs to change into more appropriate clothing. If Lady Ellis’s friends were anything like her, then I had to assume they were fashionistas as well, and I was going to need to pull out some designer duds and dress to impress so as to keep on even footing with them.

  The clothing of my youth had been shoved to the side and I’d hung the clothes in my suitcase up, hoping the travel wrinkles would fall out of them.

  As I assessed the clothes, I knew a dress was key, but which one? Then I saw it. The dress the rat bastard had bought for me when he had taken me for a spur-of-the-moment weekend to Paris. Yes, it’s really not hard to see why at twenty-five, I had been so completely blinded by him.

  He was charming, attentive, funny, handsome, romantic, smart, you get the idea. I was a goner within ten minutes of meeting him. Of course, when I realized what a snake he was, all of those qualities morphed into their true meaning and I realized he was actually manipulative, obsessive, mean, expensively maintained, predatory and conniving. And now, I actually felt grateful to be free of him and wished his wife great luck with him.

  One part of me desperately wanted to take scissors to the Gaultier print sheath, but I didn’t. At a price tag of over six hundred dollars, I just couldn’t. Instead, I’d wear it as a reminder to never get suckered again.

  I styled my straight red hair loose and put on eyeliner and mascara and a pale lipstick. The dress with its geometric blues and greens made enough of a statement without me trying to match it with my makeup.

  I went with a pair of platform sandals that put me an inch over six feet tall. Still not quite as tall as Harrison, but it would be nice to see him in these and be a bit more eye to eye with him, although I suspected that would only be in the literal sense as we really didn’t seem to agree on much.

  When I went downstairs, I noted that the reporters had cleared away from our front door. I had been worried that they would scare away Lady Cheevers and company, but either there was a fabulous news story out there that trumped Lady Ellis’s death or they were taking Sunday off. Of course, in order for my plan to work, I needed someone to see the ladies in the shop. Fee and I had agreed that once they arrived, she would discreetly make an anonymous call to the paper. I sincerely hoped it did the trick.

  Fee was in the back room, prepping the tea tray. We had spent the last part of Saturday, after the alarm men had gone, whipping the abandoned hats into shape, something worthy of a countess to have bought. They now sat boxed up in the front of the shop awaiting their moment of unveiling.

  ‘Well, aren’t you the fancy lady of the manor?’ Fee asked as she looked me over from top to bottom.

  ‘Did I aim right?’ I asked. ‘Fashion-wise?’

  ‘Nailed it,’ Fee confirmed. She glanced down at her own ruffle-hemmed bright blue dress. ‘You look like one of them, and I am feeling woefully underdressed in my bargain buy from Selfridges.’

  ‘Don’t be silly,’ I said. ‘You look lovely. And you have what all of them would kill to have.’

  ‘What?’ Fee asked. ‘A job working here?’

  I laughed. ‘No, youth.’

  Fee nodded and grinned. ‘True enough. You can’t buy that off of a fashion runway.’

  I helped her finish prepping the refreshments and at five o’clock, I took my place by the front door to let the ladies in as they arrived.

  A buxom blonde and a classically pretty brunette were the first to appear. A driver parked in front of the shop and let them out. I opened the door as soon as they were within a few feet and gave them my most welcoming smile.

  ‘Please come in,’ I said. ‘I’m Scarlett Parker.’

  The blonde smiled at me and said in a voice that was girlishly high, ‘I’m Chelsea Cline, and this is Susie Musselman.’

  ‘A pleasure,’ Susie said.

  ‘Please come in,’ I said. ‘Fiona, my assis
tant, will show you where we’re gathering.’

  As I turned back to the door, two more ladies were dropped off. One was tall and thin with black hair cut in a severe bob that paired well with the bright red lipstick she wore. The other had a certain movie-star quality about her, with thick brown hair that hung about her shoulders in luscious waves, eyebrows that had been thinned into razor-sharp arches, full lips and a tiny nose. I’d bet my dress that she was Lady Cheevers, meaning the other had to be Marianne Richards.

  I opened the door and the one with the severe bob deferred to the other, letting her go first.

  ‘Good afternoon,’ I said. ‘I’m Scarlett Parker.’

  ‘Lady Cheevers,’ the brunette said. ‘And this is Marianne Richards.’

  ‘How do you do?’ Marianne asked but with no real interest in my answer, as I could see by the way she was looking over my head and into the room beyond.

  ‘I’m so glad you both could come,’ I said as I closed and locked the door. ‘Shall we join the others?’

  They followed me to the far sitting area in the shop where Fee and the other two waited. I had pulled the shades over the store windows up. I figured it couldn’t hurt for people to see customers in the shop, and obviously elite customers at that.

  ‘Oh, Elise.’ Chelsea hopped to her feet and hugged Lady Cheevers. ‘Are you feeling any better today?’

  ‘No, but I’m trying,’ she said, gently hugging the blonde in return.

  Fee and I stood back, watching the friends greet one another. A couple of times they watered up or choked back a sob and then complimented one another’s shoes or handbag.

  Fee and I exchanged a look, but said nothing, waiting for them all to settle. Once they were seated in the comfortable blue chairs, I sat, too.

  ‘Thank you all for coming,’ I said.

  Fee served the tea. Once she was finished, Fee excused herself from the room. I watched her go, knowing she was about to place her anonymous call to the paper from her cell phone in the back of the shop.

  ‘First, I want to extend my condolences to all of you on the loss of your friend,’ I said.

  Marianne’s features tightened, Elise Cheevers’s shoulders slumped, Susie let out a small sob and Chelsea gave a delicate sniff.