“Candice. I was mad with you, but mostly because I felt betrayed by Rick. You weren’t the one married to me. If you’d have been my best friend, like Ange, or Reina, or Harper, that would have crushed me. We weren’t, so it’s okay. I’m not trying to pretend we’ll ever be bosombuddies, but I honestly just want to help you. What happened at the fair?”
“Tim saw me, and he spotted this.” She lifted her finger with her engagement ring. Rick had splurged on a baguette cut pink diamond in a platinum setting.
“It’s lab grown,” she said when she noticed my stare. I’d made my opinion of blood diamonds and the financial and human cost very clear when the occasion came up during a discussion about celebrities on the red carpet.
“He saw the ring,” Ange prompted her.
“He’d heard that I got engaged and then he said that we had unfinished business and that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and that Cannon Hill could also be Vegas.”
“He was hitting on you?” I asked.
“He said there were a few things I probably wanted to keep secret, from anyone, including my fiancé, and that we could just have fun, like we used to, and nobody’d be the wiser.” Tears welled up. She wiped them away.
“What a creep,” Ange said.
“Right? It came totally out of the blue. I mean, he hated losing or not getting his own way, but this was a new side, like he’d become so powerful that nobody’d think of saying no to him.”
“Which explains why someone buried a dagger in his heart. A man like that tends to collect enemies.” My voice rose, and so did my body temperature, as my witchy powers confirmed that I was on the right track.
“There can’t have been too many, or I’d have heard rumors,” Ange said with a regretful grimace. “He’s been living in Willowmere for over six months, and I haven’t heard a peep.”
“I don’t think the police are looking at anybody else. I’m not allowed to leave town. I think they believe he was in Cannon Hill to meet me, but I swear that’s not true. He probably went there for business.” Candice resembled a frightened child, with her faltering voice and shrinking into her seat. “You’re so smart, Bex. What am I supposed to do?”
“Exactly what the police say. They’ll soon enough acknowledge that an argument with a loathsome ex-boyfriend is not a motive for murder.”
“You think so?” She sat a little taller.
“Of course,” Ange chimed in. “Otherwise, half the male population would be dead, and half the women would be in prison.”
“And even with a motive, you’d still need means and opportunity.” There was only one more reason for the police to suspect Candice – the chest. “When did you last see your purchases? Did you supervise the packaging?” I’d always made sure I was present, preferably doing the job myself.
“I was only around for a few minutes after the fair had finished, to arrange for the delivery and pay the company. I had to stand in line until it was my turn.”
Too bad that didn’t move the needle in any direction.
Candice’s lip wobbled. “I’m scared.”
“It’ll be fine,” I soothed her. “You’re innocent and we’ll prove that, if the police haven’t done so already.”
“Thank you.”
The wobble increased.
I concentrated on a spell to calm her fears.
She relaxed a little.
I took a metal tin with a special tea blend from my bag and put it on the table. “This is going to help you recover your peace of mind a little.You use one teaspoon of tea for a large mug or two cups of this size.” I pointed at her coffee cup. “Let it brew for five minutes and drink while hot. It’s herbal but you should drink it no more than once a day.”
She turned the tin in her hands and admired the green and gold pattern, and the matching label. “Celestial Calm. That’s a pretty name.”
“My aunt was a woman of many talents, and she passed on a lot of things and knowledge to me.”
“Is there anything more that you remember?” Ange asked, while I settled the bill. “Maybe another person who had a beef with Tim? Had he beaten someone to an important item? Maybe he’d discovered a real treasure and had to die for it.”
“Something valuable like onAntiques RoadshoworBuried Treasureon tv? That’s possible, I guess.” A small frown appeared on Candice‘s forehead. “Only, how would he have noticed? He wasn’t into old stuff at all when we were together, and he was laughing about me gushing over vintage posters and taking classes to learn more.”
“That could have changed,” I suggested. “Otherwise, what was he doing at an antiques' fair? Unless he’d spotted you and followed you there.” I regretted my words the moment I’d said them aloud, because they led straight back to the connection between Candice and the murdered man.
