Murder and Salutations by Elizabeth Bright Page A

card had turned out, so I decided to make a bouquet myself. Not blue though, I’d had my fill of that. I chose a nice pink and white collection of pressed flowers, then chose a patterned pink-and-white paper for my cutout vase. After some experimenting, I was happy with the results and set everything in place with doubled-sided tape. I didn’t care about a personalized message on the front, so I chose one that said, “With My Deepest Sympathy” and affixed the sticker to the card. It was quite lovely, actually, and I decided that as soon as Lillian came in, I’d make a few for my shelves. I generated a fair profit selling my cards, but the real joy came from the creative process.
    Lillian walked in as I was finishing the card, and said, “It’s too pink.”
    “ What can I say? I was inspired by your guest bedroom last night.”
    She shook her head. “Then I’m going to repaint this weekend. It always was a little too feminine for my taste.”
    “ I think it’s really very nice,” I said. “I made this for Addie. Should I do another one instead?”
    Lillian shook her head. “It’s perfect for her.” She glanced at her watch. “Is it too early to go over there now?”
    “ Lillian, what makes you think she’ll even open the shop today? After all, her business partner just died last night.”
    My aunt said, “If you knew Addie as well as I did, you’d realize she’d never pass up the chance to make a dollar or two, no matter who died. Remember, Heaven Scent is her life. Besides, where else is she going to go? But there’s one factor that overrides everything else, that makes me positive we’ll find her at the shop this morning.”
    “ What’s that?”
    “ I went by there on my way here and saw that she was open for business. Are you ready to go?”
    “ I’d like to make a little money first before we shut the place down,” I said.
    “ I suppose,” she said. “What would you like me to do this morning?”
    “ You could make more pink cards,” I said, just to see the look of disdain on my aunt’s face. “Or you could watch the shop while I make them.”
    “ That one, I choose that one,” she said with enthusiasm.
    I was working on a card when Bradford came in, a look of distress replacing his usual smile.
    “ What’s wrong?” I asked him.
    “ Sara Lynn just blew me off,” he said. “I can cut her a little slack, but if she keeps this up, I’m going to have to take her in on general principle.”
    Lillian said, “She’s had quite a shock, what with Bailey walking out on her and all.”
    “ So you knew about the affair, too.”
    “ Come on, Bradford,” I said. “We’re family. She told us last night.”
    He shook his head. “I’ve known about it for a few weeks. I hated to tell her about it, but she had a right to know. Now she’ll barely speak to me.”
    To our surprise, Lillian patted Bradford’s arm lightly. “Shooting the messenger has been a well-respected reaction to bad news throughout the course of time. You did the right thing telling her.”
    “ Thanks. That’s something, I guess.”
    Before Lillian could retort and end the pleasantries between them, I asked, “Is she really a suspect in the murder?”
    “ Jen, I wish I could say she wasn’t, but I’d be lying. The whole town knows how much she and Eliza hated each other, and that was before Bailey started sleeping with Eliza. She had an argument in the kitchen last night not two feet from where we found the body half an hour later. You do the math. I’m getting heat from the mayor’s office, and he’s threatening to call the governor if I don’t arrest our big sister.”
    “ Can he do that?” I asked.
    Bradford shook his head. “I doubt the governor of Virginia has time to take his call, but you never know. I’ve been trying to eliminate Sara Lynn as a suspect all morning, but every time I find something, it looks even worse for her than it did before. She won’t answer my questions, and I can’t