Baby Boutique was the only shop of its kind in Frederickport. It was where locals shopped for baby shower gifts and designer infant wear. While its nursery furniture inventory was minimal, because of the limited space and the cost of stocking a wide selection of furniture, the store offered an assortment of catalogs for their customers to browse through and place orders.
Before coming to the shop, Danielle already had a good idea what they wanted. She had been doing her homework. She found what they had been looking for in the second catalogue they looked through, and with Walt in agreement, they stood at the front counter, placing their order. Danielle wrote a check for the deposit, and Walt provided the information for the order form. Their purchase included a dresser that doubled as a changing table, two cribs, and a matching rocking chair.
Danielle had just put away her checkbook and finished thanking the clerk for helping them when the bell hanging over the front door made a tinkling sound. When Walt and Danielle turned from the counter, preparing to leave, they saw Josephine Barker, the local library’s retiring head librarian. She had just come into the shop.
“Oh, it’s the Marlows.” Josephine grinned.
“Hello, Mrs. Barker,” Walt greeted her.
Josephine grinned at Danielle’s expanding belly and said, “Shopping for the big day?”
“We ordered some nursery furniture,” Danielle said.
“How fun! I’m here to pick up a baby gift for my niece. They have such adorable clothes!”
“I was so sorry to hear about Betty,” Walt told Josephine. “She was such a nice person, always so helpful.”
Josephine turned a sad smile to Walt before saying, “It’s tragic. And from what I understand, they don’t seem to have any leads on her murder. The killer is still out there.”
“We met the new librarian,” Walt said. “She’s our new neighbor.”
Josephine nodded at Walt. “Yes, I’m aware of that.”
“What is she like?” Danielle asked.
Josephine looked at Danielle. “I don’t really know Olivia. Not personally, anyway. I handled her interview. While she hadn’t been a librarian for as long as many people her age, she had excellent referrals. In fact, she initially applied for the head librarian position, but we ended up giving it to Betty. We prefer hiring from within.”
“And now?” Walt asked.
Josephine shrugged. “I’m fairly certain she’ll be taking the head librarian position; she’s more than qualified. And I’ll stick around so I can help her get settled in and hire another librarian now that Betty’s gone.”
“Did Olivia know Betty?” Danielle asked.
“Not that I’m aware of. She wasn’t part of the interview process. Betty heard the name of the new librarian, and if she recognized it, she never said anything to me about it.”
“The strange thing, one neighbor swears she saw Olivia yesterday morning with Betty. They were leaving Olivia’s front yard. And then an hour later, Betty’s body was found up the street,” Danielle said.
“Yes, I heard that. When I stopped by to welcome Olivia to Frederickport, she told me someone claimed to see Betty with a woman who looked like her. But Olivia told me she was in flight at the time,” Josephine explained.
“The person who claimed to have seen her insists she was wearing a quilt jacket like the one Olivia wears,” Danielle said.
“What was that all about?” Walt asked Danielle after the two left Baby Boutique and got into the Packard. “You aren’t normally so…”
“Gossipy?” Danielle finished for him.
“Something like that.”
“Yeah, I felt like a big gossip in there. But I wanted to find out if Josephine was aware of any connection between Betty and Olivia.”
“And you had to do that by telling her someone claimed to have seen Olivia with Betty before her murder?”
“I was hoping if I got all gossipy, Josephine might remember something she hadn’t considered before and say something to us.”
“Which she didn’t.”
“Yeah, I got zip.” Danielle sighed.
Walt turned on the ignition and asked, “Where to now?”
“When we drove past Adam’s office, I noticed his car parked out front. Can we stop by?”
“You want to pick his brain on our new neighbor?” Walt asked as he pulled the car out into the street.
When Walt and Danielle walked into the front offices of Frederickport Vacation Properties on Saturday afternoon, they found both Adam and Melony sitting at Leslie’s desk, eating pizza.
“Does Leslie know you’re eating on her desk?” Danielle teased as she and Walt walked all the way into the office.
“Nah, she’s home sick,” Adam said. “How are you guys doing? Any news on the killer?”
“Not really,” Danielle said, taking a seat on an empty chair.
“Want some pizza? Or does it smell gross to you?” Melony asked.
“I think that phase of my pregnancy is behind me,” Danielle told her. “Food smells don’t really bother me anymore.”
Adam set a slice of pizza on a napkin and held it up. “You guys want some?”
“No, thanks,” Walt and Danielle chorused.
Adam set the napkin with the slice on the desk before him and pointed to an empty chair. “Make yourself comfortable, Walt. Your wife already has.”
Walt chuckled and sat down on the offered chair.
“Don’t pick on Danielle,” Melony chided Adam.
“Yeah, I got two kids in here.” Danielle patted her belly.
Adam cringed. “I still can’t believe you’re having twins.”
“I’m getting used to the idea myself,” Danielle said. She eyed the slice of pizza Adam had offered and said, “On second thought, that looks good.”
Adam chuckled, handed Danielle the slice, and asked Walt again if he wanted some, which Walt declined.
The next moment, a man stepped into the office. He looked familiar to Danielle, but she couldn’t place him. “Lunchtime?” the man asked as he walked toward Adam and Melony while flashing a smile to Walt and Danielle.
“Want some?” Adam offered.
“No, thanks, I brought you these.” The man reached out and handed Adam a set of keys.
Adam took the keys and said, “Have you met Walt and Danielle?”
He smiled at the couple in question and said, “We haven’t met, but I know who they are.”
“Let me introduce you. Walt, Danielle, this is Kenny Chandler. He’s been doing some handyman work for me,” Adam explained.
They chatted a few moments before Kenny said his goodbyes. After he left the office, Danielle asked, “Is Bill still working for you?”
“Yeah. But I needed some extra help because Bill’s been super busy. I’m not the only one he works for.”
Danielle gave a nod and said, “I wanted to ask, what do you know about our new neighbor?”
Adam shrugged. “Not much. I heard she’s the new librarian. But aside from that, I don’t really know anything about her. I only talked to her once, when she called me from the airport yesterday morning to ask me about picking up the keys. She called me because she couldn’t get ahold of that yahoo agent of hers.”
“What time was that?” Danielle asked. Adam told her the time, which coincided with Olivia’s story.
“Are you sure she was at the airport?” Danielle asked.
Adam shrugged. “It sure sounded like it.”
Walt looked at Adam. “What do you mean?”
“When she called me, she introduced herself. Told me she had arrived earlier than planned, couldn’t get ahold of her agent, and wanted to find out where she could pick up the keys. Right after she asked, I heard an announcement in the background.” Adam paused before saying, in a high-pitched squeaky voice, “Flight 1969 arriving at gate B3.”
Melony looked at Adam and arched a brow. “I swear that’s how you sounded before you went through puberty.”
Adam frowned at Melony. “Oh, shut up.”
Melony laughed.
“Was that really the flight number and gate?” Danielle asked.
Adam turned his frown to Danielle. “Yeah, why? It was also a flight from Vegas.”
“No reason,” Danielle said.
“Anyway, I asked her if she was at the airport, which was kind of a lame question, considering what I heard in the background. She told me her plane had landed about ten minutes earlier, and after she got her car, she planned to drive into Frederickport. That was about the extent of the conversation. Oh, and I told her to pick up the keys at Marlow House.”
“Perhaps we should just go to Vegas,” Melony blurted. Everyone looked at her.
“What made you think of Vegas?” Adam asked.
“You mentioned it, like, one second ago,” Melony reminded him.
“Oh, you’re talking about getting married in Vegas?” Adam asked.
Melony nodded. “Sure, lots of people get married there.”
“Wait a minute, you guys aren’t thinking of eloping to Las Vegas?” Danielle asked.
Melony looked at Danielle and shrugged. “Considering our age, I’m not sure I would call it eloping. But Adam and I have been trying to figure out what we want to do. And one thing we both agree on, we don’t want a big wedding. It’s not like we have any family who’ll be there.”
Danielle looked at Adam. “What about your parents? Your brother? Don’t you want them there?”
“Honestly? Not really,” Adam said. “Anyway, my brother took that teaching job in London, so no way he’ll come.”
“And Adam’s parents already informed him they probably won’t be able to make it,” Melony added.
Walt and Danielle looked at Adam, who only shrugged.
“It’s because of who he is marrying,” Melony said. “They never liked me, anyway. Ever since I talked their son into running away with me when we were kids.”
“You didn’t talk me into it,” Adam argued.
“Yes, I did. It was my idea.” Melony looked back at Walt and Danielle. “Ever since, they never had a great opinion of me. It doesn’t help that I’m divorced. But I think the cherry on top of their pie of disgust, my part in changing Marie’s will. Now they view me as the person responsible for stealing Warren’s rightful inheritance. And now that I’m marrying Adam, the one who got that inheritance, I’m the gold digger.”
Adam reached out and patted Melony’s knee. “But you’re my gold digger.”
Melony leaned toward Adam and kissed his lips.
“But you guys shouldn’t get married in Vegas. You need to be married here, in Frederickport,” Danielle insisted. “With your friends.”
“I’m not good at planning this type of thing,” Melony confessed. “And it certainly isn’t Adam’s forte. Now, if you need someone to defend you for murdering someone, I’m your person. But when it comes to planning a wedding, even a small one.” Melony shrugged. “If not Vegas, I’m okay with going down to city hall.”
“You are so romantic.” Adam chuckled.
“Let me plan your wedding,” Danielle blurted. “Something small, with your friends. At Marlow House. And it will be our treat. Consider it a wedding gift.”
Melony looked at Danielle and smiled. “That is so sweet. But we can’t have you do that. You’re pregnant, girl. That’s too much.”
Danielle shook her head emphatically. “I want to. I also want to do this for Marie. She would love this.”
Adam smiled at Danielle. “Yes, she would have loved that.” What Adam didn’t know, his beloved grandmother, Marie, hadn’t moved on, and would attend the wedding at Marlow House if he and Melony accepted Danielle’s offer.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Walt chimed in. “I’ll help Danielle, and so will Joanne. Danielle loves doing this sort of thing, and once the babies come, she won’t be able to entertain as much as she enjoys, at least not for a while.”
“A wedding at Marlow House?” Melony said aloud, letting the idea sink in.
“I’d rather do that than Vegas,” Adam admitted. “And I would like our friends there.”
“You will need to pick a date. FYI, Joe and Kelly have moved their wedding to sometime in March. So you might want to get married in February. Maybe Valentine’s Day?”
“But you got married on Valentine’s Day,” Adam reminded her.
“It’s a day for all lovers,” Danielle insisted.
Melony picked up her phone and opened her calendar app. “Valentine’s Day falls on a Thursday. We should probably have the wedding on a weekend. But Saturday would be good.” She looked at Adam. “What do you think, a February wedding at Marlow House?”
Walt and Danielle sat in the Packard, preparing to go home after leaving Adam and Melony. Sitting quietly on the passenger seat, Danielle pulled her cellphone from her purse and started surfing. A moment later, Walt laughed.
Danielle looked up from her phone. “What’s so funny?”
“You and Lily. You’re both pregnant, and you have both agreed to plan a wedding.”
Danielle grinned and looked back at her phone. “Yeah, I guess that is sort of funny.”
Walt turned the ignition on, and when he was about to pull out into the street, Danielle blurted, “Holy crap!”
Walt looked at Danielle. “What?”
“I just checked yesterday’s flights from Vegas. Flight 1969 did arrive at gate B3 at the time Adam talked to Olivia on the phone.”