Finally, after what seemed like forever, the judges reached our table. I smiled as they approached, but got zero smiles in return. These three sure were hard nuts to crack. I started to feel very uncomfortable as they examined, scrutinized, picked things up to look them all over, and did all this with zero reactions, all while making notes on the judging forms on their clipboards. As they walked to the next table, I let out a sigh of relief.
"That was much harder than I thought," I said.
"No kidding. Are they always that stoic?" Katy said.
"They were last year. They were different judges, but I was here helping your mom and Susan, and yeah, I don't think the judges want to show any sign of liking anything," Wendy said.
"Well, now that that's over, we just have to wait. I looked at my watch and saw we had two hours before the awards would be announced. Now might be the best time to go talk to Hayden.
"I'm going to try to go talk to that assistant of Josie's. I mean, there's really nothing else we need to do here. Or am I forgetting something?"
"No. I know I read in the contest guidelines they don't want anyone to pack their stuff up until after the winners are announced because they want to do photos. So, there's nothing for us to do but hang out, and I, for one, wouldn't mind looking at some of the other designs. I really haven't been able to make my way to everyone's table yet," Wendy said.
"I think I'd like that too. This might be my new fun hobby. It's a lot of fun making these arrangements," Katy said. "Unless you need me to go with you to talk to Hayden," she said, looking at me.
"No, you go ahead. Like I said earlier, you have a job at Petal Pushers anytime you want one."
"How about we trade? I run the flower shop, and you run the hair salon," she said, giving me a wink as I groaned.
"The last thing the women of Hunter's Hollow want is for me to do their hair." I grabbed a bottled water from the small cooler we had brought, stuffed with drinks and snacks, and headed over to the Purple Posies table where Hayden was sitting in a chair behind the display, his head bobbing again, I assumed to music, because I could see AirPods in his ears. I walked up to the table and waved, and he took out the ear pods, raising an eyebrow but not saying anything. He certainly was a strange character.
"Hayden, I just wanted to come over and see how you're doing, and I forgot to introduce myself last time. My name is Presley Sands."
He gave me a small nod. When he didn't say anything, I wondered if he just, for some reason, didn't want to talk to me. He seemed chatty enough on Friday, but that could have been adrenaline talking.
"I'm kind of surprised to see you here."
"Why?"
Because your boss just got murdered, I thought. "With what happened to Josie, I guess I couldn't blame you if you packed everything up and went back to Chicago."
"Well, the show must go on and all that."
"That's a nice sentiment. I'm kind of doing the same thing," I said. Again, it did make sense that he would want to still see where Josie's hard work on designs would rank in the contest, just like I wanted to do well in Susan's memory.
"What do you mean?"
"Long story," I said. He didn't seem to care because he didn’t ask me any other questions.
"Did you have any idea who might have wanted to kill your boss?" I kind of felt bad being so blunt, but he didn't seem all that affected.
He didn't answer at first, and I saw his leg moving up and down quickly like he was tapping his foot.
"I'm sorry. That was insensitive." I wanted information, but the last thing I wanted was to upset him.
"You'd probably be better off asking me who didn't want her dead,” he said matter-of-factly.
I stood there in shock for a few seconds. The venom in his voice told me he might have been Josie's assistant for four years, but it sure didn't sound like he was much of a fan.
"Is it true?"
"Is what true?"
"The stories I've heard about Josie's designs not really being her designs."
The way he looked at me and then darted his eyes around before bringing them back to mine, then did a quick glance down, his leg picking up speed with its tapping, gave me my answer. "Was that you?"
"Was me, what?"
It was all I could do not to roll my eyes. Was he really that obtuse, or was he playing games?
"Was it you who has been doing Josie's designs?"
"Yeah. They were all hers," he said, but his voice rang hollow.
His AirPods were still in his hand, and he put them back in his ears, going back to sitting in his chair and nodding his head to the music. I was effectively dismissed, and I wasn't going to argue with him, but I would bet my next paycheck that he was the brains behind Josie. She clearly hadn’t given him any of the credit, and I wondered just how angry that might have made him. I walked away and saw Katy and Wendy coming my way. I also hadn't had much of a chance to look at the other flower arrangements; I figured I would just mosey their way and look at the tables as I walked by.
I had gotten two tables down when Jenni walked up to me.
"Hey, Presley. Can you help me with something in the back? I can't find Scott."
"Sure," I said and fell in step with her as we retraced my steps and headed to the door that went into the back room.
"I just need help getting the first, second, and third prize wreaths out of one of the coolers. I could've made multiple trips, I guess, but I'm tired."
"Trust me, I get it. I'm more than happy to help."
We went to one of the coolers—not the one that we had been using—and Jenni opened the door and walked in. I followed behind her. In the back, there were shelves, and I saw her reach for a box that she handed to me. It had a big, beautiful rose arrangement with a number one in the middle.
"This is beautiful."
"I did it myself. So, thank you. You take this other one if I stack it on top, and I'll get the rest," she said.
"Sure. They aren't that heavy."
She stacked another box on top of mine. They weren’t heavy, but they were tall, and I couldn’t see over them. I would have to be careful walking, not being able to see over the boxes when we walked back out onto the floor. I heard her rustling around, getting the other boxes.
"I’m looking for second place," she said. A few seconds went by as I stood there holding the boxes when I heard the door open and shut.
"Jenni," I said, and I looked around the boxes to see that she was gone.