Breaking the Mould by Victoria Hamilton

Author:Victoria Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mysteries & Thrillers
Publisher: Beyond the Page
Published: 2018-11-02T04:00:00+00:00

Twelve

The Christmas tree stood as a forlorn icon of a season that could not be started yet, not when there had been a murder, and a well-known and loved Queensvillian was being carted to the hospital, victim of a possible heart attack. Valetta volunteered to call Bill’s family—he had kids, one who lived in Wolverhampton and actually worked at the hospital—and others who would want to be informed.

While Val paced back and forth on the pavement below the store talking to Bill’s family, Jaymie sat on the steps of the Emporium, huddled in her coat, shivering and teary. The immediate aftermath of Bill’s medical emergency had been a blur, but one moment stood out. Ben Nezer, who had so violently lost his father just that morning, stood frozen in place as the paramedics worked on the handyman. He looked stricken, his face twisted in anguish. She felt for him; he had just lost his father. Maybe he even felt remorse for Bill’s sudden illness.

She was about to go to him, to reassure him that he could not have known what the confrontation would do to Bill, when a large luxury car rolled up by him. Ben went over to it and had a word through the open window with the passenger, then whirled, heading through the pine trees toward the Nezer house. As the car pivoted on a three-point turn, Jaymie got a look at the driver. It was one of the two college gentlemen from the party the night before. The car headed back the way it had come, no doubt to park by the house.

Her phone beeped; it was a call from Jakob.

“Jaymie, are you okay? I just heard! I’ve been working all morning and didn’t . . . but Mr. Nezer is dead? And in your diorama? Oh, liebchen, I’m so sorry.”

His warm, rich voice, so full of love, undid her. He got what she had been afraid to say out loud, that Evan Nezer lying dead in her lovely diorama felt like a slap across her face. To say it aloud had felt . . . insensitive to the real tragedy, a human life lost. But her husband got it without her saying a word. She choked back a sob and took a long shuddering breath. “I’m okay, Jakob, truly, I am. I’ve been with Val and Becca and visited Mrs. Stubbs.”

“Come home, sweetheart, come home.”

“I don’t want to sit around doing nothing. I’ll fret.”

“I’ll put you to work, then. There’s nothing better for the soul than physical labor.”

She smiled as tears welled. It was practically the Müller family motto: through work we will heal! “You just want someone to help cut trees!” she said with a watery chuckle.

“That too.”

“I’ll come. I have a couple of things to do first.”

She breathed in deeply. She knew Bella Nezer, despite her collapse, had not been taken to the hospital but had returned to her home in the care of Erla Fancombe. Jaymie walked to the house, circled it and approached the back door.

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