A Mold For Murder (Book 3 in the Soapmaking Mysteries) by Myers Tim

Author:Myers, Tim [Tim, Myers,]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PENGUIN group
Published: 2011-07-21T04:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

“MURDεR Revisits Local Business,” the headline shouted. There was a black-and-white photograph of Where There’s Soap just below the banner, and the photographer had somehow managed to make the shop look evil and sinister, as if the building itself had something to do with the homicides that had happened on our grounds. The story wasn’t much better. Whoever had written the article had dug up every piece of dirt they could find about our business, and after I read it, I wouldn’t have wanted to shop there myself. I bought four more papers, realizing that my family needed to see this, and wouldn’t be that patient in waiting to share.

My hands were shaking as I drove up to the shop. I’d been gripping the steering wheel with a grasp that I wanted to use on the reporter and editor who had so overtly smeared us.

“Where’s Mom?” I asked as I walked into a nearly deserted store. Had the article affected business already?

“I’m right here,” she said, coming out from behind the register. “Benjamin, what’s wrong?”

I slammed the papers down on the counter. “Have you seen this?”

She picked up the top copy, and soon every one of my brothers and sisters were reading it, some over the others’ shoulders. By the time everyone had read it, we were ready to form a lynch mob.

Mom quelled us quickly enough. “Stop it,” she said, silencing our protests. “That’s enough.”

“What are we going to do about this?” Louisa asked. “We can’t let them get away with it.”

“And what do you propose we do?” Mom asked calmly. “Is there anything they’ve printed here that’s not true?”

“It’s not what they said,” Bob protested. “It’s the way they said it. We should sue them.”

“Newspapers slant stories from time to time. Is there a single one of you who’s shocked by that? Of course not. I’m not any happier about this than you are, but we will weather this storm.”

“Not unless we find out what really happened here,” I said. “Until they have a killer to name, we’re going to be their sensational headline.”

She patted my shoulder. “Then it’s more important than ever that you find the killer so Molly can arrest him.”

“How do you suggest I do that?” I asked.

“Do what you’re best at, Benjamin. Hit the hornet’s nest with a stick and see what happens.”

“What happens if I get stung?” I asked.

She frowned at me, then said, “You need to be careful so that doesn’t happen.”

“What are the rest of us supposed to do in the meantime?” Jim asked.

Mom clapped her hands together, her usual method of getting our attention. “Boys, you have enough orders to fill as it is. You’ve been complaining that you never manage to get caught up, so take advantage of this lull and do just that.”

Kate said, “That’s fine for them, but what about us?”

Mom waved a hand around the room. “There are lots of things we can do. I’ve been wanting to have a complete store inventory and cleaning, and

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