Jill Churchill - The Accidental Florist

She gave him her order, asked Shelley what she wanted, and guessed at what Todd would want.

"Why is he doing this?" Shelley asked.

"He probably has something to tell us, something we won't want to hear since he offered to pay for all three dinners."

"I'll run to the grocery store to get prepared sandwiches and microwave mac and cheese for Denise and John. Anything you want?"

"Yes, an iced angel food cake and some Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream. It's Mel's favorite dessert. Mine, too." Jane fished a ten-dollar bill out of her purse and handed it to Shelley.

The dining room table was set for four places by the time Shelley returned. Mel showed up at five-fifteen and they unloaded the dinners. When Todd had gone through his cheeseburger and fries, he asked if he could go back

to his computer and was given permission. Mel was still on his second helping of cake and ice cream, so Jane and Shelley waited patiently to hear what he had to say.

Pushing his plate away, he said, "Jane, a bit of bad news. My mother wants my sisters to be bridesmaids. She's got her heart set on it."

Jane smiled. "No. You already told me that both your sisters eloped to escape the kind of killer bash wedding your mother would plan for them. Remember?"

Mel nodded.

"So call your sisters and ask them if they want to do that to me?"

He grinned. "I'll do it right now. I know they won't want to."

When he returned to the dining room, he said, "Done. In fact, sorted out before I even called. They are coming to the wedding, but just as guests."

"Good."

"Can we go outside and look at my office to see how it's coming along?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

The three of them went out in the backyard and walked around looking at the current status. Piles of Sheetrock were piled on big planks covered with plastic in case of rain.

Mel said, "For all my early objections, I'm really excited

to see this coming together. Are you aware that there are

all sorts of permits pasted to your dining room window?"

"Yes, and there have been people here who weren't

working and just seemed to be snooping. I asked the contractor about them and he said he'd called them to check that they were working to code. Vapor barriers, and such."

They were quiet for a while, simply contemplating the project.

"This is just for you two. I shouldn't even be talking about it, but I know you are both good at keeping secrets."

Shelley and Jane both propped their elbows on the patio table, leaning forward.

"First, the pathologist has determined that the heart attack came first and she might have been saved if someone had called for an ambulance quickly enough. But the cosh on the back of her neck came soon after."

"Cosh?" Shelley asked.

"A heavy blackjack. But, more interesting is that your Miss Welbourne wasn't `technically' a `Miss."

"How did the pathologist know that?" Jane asked. "Because she had two scars from episiotomies."

Jane and Shelley both shuddered slightly. "So she'd

given birth to two children?" Shelley asked.

"Yes," Mel said. "We have no idea where or who they were or where they were born, or even if both or one survived. But we will look closely into her past and try to find out."

Chapter

't.

ELEVEN

M

el had just come into his office the next morning, when there was a knock on his door. "Come in," he called.

It was the new officer he'd just hired the week before to take over for the one who was retiring in a month.

"Officer Needham, how can I help you?" he asked. She wasn't pretty at all. Late twenties, skinny, and pale, wore no makeup, but she'd already proved to be smart.

"I hate to bother you, sir, if you're busy."

"I haven't even started work yet. Sit down, Officer Needham, and tell me what you need."

"I don't need anything, sir. It's just that I was cruising the Internet last night and found out some things thatare interesting about the name Welbourne. It's an oddly spelled name so I went searching."

"Find anything interesting?"

"Interesting, but maybe useless. There are very few people in America with that name. And I didn't find the victim's name at all. But there were lots of references to British Welbournes, even a school and a street and a couple of ancient parsons in genealogical sites. But there are even more Welbournes in Australia. I remember from a book I once read that people who went bankrupt or committed minor crimes in England in the old days were filling the jails and most of them were eventually sent off to Australia to continue to be criminals or turn their lives around."

"That is interesting," Mel said. "I never knew about this. So do you have any conclusions?"

"Sorry, sir, but I don't — I just thought it might turn out to be worthwhile to know. At the meeting yesterday you said Miss Welbourne had given birth to two children. Might it be possible to see if a person with the same name was in Chicago at the time of her death? I know it's a long shot and probably a silly one. The first place we always look for a murderer is in the family of the victim."

Mel leaned back. "Not silly at all. Why did you pause at the beginning of what you just said?"

"Because it's a very remote chance and might waste a lot of police time."

"No worry. Except I don't know if we need a warrant to ask hotels to open their reservation records or not. I'll go to legal and if it's possible, I'll send you around to the downtown hotels. Start with the best. Anyone who could afford the flight could probably afford a good hotel."

"Could you give me permission to just try it out first before you go to legal?"

"Of course. You may turn up something useful. I appreciate your input and the information you've provided."

She was prettier than he'd thought when she gave him a big smile and thanked him. A nice start to the day.

Officer Needham was back at two that afternoon. Mel's office door was open and she said, "I found some Welbournes." She was almost bouncing on her feet.

"I went to two hotels downtown and they both said they couldn't give information about guests without going to their headquarters and telling them why we need to know about certain guests.

"So I went to a third hotel, and the desk clerk was being cranky about missing his lunch break. An overweight man who must have never missed a lunch in his life."

Mel smiled back at her. "Go on, Officer Needham."

"The desk guy kept complaining that his substitute was late, and 1 sat down in the lobby as if I were waiting for someone, and when the substitute turned up, a spotty young man, I went back to the front desk and asked if they had records of a person or people named Welbourne staying there recently.

"He claimed he wasn't supposed to talk about visitors. He'd have to ask the man having his lunch.

"I got really chummy and friendly and said, `Won't it be a bad idea to interrupt his lunch?'

"He grinned, glanced over his shoulder, and opened the reservation book. Turns out there were two Welbournes there during the time Miss Welbourne was attacked. They came three days before, and left two days later."

Mel said, "Sit down and tell me what else he said."

"That they were in their forties, good tippers, and had Australian passports. He said he himself had been at the front desk when they asked him to book a limo to the airport. He called the limo company and they asked him what flight number, takeoff time, and destination."

"And what was that?" Mel said, pleased that she'd gotten so much information out of a hotel employee.

"Destination was San Francisco and the man said they were staying there to see the sights before their long trip home to Sydney, to rest again, visit friends, then go home to Perth."