Olivia saw puzzled faces among the guests. Del took out his cell phone and edged away, as if he had a call. He strolled toward the front door, cell phone to his ear.
A slight movement caught Olivia’s attention. It was her mother, adjusting the scarf over her shoulder. Ellie’s raised eyebrows and serene countenance conveyed a message: I’ll move this along, shall I?
“Livie, dear,” Ellie said, “that lovely pink flower looks so familiar to me. Let me think a moment.”
Del pressed a button on his cell and held it to his ear. He craned his neck to look behind Olivia. Shaking his head, he stabbed at his cell phone.
Olivia felt light-headed and realized she had stopped breathing. Cody must not be answering his cell. She tried to telegraph a warning signal to her mom, but Ellie gazed off to the right, as if racking her memory. “Yes, I think I’m right,” she said. “I believe the pink flower is a lily. Possibly a stargazer, such a sweet scent.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Olivia thought she saw Hugh and Edward both stiffen.
“Of course it is,” Bertha said. “Clarisse loved her lilies. I knew that cookie reminded me of something. And now I think on it, that white flower reminds me of growing up in the South. We had such lovely flowers, and the fragrance on a summer’s day, it was like perfume. That’s it! That white flower is a jasmine, I’m sure of it.”
Tammy gasped as she looked up at Hugh. “Hugh?” Her eyes widened as red blotches formed on Hugh’s handsome face. “Hugh, what’s wrong?”
“I haven’t heard that name in so long,” Hugh muttered to himself as his blotches were replaced with a ghostly pallor.
Olivia noticed a quick flash of something in Edward’s eyes. It seemed like an uneasy mix of hatred and fear. He took one look at his brother’s face and backed away. His lips were moving, but it seemed that he was unaware that a name had escaped them. The name released in a coarse whisper was “Jasmine.”
“Edward?” Hugh was rubbing his chin now, seemingly deep in thought. Suddenly his perfectly modulated voice turned harsh as he locked eyes with his brother. “What is this all about? What’s with this trip down memory lane?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Edward said. His dark eyes were wary.
The other guests spread away from the brothers. Del watched the brothers intently, looking uncertain. Olivia knew how he felt.
Hugh picked up the jasmine flower cookie. Holding it in the palm of his hand, he said, “Did you know that Jasmine wrote to me after she disappeared? Just once. She wouldn’t tell me where she was. She said she was sorry but she had to leave, that my family would never forgive her.”
“You know Father never approved of her,” Edward said flatly.
“He also knew enough not to interfere,” Hugh said. “But you . . . You couldn’t stand it, could you? You never forgave her for loving me instead of you. You convinced her to run away, didn’t you?”
“Why would I do that? Hugh, you’re not making sense. And why do you care now, anyway? You’ve got a perky new wife while I still have what I’ve always had—nothing.” Edward edged away from his brother, cast a glance at the kitchen door, and Olivia’s doubts evaporated. She knew that Edward’s emotions had always been so close to the surface. He and Hugh had tried to keep things civil while Clarisse was alive, but her little show with the cookies brought everything to a furious boil. Olivia was going for broke. She picked up the coffin cookie.
“You did more than scare Jasmine into leaving town, didn’t you, Edward?” She’d kept her voice calm and soft. Her mother would be proud. She placed herself between Edward and the kitchen door. “You knew Jasmine was pregnant, didn’t you? Did you offer to claim the child as your own if she would marry you? Did she refuse you?”
Hugh’s head snapped toward Olivia, then back to Edward. “Child? Whose child? What did you do to her?”
“Nothing, Hugh. Can’t you see Olivia is playing some game?” He looked toward the kitchen, blocked by Olivia, then back at the front door, where Del waited. His eyes darted around the room like those of a trapped animal.
“Did you kill her?” The voice was barely recognizable, but it was Hugh’s. His hands reached toward Edward’s throat.
Edward ducked and backed into a corner. “It wasn’t my fault, Hugh. Jasmine was mine first, I loved her. You already had everything, you didn’t need her. I would have taken care of her and the child, but she wouldn’t listen.”
“So you killed her,” Olivia said, deliberately goading him.
“No . Don’t listen to her, Hugh. It was an accident. I was trying to make her listen, make her see how much I still cared for her when she lost her balance and fell down the stairs. I didn’t mean to . . .”
“Jasmine died of exposure,” Olivia said. “She was still alive when you dumped her body in Patuxent River State Park on a cold March day. That was no accident. Your mother found out, didn’t she?”
Hugh let out a yell and leaped at his brother. Edward sidestepped, and Hugh hit the wall.
As Edward sprinted for the kitchen, Olivia shouted, “Cody!” She heard a crash, coming from behind the kitchen door, followed by a deep bark. Edward skidded to a halt and spun around. Hugh tried to block his way, but Edward shoved him so hard, he lost his balance. He twisted and fell sideways. Hugh winced as he used his left arm to sit up. Jason knelt beside him.
Edward barreled forward, and Lucas tried to block him as he neared the antiques cabinet. Edward grabbed the thirty-six-cup coffeemaker and hurled it at him. The metal container bounced off Lucas’s shoulder and smashed open, spewing hot coffee down his side.
Del guarded the front door, ready to fight. Powerful muscles strained against the sleeves of his shirt. But he didn’t have a weapon. It would be all right, Olivia told herself. Del was the stronger of the two and far more experienced.
Where was Cody? Olivia skirted the sales desk and shoved open the kitchen door. She saw nothing but overturned chairs and spilled sugar. The door to the alley hung open. She heard a rattling sound and twirled around in time to watch her antiques cabinet rock forward. As it crashed to the floor, she tried not to think about the innocent cookie cutters trapped inside.
When the cabinet fell, the loud crash distracted Del long enough for Edward to dart toward a table in the corner, to Del’s left.
What was a table doing in that corner? Olivia’s mind flashed back to their preparations for the memorial. Hadn’t Maddie moved the pie-baking equipment out of the nook and into the main room to make room for a cookie tray? Cold dread shot through her as she remembered one item in that display—her beloved gray marble rolling pin.
With the quickness of a threatened squirrel, Edward snatched the rolling pin and swung it at Del’s stomach. Del doubled over, collapsed. Edward leaped over Del’s prone body and escaped into the foyer.
Mr. Willard had herded the remaining guests as far away from the doors as possible, so Olivia didn’t have to run anyone down as she raced toward Del. By the time Olivia reached him, Del was sitting up. He grasped her arm and rolled to his knees.
Olivia squatted beside him, an arm around his shoulders. “Del, don’t try to move. I’m so, so sorry, I should have known that rolling pin could be used as a weapon, I—”
Del put a shaky finger to his lips, and Olivia realized he was trying to catch his breath. Then she heard a familiar sound from behind the partially open door to the foyer. A growl. A yappy sort of growl.
“Spunky?! Oh my God.” He must have escaped when Jason went to get her cell. She reached behind Del and pushed the door open. Edward had cleared the front door, with Spunky nipping at his heels. She stood up and ran after them. The Chamberlain family car, a roomy Ford van, was parked right in front of the store. Edward beeped open the lock before he reached for the door. Spunky jumped inside a moment before the door slammed shut.