Deep Waters

rushing brook, as sparkling as a waterfall.
    He put his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. "What's so funny?"
    "I think we just got officially engaged, and guess what? I'm not having a panic attack."
    "Does this means that I'm the right size?" Elias said.
    "Perfect. Just perfect."
    Elias glanced down into the reflecting pool. The first rays of sunlight had struck the surface of the water. The little pond was no longer an opaque gray. It reflected the clear, vibrant image of Charity in his arms.

    Shortly before ten that morning, Elias aimed the beam of the flashlight at the heavily laden counter that had aroused his interest the previous day. "There's something about this stuff that doesn't look quite right."
    "It would look a whole lot better if you got some decent lighting in here," Charity said briskly.
    He glanced at her over his shoulder. She was sitting on top of the sales counter, a cup of tea in her hand. One leg swung impatiently beneath the hem of her long cotton skirt. Her eyes were brilliant with laughter and love. Davis lounged beside her, a latte from Bea's cafe in his hand.
    The other shopkeepers, together with Newlin and Arlene, were clustered around the cash register stand. They all held latte cups, too. Otis was perched on his artificial tree, munching a piece of fruit.
    "You still don't seem to grasp the importance of atmosphere in a shop like Charms & Virtues," Elias said to Charity. He started to poke at the stacks of plastic hamburgers.
    "You're just making excuses," Charity said. "You know that if you ever do get around to upgrading the lighting in here, you'll also have to start dusting regularly."
    "The dim light does hide a lot of the dust," Newlin offered helpfully.
    "Thank you, Newlin," Elias said. "I'm glad that someone here has the genius to understand my marketing plan."
    "Some marketing plan," Davis muttered. "I still can't believe what I'm seeing here, Winters. No one in Seattle is going to believe it. The head of Far Seas, Inc., running a curio shop on a pier in Whispering Waters Cove."
    "It's a calling," Elias said.
    "Forget the plan." Ted patted his stomach, which today was encased in a T-shirt embossed with the slogan I'm Having an Out-of-Body Experience. Back in Five Minutes. "Is that the whole story? Jennifer Pitt murdered Gwen during an argument and then killed Swinton because he tried to blackmail her with a tape of the murder?"
    "That's it," Charity said. "Then she set up Leighton by hiding the gun she had used in the trunk of his car. But the Pitts were a two-gun household. She used the second one last night."
    Yappy swallowed the last of his latte. "Heard Leigh-ton Pitt was released this morning. Bet he's one relieved realtor. Bankruptcy's going to look like a piece of cake compared to a murder charge."
    Radiance shook her head mournfully. "I hate to say it, but I'm going to miss Jennifer. She really helped me get my business off the ground. If it hadn't been for her, I don't know how long it would have taken to get the women of Whispering Waters Cove into fine nails."
    "Speaking of Jennifer Pitt," Hank Tybern said from the front door. "I've got some information which might interest the members of this little gossip clutch."
    Charity looked down her nose at him as he ambled toward them. "You are interrupting a meeting of the Crazy Otis Landing Shopkeepers Association, Chief Tybern."
    "Is that a fact?" Hank grinned broadly as he came to a halt near the sales counter. "Sure looked like a gossip session to me. Want me to leave and come back some other time?"
    "As long as you're here," Bea said swiftly, "you might as well say what you came to say."
    "Figured you'd see it that way," Hank said complacently.
    Elias did not look up from his work. "What did you find out about Jennifer Pitt?"
    "For starters, her name isn't Jennifer," Hank said.
    Elias heard the gasp that went through the crowd gathered around the register. He smiled slightly and went on with his project.
    "So, what was her real name?" Arlene asked.
    "Janice Miller, AKA Jenny Martin, AKA Jessica Reed," Hank said. "She's wanted down in California in connection with fraud charges. Seems she's been identified as the lady who fleeced a couple of middle-aged fools there out of a total of about a hundred grand."
    Yappy whistled. "So she comes up here, tries to pull off another con with Leighton Pitt, and gets bamboozled, herself. No wonder she was pissed when she found out what Gwen had done."
    Charity looked