“Sounds good.” She rose and picked up her file. “I’m praying I find some kind of lead. I feel like I’m shooting at the moon and not hitting anything. This guy is so slick.”
“But you’re smart. You’ll nail him.”
A warmth radiated through her at the confidence in his words. Maybe she would.
Chapter 26
Torie slammed on her bike’s brakes, and the vehicle behind her blared the horn. The car in her pictures was there—right there.
She sent an apologetic wave in the direction of the black SUV that zoomed around her, then stopped her bike and rolled it into a rack behind the hot shop next to the Chevy. The car had to belong to Amelia. So that meant the glass artisan had been with Bella just hours before her death. She might know something she didn’t realize was pertinent.
Torie went to the back door. It stood ajar a couple of inches, and she saw a red glow from inside. She rapped her knuckles against the door and pushed it open a few more inches. Something inside smelled hot and dusty.
Amelia was manipulating a long metal stick of some kind that had a glob of glowing glass on the end, which extended into the glory hole. It looked terrifying to Torie. One little fling of melted glass off the end could do serious damage to skin.
She stood by the door and waited for the woman to notice her. It didn’t take long until Amelia saw her from the corner of her eye and turned with an irritated expression that vanished when recognition lit her eyes.
She held up a finger to indicate Torie should wait a minute, then moved to the bigger furnace to knock the glass off the end of the stick and set down the tool.
She wiped her hands on her jeans, peppered with burn holes. “Torie, isn’t it? How nice to see you again.”
Had she heard talk of Torie’s true identity? Torie didn’t see any evidence of irritation in her face, other than that first glance before Amelia had recognized her. She might as well be honest now. It might get her further if she used her name and position.
“Yes, it’s Torie, um, Torie Bergstrom.”
“Bergstrom?”
“Yes, Anton’s daughter. I’m sorry I wasn’t more up-front when we first met. I didn’t want people to treat me differently like they always do when they hear I’m a Bergstrom.”
Amelia blinked, then gave a slow nod. “I’m honored you’re taking such an interest in the glass globes yourself.”
“They’re beautiful, but I’m here for another reason. It’s about Bella Hansen.”
Amelia winced. “I still can’t believe someone killed her.”
“When did you see her last?”
“The night she died. I picked her up, and we went to dinner together. She had just been promoted to events coordinator at the hotel, and we discussed the upcoming bank summit.”
“What time did you take her back to the hotel?”
“About eight, I think. We ate dinner, then came back here to take a look at the globes I had done.”
“Did she seem on edge at all? Upset about anything?”
Amelia pursed her lips. “She got a call from a guy. He was yelling at her, and I could hear how mad he was, though I couldn’t make out what he said. She cried and told him she was sorry, but when she hung up, she didn’t want to talk about it.”
“Any idea who it was?”
“Not really. It sounded like a love affair gone wrong because she said something to him about being sorry and that he was overreacting.”
“Did you ever see her with a man?”
Amelia went to the fridge in a back corner and pulled out two cans of iced tea. She handed one to Torie and popped the top of the one she kept. “Sure, she was engaged. Jason Graham. He runs a nonprofit.”
“Maybe her fiancé was the man who called and argued with her.”
“I don’t think so. Jason hasn’t been around for about a month. He’s been in Washington, DC.”
“So you suspect she was cheating on him?”
“It would be my guess, though I’m making no assumptions or judgments. She was a bit of a flirt and even went out with Noah a few times. She hated being alone, and she liked male attention.”
“You’re sure Jason hasn’t been around?”
“Positive. He’s been on TV a few times as part of an investigation where he had to testify.”
That seemed definitive. Maybe this mysterious man wanted Bella to break her engagement. Or maybe she was seeing more than one. Surface impressions could be misleading, but Torie hadn’t taken Bella for that kind of person.
“I wish we could find out who called her that night.”
“I told the police about it. I’m sure they checked her phone to see who it was. A victim usually knows their killer.” Amelia smiled. “At least that’s what all the TV shows say.”
“That’s what I hear.”
A knock came at the back door, and Torie turned to see Joe and Hailey standing there.
Joe pushed the door all the way open. “We hoped you were blowing today, Amelia. We wanted to watch if we won’t annoy you.”
Hailey gave an excited wave in Torie’s direction, and the little girl’s obvious joy at seeing her gave Torie a boost.
“I’d love to see it too,” Torie said. “I know nothing about it, but it looks so interesting.”
“Sure.” Amelia gestured with her hand toward the exterior wall to her left. “Pull up a chair and stay back. I’ll explain what I’m doing as I do it.”
Joe grabbed three chairs, and Hailey sat between Torie and him.
Amelia took up that strange stick thing again. “This is my blowpipe. Inside the furnace is a crucible, which is another name for a pot that holds the batch, which is what the melted glass ingredient is called. I get a glob of batch on my blowpipe and bring it to this table, which is known as the marvel. It’s thick metal so I can roll and shape the hot glass.”
Torie watched as Amelia rolled the blob on the table, then grabbed what looked like newspaper out of a bowl of water. She rotated the hot glass against the wet newspaper. The next tool was a metal set of something similar to tongs that the artisan called jacks.
Torie was struck by how hot glass could be formed and molded by so many outside forces.
Joe leaned over to Hailey. “Look at how beautiful that glass is in spite of being manipulated and worked on by so many outside forces. God uses all the bad things in our lives to make us more beautiful too. Nothing is wasted—it all serves a purpose.”
“Even Mommy dying?” Hailey asked.
“Even losing Mommy can make you a better person.”
Torie saw the parallel to her own losses and heartaches. Maybe God was working her character in the same way with the stressors he’d brought her way. Would she be as beautiful inside someday because of it?
* * *
The globe Amelia had finished glowed with vibrant color on its metal stand, and Joe touched it with a finger. It was still warm from the fire.
He turned back to where Amelia stood putting away her tools. Torie rose and joined them while Hailey played a game on his phone.
“You have time to answer a few questions?” he asked Amelia.
It wasn’t ideal to have Hailey here, but he wasn’t about to let her out of his sight. He still felt traumatized by nearly losing her Saturday. Julie’s death had nearly destroyed him, and his daughter was everything to him.