Dior or Die (Joanna Hayworth Vintage Clothing Mysteries Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

lifestyle and sold her house and moved into ours. She auctioned off most of her furniture and wardrobe. You'd be amazed at the clothing she'd kept over the years."
    Joanna thought longingly of the trunks of beautifully crafted dresses. "I bought some of it at the auction—I have a vintage clothing store. They're gorgeous pieces." She glanced out the window to catch an elderly woman walking a King Charles spaniel. The woman cast a disgusted look at Old Blue as she passed.  
    Helena followed Joanna's gaze and laughed. "That your car? Don't mind her, the old snob." She poured tea for each of them.  
    "It does look a little out of place." She eyed the brand new Range Rover parked across the street.
    "We’ve been living here for almost ten years, and sometimes I still feel a little out of place, too." Helena touched Joanna’s hand briefly. "Don’t worry about it."
    Joanna set down her tea cup. "The police seized the clothes I bought from Vivienne at the auction house. Did they take her things here, too?"
    "Oh, they had a whole team here taking photographs and nosing around, but they didn’t take anything away. At least, I don’t think so." Helena’s gaze lost focus.  
    "I can't imagine how you feel." Why had the police, then, hauled off Vivienne’s auction items? It didn’t make sense.
    She shook her head. "Someone came in here, in this room, and killed Vivienne." She grasped a throw pillow and pulled it into her lap. She drew a deep breath. "It wasn't the first time someone broke in, either."
      Joanna inhaled sharply. She passed her gaze once again over the carpet's soothing tones, the tulips on the mantel. "I can't imagine."  
    "The house was broken into a few weeks ago, and my jewelry was stolen. It wasn't much—a tennis bracelet and a pendant. But Gil had given them to me. Vivienne's jewelry was all in her safe deposit box. She was going to send it to Sotheby's." Helena gave a bitter laugh. "Not that it mattered in the end."
    "I'm sorry. I’ve heard about all the diamond thefts lately." Joanna wondered if Clary had been right. Maybe it was too soon to be visiting the Norths. After all, it was just a few dresses. Not worth stirring up all this pain.
    Helena pushed back the tea tray. "I’m sorry for burdening you with this. Why don't we go upstairs and see what she had?"
    Joanna rested one hand on the polished banister as they climbed the stairs to the second floor. The hall darkened as they reached a closed door at its end. Helena pushed it open.
    "This part of the house extends over the garage. It was originally a nursery. We didn't use it much until Vivienne came to live with us." She moved the windows and pushed open the curtains. She ran a finger along the windowsill. "I need to get up here and dust."  
    Sunlight illuminated a suite of simple blond wood furniture. The room looked like a cross between a sitting room and a chapel, with a small fireplace and bookshelves on one end and an oil painting of the Madonna and a prayer bench with a purple velvet knee pad on the other. Joanna knelt and touched the pad. Silk velvet. They didn’t have silk velvet kneelers at the church where she grew up, that was for sure.
    "It looks practically—monastic," Joanna said.
    Helena sighed. "Vivienne had recently become quite religious. That's part of the reason she arranged to sell everything and move in with us. She didn't think it was right to have so much when so many people have so little."
    Joanna remembered the furniture sold at the auction and the dizzying bids for some of it. Her estate must have collected a real packet.  
    Helena shook her head. "I can't explain it. Since we don't have children, she left most of her estate to the convent." Seeing Joanna's puzzled expression, she added, "Sisters of Saint Mary Salome the Myrrh Bearer. She knows the Mother Superior."
    "That’s an unusual choice."
    Helena moved to the window and picked a piece of lint off the curtain. "Yes, but it’s all right. We're doing fine.