Knot in My Backyard (A Quilting Mystery) (26 page)

She dismissed my concern with a wave of her hand. “I don’t believe Arlo is so manipulative. Maybe there’s another explanation for this lady vet. I think Arlo really loves you. He’s probably hurting as much as you are right now.”

“He didn’t look like he was hurting on Sunday evening.”

“Well, Yossi Levy said he wants to stick around. Are you ready to make such a commitment after only one night together?”

I tossed my hands up in a helpless gesture. “I honestly don’t know what I want right now. Life was simpler when I was alone. Maybe that’s the answer. Forget about both of them.”

Lucy sighed. “Yes, your life was a whole lot simpler, but your life was also lonelier.”

I took a long sip of tea. “I actually came over here for a second reason. Will you come with me to Dax Martin’s memorial service tomorrow?”

“Why?”

“I want to look for the killer.”

I brought Lucy up to date, including my blow-by-blow encounter with Barbara Hardisty this morning and the news both she and her husband were under arrest. “Everyone agrees I’m no longer in danger, but poor Ed’s still in jail and there’s a killer yet to find. Jefferson Davis is at the top of my list, and he’ll be at the service tomorrow. We might also come across the parent who stutters. Maybe if we poke around, we’ll get lucky. Nobody will notice a couple of old ladies in the crowd.”

“How about Birdie?”

“Sure, if her knees can take some walking. The service starts at ten. Be at my house at nine-thirty. As soon as the stadium starts to fill up, we’ll make our move and mix in with the grieving throng.”

By the time I got home around six, I was exhausted. Bumper greeted me at the door with a reproving look. His kibble bowl was empty. The exhilaration of the previous night with Crusher and the adrenaline of confronting Hardisty had finally worn off, and I was ready to collapse.

I fed the cat, changed my sheets, and climbed into a fresh pair of cotton pajamas with little blue flowers printed in an allover pattern. Then I returned to the living room with a turkey sandwich, snuggled on the sofa with my blue-and-white quilt, and turned on
Jeopardy!
.

“I’ll take ‘Americana’ for six hundred, Alex.”

“‘Ohio Star and Hole in the Barn Door.’”

The
Jeopardy!
theme song plunked in the background as the camera zoomed into the blank faces of the contestants.

“What are quilt block patterns!” I yelled at the screen. Nobody heard me.

“Oh, sorry. The correct question is ‘What are quilts?’”

Bumper jumped up on my lap and settled in, purring.

I bent over and scratched his ears. “Aren’t we smart?”

The doorbell rang.

I pressed the Mute button on the remote control and got up to answer the door. I hoped Crusher wasn’t coming back for seconds. I didn’t know if I’d be able to resist.

Arlo Beavers stood outside. Heart pounding, I hurried to put on my blue chenille bathrobe before I opened the door.

He wore his off-duty clothes—snug jeans with cowboy boots and a white cowboy shirt with snaps down the front. He asked warily, “Are you alone?”

My neck pulsed. “Yes.”

“Can we talk?”

I stared at him in panic.

His voice softened a little. “Please?”

Stepping aside, I let him in, inhaling his heart-breakingly sexy cologne as he passed. I returned to the sofa, pulled the quilt up to my chin, and waited nervously for him to speak. His face was unreadable and gave me no clue about what he had on his mind. One thing was obvious, though, this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation.

Beavers sat on the edge of a chair, leaned forward, and looked at the floor, rubbing his hands together as if searching for the right words. Then he looked back at me.

I braced myself for the worst.

“Martha, I’m sorry.”

Here it comes. He’s officially dumping me.

“I’ve been acting like an ass. I was wrong, and I’m so sorry.”

Surprise jolted my whole body, and my brain froze. This was the last thing I expected to hear from him.

I said nothing.

“I mean, I was angry about my dog getting hurt, sure. But when I cooled down, I realized if I’d listened to you in the beginning, maybe you wouldn’t have felt compelled to go out there on your own to help your friend.”

Whoa! This is definitely not what I expected to hear.

Beavers searched my face for a response, but I just looked at him. I still didn’t know what to say.

“Look, Martha. When I kept seeing you with Levy, I admit I was jealous. I should have trusted you more. I should have known you were only trying to help Ed Pappas. I was an idiot to think you would ever sleep with a guy like that.”

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

“Then last night, when I saw him here again, I kicked myself. I realized he was only here because you needed protection. That’s why I didn’t confiscate the gun. I failed you. I shouldn’t have trusted your safety to a thug. I should have been the one protecting you.”

I was dizzy from hyperventilating.
If only the earth would open up and swallow me. If only the world would end. Please, God . . .

The corners of his mouth turned up. “You’re one-of-a-kind, Martha Rose. You’re not only the smartest woman I know, you’re gutsy. Kaplan told me about how you challenged Barbara Hardisty this morning.” His eyes got all soft and sexy. “Please say you’ll forgive me. I’ve been a total jerk. I miss you, honey.”

He called me “honey”!

“I love you and I don’t want to risk losing you. I want us to move in together.”

Tiny black dots danced before my eyes and the room spun around.

CHAPTER 38

I came to with Beavers’s anxious voice coming from somewhere above me. “Martha! Honey! Wake up!”

I opened my eyes and looked up into his anxious face.
Wheel of Fortune
whirled soundlessly on the television behind him.

“Water, please,” I croaked, struggling to sit up again.

He helped me sit back up, touched my face, and then grabbed me in a desperate embrace. “You passed out for a few seconds.” He kissed the top of my head. “Are you okay?”

A few days ago, I would have given anything to be back in these arms, where I thought I’d been safe. Then I flashed again on him kissing the vet with the perky ponytail. I pulled back. “Please, Arlo, can I have some water?”

Vanna turned over five
E
’s before he returned with a tall glass hastily drawn from the tap. He sat next to me, but I shook my head and gestured toward the chair. He moved with a reluctant frown, back to where he’d been sitting before.

“Arlo, I appreciate your apology. Obviously, I wasn’t expecting it. In fact, I was certain you were serious about ending our relationship the night Arthur was injured.”

“I was just angry.”

I held up my finger. “Please let me finish. I’ve already apologized for causing Arthur’s injury. You know I’m sick about that, but you’ve put me through a lot of heartache since then. You’ve made me cry and you even laughed at me on Sunday.”

“I was only amused you even knew what a ‘bitch seat’ was. You were so cute when you said it.”

“Maybe I wasn’t aiming to be ‘cute.’ Maybe I wanted you to understand how badly I was hurting.”

He chewed on the corner of his mouth. “Okay.”

“Then I saw you with Arthur’s vet.”

He looked up sharply. “What? When?”

“Does it matter? Do you deny you’re sleeping with Dr. Andreason?”

“It isn’t like that. I made a brief mistake and went out with her a couple of times, but I never slept with her. I’d never do that to you. You’re the one I want to be with.”

Great. Now I get to be the hussy.

“Well, how do I know the next time you get pissed off, you won’t just up and leave again?”

He put his hand over his heart like he was a Boy Scout saluting the flag. “Because I’m making a pledge. I’ll never abandon you again. If there’s a problem, we’ll work it out.”

I thought about the vow Yossi made last night. “Can you promise you’ll never make me cry?”

“Who could make a promise like that? Things happen. Who can control how another person will react?”

I took a slow, deep breath.
Here goes.
“You’re right, Arlo. Who knows how a person will react? As a matter of fact, your leaving and taking up with another woman triggered one surprising reaction in me. Now I don’t know if either of us will be able to move past it.”

His body tensed. “What are you talking about?”

I held his gaze and tried not to blink. “I’m talking about Yossi Levy.”

He looked confused for a second and then the room filled with ozone as lightning struck. He stood and reached the sofa in two strides. I was being lifted to my feet by my shoulders. The glass of water fell from my hand to the floor.

Hands firmly clamped to my shoulders, Beavers thrust his face in front of mine. “What are you saying, Martha? Are you saying you slept with Levy?” His face was as serious as I’d ever seen it.

I put my hands on his chest and gently pushed him back. “It happened only after I saw you with that woman.”

He suddenly let go of my shoulders and shook his head, hands on his hips. “Oh, God, what did we do?” His anger subsided and his voice was throaty. “Did you really mean it the other day when you said you’d fallen in love with me? That was the first time you ever used the word ‘love.’”

“Yes.”

“What about Levy?” He searched my face. “Are you in love with him too?”

The past twenty-four hours were arguably the most intense twenty-four hours of my life, and my head was about to explode. “To be perfectly honest, I don’t know what I feel right now.”

Head wagging, Arlo turned to leave. “I can’t live with that.”

Didn’t I say almost exactly the same thing to Lucy?

“So, is this you walking out on me again?”

He stopped and turned around. “No, this is me going home to try to figure out how we screwed up a good thing. I’m back if you want me, but only if I can have all of you. I won’t share you.”

As tired as I was, sleep eluded me for half the night. I was glad I didn’t have to worry about keeping secrets. Each man knew about the other, but now I had to work out what to do next, and my mind seesawed for hours.

In the morning, Bumper jumped on my body a couple of times, landing with all four paws on my shoulders to jar me awake. I must have clenched my jaws all night long because my face was sore.

I got up, fed the cat, fed myself, and got dressed. My usual jeans were too casual for a memorial service, so I slipped on a peach linen summer dress and brown sandals. Lucy and Birdie showed up at nine-thirty, just as I draped a large printed cotton scarf over my bare arms.

A pair of yellow-gold baseballs the size of a dime dangled conspicuously from Lucy’s ears, left over from her days as a Little League mom.

Birdie had wound her long white braid around the crown of her head. She’d abandoned her usual denim overalls, T-shirt, and Birkenstocks for an elastic-waisted pantsuit made out of lavender polyester. She turned around on her brown orthopedic shoes, demurely showing off her ghastly outfit.

I looked at her. “Really?”

She smiled wickedly. “I’m in disguise, dear. Isn’t this perfect? Nobody will notice or remember me in this forgettable outfit. I’ll be like a maiden aunt at a wedding party.”

Lucy pointed to the rug next to the sofa. “Do you know you have a big wet spot there?”

I stared at the dark patch left like a giant teardrop from last night. “Yes. I dropped a glass of water.” I wanted to tell my friend about Beavers’s visit and the emotional ambush he brought with him last night. I wanted to hear her say I’d done the right thing when I confessed I’d slept with Crusher. Now wasn’t the time. We needed to focus on the task at hand.

Birdie smiled and sat in one of the chairs. “What exactly is the plan, dear? What are we supposed to be looking for?”

I opened my computer and found the photo of Jefferson Davis on the Beaumont School website. “He’s my number one suspect. I’m sure he’ll be speaking today, and I want to hear if he has a funny voice.”

“Okay, dear, but you can do that all by yourself. What can we do to help?”

“I need you to be extra eyes and ears. Try to mingle in the crowd and listen for any gossip. We still don’t know for sure if Davis is our guy. If you find anyone else who fits the witnesses’ description of the killer, try to get close enough to listen in on their conversation. If they have a distinctive speech pattern, try to get a name.”

Birdie held on to Lucy’s arm as we walked in back of my house to join the stream of mourners making their way from the parking lot to the Joshua Beaumont Stadium.

We were off to find a killer.

CHAPTER 39

Charter buses disgorged hundreds of students in their maroon blazers with the gold school crest on the pocket, accompanied by faculty wearing photo identity cards around their necks. Parents and dignitaries arrived in luxury sedans, SUVs, and even a couple of limousines. Miguel and the other Beaumont maintenance staff, wearing maroon shirts and khaki pants, directed traffic in the parking lot. Security staff barred a couple of news crews from entering the area.

Birdie, Lucy, and I agreed to split up and meet back at my house after the memorial service. I approached Miguel, who recognized me immediately and looked worried. “Good morning, Mrs. Martha.” He pointed an SUV down the row of cars.

“Hello, Miguel.” I lowered my voice. “I want you to know I’ve kept your secret. The police don’t know where I got my information about Coach Martin.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Martha. I was worried.”

“The police arrested my friend, so I’m trying harder than ever to clear his name. I wonder if you could help me one more time.”

He looked away and moved his arms in circles, pointing the oncoming cars to vacant slots.

“Okay. If I can.”

“The father you told me about, the one who argued with the coach and speaks with a stutter. What color hair does he have? How tall is he? Is he fat or thin?”