Seams Like Murder (19 page)

The animals were lined up at the door for their good-bye treats when the phone rang. I considered ignoring it, since I had overslept after the late night, but I grabbed it on the third ring and saw that it was Mason.

“Good morning, Sunshine,” he said in an upbeat voice. “I can’t tell you how great it is to have a purpose again.” Felix realized I hadn’t given him his treat and put his paws on my knees as a reminder. “I just wanted to let you know that Tony has been bailed out and is home with CeeCee.” He said something to someone in the room about getting some information, then he came back to me. “Sorry. Brooklyn is helping me out, and I had to tell her something.” His voice dropped as he continued. “Now that Tony is my client, you know the drill. I can ask you stuff, but I can’t tell you anything. Okay?”

I had been expecting as much. “There is something you should know,” I began. I told him about the old vent being there and then not being there. “There seemed to be some
bits of damp dirt on the floor, too. And when I went to check that back gate, the lock was on the ground, cut open.”

“Really,” Mason said. I expected him to say more after that, but he seemed to be hesitating. “You have a lot on your hands right now with all the problems with Sheila and starting Yarn University. You don’t have to worry about investigating anymore.”

There was nothing in his tone to say he was being anything but considerate, but could he be afraid of what I was going to turn up about his client? This felt very awkward, which was something I’d never felt with him before. I wasn’t sure what to say or do. Finally, I took the chicken’s way out and just said nothing.

“You’re still there, aren’t you, Sunshine?” he said finally. I let out an
uh-huh
. “I’ll see you tonight after work. We can work everything out then.”

I agreed but wondered exactly what he meant by that.

“Love you, Sunshine,” he said in a happy voice. He waited for my
me, too
, before he hung up.

I’d been so busy thinking about what he was saying, I’d forgotten what I was doing. In the meantime, Felix had figured out that if he jumped on the bench by the table, he could get on the table, and then onto the counter where the dog treats were. He had flipped the jar on its side, and dog biscuits were spilling out.

“I hope you were at least planning to share.” I gave the gray dog a stern shake of my head as I returned him to the floor. Then there was just time for a quick cleanup, and I was out the door.

It was cold and damp, and I could smell rain in the air. Already the orange blossom petals were falling away and had become a fragrant carpet at the base of the trees. It seemed that gloom was much gloomier in Southern California because
we were so used to the sun. Or maybe it just felt that way after my conversation.

The dark weather must have made everyone anxious to read, as the bookstore was busy when I arrived. I spent most of the day helping customers while trying to avoid Mrs. Shedd and Adele, particularly together. It would be too easy for something to come up about the previous night’s events, which would lead directly to Sheila and her stage fright. When Mrs. Shedd finally cornered me, I was relieved that she handed me the blue pouch and asked me to make the bank deposit.

By now, I’d gotten braver and realized nobody had a clue I had a bunch of cash in my tote bag, though I did keep an eye in my rearview mirror to make sure no one was tailing me. Nobody was taking their time in the parking lot today, as it had started to drizzle. People in Southern California have themselves mixed up with the evil witch in
The Wizard of Oz
and seem to think if they get hit with a little water they will melt.

I passed several people I recognized from the bookstore as I went in. The fluorescent lights inside seemed particularly harsh contrasted with the gloom outside. By now, I knew the drill and went to the merchant line. There was one person ahead of me.

“I hope you’re not in a hurry,” the man said, pointing at the customer at the teller window. I had to laugh—the tall customer was certainly overdressed for the weather. His raincoat and baseball cap seemed a bit much for the amount of rain we were getting. A blue bag was on the counter, and I watched him take out stacks of bills.

“Whatever business he’s in, looks good to me. I wonder if he’s looking for a partner,” the man said jokingly.

It seemed to be taking the teller forever to count all the bills he had.

“At last,” the man in front of me said, as the customer zipped
up the now empty bag and turned to walk away. The hat threw a shadow on his face, but as he walked away, there was something familiar about his profile.

When I returned to the parking lot, the drizzle had turned into a steady rain. The streets were glistening, and the sidewalks had turned a dark shade of dun.

“Mission accomplished,” I said when I walked back into the bookstore and put the blue pouch on the counter. Somehow the rain made the familiar smell of paper and books mixed with the scent of coffee coming from the café more pronounced. I got rid of my rain gear and got Bob to make me a red eye to pump me up for the Hookers’ gathering.

I took the steaming drink back to the yarn department. Between the rain and the events of the previous night, I wondered who would show up. Adele was the first arrival, since she just had to come from the kids’ department.

She flung her tote bag on the table. “Can you believe that Eric was upset with me for throwing his name around the police station? I was just trying to help CeeCee,” she said, eyeing the table while she decided where to sit. “Do you think CeeCee will be here?”

“No. Now that Tony is back home, I’m sure she’s making a big fuss about him.” Adele seemed surprised at the news and grumbled that nobody told her anything.

Dinah had picked up a coffee drink on her way in, too, and set it on the table as she slipped off her burnt orange raincoat and hung it on the back of the chair. Drops of rain were stuck in her short salt-and-pepper hair and had mixed with her hair gel. The light caught in the water and glistened, but her spiky style had gone flat.

Rhoda, Elise and Eduardo came in together. I could hear the two women filling him in on the previous night’s excitement. He let out a sigh. “Poor CeeCee.”

“Tony’s out of jail,” I announced as they found places around the table and took out their projects.

“It was all a mistake, then, wasn’t it?” Rhoda said, looking at me.

“I don’t know.” It was the only answer I could give.

“But you are going to find out?” Elise said.

“I’ll do what I can.” I didn’t want to bring up what Mason had said. “Let’s just crochet for a while.” I glanced around for my tote bag and realized in all the excitement I had forgotten to grab the bamboo cowl I was making for Samuel. He didn’t care that men didn’t seem to wear cowls. He thought he’d start a trend. Luckily, I had my purse project, as I called it. I took out the plastic bag with the worsted-weight purple wool yarn. I started to crochet as Babs came into the yarn department with a younger woman in tow.

“Is there any news on Tony?” she asked in a worried voice. Adele was only too glad to share the update that he was out of jail.

“CeeCee must be relieved, but she’s probably a wreck after worrying about him all night. I better bring her some brownies. She told me chocolate is a medicinal food for her.” Babs turned to the woman with her. “Is that true?” Then to the rest of us, she said, “This is my daughter-in-law, Lucille. That’s Dr. Lucille Swanson.” Lucille was an attractive, efficient-looking woman and gave us a friendly smile.

“Remember what I said? No medical questions,” Lucille said. “When I’m off duty, I’m off duty.” She looked at us. “Babs told me all about your group and promised that crochet could lower my stress level. That’s just what I need.”

“I wanted to show her one of your gatherings, and if she likes it, she’s going to sign up for the beginning crochet class.”
Adele was out of her seat before Babs reached the period on the sentence.

“You’ve come to the right place. I’m teaching the beginning crochet class. Ask me any questions.”

“I thought I’d just watch for a while,” Lucille said. She and Babs took seats at the end of the table. We went around the table and introduced ourselves and held up what we were working on.

“The crocheting is a stress reliever, but so is the company of the group. You’re a doctor?” Rhoda asked. “What kind?”

“She’s a dermatologist, but please forget I mentioned that,” Babs said and threw her daughter-in-law an apologetic smile.

“As soon as they hear I’m a doctor, somebody always wants medical advice. I can’t even go to a party,” Lucille said.

Babs chimed in. “She was just a guest and they asked her to look at a rash.”

Lucille threw up her hands. “If you’re allergic to wool, you should know better than to wrap your arms around it.”

The mention of the party caught my attention. I remembered Babs had talked about babysitting while they went somewhere on a Thursday.

“Was that at the Willises’ house?” I asked, and Lucille nodded.

“It was quite the party, tented tennis court and all,” she said.

“What was the occasion of the party?” I asked, and Lucille stopped to think for a moment.

“I think they had recently launched their new business. I just went along with my husband. I’m sure Babs told you, Richard has his own business management firm, and he was hoping to network.”

“Did you see Tony Bonnard there?” I asked.

Babs suddenly seemed protective of Lucille and wanted to know why I was asking. Then before I could answer, she sucked in her breath as she realized why. “It was the same night that woman died at CeeCee’s!” She seemed upset that she hadn’t put it together before. She turned to her daughter-in-law. “Did you see him there?”

“Is he the handsome guy with the white hair who used to play a doctor in that soap opera?” We all nodded yes. “I’m pretty sure I saw him, but I can’t say how long he was there. There were a lot of people.”

I stopped mid-stitch, realizing it didn’t really matter if Lucille had seen him or not. “Being seen at the party really doesn’t give him an alibi. He could have made an appearance and then gone up to the guest apartment and killed Delaney. He could have even returned to the party after he did the deed.”

“I’m here,” Sheila said. We’d all been so busy talking to Lucille, none of us had noticed that Sheila had come into the bookstore. Her voice sounded upbeat, but her brows were furrowed, and she looked tense.

Mrs. Shedd was right behind her, which probably accounted for Sheila’s effort to sound upbeat. I was grateful to Babs, who started raving to her daughter-in-law about Sheila’s beautiful pieces and asked to show her some samples. Giving Sheila something to do took her mind off her nerves. Mrs. Shedd watched for a moment, then went back to wandering the bookstore to help customers.

With Mrs. Shedd gone, I started to suggest Sheila take a shot at just doing the introduction to her class in front of us, but I was surprised when Sheila cut me off mid-sentence.

“No. I’m not doing any more practice sessions.” I started to ask why, but Sheila just shook her head in a decided manner.

Even with the talk of alibis and Sheila’s surprising
surliness, we must have done something right, because by the time the group broke up Lucille had signed up for Adele’s class. She seemed pleased when Adele walked out with her, showing off her beanie with the big flower on it.

At that point, Dinah and I were the only ones left at the table. It was dinnertime now, and the bookstore had cleared out. I let out a weary sigh and kept moving my hook through the wool yarn. I was glad it was a simple project. I really needed some mindless crochet.

“What are you making?” Dinah said.

“For now it’s just a long, skinny strip, but eventually I’m going to sew the ends together and make an infinity scarf.” I laid the long strip of purple stitches on the table and measured. It was five feet long. “Just a foot or so more and I’ll actually be done.” Dinah and I exchanged high fives. Dinah went back to working on a potholder in delft blue cotton yarn. It was one of the projects she was going to use in her class.

She didn’t want to talk about her situation with Commander, and I didn’t want to talk about my issues with Mason. First it was that his daughter didn’t like me, then his ex moved in. Now, realizing he just wanted to get Tony out of trouble, without caring if he’d done it or not, bothered me. And then suggesting I stop trying to figure out what had really happened to Delaney Tanner? That was what it was really about for me. Getting justice for her.

Maybe there was just too much baggage for either Dinah or me to have a happily ever after.

Since we didn’t want to talk about the men in our lives, we talked about Adele and her wedding woes and why Eric didn’t seem to want to pin down a date and location. We both agreed Adele could be right. He was getting cold feet.

The topic of Sheila came up next. “There’s nothing more I can do,” I said. “Maybe I pushed her too far. I’ve never
seen her so resolute about anything before. She actually just said no to another practice.” I let out a sigh. “Maybe I’ll need Adele’s backup plan after all.”

“Okay, enough stalling. Let’s talk about what’s really on our minds,” Dinah said. “Tony.”

I told her about Barry’s theory, which opened Pandora’s box. Now Dinah wanted all the details of our encounter.

“It’s wasn’t an encounter, except maybe for the part when he apologized for stuff he did when we were together.”

Dinah insisted on a complete replay of the conversation. “Sounds to me like he wants to win you back,” she said.

“I don’t think so. More like stuff with his son is making him view his behavior in a new light.” I shook my head to get rid of the Barry topic. “We were going to talk about Tony, remember? I hate to say it, but what Barry said made sense. Tony is at a low point in his career. It doesn’t take long for people to go from saying
Weren’t you in that show?
to
Who did you used to be?
I don’t think it was his first choice to move in with CeeCee. Her career is on an upswing. I mean, she’s an actual Academy Award nominated actress. I’m sure they’re going to make a sequel to
Caught by a Kiss
. Tony’s ego was probably sagging and could have needed some bolstering.”