Seams Like Murder (20 page)

Dinah seemed disgusted. “Maybe, but how low can you go? Meeting someone in the apartment over the garage? Even as jerky as my ex was, he wouldn’t have done that.”

I moved my hook through the purple yarn. “And Delaney could have thought he really cared. Maybe he told her he was breaking up with CeeCee.” I reached the end of the row and turned my work. “And what if Delaney threatened to tell CeeCee? Tony’s trying to get that web series off the ground. CeeCee’s giving him a place to live, and they’re turning the guest quarters into a studio. Who knows what else she’s giving him?”

Dinah finished the last row of the pot holder and reached into her bag to get her scissors to cut the cotton yarn. When she pulled them out, the strand of that variegated yarn was caught in them. It must have fallen from the table and gotten caught sometime during our session.

I thought again about how I was sure Delaney’s vest had been made from that yarn, and that the whole group had denied taking it in the yarn exchange. Make that the whole group except for the one missing person—CeeCee. I didn’t have to say any of that out loud. Dinah seemed to know exactly what I was thinking.

“Does that mean she was involved?” Dinah said.

“I think we should stop by CeeCee’s and talk yarn.”

“We better bring something,” Dinah said. “Remember Babs mentioned CeeCee needing medicinal chocolate.”

There was no time to make anything, so we stopped in the café. This time of the evening was slow, and Bob was sitting at a table, hovering over his laptop. When he wasn’t making coffee drinks or treats, he was working on his screenplay. Something about aliens.

Bob actually looked a little like an alien with that dab of hair below his lip. I know it was called a soul patch, but I called it a mistake in shaving. By this time of the day, there wasn’t much food left, but he managed to make up a package with some double chocolate bars.

I wasn’t sure what kind of a reception we’d get at CeeCee’s, since we were basically dropping in unannounced and uninvited, but the chocolate offerings had gotten Babs access, so I figured it might work.

Actually, CeeCee sounded almost tearful when she heard it was us. As soon as we came inside, she took us right into the living room. Tony was sitting in an overstuffed wing chair, writing something down. CeeCee took the package of sweets and looked inside. “It has been such a trying time—these cookie bars are just what I need. But if you want something to go with it, you’ll have to make it yourself. We’re having to rough it since I gave Rosa a couple of days off.”

We passed on the drinks but accepted her offer to sit down. CeeCee helped herself to a bar and then set the bag on the coffee table.

“Tony is such a trooper,” CeeCee said. “He’s writing down notes from his experiences last night and is going to use them in his web series.” Tony looked up from his work.

“Of course, I have to drama it up a bit. The truth is pretty dull.”

“I suppose they questioned you,” I said.

He shook his head. “Hey, I’ve been in enough television shows to know you get lawyered up right away. The thing that was so amazing was the way Mason Fields magically appeared when I said that.” He patted CeeCee’s hand. “It was brilliant thinking of hers to call him on the way to the police station.” I laughed inside at the comment. I’d been the one to call Mason, but I was fine with her getting the credit. He set the papers aside and gave his full attention to the group of us. “I was kind of surprised that when Mason and I had some time alone, he didn’t actually ask me if I did it.” Tony seemed to find that amusing, but CeeCee seemed upset.

“You shouldn’t joke about that,” she said. “This is serious.”

“I’m not worried. Mason Fields is the best. He doesn’t think they have much of a case. And do you have any idea how much publicity I’m going to get for my series?”

“You and that series,” CeeCee grumbled.

I could almost hear Mason telling me to let things be, but I ignored the imagined comment and plowed ahead. “Why did you say you didn’t know Delaney Tanner?” I asked Tony.

“Because it was the truth,” he said casually. “The cops gave me her name first, and I didn’t recognize it. To be honest, I barely glanced at the photograph they had. It was only when the cops brought up the business card and said she’d worked at the bank that I realized who she was.”

“Tell them how she got your business card,” CeeCee prompted.

“I have a business account at the bank. With all that bulletproof glass they have now, I barely noticed the teller I was dealing with. But she recognized me. She was a big fan of the soap I was on and kept telling me how great I was in it.” He put up his hands in a helpless pose. “It was music to my ears, particularly since things weren’t going so well. She wanted to hear about the web series, and I was glad to have a willing ear. I had forgotten, but last week when I went in there, she said something about how it would be a dream come true if she could be an extra on the show. I gave her my business card and told her to call and leave a message. Whatever was on the back of that card came from someone else.”

“You’re being awfully cavalier about this,” CeeCee said. She seemed upset and medicated herself with another cookie bar.

“I will tell you this,” Tony continued. “Delaney bordered on being too friendly. I was happy to talk about the web series, but I was a little uncomfortable when she made comments about the checks I was depositing and then talked about other customers. If she talked about them, she’d talk about me. I wasn’t sure I wanted it on the street how much I was struggling. I said something about my small deposits, and she
brought up Evan Willis and his partner, saying they came in a lot to deposit cash.”

Tony suddenly looked embarrassed. “It was a lot easier when somebody was paying me. I asked her about what he was doing, thinking maybe he’d want to have a piece of my web series. She told me the name of his business. I was expecting something in the entertainment industry, but it was a day spa or something like that. She could have said there was a chain of them; I’m not sure.”

For a minute I just sat there thinking about Kelsey Willis and how she had acted so high-handed. There was a world of difference in status between being an executive in a studio and owning a massage parlor. What Tony said sounded like it could be true, but there could also be more to the story. Like maybe he was meeting her to give her “acting lessons.”

Dinah nudged me to remind me of the reason we’d come, and I took out the length of yarn I’d found earlier and put it on the coffee table. “I was just wondering if you had any more luck in working with this yarn than I had,” I asked CeeCee.

CeeCee had a blank look on her face. “Remember, you took it at the yarn exchange?” I said.

CeeCee picked up the length of variegated yarn and examined it more closely.

“Oh, that wool yarn you didn’t want,” she said finally. “Now I remember. I believed Adele when she said she was sure that the yarn would work for crochet.” CeeCee turned to me. “Dear, I know you said it wouldn’t work for you, but I have been crocheting a lot longer than you, and I have wrangled with some tough yarn.”

“And,” I coaxed, “what did you make with it?” CeeCee responded with another blank look.

“I’m not sure. Let me look at my yarn stash.” Dinah and I followed her to the den, which looked out on the yard. She had
a closet with shelves for her yarn supply. It was far neater than mine. She looked through all of it. “That’s right,” she said. “I realized I was never going to use it, so I gave it to Rosa.” She looked at me squarely. “Why is it so important?”

*   *   *

“Do you think she really knew why we were asking about the yarn?” Dinah asked. We were back in the greenmobile on the way home.

“She seemed genuinely surprised when I mentioned the vest Delaney Tanner was wearing was made out of it.”

“But remember, pretending is her business,” Dinah said, and I nodded in agreement. “I hate to say it, but CeeCee’s not remembering and then looking around for it could have just been a stall while she figured out something to say. It seems very convenient that she claimed she gave it to Rosa, who wasn’t there. And then when you suggested calling her, CeeCee refused to let us bother her during her time off.”

“All we can do is wait to talk to Rosa,” I said.

The streets of Tarzana were quiet, and I was in front of Dinah’s in no time. “I guess that’s a wrap for tonight,” I said. Dinah opened the door but hesitated before getting out.

“I can’t keep telling Commander I’m thinking about it. I don’t want to keep him dangling. I care about him too much. I’m going to call him right now.” She shut the door to the car before I could ask her what she was going to say. I planned to keep plenty of tea and sympathy ready in case things didn’t go well.

As expected, Dinah called me in the morning and wanted to meet up. She wouldn’t give me a clue about how things had gone with Commander but just told me to meet her at Le Grande Fromage. It was amazing how as soon as the sun came out, the rain was almost forgotten, even though the cold air still smelled of wet earth as I crossed the yard. I had finally learned not to look back once I left the house. That way I wouldn’t see Felix with his paws up on the glass door with a look beseeching me to take him along.

The windows on my car were fogged up from the chilly dampness, and I had to wipe them all down before I could drive anywhere.

I left the car in the bookstore parking lot then headed down the street to the neighborhood bistro. I passed Luxe, which wasn’t open yet, and noted a display in the window. The hazy blue color of the blanket was an instant giveaway that it was one of Sheila’s pieces. One of the flyers was lying
next to it. I hoped that meant she wasn’t expecting to bail out on the class.

I had snagged a table and ordered breakfast for us before Dinah arrived in a flash of brightness with her long, rainbow-colored scarf.

“Well?” I said as soon as my friend had sat down. She certainly knew how to build up tension. Other than greeting me, she didn’t say anything else as she surveyed the café au lait I’d gotten for her along with a croissant sandwich.

“I can’t take the suspense. Did you tell Commander you would marry him?” I said.

Dinah took a sip of her coffee and smiled. “I didn’t tell him anything yet, but I have decided that I’m thinking of telling him that I will marry him.”

I was about to say something, but Adele swooped in, apparently hearing the end of Dinah’s sentence. “You’re going to get married?” Adele plopped down in the chair and immediately went into full pout. “It’s not fair if you get married first.” She set the crochet magazine that seemed to be her ever-present companion on the table.

Dinah and I rolled our eyes at each other, then Dinah took a deep breath and tried to console our fellow Hooker. “Adele, I just said I was thinking of telling Commander I would marry him.”

“How come nobody told me that he asked you in the first place?” Adele turned to me, and I waited for her to bring up our French toast sister thing and reproach me for not sharing. Thank heavens Dinah stepped in and said she had only told me and insisted I not tell anyone.

As soon as it seemed clear that Dinah’s possible nuptials weren’t going to steal Adele’s thunder, she brightened up and opened the magazine to show us a picture of a bride’s hands
encased in lacy crocheted gauntlets. “What do you think?” she asked. I started to say the hand covering was pretty, but Adele tapped the bride’s nails, which had been painted white with a flower stenciled on them. “I was thinking I’d do this, but in mauve. I’m going to show the picture to the place down the street to see if they can do it.

“You should come with me, Molly,” she said in a possessive manner. “You could get your nails done, too.” She flipped the page and showed me a photo of the bridesmaid’s hand. Her nails were done in stripes of magenta with glitter in between. I looked at my plain nails and swallowed a laugh.

Since they hadn’t even set a date, it did seem a little premature to worry about getting my nails done, but sometimes the best way to deal with Adele was just to go along with whatever she said. “Sure,” I said.

Dinah said she’d go with us. “Who knows, maybe I’ll want one of those fancy manicures, too.” She saw Adele’s expression fade and quickly added, “If and when I actually get married.”

I didn’t want to say anything, but I fully expected the new salon on the corner to be closed. So far, I’d only seen it open once. But I was glad I’d kept my thoughts to myself when I saw the open sign on the door.

Adele went in ahead of us, directly to the front desk, and asked to speak to a manicurist. She had no idea the receptionist was one of Dinah’s students and got upset when the young woman seemed more intent on greeting Dinah than fulfilling Adele’s request.

“My friend wants to talk to someone about a fancy manicure,” Dinah said. I saw Adele’s face light up at being referred to as a friend. It meant so much to Adele, but she made it so hard.

“You can go on back. She just finished doing the nails of one of the owners.” Emily directed us to go around the partition that blocked part of the view.

A woman with long black hair was cleaning up after her work and looked up at the three of us. “Be with you in a minute,” she said as she went to straighten a lambskin pad on the seat.

“Mind if I try it?” Adele asked, settling into the chair.

“It’s a pretty good fake, don’t you think?” the woman said as she put away the footbath and straightened the polishes. “The owner is allergic to wool,” she added as an explanation. “Now what can I do for you?” She looked at the three of us.

Adele showed her the magazine pictures, and the woman glanced them over and set the magazine down. She seemed confident she could replicate the designs and had a bunch of questions about how many people would be getting manicures, would they be coming to the store or did Adele want her to do them on location, and when was the date. As soon as the woman heard the date hadn’t been set, she seemed a lot less interested and just gave Adele her card. “You can always reach me at this number.” She glanced around her surroundings. “Who knows about this place?”

As we walked outside, Adele linked arms with us. “Getting your nails done is such a girlfriend thing to do.” It didn’t seem to matter to her that we hadn’t actually gotten anything done to our nails. “I suppose Dinah wants you to be her maid of honor, too,” Adele said, suddenly looking glum. “And if she gets married first it won’t be so special to be in my wedding.”

“Believe me, Adele, being in your wedding will definitely be a unique experience,” I said when we reached the bookstore. Dinah pulled free and hugged each of us good-bye then went on her way as Adele and I walked inside.

I went toward the information booth, and Adele headed to the kids’ section to get ready for story time.

Mrs. Shedd caught me as I was going across the store. “Before you get situated, could you take the deposit? I forgot to put in a bunch of checks yesterday.”

By now I’d run through the whole gamut of emotions about handling the deposits. First I’d been honored that she trusted me with them, then scared that I was carrying the cash all alone, and now it was just something to get done with.

I grabbed the blue plastic pouch and headed outside before Adele had a chance to see what I was doing. I didn’t want her to insist on playing bodyguard again. The drive down Ventura Boulevard to the bank was uneventful. With the sun out again, people were taking their time walking in from the parking lot, and there were a lot of people coming and going.

I had the routine down now and without thinking about it went right to the merchant teller. It was the same teller I had dealt with before, but then she’d said there were just two of them who worked the business accounts.

When it was my turn, I handed her the deposit. As long as I was here, I thought I might as well see if I could get any more information about Delaney.

I mentioned the business card with the note on the back of it. “Do you know what it was about?” At first the woman shrugged, but then her eyes lit up and she nodded.

“Now that you mention it, Delaney did say something about going to a party. I forgot all about that after what happened. Delaney showed me the back of the card and said she’d been invited to a party by a customer—I mean client.”

“Did she mention who it was?” I asked.

“No. A lot of people treat us tellers as if we’re invisible. Delaney never could handle that and made sure she was
noticed by remembering details about clients and commenting on their transactions. I think the idea that one of them invited her to a party meant a lot to her.”

She handed me the deposit receipt, and I saw her eyes go to the line that had formed. I thanked her and moved away. I stopped for a moment to put away the receipt, and when I looked up, Evan Willis had just joined the end of the business line. As before, he was dressed in track pants and a matching jacket, and he carried a sports bag. Like the rest of the people in the line, he was gazing at his smartphone. I hung off to the side and watched as he moved up the line. When it was his turn, he unzipped the bag and began to unload packets of cash. He didn’t make any conversation with the teller but just slipped the cash through the window as she put it in the machine to be counted.

I thought back to what Tony had said about the Willises buying a business. It must have been doing well, because his deposit was a lot bigger than the one I’d made for the bookstore. I know I should have just left, but I was curious now about what was doing so well. I stayed just out of sight until he headed back to the door, then I walked behind two women who were also going outside. Evan had parked his white Maserati close to the door, and I had parked toward the back of the parking lot. As he got in his car, I sprinted toward mine.

He had pulled out on Ventura Boulevard, and I hit the gas hard to catch up. I got a few dirty looks as I raced through the parking lot. As I turned onto the main street, Evan’s car was only a few ahead of mine. After a few blocks, I saw him put on his left turn signal. It was only when I got behind him that I realized he was turning onto the street that bordered the bookstore. He made it through before the light turned red, but I was caught waiting. I saw the Maserati pull into what I considered the bookstore parking lot. Really,
though, it served the whole block of stores with entrances to the lot on both streets.

I made it through the next stoplight and pulled into the lot. I drove around until I saw the Maserati, then I parked a distance away. The greenmobile wasn’t great for tailing somebody—the color and the vintage style made it stand out.

I got out and crouched low as I saw him get out of his car. He had the blue bag with him but seemed a lot more relaxed than he had at the bank. He seemed to be crossing the whole parking lot. I zigzagged through the parked cars in case he turned around. Just as I was about to walk behind a silver Honda, it began to back up. I stopped so suddenly that I almost tripped over my own feet, and when I looked up, Evan was just going into the back door of the store on the corner. It was closed by the time I reached it. The small sign on the door said Nail Spa. I thought back to the time I’d seen him at the bank before. I’d been nervous about making the deposit, and the teller had tried to reassure me that she’d just had a customer bring in a lot more cash than I had. Adele had asked what kind of a business it was. I thought the teller hadn’t answered, but now I got it. When she called after us and I thought she said Manny or Molly, she was saying mani, as in manicure. And the customer must have been Evan. How odd. When I went around to the front, the “Closed” sign was up and it was empty and dark.

I had to get back to the bookstore. Considering when I’d left to deposit the money, if I didn’t show up soon, Mrs. Shedd would probably call the cops. For a minute I laughed to myself, thinking of Barry hearing there was an APB out for me because I’d disappeared with a bag of cash.