Hooked on Murder, page 18
part #1 of Crochet Mystery Series
"It isn't just about staying out of the chip bag," Sheila said. "I used mine at the gym. You wouldn't believe how fanatical those women are about getting their spaces in the classes. I took too long to scan some woman's card, and somebody else took her spot and she raised holy hell until I went in and got the first woman to move. It really made me tense, but I took out my hook and string and by the secondrow of single crochets, I felt the tension melt away. I want to get my boyfriend to carry one. He's been under a lot of stress lately."
Meg was taking what she had just learned and making a row of single crochets on the foundation chain and said she was going to make a coaster.
CeeCee looked more and more exasperated as the talking and string-crocheting continued, and then she just lost it.
"Didn't any of you hear me?" she shouted. "We need squares. Squares, ladies. Lots and lots of them. Made out of yarn, not string." She snatched Meg's two rows of work and unraveled them until they were just string again. "Stop making string coasters."
We were all staring at her. I had never seen CeeCee come so unglued. Sheila patted her arm and handed her a hook and some string.
"I think you need this more than I do."
CHAPTER 17
Dinah and i decided we needed a girls' night out. Another Mr. Online had turned into Mr. Dud, and I wanted to get my mind off the fact that Detective Heather was still lurking around, trying to build a case against me. After CeeCee's meltdown during the group meeting, we figured she needed a night out, too, and we invitedher to join us. But by then she seemed to have gotten over whatever was bothering her, and said she was busy.
When Dinah arrived at my house, we both laughed. We'd changed into nicer clothes, but courtesy of our identicalchoice of black slacks, black turtlenecks and black jackets, we looked like the ninja Bobbsey Twins.
The Encino restaurant we chose for dinner was located in an upscale shopping center with two levels of stores around a large pond with a series of waterfalls. Once seated in the dark booth we threw our diets to the wind and had fettuccine Alfredo, garlic bread and Caesar salad. We ended by sharing a piece of cheesecake.
We had planned on a movie, too, but when we came out of the restaurant, we realized it had already started.
"We might as well walk a little of dinner off." I pointed toward the walkway.
All during dinner, I'd managed not to talk about Ellen's murder, but as soon as we started walking, I couldn't help myself and brought up how we really hadn't gotten anywherein our attempt to investigate.
"Sorry I haven't been much help," Dinah said. "I don't have much experience beyond reading mysteries and watching Tina & Terry Bolton, PIs, that fast-talking mother/ daughter team of sleuths on television."
"They would have tied up this case by now for sure," I said, thinking of the TV team. Half the time the pair caught the guilty party by talking his or her ear off, and the culprit confessed just to get them to be quiet. Unfortunately in real life it wasn't that easy.
The stores were still open, and I noticed a sign for a yarn shop. Through the window we could see several women sitting around a table in the center, knitting.
"What do you think?" Dinah said as we stood looking inside. We'd never been in a real yarn store. So far all of our supplies had come from the Super Craft Mart, where the "always-friendly staff" knew nothing about yarn or hooks except where they were kept in the store.
All the yarn for the auction project had been purchased by Ellen and, since the bookstore was sponsoring it, paid for by Mrs. Shedd.
"Let's do it," I said, opening the door. Inside, the walls were lined with cubbies full of yarn. The knitters looked up as we passed their table, and then they went back to their work.
"Adele would have a fit," I said with a laugh. I watched their needles clack as they went back and forth on rows of knits and purls. It seemed boring compared to the excitement of going in a circle and then having spaces and yarn going around edges like I'd done in the granny square.
An older woman in a gorgeous heather blue sweater asked if she could help us.
I was going to say we were just looking, but before I knew it, I'd told her who we were.
"So you're part of the Tarzana Hookers," she said, noddingwith recognition. "I saw the article in the paper. Too bad about your leader." The knitters looked up at us again. Was there just a note of superiority in their expressions?
"Crocheters are welcome here," she said, gesturing towardthe cubbies full of yarn.
Dinah and I hesitated. "We've only shopped at the Super Craft Mart," I explained. Everyone in the place laughed.
"Comparing that place to here, it's like apples and oranges," the woman in the sweater said, leading us toward the back. The selection was amazing, and so different from the craft superstore. We wanted everything, but finally narrowedit down to some merino wool. We both left with lovely little shopping bags holding yarn to make a long scarf with a ruffly edge.
I couldn't wait to go home and start crocheting. The owner had tucked in printed instructions which said the pattern was rated "beginner."
On the way back to my place, we passed the Sheridan house. The lights were on, and there was a car in the driveway.
"Lawrence has company," I said. I couldn't tell what kind of car it was, but it appeared to be some type of small economy model. His Bentley was always parked in the garage. I pulled over to the curb and told Dinah how Natalie mentioned being in Ellen's closet. "I wonder if it's her."
The street was empty and quiet. The main foot traffic around here was pretty much restricted to the dog walkers in the morning, along with the joggers and the maids walking up from the bus stop. At night there was nobody beyond an occasional out-of-sync dog walker like me.
"I want to find out," I said, cutting the lights.
Even in the dark, I could see Dinah's stunned expression."You mean like creep around and look in the windows?"
I nodded.
"I hate to bring it up, but isn't that trespassing?" she said.
"Only if we get caught, and we won't." I shrugged confidently,though I wasn't quite sure where the confidence was coming from. Dinah was usually the daring one.
"Okay, then, if you're in, so am I," Dinah said, ever up for an adventure. "I still can't believe he's already got anotherwoman. Ellen's barely cold. So, if we catch him with Natalie, what are we going to do with the information?"
This time I groaned. "I haven't figured that part out yet."
I moved the greenmobile farther up the street so there would be no chance Lawrence or his guest could look out the window and see it. We closed the doors with hardly a click and headed across the street.
We stopped outside the fence and looked in. All the curtainswere open, but the rooms appeared empty. I knew from being inside that we were facing the dining room, kitchen and two bedrooms, one of which was used as Ellen's crochet room and the other as the home office.
"We've got to get in the backyard. They're probably in the living room or den," I said, crouching low and slipping around the side of the house.
"Or the master bedroom," Dinah whispered, following me.
"I hope not. I don't think I'm ready for Lawrence in boxer shorts or less," I said as we reached the gate.
It had a lock.
"Let's try the other side," I whispered.
We stayed low and tried the gate by the garage, but it was locked, too.
"Well, I guess that's it," Dinah said. We crept past the bushes and went back toward the street. My back said a big thank-you when I stood up. I gave it a few rubs as I looked back at the house.
"Didn't this sort of thing used to be easier?" I said.
Dinah laughed. "You've done stuff like this before?" Dinah started toward the car, but I stayed put.
"I don't want to give up. I want to see who is with Lawrence."
"I don't think there's a choice," Dinah said, putting up her hands in capitulation.
Not making a move to leave, I surveyed the area. Then I smiled. I had a fabulous idea. "We can get in through there," I said, pointing at the property next door. When Dinahhesitated, I indicated the FOR SALE sign out front and explained that the house was empty. Dinah smiled, and she gave me a thumbs-up.
The gate to the yard was ajar, so there was no problem walking onto the property. The backyard was easily accessible,too. Everything had been left open to make it easy for prospective buyers to look around.
The backyard was big and dark. The border with the Sheridans' was thick with ivy and tall bushes, which were probably filled with spiders and other creepy things.
"There's a chain-link fence behind all the foliage, and there's probably a gate somewhere," I told Dinah. "When these houses were first built, this was out in the sticks, and nobody was all bent out of shape about security. All the fences had gates so the kids in the area could cut through yards. My house has the same kind of fence behind the bushes and ivy, and there's a gate somewhere on each side."
I pushed behind the row of greenery until I touched metal. Dinah kept close behind me as I began to feel my way along the fence. Something scampered through the bushes, brushing past us. Dinah started to squeal, but caught herself and muffled it. "What was that?"
"I don't think we want to know," I said, moving along the chain-link barrier.
"Is it really that important to find out who's visiting Lawrence?"
"What happened to your sense of adventure?"
"It ended when something crawled inside my ear," she said in a frantic whisper. She squirmed around, and I heard her brush something off as she made an ew sound.
"Found it," I said, feeling the post and then metal top of the gate. It was old and probably rusted, but with some jiggling,it finally opened. We slipped through and hit another wall of greenery on the Sheridan side. I remembered admiringit the day I found Ellen. The whole perimeter of the yard was filled with trees and artfully trimmed bushes. Beautiful to look at, but difficult to get through. We had to feel our way until we found some kind of opening in the hedge. Dinah was holding on to my belt loop by now and brushing things away from her face.
We managed to squeeze through, but not without getting souvenir leaves and twigs stuck in our hair and clothes. Dinahmet up with more crawly things and did her best not to shriek.
The crouching had gotten painful, and we began to crawl around the side of the yard. It saved our backs, but our knees paid the price. The Sheridans apparently weren't big on window coverings, and just like in the front, all the windows on the back of the house were exposed.
With a certain degree of relief, I noticed that while the lights were on in the master bedroom, it appeared empty. No chance of seeing Lawrence in his undies. Yay.
The living room seemed to be where the action was. I made out the top of Lawrence's head, but couldn't see into the room well enough to make out whom he was with. We'd have to get closer.
I sent up a silent prayer for our convenient clothing choices. Not only did the ninja black make us hard to see as we crawled along the edge of the yard toward the house, but all the grass and mud stains would hardly show. We turned when we reached the perimeter of the house, and crawled through the flower bed past all the windows until we reached the living room.
A little voice in my head went off, asking me if I had lost my mind. Was I really crawling through the Sheridans' backyard? Thank heavens Barry didn't know.
We were right below the living room. Just a little peek, and I'd have my answer. I swallowed a few times and gatheredup my courage. Slowly I began to inch up. Finally I took the plunge and lifted my head eye-level with the window.I dropped down abruptly.
"Who is it?" Dinah demanded.
"It can't be. You look," I said. Dinah did the same sort of move I had done.
She dropped down and was about to say something when two things happened that changed everything. From inside, the black poodle began to bark, and from outside, the sprinklers went on.
I heard the sound of someone unlocking one of the French doors.
I grabbed Dinah's hand, and we made a run for it across the yard through the cold spray. The dog ran out and stopped at the sprinklers, but kept up the barking. I caught a glimpse of Lawrence peering out into the darkness. "Stop," he yelled.
Like we were really going to do that. I pushed Dinah into the bushes and we found our way to the gate. SomewhereDinah lost a shoe, and I really had to go to the bathroom,but we made it out into the other yard. With amazing energy and grace, we ran to my car, started the motor and pulled away.
By the time we got the two blocks to my house, we heard the unmistakable thwack of a police helicopter as it began circling the area, flashing down its bright beam.
Only when we were inside and we had collapsed on the couch did Dinah and I look at each other.
"What was Sheila doing with Lawrence Sheridan?" I said.
"Do you think she's Miss Water Glass?" Dinah said, referringto my discovery during my snooping when the crochetgroup had met at the Sheridans' to get the squares. "Wow, she's really full of surprises. First she starts making those gorgeous scarves, and now we find her hanging out with Lawrence. Go figure."
As soon as the helicopter gave up, a soggy Dinah hobbledout on one shoe and went home. I changed into dry clothes but was too wired to do anything. Finally, glad that CeeCee couldn't see what I was working on, I pulled out the yarn store shopping bag and began making the chain-stitchfoundation for my scarf. The phone rang, making me jump. It was Barry on his cell, telling me that he and Jeffreywere at my back door, which for once was locked.
I let them in, trying to act as if everything was normal.
"We were on our way home when I saw the helicopter," Barry explained. "I wanted to make sure you were all right. The 911 call said something about an intruder in the Sheridanbackyard." He gave me a funny look.
"Really?" I said innocently. "I've just been here crocheting." I held up the beginning of the ruffly scarf. But then Barry leaned toward me and pulled a twig and a leaf out of my hair.
CHAPTER 18
After the leaf removal maneuver, barry and Jeffrey hung around for a while. Being the good detectivehe was, Barry got me to spill everything about our backyard adventure. I tried to tell him about Lawrence and Sheila, but he waved it off.
"Are you out of your mind?" His tone was serious. "Just think, if Sheridan had seen it was you."
"But I am just trying to find out who really killed Ellen Sheridan," I protested.
"You have something more immediate to worry about." He'd cornered Detective Heather's partner and found out she was close to making an arrest. "Molly, honey, I hate to tell you this, and I hate even more that there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it--but the someone she's about to arrest is you."
"Me!" I shrieked, feeling my legs go weak. Barry noticedand started to put his arm around my waist for support,but he glanced toward Jeffrey and held my arm instead.
"Molly, you should line up an attorney." He was all business, and the exhilaration of escaping the yard was replacedby a feeling of doom.
"Maybe this is when I should take off for Brazil," I said.
"This isn't a joke. I mean it about the attorney." He made a move toward me again, but looked over at Jeffrey playing with the dog and stopped himself. Blondie had appearedwhen they came in and immediately bonded with Jeffrey. It was the happiest I'd seen Jeffrey, and the most excited I'd seen Blondie.
I told him Peter already had somebody in mind. Barry seemed relieved, but not when he heard I didn't even have the lawyer's number.
"This is really serious. You should talk to him and make arrangements."
I gave him my best you-don't-really-mean-that look, and he just gave me his serious-detective blank face back.
Barry reluctantly looked at his watch and said somethingabout having to get Jeffrey home. It was obvious neitherone of them wanted to go, but Barry was caught up in doing his superconscientious dad act. Because of his son's presence, Barry gave me a restrained hug and whispered that he'd try to come back later. Blondie followed them to the door, and Jeffrey gave her a final pat before they walked out.
I looked back at my crocheting and realized I'd totally lost my place in the foundation chain for the scarf. I tried counting all the chain stitches, but my mind kept wandering.I'd been worried before, but it was somehow vague and I was able to brush it off. It was just too ridiculous to think anyone could believe I killed somebody. I was the person who wrapped up spiders in paper towels and took them outside rather than squashing them. But having Barry tell me to find an attorney meant it was serious, real.
Even if I did get arrested, I'd get off, right? Maybe there were a few facts that made me look guilty, like I was found hanging over the body. And yes, I did seem to be doing bettersince Ellen died. I felt a shiver of doom. It probably didn't help either that Lawrence seemed convinced I did it, and he had probably been complaining to some bigwig that I was free on the street while his wife was dead. Didn't anyone see that he might be making all that noise to get the spotlight off of himself? That thought brought me back to the earlier adventure and seeing Sheila with Lawrence.
She hadn't been with him, with him. They weren't touching or anything, but there was a definite friendliness in their eye contact. I racked my brain trying to remember what Sheila had said about her boyfriend. He'd done some kind of intervention to get her on drugs for her nerves, which sounded like the kind of thing Lawrence might try. He wasn't your meditation sort of guy. Ah, but she'd said they'd broken up when she wouldn't go for it. Then I rememberedsomething she said at the crochet group about her boyfriend being stressed, which had to mean they were back together. Lawrence and Sheila? They weren't a coupleI would put together if I were playing matchmaker, but, then, who knew what attracted people to each other?
I finally undid the whole chain and tried to start at the beginning, determined to keep track of my ten-stitch groups. The phone rang, and it was Barry. He apologized for not being able to make it back. Work called. He didn't give any details, but I knew it was a body or bodies with blood and who knew what other gore. I would be freaked if that was facing me. Not Barry. There was a hint of excitement in his voice. I wondered whether an outsider would think we were an odd couple.
