Behind the Seams, page 7
Beatrice nodded.
Ivy added, “But I’d like to give an award to whoever did.”
Beatrice had never really met someone as venomous as Ivy. It made her want to be back in Dappled Hills with Wyatt. Somehow, Wyatt always seemed to see the good side of everyone. It was a quality that made him such an excellent minister. Ivy, on the other hand, made Beatrice feel almost tainted by association. No wonder Olive hadn’t wanted to stick around and talk to Ivy.
“I still feel it must be some sort of drifter who did this. But I do know someone else who wasn’t crazy about Aspen. Olive. Olive and I have had many long talks about Aspen. She married Olive’s brother, Doug, and treated him horribly.”
“In what way?”
“In every way. The poor sap was clearly crazy about her and she acted as if she could take him or leave him. She spoke very condescendingly towards Doug, almost as if she didn’t have a whit of respect for him. Then she kept cheating on him.” She lowered her voice dramatically, looking around to make sure no one was listening. “In fact, Doug took his own life.”
Beatrice shook her head. “That’s awful,” she said quietly. Olive hadn’t gone into any detail about Doug and Aspen. Perhaps it was a topic that was too painful for her to discuss.
“It’s truly awful, yes. Doug found out Aspen had been cheating on him and was planning on leaving him. Olive has blamed Aspen for it, and rightfully so. Olive and Doug were very close.”
The golden retriever bumped her head against Beatrice’s leg, and she absently reached down to rub Lucy. “It must have been very awkward, having Aspen in the same quilting guild.”
Ivy snorted. “Maybe it was awkward for Olive, but it didn’t seem to bother Aspen one whit. She was delighted at all the trouble and angst she was causing. She was never happier than when she was making everyone talk about her. She loved the attention. Reveled in it.”
Beatrice thought back to Aspen’s computer and what she’d seen inside. “Do you know anything about the dark web?”
Ivy stared at her as if she’d suddenly grown two horns. “The what?”
“Never mind. It’s just something I was wondering about.”
Ivy picked up her phone again, punching buttons and frowning. She held the phone up to her ear. “Ridiculous.”
“No signal still?”
“None at all!” said Ivy. “Which would be okay if we actually had wi-fi. My husband is going to be worried about me. I need to let him know what’s going on.” She paused. “Maybe he can come and pick me up. He has a Jeep.”
Beatrice shook her head. “That’s not going to help when it comes to driving on a sheet of ice. Not on these mountain roads, especially. You wouldn’t want anything to happen to him.”
Ivy’s mouth curved down in displeasure. “It just stinks being in this situation to begin with. I don’t feel safe at all with the lack of staff and a killer running around.”
“I’ll say!” said a voice behind them.
The two women turned to see Meadow coming into the lodge.
Beatrice introduced Ivy to Meadow. Meadow gave Ivy a big, friendly smile, and Ivy pressed her lips together and nodded.
“Finally finished with your kitchen duty?” asked Beatrice.
“Yes, thank goodness. I like cooking, but people kept coming into the kitchen to help, and it was driving me crazy. One woman would walk off with a measuring cup and another had the butter. I finally just kicked everyone out.”
“You work here?” asked Ivy, looking as if she were about to launch into a litany of criticisms.
Meadow gave her a cheerful smile. “Nope! But I’ve volunteered to help out in the kitchen.”
“Which we’re very grateful for,” added Beatrice. “The expression on Starr’s face when she realized she would have to take over the cooking led me to believe she’s not much of a cook.”
“I wonder how much food is on hand?” asked Ivy.
Beatrice held back a smile. It looked as if Ivy’s imagination might be running away from her. A winter storm and then lack of food? “I’m sure we’re in good shape. Don’t you think so, Meadow?”
“From what I could see. They have an industrial-size fridge, for sure. The pantry looked huge and well-stocked.”
The door opened again, sending in another blast of arctic air. Starr came in, wearing even more winter gear than she had the first time Beatrice saw her. She strode up to the fire, rubbing her hands together. Lucy, the retriever, nuzzled at her leg and Starr reached down to give the dog a loving rub.
Ivy’s eyes narrowed. “You’re in charge here?”
“That’s right,” said Starr with a tight smile. “You didn’t make it to the meeting I held?”
Ivy shrugged. “I thought it was going to be something stupid. Could you give me a recap?”
“Considering that was the whole point of the meeting, I’ll let someone else fill you in. I don’t feel like repeating myself. I have other things to worry about.”
“Like food?” asked Ivy with trepidation, still thinking about her worst-case-scenario.
“No, like making sure everyone stays safe and warm. Food isn’t going to be a problem.”
Ivy visibly relaxed into her armchair.
Meadow fretted, “I wish I could let Ramsay know about the issues here. He would come over here and sort things out.”
Starr shook her head. “It’s too dangerous for anyone to risk driving here.”
“Even on an ATV?”
Starr said, “An ATV would be better, but I’d think it would still struggle.”
Beatrice said, “Plus, it’s so far away, Meadow. We drove ninety minutes to get here. Ramsay would be frozen through if he had to be out in the elements that long.”
Starr said, “Unfortunately, it looks to me like we need to handle things here on our own until help can arrive.”
“What does that look like?” asked Beatrice. “In terms of handling things, I mean?”
Starr sighed and rubbed her face. “Well, like I mentioned, keeping people safe and warm. Making sure everyone is fed and staying hydrated. Then, I suppose, hanging tight until we can get assistance.”
Ivy stood up in a huff. “Clearly our having a relaxing vacation is no longer on the agenda.”
Starr said in a tired voice, “Relaxation got preempted.”
Ivy stormed out of the lodge. Her flouncing exit was somewhat spoiled when she fell completely flat on her back upon stepping out onto the ice.
Chapter Nine
“Are you all right?” chorused Beatrice, Meadow, and Starr.
“Fine! Absolutely peachy!” spat Ivy. She carefully got up and moved cautiously away after slamming the door shut behind her.
Starr sighed. “I’m afraid everyone is going to be feeling that way soon.”
Meadow said, “Maybe she’ll have a nice little nap in her cabin and wake up feeling happier.”
Meadow, Beatrice reflected, could sometimes be just as optimistic as Wyatt could.
Starr said, “She might. Or she might wake up angrier.” She paused. “I do understand why she might be upset. This weekend never should have happened. I put too much faith in the forecasters. Out of an abundance of caution, I should simply have closed the retreat.”
“Was that even your decision to make? Or was it the owner’s?” asked Beatrice.
Starr considered this and looked a little more upbeat. “Good point. Technically, I do make all the day-to-day decisions for the retreat, but I know the owner’s feelings about cancellations. She prefers that the conference center stays open. If we’re paying staff, she wants money to be coming in. If I’d consulted her about it, I’m sure she would have said to keep the place open.”
“How did the meeting go? How did everyone take the news?” asked Beatrice.
“Well, no one was actually delighted about it, of course. And everyone seemed horrified about Aspen. But what everyone seemed most concerned about was the fact that there was no way to really communicate with anyone outside of the retreat. Everyone pulled out their phones to check, of course, and no one got a signal.”
Beatrice said, “Probably we should all put our phones on our chargers to make sure they’re fully charged. Just in case.”
“In case of what?” asked Meadow. For a creative person, she didn’t appear as if she wanted to imagine the worst-case scenario.
“In case we lose power,” said Starr grimly.
“There’s no backup generator?” asked Beatrice.
Starr shook her head. “Ordinarily, we have no use for it. Honestly, this is the first time I’ve seen bad weather to this extent.”
The door to the lodge opened again. This time there was a sturdy, outdoorsy-looking woman with graying hair, wearing clothes with lots of elastic that looked rather comfy to Beatrice’s mind. She wore a pair of bright red rain boots. She waved a hand in greeting, then pulled up a chair next to them in front of the fire.
The woman introduced herself as Cora, then turned to Starr. “You dropped quite a bombshell in there. Everybody is still talking about it.”
“Sorry,” said Starr. “Was Aspen a friend of yours?”
Cora gave a short, humorless laugh. “No. I’m not sure Aspen really had any friends. She didn’t treat people very well.”
“What was she like?” asked Beatrice, still trying to get a picture of Aspen.
“Oh, she was one of those people who always seemed to have lots of drama swirling around her. Either she manufactured the drama, or it just happened naturally around her.”
Meadow made a face. “That sounds awful. Your guild had a lot to deal with.”
Cora nodded. “I don’t much care for drama. I liked the way the Sew and Sews were before Aspen joined us. We felt really comfortable with each other. We had a great feeling of camaraderie and were always lending each other a hand. Plus, we just did fun things together. We played games, had swaps, and laughed a lot. It was the kind of guild that liked hanging out with each other even when we weren’t quilting. We’d have movie nights or would go out for pizza together. We were also really supportive of each other’s art.”
“And that changed with Aspen?” asked Beatrice.
“That’s right. I mean, at first we were excited about having her join the group. She was young and seemed like a cool person to be around. We figured she might have a lot of ideas and would infuse the guild with new energy.” Cora gave that short laugh again.
“And you were disabused of that notion?” asked Beatrice.
“Well, it took a few months. Then we realized Aspen was pulling us all down. She was critical of our quilts, which led to a completely different vibe in the group that hadn’t been there before. She also second-guessed everything. We had some charitable events that were pretty much set in stone and Aspen would pick those apart. It was like nothing was easy around her. I noticed a lot of the ladies were getting their feelings hurt, too. We have a couple who were insecure about their quilting, and Aspen didn’t help.”
Beatrice said, “I understood Aspen might have also created issues between the quilters on a more personal level, too.”
Cora raised her eyebrows. “Oh, you’ve heard about Aspen and Ivy’s husband, already. Yes, that was pretty disturbing. Especially to Ivy. That stunt had a lot of women in the guild angry with Aspen. Aspen was young, pretty, smart, and talented. She could have easily gotten any single man in town by just crooking her finger. So why go after a married man? And a man married to someone in your quilt guild, at that?”
Meadow nodded, totally absorbed in the soap opera that was unfolding. “Because of the drama. That’s what you said, right, Cora? She liked creating drama.”
“That she did. She’s probably delighted about all the drama she’s caused here at the retreat, dead or not,” said Cora tartly. “Anyway, it all really upset Ivy, and we tend to protect Ivy. She’s sort of delicate. She’s one of those people who doesn’t react well to stress at all. She has migraines, blood pressure issues, and aches and pains almost like she has the flu.”
Beatrice was rather surprised to hear this. Ivy hadn’t seemed delicate at all to her. In fact, Ivy had been something of a pill.
Cora continued, “But Aspen’s behavior didn’t just affect Ivy. It made Olive angry, too. Her brother was married to Aspen and Aspen continued cheating on him.” Her voice grew hushed. “He ended up ending his own life.”
“Terrible,” said Meadow, her eyes sad.
“It was. And Olive kept saying that Aspen was never satisfied with what she had. That she always needed to have more. More people loving her, more money, more drama.” Cora shrugged. “Just more.”
Starr, who’d been sitting quietly and listening, said, “Did you hear any noises last night? See anything?”
Cora shook her head. “No. I slept like the dead last night. I’m ordinarily a pretty light sleeper, and I guess the trip over here tired me out more than I expected. I woke up and discovered a real winter wonderland outside. Couldn’t believe it. I almost felt like someone had slipped me a sleeping pill.”
Starr said, “I know what you generally thought about Aspen. But did you have anything personally against her?”
“Nope. I stayed out of her way as much as possible to keep it that way. Besides, she really didn’t have a way to get at me. Aspen probably figured I’d be hard to mess with—I don’t really care much what people think.”
Meadow looked sad. “I keep thinking how awful it is that your guild was functioning so well until Aspen created all those issues. Do you think things will go back to the way they were before now? In the Sew and Sews?”
Cora considered this. “I’d like to think they could. Like I said, we had such a great group. But Aspen caused so many fractures in so many friendships that it seems almost impossible.”
Meadow said, “That makes me sad. Maybe, now that Aspen’s gone, you should just double-down and focus on all the ways the Sew and Sews connected before she joined. What brought you all together? Was it an old group or a new one?”
“An old one. Some of our moms actually founded the guild back in the day. Quilting was a family thing for most of us—handed down from older generations. But we also had a lot in common . . . we were friends with some of the same people, had a lot of the same experiences growing up, were from the same town, even if we weren’t all the same age. Some of us worked during the week and some of us didn’t. We made allowances for everybody’s schedule.” Cora shrugged, looking wistful. “It was nice when it all started. We weren’t trying to make art. We were just enjoying each other’s company and quilting.”
“And then Aspen joined,” said Starr with a quirk of her eyebrows.
“Yes. And she was very good at quilting, to be fair. I suspected that she might have intentionally ramped up her quilting ability before she joined the guild. Just to make sure she was the best and could show us all up.”
There was a shriek outside and a frantic scrabbling at the door leading into the lodge. The women stood up, looking fearfully at the door. It finally opened with a jerk, revealing Ivy standing there again. Her eyes were huge, and she gasped, “There’s a bear out there.”
Starr frowned. “Is there?”
Ivy nodded, scrambling away from the door as if the bear might casually open it and join them all by the fire.
Meadow and Beatrice looked at each other. Beatrice said slowly, “The bears should be hibernating now. Or, if it’s been too warm for them to do a full-fledged hibernation, they should still be pretty close to their den.”
Meadow nodded. “We live in the mountains all year. We’ve kind of gotten used to their patterns.”
Ivy screeched, “I know what I saw!”
Starr cautiously opened the door and peered out. Then she started to chuckle. “Well, I see a couple of deer, looking for food in the snow. Is that what you saw?”
Beatrice wasn’t completely sure how Ivy might have mistaken deer for a bear.
Ivy looked cranky. “Okay, I guess I saw them out of the corner of my eye and panicked. But can you see why I would have panicked? This whole day has gone completely wrong in every way. No cell service, a huge ice storm, and a dead body. What else could possibly go wrong?”
Meadow winced. “I wouldn’t ask that question if I were you.”
The door opened again, and the woman Nicole had introduced as her sister, Maggie, walked in. “Is there room for me?” she asked.
Beatrice was glad to see that she didn’t seem to be angry anymore about being awakened. If she recognized Beatrice from earlier, she didn’t mention it. Instead, she introduced herself to the group. She was wearing a tremendous fur coat and matching fur hat. The extra sleep seemed to have done wonders for her mood.
“Want some coffee?” asked Meadow, nodding to the cup Maggie held.
She shook her head. “Hot chocolate. Coffee makes me too hyper. And hyperactivity isn’t exactly great in this closed environment.” She glanced over at Starr. “Think you can do something about opening up the fitness center?”
Starr frowned. “The fitness center isn’t usually part of the quilting retreat experience.”
Maggie snorted. “Being stranded in an ice storm isn’t usually part of the quilting retreat experience.”
“I’ll go open it now,” said Starr, looking irritated.
“Oh good!” said Ivy. “I wanted to practice some of my yoga stretches to relieve stress. Do you have yoga mats at the fitness center?”
Starr gave a curt nod and she and Ivy set off.
Maggie took one of the chairs they’d vacated and took a big sip of the hot chocolate. “Glad to see a fire going. I can’t seem to get warmed up, even though I have my heaviest winter clothes on.”
She did seem to have piled on at least two sweaters and what looked like a couple of pairs of pants. But Beatrice also noticed she still took a great deal of care with her appearance. She was wearing carefully applied makeup and her hair was just so. The coat she was wearing looked like an expensive fur . . . and not a fake one.
