On the Hook Read online

  She saw me looking. “I hope you don’t mind. It’s cold out there and I had to protect my vocal cords. Your mother said it was okay. What a surprise when the flowers glowed in the dark.” She took it off and handed it to my mother.

  “I don’t mind at all,” I said. “In fact, you did me a huge favor.”

  My mother looked at the scarf in her hand. “That’s what the police were looking for?” Suddenly, she held it away from herself as if my creation might have committed a crime. “Why were they after it?” my mother asked.

  “It looks like a scarf I dropped somewhere, and they’re trying to prove it was mine.”

  “Oh, so they were going to match up fibers,” my father said. The group looked at him with surprise. “Hey, I watched those CSI shows,” he said.

  “Sort of,” I said. “No matter what Detective Heather said about matching up fibers, it’s more likely they would try to infer the two scarves were made by the same person and, if nothing else, end my being able to stonewall about it.”

  “Spoken like a lawyer,” Mason said. “But it’s never going to come to that.” He turned to Samuel and my parents. “Don’t worry. I have everything under control.” He opened the pizza box. “That smells great. Mind if I join you?”

  “Thank you for changing the subject,” I said.

  I didn’t feel like eating but took a piece to be polite. We all took our food in the living room. I pulled Mason aside and explained the whole scarf situation. Nobody felt like rehearsing anymore, so when Bunny and Lana finished their food, they called it a night. The rest of us tackled the mess the cops had left.

  When we all met up in the living room, I remembered the news. I told Mason and we went into the den to watch while my parents and Samuel finished clearing up the food.

  Of course the piece had been edited down. I barely even saw myself, but they’d left in enough of Adele’s rap to show off that she really was the queen of crochet. Mason just rolled his eyes.

  Afterward, I was going to thank my parents for their help and then walk them to the door, but my mother said, “Honey, I don’t like the idea of you and Samuel here alone after what happened, so your father and I are staying over.”

  I knew she meant well, but it really made things more complicated. I had to give them my room, and I took the small guest room.

  “You’re welcome to come back to my place,” Mason offered.

  But after what had happened, I really didn’t want to leave them there alone. We were all unnerved, to put it mildly. He sweetly offered to sleep on the couch and keep guard over all of us, but I thanked him and told him to go home to a real bed. We lingered in the doorway for a long time.

  “This certainly isn’t how I thought this evening would end,” he said with a laugh. “But then it’s always serendipity with you. I’m afraid you’ve ruined me for anyone else.” He pulled me close to him. “But I wish I’d known about the scarf.”

  “I got so caught up in our date and Alexandra and her needles, I forgot about it.”

  “So then you liked our real first date?” he said, and I nodded.

  “Does that mean you’ll go out with me again?” he teased.

  “Yes. Besides, I didn’t get to eat my ice cream.” He held me for a long time until the dogs started scratching at the front door and I was afraid they’d pull it open. With a sweet kiss, he bid me a good night and a good sleep.

  It was a nice wish, but it certainly didn’t come true. I was beset by all kinds of confused feelings. Had Barry really looked the other way? He had always put his job first. What was going on with him? Now that Detective Heather had taken over, she wouldn’t give up until she got me to talk. Between all those thoughts and the small uncomfortable bed, it looked as if despite Mason’s wishes, a good sleep wasn’t in the cards.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “I didn’t do it, Pink,” Adele said as her lip quivered.

  As soon as I came into the bookstore the next morning, I rushed right to the kids’ department and confronted her. She was in her Heidi outfit—a blue pinafore with embroidery on the front over a white puffy-sleeved dress. She’d forced her brown hair into tiny braids that stuck straight out.

  “I swear I didn’t tell Detective Gilmore any scarf was at your house.”

  “Well, you must have told somebody something,” I said.

  “I was trying to smooth things over with Cutchykins, so when he asked me if Detective Gilmore could see the scarves I used in the rap, I said okay. It was after happy hour last night, and it was kind of awkward because Alexandra had come by looking for you. When I said you weren’t here, she said she wanted to make me an offer. I had to tell her to hang out around the books while I talked to Detective Gilmore. I couldn’t take the chance that Alexandra would call me Lydia.”

  Adele glanced at her watch and said something about the kids being there soon.

  “I didn’t even realize you’d brought all the scarves back.” Adele stopped for a moment. “Did you see me on the news? It came off pretty good, didn’t it? Not so good in the newspaper, though. The story was just about the baby blankets.”

  “You were talking about Detective Heath—I mean Gilmore,” I prodded.

  “I took her to the yarn department and showed her the cabinet where we keep the donations. She started asking about a scarf that wasn’t there, that she’d noticed at the police station. As soon as she mentioned the flowers, I knew which one she was talking about. She asked me if we had the yarn the flowers were made out of.” Adele began to whimper. “I thought she wanted to make one like it. I’d forgotten that was the scarf you dropped when we went to Timothy’s house.”

  “So you told her that the yarn glowed in the dark and that the yarn was discontinued, didn’t you?”

  “I might have, but I never told her that you were the one who put the scarves back or that you might have taken it home with you. As soon as she left, Alexandra came back and started telling me how she wanted to expand on Timothy’s idea and start a workshop for kids. She thought she could do a sample thing like Timothy did and then I could help her get students. She said I could be her assistant and that she’d give me a deal on our workshops.”

  “And what did you say?” I asked.

  “I said it was okay with me but that I’d have to talk to you about it. After yesterday, I’m sure I’ll be hearing from the Craftee Channel and I won’t need her workshops anyway. Besides, no matter what she says about her movie, she doesn’t have the experience or connections Timothy did.”

  “How did she take it?”

  “She just started talking about how she would run the workshop. She said that she wouldn’t be like Timothy was, just making empty promises. She’d already talked to the producer of her movie and we’d all be guaranteed parts with at least one line. Then she started telling me dirt about the other people in my workshop. Apparently, Timothy had talked about all of us behind our backs.”

  “Really? What did he say?”

  Adele seemed uncomfortable. “Stuff like that Mikey would never get past doing birthday parties and that Brett’s best shot was to keep playing an extra. He had laid hope on thick for Sonia because he wanted to keep meeting at her house but said she couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag. As for Deana, he said she had the diva thing down, but not much else.” Adele’s mouth began to quiver again. “Alexandra said she didn’t believe that what he’d said about me was true.” Adele’s eyes began to tear. “She told me he said I had no talent except for making a fool of myself.”

  I’m not sure how it happened, but I ended up reassuring Adele that she did have talent and that we’d find a way to figure out when her meeting was. Then I lowered the boom.

  “Detective Hea—I mean Gilmore—is going to hang on to this like a terrier. She will find a way to prove a connection between me and the scarf they have. We need to get together with Elise and figure something out,” I said.

  Adele didn’t get it at first—until I explained that if they connected me w
ith the scarf found at Timothy’s, they’d want to know how I happened to be there.

  Suddenly it sunk in and Adele appeared stricken. “Oh, no. You have to find the real killer, like right now.”

  We got Elise to come to the bookstore, and when Adele and I took a break, the three of us gathered around the table in the yarn department.

  Adele looked at me. “You better tell her.”

  Elise sensed bad news and listened quietly. When I’d told her about having Detective Heather on my tail, she nodded resolutely.

  “I figured you could handle Barry, but if she’s involved, we’re screwed. I guess I’ll have to tell Logan I showed the house twice. And there goes my real estate career.”

  “It’s more than that,” I said. “We were there when Timothy was already dead. We could have moved around important items, and they could say we interfered with an investigation and tampered with evidence.”

  “But we didn’t move anything around,” Adele said. “Well, I lifted the shade, but that can’t count.”

  I noticed that Elise looked a little green around the gills. “What if I moved something when I went downstairs? Remember I went to the master bedroom first?”

  “Well, did you? Think back,” Adele demanded. “We’re all on the line.”

  “Pressuring me isn’t going to help,” Elise said, her voice faltering. I stepped in and suggested that Elise close her eyes and take a couple of deep breaths.

  “Okay, I’m going to see if I can help you remember what you did. Try to go back to that evening.” In my best calm voice, I described our arrival at the house. “We looked around upstairs, and you said you were going downstairs. Picture going down the stairs.”

  Her eyes suddenly flipped open. “I’m sorry, but I keep thinking of Logan’s text and how my heart started racing.”

  “It was before that. Now close your eyes again and go back in time. Imagine going down the stairs.” As I said it, I was going back in time, and suddenly I remembered something. “I heard you squeal when you were heading down the stairs.”

  “I did?” she said, surprised. Her eyes opened again and after a moment they got wide. “That’s right. I almost tripped. There was something on the stairs.” She began to talk faster in an excited tone. “That’s why I went into the master. To put away what I tripped on.”

  “What was it?” Adele interjected.

  “It was jewelry,” Elise said triumphantly. “That why I wanted to put it away. I didn’t want somebody to take it. A real estate agent is supposed take care of the seller’s stuff.”

  Now I was excited. “Could it have been a ring?” I wasn’t sure if Elise had been there during the group’s discussion about the poison ring, so I filled her in.

  Elise suddenly appeared stricken. “Yes, I think it was a ring. You mean that could have been the ring with a secret compartment the killer used? My fingerprints are on it and maybe my DNA. We have to go back there and wipe it clean and then put it back on the stairs.”

  “I’d rather figure out who left it there,” I said. “It seems likely it was the one they sold at Luxe, and I know that the person who bought that ring was wearing a straw hat.”

  “Deana usually wears a straw hat,” Adele said. Then she filled Elise in on Timothy’s real thoughts about Deana, as relayed by Alexandra.

  “Hearing that could have made her want to kill him,” I said. “But suppose someone was wearing the hat as a disguise to try to look like Deana. Or she could have gotten the ring for someone else. The body was barely cold and Alexandra was already taking over his workshop. And what about the others—Mikey, Sonia, and Brett?”

  Adele and I agreed any one of them could have been angry enough to want to kill Timothy. Elise had no idea who we were talking about. She still knew nothing about Adele’s acting aspirations.

  “Whatever,” Elise said. “The point is, we have to move it back to where it was. Then I could make an anonymous call to the police so they’ll find it.”

  Adele was deep in thought. “You’re right,” she said to me. “I bet the killer is someone from the workshop. I’m beginning to think that Timothy really didn’t set up a meeting with the Craftee Channel. I have to say, it makes me very angry, and if he wasn’t dead, I’d certainly like to tell him a thing or two. How could I have been so stupid?”

  I took a moment to soothe Adele’s feelings before moving on. “Ladies, we’re missing something important. Whoever killed Timothy has to know they lost the ring somewhere and want to find it before the cops do.” I paused for breath. “How about we set up a sting?”

  Adele appeared upset again. “I’m a law enforcement wife, so I should have thought of that.”

  “But maybe you can help,” I said. “What if you called all five of them and acted like you’re sharing some gossip? You could say that you know the real estate agent who was showing the house and that she found a ring on the floor and put it away somewhere, not realizing it might be evidence, and now she’s going to put it back where it was and, when she’s clear of the place, she’s going to make an anonymous call to the cops.”

  Adele was really into it now. “Then all we have to do is wait to see who shows up. Or you two can wait. I can’t possibly go there again. Cutchykins can never know about any of this now.”

  “I don’t know how much real evidence will be left on the ring other than some residue of cyanide, but all that matters is that whoever it is thinks there’s evidence. As soon as we see someone show up, we call the cops so they catch them with the ring,” I said.

  We went over assorted details. Adele would have to give her people a time frame when the ring would be moved. Elise suggested she say that the ring would be on the step for an hour before the cops would be tipped. We decided to do it after happy hour that night. Elise said we’d have to leave the lockbox open so the killer could get in. Once the killer showed up, we’d call the police so they could catch them in the act.

  We went our separate ways and regrouped at happy hour.

  “It’s a go,” Adele said under her breath. “I called them all.”

  I nudged Elise and gave her a thumbs-up. Then the conversation turned to the blanket presentation. Dinah kept looking across the table at me with a question in her eyes. I couldn’t leave her in the dark, so I slipped over to the seat next to her and told her what was up.

  “I could be the lookout,” my friend whispered.

  “I’m afraid that Elise will have a meltdown if there’s any change in the plan. She’s pretty close to the edge.”

  “Then be safe and promise that you’ll come over later and tell all.” She gave me a hug and showed me that her fingers were crossed for me.

  The plan was that Elise and I would leave separately and meet outside. I didn’t want to be too bundled up and just grabbed the cardigan I kept at the bookstore.

  We took her car, since it was less obvious than mine, and parked down the street from the house but in full view of the door.

  “I can’t go in there again. You have to move the ring,” Elise said, pressing herself back against the seat in a resistant move.

  “Where did you put it?” I asked, and she shrugged and just said it was somewhere in the master bedroom. At least she gave me directions on how to open the lockbox and how to leave it open. I didn’t feel that great about going into the house again either, but somebody had to do it.

  I managed to follow her instructions and get inside.

  I didn’t turn on any lamps, but there was enough light coming in the windows for me to see the outline of things. I slipped down the stairs and into the master bedroom. I used the light from my cell phone and hurriedly checked the drawers in the dresser and the ones on the nightstand, sure that whatever Elise had left would be on top, but I came up empty. I looked in the closet. It was the size of a small room, and there was a small chest in the middle, but the drawers just held clothes. I was starting to feel a little panicky and forced myself to take a few breaths.

  Then I had an idea. I
went back into the hallway, stepped into the doorway, and waited to see where my eye went first, figuring that was what Elise must have done. It went to the tall dresser against the wall. I approached it even though I’d already checked all the drawers, but this time I looked up and saw a leather box on the top. I used my cell to look inside and let my breath out in relief when I saw it. There in plain sight was a ring that looked similar to the one I’d seen at Luxe. I picked it up using a sandwich-size plastic bag.

  I dropped the ring on the stairs and was out of there in no time.

  I rejoined Elise in the car and we crouched down, waiting for someone to show up. I had my phone set to silent, but my watch still vibrated every time Adele called wanting an update, which seemed like every five minutes.

  Time passed and no one came. Finally, during one of Adele’s update calls, I made sure she’d given them all the right time. She insisted she had.

  “Well, that’s it,” Elise said, looking at her watch. “Adele told them we’d be calling the cops at eight, right?” I nodded, feeling upset that my plan hadn’t worked. “I want to call the cops and give them the tip about the ring,” Elise said. “They’re not going to get me for tampering with evidence.”

  I asked her to hold off for a few minutes while I had a chance to think things through. I was still stunned that my sting hadn’t worked.

  Elise was getting impatient. “C’mon, let’s go,” she said. “I want to get out of here and then call the cops.”

  “I’m going to look inside first and make sure the ring is still there,” I said. “Besides, we have to shut the lockbox.”

  Elise told me to hurry. As I was getting out of the car, my watch vibrated. I couldn’t handle any more calls from Adele. I looked at the watch, prepared to hit the red button, that would reject the call. But I saw it was actually a text message. There were just two names. Then I saw that the text was from Mason and realized they were the real names of the girl from Ethnic Smethnic and the vegetable fairy that I’d asked him to research. I didn’t think anything of them at first, and then I looked again. What? I was still trying to make sense of it as I walked down the dark street back to the house.