Seams Like Murder Page 9
I let her get a head start before taking the direct route, so we arrived in the yarn department at the same time. She flopped into a chair and leaned back in exhaustion. “I had to get out of there,” she said, making a vague gesture, probably toward her home. “The cops are relentless. They were back at the crack of dawn to question us again, and this time they had the identity of the victim.”
“Then you don’t know Delaney Tanner?” I said when I joined her at the table. I wanted to ask her if Barry was part of the questioning committee, thinking of how late he’d left my place. But I didn’t want to mention his visit, so I didn’t say anything.
“No. The name didn’t mean anything to me or Tony.” CeeCee had done a poor job of securing the bandana, and it slid off. I’d never seen her hair look so disheveled before.
“What about her face? They did show you a photo, didn’t they?” I asked.
CeeCee seemed tired of the questions. “Dear, I glanced at it, and she didn’t look familiar. Tony did the same and had the same response. They wanted to question Rosa, and they got very upset when I explained that after she’d stayed so late, I had to give her time off this morning.” CeeCee shook her head in distress. “I thought Detective Greenberg was going to put out an APB for her.”
So, Barry was part of the questioning team. I wanted to ask her if he looked tired, but I mentally told myself to snap out of it. Whether or not he had circles under his eyes was not my concern. Surprisingly, CeeCee actually had brought a bag with her current project, and now she pulled out the yellow baby blanket she was making. There was a state law that a mother could surrender her newborn at a fire station with no questions asked. CeeCee wanted to give baby blankets to the local fire station so they’d have something when someone left them with a baby. She absently began crocheting as she continued her tale of woe.
“The worst was how they’re grilling Tony. They wanted to know exactly what our relationship was and if he was living at my place. They even asked what financial arrangement we had. He’s already embarrassed about his circumstances.” Her eyes went skyward. I considered asking just what those circumstances were, but it didn’t seem like a good time since she was already so upset.
“I wonder how long Delaney was up there,” I said. It felt very strange to add her name to the body I’d seen. CeeCee responded with an uncomfortable grunt.
“They certainly weren’t giving me any information. They were trying to pull it out of me. They kept asking me about last Thursday. Who was at my place? Who did I let in? And to be honest, dear, I’d rather not think about it. I just want this whole thing to be over with.” She got to the end of a row and, with barely a pause, did a turning chain and started on the next row.
“What did you tell them?” I asked.
“That none of us let that woman in,” CeeCee said. She set down the crochet as she suddenly had a realization. “I suppose that means they know she died on Thursday. That means she was up there all weekend.” CeeCee shuddered. “Imagine if Tony or I had gone up there alone? I’m just glad you were there when we found her.”
Her comment made me uneasy. I had heard over and over how killers tried to arrange for someone else to find their victim, or at least to have someone with them when the body was found. Hadn’t Tony encouraged her to take us up there to see the “studio”?
CeeCee picked up her work again and began to crochet. I could see that she was beginning to relax. “It feels so much better to be here, talking to you. Dear, please work your magic and figure this out. Nobody has said it yet, but I saw the way those detectives were looking at me. Even Barry. I’m one step away from being their number one suspect.”
I had a bad feeling she might be right.
Rhoda arrived at the table and dropped her tote bag before pulling out a chair. “Elise isn’t coming. And Eduardo has something going on at his store.” She did a double take when she saw CeeCee, and she pulled me aside. “What happened? Did they take her down to the station and keep her overnight? She looks terrible.”
Dinah arrived a moment later. “What have I missed?”
CeeCee waved a tired hand at me. “You tell them, dear.” I was up to the part where we’d figured out that the time of death was the previous Thursday, based on what the cops had said, when Babs showed up. She had come prepared and had a bag with yarn and crochet tools.
“Oh, that’s you,” she said, trying but failing to hide her surprise at CeeCee’s appearance. She gingerly patted her on the shoulder and turned to the rest of us. “I hope it’s okay if I join you all today. You have no idea how much I miss this kind of companionship.” I explained that I was just bringing Dinah and Rhoda up to speed on what was going on at CeeCee’s.
Babs listened intently as I continued. She gasped when I mentioned that CeeCee was concerned about being considered a suspect.
“Nobody can possibly think you’d hurt somebody,” she told CeeCee. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.” She glanced over CeeCee’s appearance and let out a few tsks. “First things first. Let’s get you fixed up.” She helped CeeCee up and took her off to the bathroom.
With them gone, Dinah, Rhoda, and I began to talk. Rhoda was the first to speak. “No matter what CeeCee says, there is one thing that is absolutely true. One way or another that woman ended up in the guest apartment.”
“And I bet the cops think she was invited. With the locked gates CeeCee has now, there’s no way she just wandered in,” Dinah said.
“She was alive when she got there,” I said. I didn’t want to mention the gory details of the vomit and pills and was glad when nobody asked why I was so sure. The image of Delaney’s body flashed in my mind again, and I thought of the vest. “The vest she was wearing seemed oddly familiar,” I told them. “It has to be something about the yarn.” I looked at the cubbies of yarn, which had swatches in both knit and crochet hanging off them.
“You probably just have yarn on the brain,” Rhoda said, watching as I checked out a couple of the swatches.
I let go of the swatch of some variegated worsted-weight yarn in shades of brown. “You’re probably right.”
“Molly,” Mrs. Shedd said, coming into the yarn department with a young woman. Our arrangement was that I could sit with the crochet group as long as I took care of any customer who needed help.
“I thought your name was Polly,” the new person said, looking around the yarn department. “I’m Erin Willis. Actually, I’m Erin Willis Allen. You probably don’t remember that your son Peter took me to prom.” I noticed the young woman’s belly, and it came back to me that Kelsey Willis had been interested in having a crochet-themed baby shower. But remember that my son took her to the prom? More like I didn’t know. My older son was big on leaving me out of the loop—then and now. Her parents must have gotten all the photo ops. I just remembered something about having to get him a corsage.
“Nice to see you,” I said with a friendly smile. Now that I had gotten a better look at her, she and Kelsey really did look more like sisters than mother and daughter. Erin had the same sharp features and the same shade of blond hair, which I doubted either of them was born with.
“Molly will tell you all about our events,” my boss said. I noticed that she didn’t leave when she turned Erin over to me.
“I really didn’t have much time to tell your mother what we do for a shower,” I said. I went over to the cabinet below the cubbies of yarn, brought out a container, and set it on the table. Mrs. Shedd made approving noises as I explained that we would teach the guests to crochet and each of them would make a small square in the colors the host chose. “After the event, we’ll join the squares into a baby blanket and give it to you,” I said.
“It certainly would be different than what my girlfriends have done,” Erin said. I smiled and continued explaining our usual procedure for showers, before showing her a sample of the gift bag each guest would receive. “This is
just a basic one, with a crochet hook, a small ball of yarn, and a sheet with directions on basic crochet stitches in a paper shopping bag. But we can make the gift bags as elaborate as you want, including more yarn or things like scissors and tape measures.” I brought out samples of paper and canvas project bags, explaining they could be personalized.
“We’ll want everything super deluxe,” she said. She asked about refreshments, and I explained that we used the café. I was trying to play it cool, but inside I was jumping up and down. “Super deluxe” was music to my ears. “What about sort of a tea thing?” she suggested. “You know, scones, finger sandwiches, pretty little pastries.”
“That’s a wonderful idea,” I said. I was going to mention that a “tea thing” usually included tea, but I let it go. Whatever drinks she wanted would be fine.
Mrs. Shedd was all smiles and added her approval to the high tea plan. “My mother wants it to be unique,” Erin said. “Something that everyone else will want to copy.”
“Perfect. Shall we write it up?” I said, taking out an order form.
Erin seemed to hesitate, then turned resolute. “I like the plan. So, yes, write it up.” I saw Mrs. Shedd give me a thumbs-up, although she wilted a little when Erin said her mother would bring in the deposit. It was too easy to back out when you didn’t have any skin in the game.
I made conversation as I filled in the form. “Your father works for Wolf, doesn’t he?” It was really more of a statement than a question. The whole name of the company was Wolf Film Studio, but everybody just called it Wolf. I didn’t know what his exact title was, but I knew he was a high-level executive.
But Erin seemed distracted and ignored the comment in favor of tapping the table with her elaborately decorated nails. They were done in glossy pink stripes, with a pearl embedded in one nail. She noticed me staring at them and seemed almost annoyed. I suppose because my nails were so clearly not manicured.
“It was nice seeing your mother and Pia the other day,” I said. “They seem like they’re joined at the hip.” I went back to my writing, relieved her expression had lightened up.
“She does live almost next door. They’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember. My mom is the one who got Pia through her divorce.”
“I didn’t know Pia was divorced,” I said, trying to keep the conversation going. Actually, I didn’t know much about Pia at all. “Are you friends with her kids?” I’d said “kids” because I didn’t know how many there were, or if they were boys or girls, though by now they were all grown up.
Erin made that face like I’d just asked a totally absurd question. “Her boys are a couple of years younger than me. And they stuck with their father after the divorce.”
Suddenly, the bell on the bookstore door jangled and Adele rushed in. She fairly screeched to a stop when she got to our table.
“You won’t believe what I just heard from Eric,” she announced. As usual, Adele was done up to be noticed. She had taken a spring green boiled wool jacket and covered it with different crocheted flowers, all done in shades of pink. It looked like she was wearing a garden, and while it was a little over the top, it was stunning at the same time. She noticed Erin and held up her hand, wiggling her ring finger so that the small diamond caught the light and shimmered. “Eric’s my fiancé,” she added quickly. “He told me who the victim is.” Adele put her hand to her forehead in a gesture of woe. Then, knowing she had all of our attention, she paused to heighten the suspense before she continued. “It was a woman, and her name is—or maybe I should say was, though I suppose it’s still her name, even if she’s dead.”
By now Mrs. Shedd was getting impatient with Adele. “Just tell us who it is,” my boss said.
Dinah and I traded glances and silently agreed to let Adele have her moment and not let on that we already knew who it was.
But Adele didn’t like being told what to do by anyone, not even our boss, and let out an unhappy sigh. “I was just trying to be accurate in what tense I used. I’ll use the present tense. Her name is Delaney Tanner.”
Mrs. Shedd appeared shocked. “That’s who they found in CeeCee Collins’s guest apartment?” She’d suddenly gone very pale.
She seemed about to say more, but Adele slid in first and explained. “Delaney used to work here.” Adele turned to me. “It was before your time.” I thought Adele was going to say what a great employee Delaney had been, but Adele being Adele, she instead critiqued the job Delaney had done. “Her job was to help with customers, but it seemed to me she was trying to be too cozy with them. I think she put people on the spot, asking overly personal questions when she was supposed to be suggesting a book they might like.”
Mrs. Shedd seemed uncomfortable. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but now that Adele mentioned it, I was relieved when Delaney said she was leaving. I really don’t like to have to let people go, but I noticed that customers seemed to be avoiding her.”
Erin was standing next to me, listening to it all. “I know that name,” she said in a stunned voice. “I have to tell my mother.” She pulled out her cell phone and stepped away from us for a moment. A minute later, she then rejoined us.
“Her daughter Marcy was in my class.” Erin’s thoughts seemed to drift off, and she started to mutter to herself that they’d lost touch after high school. “She always talked about going to some Ivy League college, but I heard she ended up having to go to Beasley Community College because her father died.”
“Then your mother knew Delaney?”
Erin shrugged. “Not really, just that she was Marcy’s mother.” She started to gather herself up to leave. She shook her head and said, “Poor Marcy. She’s like an orphan now. It makes you want to go home and hug your family.” She looked at the form I’d been filling out and held out her hand. Once I gave her the copy, she left.
Dinah watched her go. I could tell my friend was perturbed at Erin’s condescending tone when she mentioned the community college where Dinah taught. A moment later, Babs returned with CeeCee. Somehow, by rolling up the jeans and adjusting the hoodie, adding some makeup and combing CeeCee’s hair, she’d made her look almost stylish. Her final touch had been to tie the bandana around CeeCee’s neck.
CeeCee’s appearance may have been more put together, but she was still upset. “Dear, I think I’m going to need some medicinal chocolate.” Babs seemed thrilled at the idea of doing anything for CeeCee and rushed off to the café.
Rhoda had packed up her things. “Nothing personal, but I came here hoping to get some peace and all there’s been is drama.” She began to push away from the table. “And we haven’t even talked about Sheila.” I cringed as Mrs. Shedd’s head shot up, and Rhoda walked away with a disgruntled shake of her head.
“Is there a problem with Sheila?” Mrs. Shedd said, interrupting. “I thought you had everything worked out.”
CHAPTER 11
It had taken some doing, but I’d managed to calm down Mrs. Shedd’s concern about Sheila and keep Adele from repeating that she could always step in. I really did believe that once Sheila actually got through one rehearsal, she would be fine to teach her class. Appearing satisfied that everything was under control, Mrs. Shedd had gone off to help some customers who were hanging by the information booth, and Adele had gone back to the children’s area to prepare for story time.
“You’re such a dear,” CeeCee said to Babs when she returned from the café with two double chocolate cookie bars. CeeCee grabbed them like they were life preservers and took a big bite. “That’s so much better already,” she said between chews. As she finished the first bar and moved on to the second, she looked at Rhoda’s empty chair. “What’s going on with her? She’s never grumbled like that before. She’s always the one who seems to take everything in stride.”
Dinah and I both shrugged. “Next time we get together, we ought to ask her if everything is all right,” I said.
“If you want, I can drive behind you to make sure you get home okay,” Babs said. “Then just give me a couple of hours and I’ll bring over a pan of brownies.”
“Thank you, dear,” CeeCee said. “I always say chocolate is the best medicine.”
With them gone, the get-together was officially over. Dinah stayed at the table and took out some papers she needed to grade while I cleared everything up from the group. I straightened the yarn bins and, most importantly, put Erin’s shower on our calendar. After a while, Dinah and I decided to go grab some lunch and were headed to the door when Mrs. Shedd stopped me.
“Mr. Royal usually takes care of this, but with him gone I think you, as assistant manager, should handle it.” She held up a zippered pouch of cash and checks. “Could you please deposit this at the Bank of Tarzana?”
I wasn’t sure how to feel as I took the bulging pouch—honored that she trusted me with the money, or nervous to have to walk around with it. Most people used credit cards, but there was still some cash business and a few checks.
“Nobody would think we were carrying a couple thousand in cash, would they?” I said to Dinah as we walked to my car.
Dinah looked us both up and down before laughing. “Only if they were psychic.” Even so, I drove the most direct route and parked right next to the bank. The parking lot was busy, but nobody gave us a second look as we walked to the entrance.
I dealt with another bank for my personal finances, and I hadn’t been inside the Bank of Tarzana for years. “What ever happened to imposing buildings with arches and columns and gold lettering on the window?” I asked as we went inside. The Bank of Tarzana was shaped like a shoe box. The inside was as bland as the exterior, though I didn’t have much of a chance to notice. We were barely in the door before we were greeted like long-lost relatives by a man in an ill-fitting blue suit. He wanted to know how our day was going, offered us bottled water and cookies, and finally asked the purpose of our visit.