A Killer Stitch (8 page)

Mimi gave her familiar bright smile. “Oh, no, we'll have the real kind for our party. But I'd be glad to knit some for decorations, if you'd like.”

“You can actually do that?” Kelly said, as she shoved her nearly finished alpaca scarf into her bag and prepared to leave. Client accounts were calling, and she needed time to speak with Lisa.

“Sure, I'll make some for fun. By the way, Burt and I will bring two breakfast hot dishes, which should serve all of us for that brunch at Curt's on Sunday. You girls can bring the rest,” Mimi suggested as she headed toward the adjoining classroom.

“Thanks, Mimi, I'll let everyone know,” Kelly said as she rose to leave. “Ellen, thank you for sharing with us. I'll let Lisa know right away. Megan, see you tomorrow, probably. If not in the shop, then on the court. Steve and I have another doubles match tomorrow night. Wish us luck.”

The moment Kelly stepped outside, however, she wished she'd brought a coat. Regularly eschewing a coat for such a short walk, Kelly had been racing through the frigid winter air between the shop and her cottage every day. Reminding herself for the umpteenth time that she needed to wear a jacket, Kelly was halfway across the driveway when she spotted Burt walking from the shop storage building.

Kelly debated for a second whether she should talk to Burt now and freeze or call him later when she was warm and cozy inside. As always, the pressure to act immediately won out. She backtracked to intercept his path. “Hey, Burt, got a minute?”

Burt appeared lost in thought and didn't respond at first, until Kelly got closer and called him again.

This time Burt wheeled around, and his face broke into a smile. “Hey, Kelly, how're you doing?”

“Doing great,” she said, rubbing her arms. Her long-sleeved sweater was no match for Colorado's December.

“C'mon inside, Kelly; you're shivering,” Burt suggested, gesturing to the shop.

“C-can't. G-gotta get back to my accounts,” she said through chattering teeth. “I just wanted to ask you a f-f-favor.”

“Shoot.”

“C-c-could you check with your f-friend and see how Derek C-Cooper's investigation is c-coming? Do they have any suspects?”

“Ok-k-kay, K-Kelly,” Burt imitated with a big grin as he continued toward the entrance, looking comfortably warm in his sensible Colorado ski jacket. “Now go inside.”

Kelly did what she was told, without another word.

“Pete,
we're taking the table in the alcove, okay? We need a quiet place to talk,” Jennifer said as she wound her way through the café, Kelly and Diane Perkins following close behind.

Jennifer had chosen well, Kelly decided, as the three of them settled into a cozy corner. The café was buzzing with lunchtime noise, but this corner had a little buffer of space around it. Perfect if you wanted a quiet conversation.

Diane Perkins was tall, almost rangy, with blonde shoulder-length hair, Kelly observed. She was probably very pretty under normal circumstances, but now there were dark blue shadows beneath her eyes and her skin was pale and drawn. She also didn't hold Kelly's gaze when they first met and shook hands. Diane's eyes darted away quickly. Kelly did feel Diane watching her while she and Jennifer spoke.

Kelly gave her order to the waitress and surreptitiously observed Diane while she and Jennifer placed their orders. She toyed with the nice-and-easy approach to getting to know Diane, then decided against it. She needed to get a feel for this woman, and the best way would be to see how she responded to questions—uncomfortable questions.

“I'm glad you could come, Diane,” Kelly began, leaning back into her chair, trying to appear relaxed. “Jennifer's told me a lot about you, so I wanted to meet you in person, get to know you a little.”

Diane glanced to Kelly, and she caught a flash of fear in Diane's sea green eyes. “See if I look like a murderer, right?”

“C'mon, Diane, be nice,” Jennifer chided.

Kelly gave Diane a warm smile. “I'm here because Jennifer believes in you, and I believe in Jennifer. I trust her judgment, and she says you didn't murder Derek Cooper.”

Diane stared deeply into Kelly's eyes, her gaze never wavering. “Thank you, Kelly,” she said softly. “You don't know how much it means to hear someone say they believe me when I tell them I didn't kill Derek.” Her mouth tightened. “The other night at the bar, no one wanted to stand near me, let alone talk to me. Oh, they'd say ‘hi' and a few words, then they'd inch away and stare at me from across the bar…and whisper. So, I left.”

“Blow 'em off, Diane,” Jennifer said, repeating Peterson's advice. “They were never your friends, anyway.”

“Yeah, I know that now. Apparently they've really enjoyed telling the police about…you know, Derek and me fighting and all.” She gave a disgusted snort. “I can hear them now, blowing everything out of proportion, and making it…making it sound even worse.”

“Jennifer told me you and Derek had a rather, uh, stormy relationship,” Kelly ventured. “Apparently he was quite a womanizer.”

Diane looked up at Kelly, and something resembling a smile tweaked her lips. For the first time since they met, Kelly could see that Diane was a very pretty woman. “Stormy, yeah, you might say that. In the good times, when we were together, it was fantastic. But those never lasted too long.” She stared out into the café. “He'd start sneaking off with other girls, and I'd rag him about it, even though I knew that wouldn't help.”

“Derek couldn't keep his pants on,” Jennifer interjected.

Diane shook her head, as if all those bad times and good times were jumbled together in her mind. “And then, he'd start going after other girls right in front of me, at the bar, for instance. Or anywhere we'd go. I remember when we stopped for dinner on the way back from a concert in Denver, and he put the moves on a waitress right in front of me.” Her tone turned bitter.

Jennifer caught Kelly's eye. “I told you he was a bastard.”

“He sure sounds like it,” Kelly agreed with a wry smile. “But, you know, that doesn't mean a damn.”

Both Jennifer and Diane stared back.

Now that she had Diane's attention, Kelly zeroed in. “It doesn't mean a damn, because Derek's dead now, and the police are looking for the killer. And because of that stormy past you two shared, you can understand why the police have questioned you, can't you, Diane?”

Diane's mouth tightened. “Yes.”

Kelly leaned forward, crossing her arms on the table. “Why don't you tell me about your fight with Derek at the bar? What happened that night?” she asked in a gentle tone.

Diane took a breath. “Derek and I had broken up again and hadn't dated for a couple of months. Whenever he showed up at the bar, he always had a new girl with him so I stayed out of his way. Then that night, he shows up alone.” She began tracing invisible patterns on the tablecloth. “I'd already had too much to drink by the time he showed up, so I must have smarted off to him or something, because he starts in on me. Taunting me, telling me how glad he was to be rid of me, how bad I was in bed, and how I'd be passed out drunk half the time he was with me.”

Diane's voice had dropped so low that Kelly had to strain to hear her over the lunchtime noise.

“Anyway, I just snapped. I don't know. I was sick and tired of his bad-mouthing me to my face, and now, now he was doing it in front of others.” She closed her eyes. “I don't remember exactly what happened next, but I must have gone for him, I guess. That's what Ted, the bartender, told me later. He said I smashed the glass I had in my hand and lunged for Derek. Ted said one of the guys held me back, but I guess I shouted something. Something like, ‘I oughta bash that pretty face in.' I don't know….” Her voice drifted off, eyes still closed, as if afraid the vivid memories would reappear.

Kelly, however, saw the violent images forming in her own mind. An ugly, drunken bar scene. “Do you remember anything else?”

Diane's mouth twisted. “Yeah, I remember Derek laughing. Laughing his head off as I left the bar.”

“Bastard,” Jennifer hissed.

“How'd you get home? Please tell me you didn't drive,” Kelly asked.

The lighter tone seemed to penetrate Diane's ugly memories, and she opened her eyes. Kelly glimpsed some of the pain of that experience before Diane stared at her hands, which were clasped tightly on the tabletop.

“One of the girls—Cindy, I think—drove me home.”

Kelly leaned back in her chair, letting Diane's story filter through her mind, while the waitress served their salads and soups. She deliberately turned her attention to Eduardo's good cooking and away from painful memories while they enjoyed their meal.

From what she'd heard so far, Kelly was surprised Lieutenant Peterson hadn't already questioned Diane a second time, especially since she'd lied in the first interview. Kelly poked through the romaine lettuce, searching for a juicy morsel of mozzarella, picturing Peterson's quiet, burrowing interview style. Judging from how anxious Diane was now, Kelly figured she would crumple like a dry leaf if Peterson went after her.

Waiting until they'd finished eating before she resumed her questions, Kelly sipped her coffee and ventured into neutral territory. “What kind of work do you do, Diane?”

Diane hesitated before she answered. “I'm a landscaper. Got my degree from the university years ago. That's where Jennifer and I met.” She gave her friend a quick smile. “I've been working with a local landscaping company for several years, but…but I've missed work recently and been late a lot, and my boss kind of gave me a warning the other day. So I'm getting kind of nervous now. I mean, I can't afford to lose my job.”

“Why'd you miss work? Were you sick?” Kelly probed, even though she sensed she knew the answer. She wanted to hear Diane say it out loud.

“I'd…I'd had too much to drink the night before and slept right through the next morning,” she admitted in a soft voice as she stared at her clasped hands.

“Not good, Diane,” Jennifer said. “You know that.”

Diane's head dropped lower. “Yeah, I know.”

Kelly could feel Diane's despair coming at her in a wave. Jennifer was right. Diane was deep into depression and despair. And if she had been drinking so much she would sleep the next day away, that only made it worse.

Even though she knew her questions were forcing Diane to confront the very things that had sent her into a tailspin, Kelly knew she had to continue. How else could she help her? And maybe, this sober questioning in the harsh light of day would cause Diane to rethink her self-destructive behavior. Maybe.

“Why don't you tell me about the night of Derek's death,” she ventured in a gentle voice. “Jennifer said he called you while you were at the bar, right?”

Diane looked out into the café. “Yes, he called while I was there. I couldn't believe it. I mean, we'd had that awful fight the week before, and there he was on the phone, sweet-talking me like always. Like nothing happened.” Her bitter tone returned.

“What'd he want?”

“He wanted to get laid, that's all,” she said with a disgusted snort. “Begged me to come on out to his place. He wanted to make up. Promised we'd have a new start. He said he was only joking that night at the bar. He knew that I'm the only one who really loved him.”

“What'd you say?”

“I told him he was a lying bastard, and I wasn't going up there. I told him he could screw himself.”

Kelly glimpsed a spark within Diane that she hadn't seen as yet. Anger. Normally, that could be a good sign for someone who was putting an end to a bad relationship. But in this case…

“Good for you,” she told Diane. “Sounds like you'd had it.”

“Damn right. He'd been using me for three years, and I was sick of it.”

Kelly paused. “Then why did you go up there that night? What happened to change your mind?”

Diane shook her head, as if she couldn't believe what she was about to say. “Everyone at the bar had heard my conversation with Derek, and they were laughing and all. But a couple of guys told me I should give him another chance. One guy said I should at least hear what Derek had to say.” She closed her eyes, clearly not wanting to see what was in her head. “I can't believe I let them change my mind.”

“Had you been drinking?” Kelly probed.

“Ohhhh, yeah,” she admitted. “I had a couple more after the phone call. The guy kept on trying to persuade me. Jeeeez. He was like a salesman, almost.”

Jennifer leaned closer. “Do you remember the guy's name? Was he a regular?”

Diane nodded. “Yeah, he was. Gary something or other. I don't know.”

Jennifer sent Kelly a sharp look. Gary, Gary…Kelly mulled the name. Gary was the guy that Derek burned in a business deal. The guy who threatened that “one of these days Derek Cooper will get payback.”

“Did you go up to Derek's place alone?” Kelly continued.

“Yeah, I was still okay to drive,” Diane said with a nonchalant nod. “But as I drove up the canyon, I got angrier and angrier every mile. I was finished with that bastard for good. He'd used me for the last time, and I was going to let him know.” She glanced to Kelly with an apologetic smile. “Don't worry, I didn't run anyone off the road. Believe me, every drop of alcohol was burned out of my system by the time I reached his ranch.”

Not sure whether she should believe that description or not, Kelly continued. “Was he alone?”

“Oh, yeah. He was in the barn, and I let him have it.” Diane's eyes sparked with fire this time.

“Uhhh, you mean you told him off, right?” Jennifer prodded.

“You bet!” Diane's eyes narrowed. “I told him exactly what I thought of him
and
how he'd treated me. I told him he could find some other girl to jerk around, because I was through with him.”

“I bet that felt good, didn't it? To finally tell Derek off, I mean,” Kelly said.

“Boy, did it ever.” Diane's face was flushed with color, revealing the good looks that depression had cloaked until now.

“What did he say?” Jennifer probed. “I would have given anything to see you tell off that bastard at last.”

“You know, I didn't wait to hear. I cussed him out, then turned my back and left.” Diane closed her eyes, as if savoring that moment. “God, that felt good.”

“Did you leave then?” Kelly asked, watching Diane's expression carefully for any sign of deliberate evasion, anything that might hint Diane was lying to them. After all, she'd lied to Lieutenant Peterson. Maybe Diane was lying now. But Kelly saw nothing, no shifting glance, no nervous mannerisms, nothing that aroused Kelly's naturally suspicious nature.

Diane looked Kelly straight in the eye. “Yes. I drove down that canyon as fast as I drove up, but I felt a helluva lot better driving down.”

Kelly returned Diane's clear gaze, still searching for some sign of evasion and seeing none. Kelly believed her. She couldn't explain why she believed Diane, but she did.

A wisp of an idea feathered in the back of Kelly's brain. Another question. “Tell me, did you notice anything that looked unusual while you were there at Derek's?” she asked. “Any sign of someone else having been there? Did he get any phone calls?”

Again, Diane closed her eyes as if recalling the scene. “No, he was alone and nobody called while I was there. Everything else looked the same, normal, I guess. The alpacas were in the barn, and Derek's car was parked in the usual spot, and…and…” Suddenly Diane's eyes popped open. “Wait a minute! I saw another car coming up the driveway as I left. I forgot about that until now.”