Knot Guilty (17 page)

“And in case you're new to the show, we've added crochet classes this year. I know you've all heard of our celebrity crocheter CeeCee Collins.” She joined him then, and he put his arm around her as though she were some kind of treasure. I was sure that CeeCee was glad that instead of talking about how long her career had been and calling her a veteran actor, which was another way of saying old, he went right to her current work. “Not only is she the host of the reality show
Making Amends
, but she costarred in
Caught by a Kiss
, the first in the Anthony the Vampire movies. Incidentally, Anthony is a crocheter. Fingers crossed that when the Oscar nominations come out later in the month, CeeCee's name will be on the list.” He looked over the crowd with a bright expression. “She is the leader of a local group, the Tarzana Hookers.” He paused to let the usual response of laughter over the name go through the crowd. “The group focuses on making items to give away, either to charity sales to raise money or directly to those who benefit.” There was no loud whoop when he said that CeeCee was the head of our group, so I was sure Adele was still AWOL. No way would she have let that pass without some kind of noise.

Before he turned the microphone over to CeeCee, he added that not only was she the judge of the crochet design competition but she had generously offered to step in and give a class on crochet pieces for charity. CeeCee did a little bow of her head and let out a dusting of her musical-sounding laugh as she accepted the microphone. “Delvin, you're making me blush with all those kind words.”

CeeCee was playing the part of the modest actor, but I knew she was loving every complimentary word he had said about her. Her little talk was very nice and, I knew, heartfelt. She was an excellent actress, but when it came to crocheting items to help others, all the emotion was real. She went on to describe the impromptu class she had decided to teach, and I saw several women racing each other to the administration table to get the last few spots.

I had to hand it to CeeCee. She had figured out how to get the spotlight away from Audrey and back on her. Best of all, it was through positive action.

I watched Delvin as he took back the microphone. He seemed so at home in front of the crowd. It was hard to imagine how he was handling K.D.'s death and the added responsibilities so well. Either he was a really good actor, or he had shoved any grieving over his boss to the back of his mind. Of course, there was another possibility: Maybe he wasn't that upset at her demise.

There was no time to think about it at the moment. I needed to get to the booth. Dinah was there all alone. Just as I turned to go, I saw a maintenance man pushing a cart through the crowd toward the back of the large room. He was the same man I'd seen whispering to the hotel manager after the whole almost burglary attempt. At the time I had the definite feeling that the manager wanted to just close the door on the whole incident, and I was betting the hefty man in the dark gray uniform had said something to him that would have stirred things up.

Dinah would be okay for a few minutes more, I thought, as I began to trail behind him. I would just wait until he stopped and then see what information I could get out of him. He was good at threading through the throng of people in the aisle. I didn't have his talent, and my progress seemed to be constantly thwarted by the meandering gait of the thick crowd.

The maintenance man had gotten quite a lead, and I rushed through the people, trying to catch up. He seemed to be headed to a pair of doors at the back of the room. I was blocked by a knot of women who'd stopped to show each other the handspun yarn they'd just bought. By the time I pushed my way around them, he'd almost reached the back wall. A space opened up and I rushed to catch up, following him through a doorway.

He stopped the cart abruptly and I bumped into him. “Excuse me, I need to talk to you,” I said, hoping I'd think of something to say after that. He turned with a surprised look.

“You can't be in here. They sent you from corporate, didn't they? I told them it was all a mistake,” he said nervously.

I was afraid he was going to move on, but he stayed glued to the spot. “I know I should have checked it, and from now on I will.” I saw his dark eyes widen with worry.

I was pretty sure the mistake he was talking about had to do with whatever he had told the manager about earlier, and I wanted to know what it was. But the only way to find out was to act like I knew what he'd done.

“I'm sure we can work something out, if you tell me the whole story,” I said, wishing I had CeeCee's acting ability. I had no idea how someone from corporate would act, so I did my best to be authoritative, which meant standing as tall as I could and lowering the timbre of my voice. I think it worked, because he began to remind me that he'd worked there a long time and one mistake didn't seem so bad after all that time.

“I have to know all the details,” I said. I had lowered the tone of my voice so much, I almost sounded like Darth Vader.

He began to stumble over his words, telling me that during the setup, he'd forgotten to check that the wall panels that had been used to divide off the space for the auction item room were locked in place. And what was worse, he'd seen someone slide the end panel away from the wall and then do something to the door. “I figured it didn't matter, but now with the burglary . . .” His voice trailed off.

I had reached an impasse. I wanted to know who the person was who'd been messing with the temporary wall, but it didn't exactly fit in with the scenario I'd created. And then . . . genius struck. “You know, Michael,” I said, reading his name off his shirt in my creepy deep voice. “I'd like to help you. But I need you to help me help you. If I could just talk to the person. We could make this all go away.” I was getting a little caught up in the part I was playing and wished I had something to write on. I saw that he was holding a package of paper towels and grabbed one. I took a pen out of my pocket and held it poised. “Just give me a name.”

“I can't,” he said as his expression crumbled. “I don't know who it was. It was just some lady with a yarn thing wrapped around her shoulders.”

That's a big help, I thought.
He'd just described most of the women wandering around the yarn show. I'd have to try a different angle

“Do you have any idea how the door to the marketplace got unlocked?” I asked. Now he looked anguished.

“That wasn't really a mistake. I unlocked it for the snack bar delivery guy.” He dropped his voice after that and mumbled something about how he meant to check it after the guy left. “This isn't a very good place to talk. You really shouldn't even be in here,” he said.

My total focus had been on talking to him, and I'd just assumed we were in some back room. For the first time I took in the tile floor, then the row of sinks and finally the row of urinals. Oops.

“Molly!” a deep voice said. I tried to slink back and hopefully disappear, but Barry grabbed my arm. “Do you want to explain what you're doing in the men's room?” He gave a sympathetic nod to the maintenance man and escorted me out.

“I can't talk now,” I said, pulling free. “I've got to get back to my booth.” I hoped that whatever had made him go into the men's room would make him go back, but he followed behind me and then finally got in front of me and blocked my path.

“You're investigating, aren't you?” he said. His voice didn't have a touch of playful to it. He was all serious. “We had a deal. I agreed to wait until Monday to arrest Adele, and you weren't going to investigate.”

“I never said that,” I argued.

“I thought it was an understanding.”

“More like a misunderstanding,” I said with a smile, hoping he'd lighten up. Instead he blew out his breath and looked like his blood pressure had just gone up.

“Why aren't you worried that I'm going to arrest you? I could, you know. Suspicious activity in the men's room.” He blew out his breath again, and when I looked up at him, I saw just a hint of a smile in his eyes. “My job is so dull without your interference.” He seemed to be weighing what to do. In the end, he steered me to a quiet corner in the large space, not far from the scene of the crime. “The least you can do is tell me what you found out.”

“The worst is, I had nothing to share,” I told Dinah. “Or should I say, nothing to share that he wanted. As soon as Barry heard that the employee had to do with the burglary that wasn't, he wasn't interested.”

“Barry might not be interested, but I'd like to know,” she said.

Rather than tell her what the maintenance man had told me, I told her my scenario of what had gone down. “I think someone at the show had a plan to take the knitting needles. She slipped in the room where the auction items were. Maybe she would have taken them then if the maintenance man hadn't seen her. But I definitely think she did something to the lock, like put a piece of tape across it so it wouldn't engage. She probably saw the opportunity to slip in when the door to the marketplace was unlocked for the deliveryman.” I stopped while an interesting thought surfaced. “One thing we know for sure: It wasn't Audrey Stewart.”

“What makes you so sure?” Dinah asked.

“She might not have been in a movie for a couple of years, but I'm sure the maintenance man would have recognized her. All he said was that it was a woman with some knitted thing around her shoulders.”

“Good thinking,” Dinah said. “I'm sure you're right.” I went back to talking about Barry. “I was actually relieved when he mentioned our supposed deal,” I said. “With Adele not showing up, I was getting worried. Now I can just be annoyed.”

“I bet Barry's job is pretty dull without you popping up.” Dinah adjusted the end of her long red scarf. Her short hair was gelled to spiky attention and she was bubbling with energy as usual.

“He said something to that effect, but then he threatened to arrest me again.”

“Yeah, and I bet he'd take the long, long route to the police station just so he could spend time with you,” my friend joked. “Where exactly did you say Barry ran into you?”

I made a face and told her. She burst out laughing. “I told you his life was dull without you.” She reminded me that I'd originally left to see if I could find out about Adele's hook in K.D.'s suite.

It didn't register what she was talking about at first. The whole Barry encounter had thrown me off. “Of course, you mean the trip to Rain's booth. No luck. She didn't see the hook in the suite, but I did see a gray shawl you would love.” My mind drifted back to Barry. “It's a good thing he's here.” I noticed Dinah's puzzled expression and realized I'd jumped from talking about a shawl to talking about Barry with no explanation. I apologized, then explained why it was a good thing Barry was at the show. “It means he's still investigating and maybe he's not so sure Adele is the culprit.”

“Or he's looking for a way to see you,” my friend offered.

“The thought had crossed my mind, but other than an almost smile that only registered in his eyes, he'd totally kept up the cop facade. I think it's just about the case.”

Dinah had taken good care of the booth in my absence and rung up a few early sales. She had put off starting our offer of making a granny square pin until I returned and she had some backup. Elise arrived without her husband but said he'd be there in the afternoon and for the banquet. She didn't mention if he'd be wearing the vampire outfit to the dinner. Rhoda followed her.

“I'm just checking in to let you know I'm here,” she said. Everything about Rhoda was no-nonsense, including her loose-fitting black pants and long powder blue top. Even her brown hair was cut into a neat style that just required combing. She set down her cloth tote on one of the chairs. It started to lean as if it was going to fall, and Elise made a grab for it. I was surprised when Rhoda swooped in first, not only snatching the bag, but holding it against herself as if it contained something precious and secret. I wasn't the only one who noticed what she'd done, and Elise gave her a funny look.

“What's going on? You're acting like you have the crown jewels in there.” Elise leaned toward Rhoda and reached out to pull the end of the tote free so she could see what was in there, but Rhoda actually turned her whole body so Elise couldn't reach the bag.

Rhoda pretended to laugh at the crown jewels comment and said it was something she had for the class she was taking. “Another one? I didn't realize there were that many crochet workshops,” I said, surprised, mentioning she'd taken one the previous day.

“There are people here who've come from out of town and some of them are taking more classes than me.” I hadn't expected her to get so defensive. She pointed out a couple of women going by and said they'd come from Chula Vista. Since most of the people were local, I'd forgotten that some of the people actually traveled to the show and stayed in the hotel.

“I'm sorry. Go on to your class. What did you say you were taking?” I asked as an afterthought. Rhoda didn't seem to have heard me and just said something about being back later to help, and then she was gone.

Dinah had smartly not started the free pin making yet, but now that she had backup, she put out the sign. There was an immediate rush of people. Elise volunteered to teach the first group. I don't think either Dinah or I had realized how popular the pin making would be when we were planning what supplies to bring. When I saw the crowd and then eyeballed the packets we had left, I got worried.

Delvin was back at the microphone announcing the beginning of the morning classes. “We have a demo going on at the administration table,” he said. “Audrey Stewart is showing off how to make a skinny scarf.” On the chance that people didn't remember who Audrey was, he went through her credits, including the whole list of romantic comedies, conveniently omitting that the most recent of which was three years ago. Without explaining why, he also mentioned her donation of the sterling silver with diamond accent knitting needles in the auction. He ended by saying she would be glad to give out autographs or pose for pictures. I had a feeling this was because of CeeCee's offer to teach a class and all the attention Delvin had given her earlier.

I stepped away from our booth to get a view of the administration table. Score one for Audrey. Kimberly Wang Diaz and her cameraman were hovering around the young actress, who was showing off her knitting skills for the camera. Dinah had followed me, and I nudged my friend. “Even I can knit that well.”

Nobody in the group talked about it, but I had learned how to knit, just basic casting on and off and the knit stitch, so I could make swatches for the bookstore yarn department. That was all Audrey was doing, but due to her celebrity status, she was getting oohs and aahs from the crowd that had gathered behind the news crew. Mason was standing next to her. I stepped even closer to hear what was going on. Mason looked my way, and I felt my heart do a little flutter. It was something about how our eyes met. Now that I'd made the decision about changing my life and having him in it, I couldn't wait for it to start. He did just the smallest roll of his eyes and his lips curved into a crooked grin for a moment, then he was back to business fielding the questions that Kimberly Wang Diaz threw at Audrey. It was the stupidest interview, with Audrey insisting that she was beginning a new chapter in her life and that between the whole experience from the misunderstanding about the knitting needles and now K.D.'s death, she'd realized she wanted to make scarves for the less fortunate. She was even considering starting her own charity.

I watched for a moment longer. “Audrey may be off the hook for trying to steal the needles that she donated, but she could certainly be a suspect in K.D.'s murder,” I said to Dinah. “The way Mason is sticking by her side means he thinks so, too. Thea Scott said she thought Audrey would do
anything
to stay out of jail.”

“Watson sees your point,” Dinah said. “I wonder if Audrey has an alibi.”

I glanced back at our booth and saw that it was abuzz with activity. “We better take care of our own business,” I said, leading Dinah back to the booth. Several people were inside looking through our yarn, and the line waiting to make the pins was more than Elise could handle.

And the people in line were getting fussy. I heard an argument break out between two women over who was there first.

Without saying a word, Dinah stepped in and directed the first five people in line to step to the end of the table. She handed out packets of the thread and beads and had them each grab a hook and a needle. In no time they'd strung the beads on the thin yarn and begun making the small granny square.

Adele was still a no-show. Just when I was about to give up on her, I heard her voice. Adele tended to be on the loud side, and even with the din, her voice carried over the top. A moment later she was standing at the entrance of the booth. She was flanked by Eric-her-boyfriend. Of course, his name was really just Eric, but she'd referred to him so many times as “Eric-my-boyfriend” that now the whole title stuck in my head. I was glad he wasn't in uniform. Eric was very tall, over six feet, and with his super-straight posture, the cop uniform would have been too much. He was a motor officer, which meant he got to wear black boots, ride on a motorcycle and give tickets. Or be a first responder, as Adele kept pointing out.

His mother, Leonora, was on the other side of Adele and carried herself the same way her son did. She was a little too perfect for my taste—the way she never ate sugar and had five grapes for dessert. What real person does that? Anyone would have had trouble winning the woman over, but Adele had the extra burden of being Adele. And that didn't even take into account that Leonora Humphries was a knitter.

Adele wore a long blue denim skirt that was embellished with large white doilies made out of thin crochet thread and another version of her stash buster wrap. No fascinator or big hat this time, just a simple black beanie with a pink flower on the side.

I heard just a bit of their conversation. Adele seemed to be telling Mrs. Humphries to come to her crochet class. I couldn't believe that Adele was so self-absorbed that she still didn't see the look on Eric's mother's face every time Adele called her Mother Humphries. Adele broke free of them and rushed up to me. “Pink, I'm sorry I'm late. Eric took us out to breakfast.” She stopped talking and cocked her head, trying to hear what Delvin was saying this time.

“That's my cue,” she said. She told Eric and his mother to wait while she got something. I was stunned. Here I was so worried about Adele being arrested in the dead of night, and she seemed to have forgotten the whole thing.

She dashed back in the booth, and I expected some hysterics now that Eric and his mother were out of earshot, but all she wanted was a rather large cloth bag. I couldn't resist. “Adele, what about the hook?”

She didn't get what I was talking about and said she had hooks in the bag and then she stopped. “Oh, you mean THE HOOK. No problem. I already emailed Dr. Wheel.” Adele put on her drama face and said she couldn't take a chance talking to him on the phone in case he tried to convince her to come see him.

“He's sending me another hook.” She sounded as if the main issue was that she didn't have her hook, not that it had been found at a murder scene.

I decided it was probably better not to enlighten her and let her know that Barry had decided that she was K.D.'s killer and was practically warming up a cell for her. She was already off the subject of the hook anyway.

“You should thank me,” she said with a little proud jiggle of her head. “If it wasn't for me talking to Delvin, there wouldn't be any crochet demos.” She tilted her head as if to hear better as Delvin announced that a demonstration of Tunisian crochet was about to begin near the stage. “That's me.” Then she was gone. Adele was definitely a force of nature.

I would have liked to watch her demonstration, but there was too much going on in our booth. The number of pin makers had increased, and they were so enthralled with it, they wanted to buy supplies to make more of them. I'd brought in some orbs of the crochet thread in a number of colors and some beads, but I hadn't expected such a turnout.

“More bad planning,” I said to Dinah. “We could run out of everything—the packets, the extra supplies, the whole thing—by lunchtime.”

“Can you call Mr. Royal and have him bring over some supplies from the bookstore?” Dinah asked, and I shook my head.

“I took everything we had,” I said. Dinah had a whole slew of pin makers working. I looked around, hoping an answer would drop in my lap, and for once it did.

“Hey,” Paxton Cline said in greeting. He was carrying drinks in a cardboard carrier from the snack bar as he passed our booth.

“Wait,” I commanded, stepping out into the aisle. It might have been a little loud and a little frantic. He froze and I grabbed his arm, pulling him close. “I need more supplies.” I was trying to be calm about it, but I think it came across like I was a junkie who needed a fix.

“Yeah, sure. I'll bring over an order form. You can fill it out and I'll get you what you need on Monday.”