Knot Guilty (24 page)

“Hey, there,” Rain yelled, seeing me doing something. She went to tug hard on the noose yarn and suddenly went flying backward and landed on her butt with only a handful of yarn.

Before Barry could make a move, Adele flew at Rain and sat on her. “You ruined everything for me. You stole my hook and made my boyfriend's mother think I was a murderer and now he's gone. He was the yin for my yang.”

I couldn't wait to tell Dinah that she had saved my life. The pendant with the hidden cutting edges hung on the chain around my neck. In that moment when Rain looked away, I was able to grab it and drag it across my restraint. The yarn with the wire core might not have broken, but it still could be cut, though I'd nicked my neck in the process. But it hardly seemed important, all things considered.

Barry let Adele handle the situation for the moment as he looked at my neck. “You're bleeding,” he said in a worried tone.

Barry insisted on calling the paramedics, but it was definitely overkill. They let me go after applying a little antiseptic and a small bandage. The place was flooded with cops, which was also overkill. Once Rain was in handcuffs, she didn't put up a fight. Although Adele didn't let up on her until she was taken away. It figured, Adele's fussing had less to do with K.D.'s actual death than her being framed for it.

“How about you tell me what you know,” Barry said. “I mean everything you know. And all spoken in statements.” He didn't have to worry. After all I'd just been through I wasn't up for playing a dueling game of answering each other with questions. I explained the evidence in the garment bag to Barry and what I had figured out. Barry wrote it all down, and when he shut his notebook I expected some kind of comment about how I was in trouble for investigating.

“Good job,” Barry said half under his breath. “Except you almost got yourself strangled in the process.” He said that part a lot louder.

Once Rain's booth had been covered with tarps and surrounded with yellow tape and then blocked off by a series of the curtained partitions, the cops filed out, taking the evidence with them.

Bob, the barista from the bookstore, stood around taking in the scene. He'd only expected to drop off the tin of Linzer Torte Cookie Bars, pick up the tin from the other day and be on his way. The rest of this was all extra. The way Bob was watching all the details, I knew it was going to end up somewhere in the alien love story screenplay he was working on between handing out shots of espresso. He seemed almost disappointed when Barry took him to get the cookie tin and then walked him to the exit.

Barry had arrested Rain based on what she'd been trying to do to me. But once they looked over the vest and found that the strong scented residue matched K.D.'s special bath oil, she was charged with second degree murder, since it was hard to prove she'd premeditated it. As for what she'd tried to do to me, she was only charged with some kind of assault because the D.A. had a hard time thinking of yarn as a murder weapon.

Barry finally got ready to leave. He looked exhausted from spending the night in one of the uncomfortable chairs in the alcove in front of K.D.'s suite so he could watch Adele's comings and goings in the mini suite. There were shadows under his eyes and dark stubble on his chin.

“I hope you can go home and get some sleep,” I said.

Barry let out a tired sigh. “For a few hours anyway. Jeffrey's got a performance in the afternoon. I'm sure he'd love to see you in the audience. I have plenty of tickets,” he added with a laugh.

I gestured toward the marketplace. “I'm tied up here all day, but tell him to break a leg.”

“Will do,” he said. Just before he turned to go, he hesitated. “See, I knew following Adele was a good idea.” Before I could respond he was on his way to the exit.

Surprisingly, the marketplace opened almost on time, and it was my job to tell Delvin and Lacey what had happened.

Delvin seemed almost disappointed it had turned out to be Rain. “I guess it had nothing to do with the big announcement K.D. was going to make. And now I suppose we'll never know what it was about.”

Lacey was more subdued. “I'm just glad it's settled. It was hard to grieve when I knew I was a suspect.” She took out her phone and began to compose a tweet.

“Remember to put ‘allegedly' before anything you say Rain did,” I said.

She nodded solemnly. “Right. We don't want to do anything that could help her get off.” They went toward the stage to start off the day's program, and I finally headed to our booth.

Kimberly Wang Diaz and her cameraman arrived, apparently having heard about Rain being arrested. I managed to avoid her, but Adele volunteered to give her an eyewitness account.

The Cline Yarn International booth was open for business, but only Paxton was working it. I stopped by to tell him about Rain. He seemed to want to tell me something, but every time he started to say anything, he stopped himself.

The crowd was thinner than the day before, but all of the Hookers showed up. Dinah was thrilled to hear how I'd been able to use the pendant to get myself free. Adele was still pouty about Eric bailing when she came into the booth but told anyone who would listen that she'd played an integral part in saving me and nabbing the killer.

Elise came with Logan in his full Anthony getup, hoping to move the last of her vampire crochet kits. Sheila was anxious to sell the kits she still had for her muted colored pieces. Rhoda apologized for the fuss Hal had caused by figuring out that the knitting needles weren't sterling silver, but she said he was already working on making some special hooks up for us. Eduardo wore the pirate outfit again and sat on the bench with some steel hooks and crochet thread ready to give lessons on Irish crochet.

We'd retired the pin making business and just concentrated on trying to move the yarn and supplies we had left. Bob's Linzer Torte Cookie Bars were a huge hit again, and I wished he'd stayed to see it.

I wasn't surprised that Thea Scott was no longer running the Knit Style booth across the way after her admission about substituting the needles. The cops had talked to her, and she'd given up the whole story. According to Lacey Kirby, who had taken over running the booth, Thea even admitted that she'd been the one who had tried to steal the needles from the auction so that no one would realize they were fakes.

But I was stunned when Audrey Stewart came in. Mason had said she wasn't going to be here. I'd been waiting to call him and tell him about the whole Rain situation, but Audrey's arrival pushed the issue. Feeling like a tattletale, I took out my BlackBerry and found a quiet corner.

Mason's voice brightened when he heard it was me and even more when he heard what I had to say. “We can go ahead with our plans. Adele is off the hook,” I said before giving him the full rundown. “That was the good news. The bad news is Audrey Stewart just came in and it looks like she's headed for the stage.”

“Not my problem,” he said. “She called this morning. I was never so happy to be fired by a client.” He went back to our plans and reconfirmed the time he'd pick me up. “I can't wait,” he said.

“Me, either.” He didn't seem to want to end the call, but I had to go.

“Love you,” he said.

“Me, too,” I responded.

When I'd put my phone away, I heard Audrey's voice coming over the sound system and stepped out of the booth to see what she was up to.

“I wanted to come clean about the knitting needles,” she said, looking over the gathered group. “You see, it was really a cry for help. I'd been forgotten. No work was coming my way. The honest truth is, I saw other celebrities, some very minor ones, shoplift or do something crazy and they were all over the media. And all that publicity got them a lot of attention and suddenly they were hot again.” She sighed. “Now I see what I did was wrong. I know now I need help and I'm going to get it. And I want to beg your forgiveness.”

I noticed that Kimberly Wang Diaz and her cameraman were in the audience getting it all. CeeCee had joined me. “She's certainly laying it on thick. What is it with these young celebrities? In the old days, people looked for publicity through positive acts. Now, it's do bad things and ask for forgiveness to get attention. I suppose we should be grateful she didn't release a sex tape.” Audrey got applause from the audience and blew them all thank-you kisses before she exited the stage.

CeeCee and Delvin took her place to announce the winners of the design contests. I recognized the butterfly on Julie's hand as I saw that her fingers were crossed as she pushed past me. Delvin read the knit winners first and then CeeCee listed hers. Julie's name wasn't among them, and I saw her pushing through the crowd to get away.

“There's one more award to give out,” CeeCee said. “Delvin and I talked it over and we decided there should also be an award for a piece that combined knitting and crochet. We're calling it the Bi-Stitcheral Award, and it goes to Julie Johnson.”

There was a whoop as Julie turned back and rushed to the stage. With the awards given out, CeeCee and Delvin left the stage. I was going to get back to work, but Ruby Cline and the man in the suit I'd seen earlier in the weekend moved along the edge of the crowd and went up on the stage. Delvin seemed surprised to say the least and stopped to watch.

Ruby took the microphone and they walked out to the end of the catwalk. I saw that Paxton had joined the assembled group. The first thing the head of Cline Yarn International did was to introduce herself. The man with her wasn't a potential mate she'd met online, as Paxton had thought, but was her attorney. “With everything that has happened this weekend, I had to make sure all my documents had been signed and it was okay to go ahead and make this announcement,” she said. “K.D. was supposed to be up here, too.” Ruby paused and bowed her head sadly. “We were going to do it jointly.”

Lacey was standing next to Delvin now and both seemed to be holding their breath. “K.D. and I were college friends, though we had a falling-out that lasted way too long. It's not important now, but it was over a man. Recently we got together and mended fences. All was forgiven when it turned out he'd left both of us.” Ruby apologized for the personal stuff and got back to the point. They were both in the yarn business, and since K.D. was looking to scale back and Ruby was looking to do more, they decided to become partners. Or sort of partners. Ruby now owned a controlling interest in the new enterprise. K.D. had wanted to be the face of the yarn show this last time, though changes had already been made as to how the show would be run and the spaces were priced.

It turned out that blood was thicker than yarn and K.D.'s plan was to have Lacey take over the magazines with Delvin acting as her right-hand man. The look on his face made it clear that he wasn't happy with it. The Knit Style Yarn Studio would now become the Cline Yarn International Studio and would feature all kinds of classes and special events. As an aside, Ruby mentioned she would not be pressing any charges against Thea Scott. Instead they were working out a repayment plan. Any customers who'd bought the needles would be given a refund.

“And finally, I had insisted on a change to the show,” Ruby said. “For all these years, K.D. had made it for knitters only, but I said we had to include crocheters. Not only is it a very worthy yarn craft, but as a yarn merchant I'm particularly fond of crocheters, since their craft uses more yarn than knitters.”

There was a smattering of laughter at the comment and one very loud cheer. I didn't have to turn to know it came from Adele.

At least now I knew why Paxton had acted so strange that morning. He must have known what his grandmother was going to say.

As Ruby finished, Lacey took the stage. “I appreciate the confidence my mother had in me, but in fairness, I think Delvin and I should run things together.” She held her arm out toward him, and he joined her onstage. They hugged and an “aww” went through the crowd.

And then it was back to business as usual. Everyone left the stage but Delvin, and he announced a demonstration of knitting with beads.

So it seemed that everything was settled and I went back to our booth. The crowd was a little thicker now, and business was brisk. Eduardo was finishing a crochet lesson when he called to Adele, “I think you're being paged.”

We all stopped and listened. “Will Adele Abrams please come to the stage area,” the disembodied voice said.

Adele was out of the booth in a flash, and I followed along behind her, curious about what was going on. When I got to the stage area, I shook my head with disbelief. Two lines of uniformed police officers walked in and took up a position next to the catwalk. They put their arms together and created an archway, and I saw that Eric Humphries, in his full motor uniform, stood at the end. His mother was near him and looked horrified as someone dropped a trail of rose petals under the arch. Adele was speechless as she stood near the beginning of the row of officers, and Eric had to gesture for her to walk through. When she got to the end, he went down on one knee, and I thought his mother was going to faint.

He had a loud cop voice so it was easy to hear what he said. “Adele, you have brought color to my life. You are an exciting and dangerous woman. Will you marry me?” Actually he only got “Will you” out before she started saying yes. Everyone applauded, including the cops, who had lowered their arms. That was when I saw that one of them was Barry. I'd never seen him in his uniform before.

He came over to me when the group broke up. “Eric called me after I left here. It was the least I could do after treating Adele like a suspect all weekend.” He shrugged sheepishly. Then he looked at me intently. “Is your neck okay? Is everything else okay? You're happy with Mason?”

I glanced up at him and our eyes met. “You were the one to step away, remember? You even told me how good Mason and I were for each other.”