Purl Up and Die (11 page)

Kelly, Megan, and Lisa all stopped knitting and looked up at Burt. “Did you hear something from Dan?” Kelly asked.

“Yes, what did your old partner say?” Lisa leaned forward, looking at Burt.

Kelly leaned forward as well, paying attention. “Did Dan question Tommy, like you said he would?”

Burt took in a deep breath. “Yes, he did. He and his partner met with Tommy a couple of hours ago. They questioned him about the night that Laura Brewster was killed in her apartment.”

“Kelly told us that Tommy always works nights at a medical clinic until six in the morning,” Megan interrupted. “So, that means he has an alibi, right?”

Burt wagged his head slowly, his expression sad. “I'm afraid not. Tommy told Dan that he didn't work his usual shift at the clinic that night because he needed to study for a big exam in his family medicine residency program. He got another physician to substitute for him at the clinic. And Tommy said he stayed at home in his apartment all night and studied for the exam. So now, Tommy has no alibi.”

Kelly stared at Burt in disbelief. She glanced at her friends, and their expressions mirrored hers.
Shock
.

“Oh, no!” Megan exclaimed, knitting sinking to her lap.

“Good Lord! That means no more alibi,” Lisa said, staring at Burt.

“What did Dan say, Burt?” Kelly asked. “Are they considering Tommy a suspect now?”

“They have to. He had the Big Two—Motive and Opportunity.” Burt's face creased with worry lines.

“Oh, brother,” Megan said, brows furrowing as she picked up the black-and-white yarn once again.

“Have you told Barb yet?” Kelly asked Burt.

“No, not yet. I'm actually waiting for her to come in. She's checking on her class's last projects.” Just then the sound of a cell phone text message came in. Burt dug into his pocket and pulled out the phone. “Okay. Mimi just texted me that she sees Barb parking her car right now.” Burt pushed back his chair with a scrape. “I'll meet her outside so we can be private. Barb needs to hear this kind of news from a friend. I'll talk to you folks later.” Burt turned and hurried through the central yarn room.

Kelly stared after him.
Not good
, she thought to herself.
Not good at all
.

“Oh, no. Now Tommy is a real suspect. Poor Barb. How's she going to handle this?” Megan said, staring into the central yarn room.

“Not well,” Kelly said, frowning. “Barb is a super overprotective mother, and Tommy is her precious son. Clearly, the light of her life. She won't be able to accept it.”

“Poor Tommy,” Megan added sadly.

“I hate to be the one who says this, but what if Tommy is guilty?” Lisa suggested. “He did change his clinic schedule that night. Maybe he didn't use the time to study. Maybe he went over to Laura Brewster's apartment.” Lisa glanced up from her knitting.

Megan stared at Lisa, clearly surprised. Kelly, however, looked over at her friend. “You're right, Lisa. There's always that possibility. I want to believe that Tommy's innocent, but we'll have to wait and see what the police learn in their investigation. Meanwhile, we can keep our doubts to ourselves as we support Barb. This is going to hit her hard.”

Megan nodded, still looking at her knitting. “Like a stab to the heart.”

Lisa shoved her knitting back into the bag and rose from her chair. “I need to return to the university now. Besides, I think Kelly has something to ask you, Megan.” With that, Lisa sped from the room.

“That was sudden,” Megan said, staring after Lisa, then turned to Kelly. “What is it you wanted to ask?”

Kelly mulled over how best to present this suggestion to Megan. She figured she'd appeal to Megan's ever-present streak of curiosity. Plus, her penchant for risk taking. In that, she and Megan were alike.

“Let's just say I've been doing some sleuthing. Looking into this Laura Brewster. And it turns out she's an extremely complicated person. Holds grudges and is not above exacting revenge.” Kelly paused dramatically.

“Revenge?” Megan's big brown eyes popped wide with obvious interest. “What did she do?”

“I went to see a fellow student of Laura's who witnessed an altercation between Laura and Professor Smith. He's the anatomy professor who was accused of sexual assault by a student. This other student saw the entire scene between Laura and the professor. Laura was pleading with him to allow her to do extra credit to raise her exam grade.”

Megan screwed up her face. “What! Who does she think she is?”

“Exactly,” Kelly agreed. “Anyway, Professor Smith refused and said it wouldn't be fair to the other students in class.”

“That's right!” Megan emphasized in a righteous tone.

“Anyway, this fellow student, Sandy, said Professor Smith walked away but Laura stayed and stared at his office for several minutes. Then she went into the restroom. Sandy went back to studying. She was sitting on the floor across the hall and they never noticed her. A few minutes later, Sandy heard a woman crying, then she saw Laura run out of the bathroom and down the hall then down the stairs. Her hair was messed up and her blouse was all open at the top. Sandy forgot about it until she heard the next day that a professor was accused of sexual assault by a student. Then she learned it was Professor Smith, and she said she just knew that it was Laura Brewster who accused him. Falsely.” Kelly leveled her gaze at Megan.

Megan stared back, her brown eyes huge, clearly shocked. “Good Lord! She lied! And smeared that professor!”

“And from what Sandy and others told me, Professor Smith's life pretty much fell apart after that. He didn't get promoted, nobody wanted to collaborate with him, and his wife even left him.”

Megan screwed up her face again. “That's awful! Poor man!”

“I know. I felt awful hearing that, especially after learning that Laura Brewster is the one who accused Tommy of sexual assault. That's why I started asking questions.”

“Oh, my gosh! She's the one who accused him?”

Kelly nodded. “So naturally I'm trying to find out as much as I can about this Laura. This student Sandy was in the same study group with Laura and said Laura mentioned there was a student from her high school in that class. She didn't get the person's name. But apparently it was Westgate High School in Denver. That's where I thought you might be able to help me. I wanted to check the university enrollment records to see who else went to Westgate High School and was also in that anatomy class with Laura.” She gave Megan a smile.

Megan looked back at Kelly and slowly a sly smile spread across her face. “I get your drift, Kelly. You want me to help you ‘sleuth around,' don't you?”

“If you would be so kind. Lisa already gave me the psych department's general log-in code. She suggested we get in and out quickly.”

“What's this ‘we' business? You mean
me
,” Megan jabbed, then laughed.

“Well, yes,” Kelly admitted and handed her the slip of paper. “Do you think you can do it? Find the information without causing a problem?”

Megan gave her a tolerant expression. “Piece of cake. This is my domain, Sherlock. So, leave me to it.” She shoved her knitting bag aside. “I'll use your laptop for this. Slide it over here, please. You've got it in your knitting bag.” Megan wiggled her fingers.

“You know me too well,” Kelly said with a grin as she pulled out her laptop and pushed it across the table to Megan. No mention of Ethics or Moral Equivalency surfaced.

•   •   •

“Have
you been keeping those squirrels in line? Have you, Carl?” Kelly said in the singsong voice her dog loved while she scratched behind his left ear. Carl leaned his front paws on the cottage fence and bent sideways, emitting a little doggie groan of pleasure as Kelly hit the sweet spots.
Ooooooooooooh, good!
He offered the right ear for similar rubbing, and Kelly rubbed behind that ear, laughing as Carl crooned.

The sound of footsteps on gravel behind her caused Kelly to turn. Megan approached, knitting bag over her shoulder. “I'm heading back to my office. Got a conference call with one of my clients. I shut down your laptop and left it up front with Rosa.”

“Thanks. You were successful, I take it.”

Megan gave her a super-tolerant expression. “
Mais oui, mademoiselle
. I sent you an e-mail. See you at the game tonight.” Megan gave a half wave and quickly walked to her car.

“I hope the e-mail's not in French,” Kelly called behind her.

Megan shot Kelly a grin before jumping inside her car and revving the engine.

Sunday morning

Kelly
headed toward the café, hoping to find Burt. She rounded the corner from the loom room and nearly ran into him.

“Whoa!” Burt said, jumping back, mug of iced coffee in hand.

“Oooops, sorry, Burt. I forgot to slow down,” Kelly apologized. “Can you come outside with me for a minute? I've got to tell you something I heard the other day.”

“Sure thing, Kelly. Now, you've got me curious,” Burt said with a smile as he followed Kelly out the front door and onto the front step.

The intense July heat was a sharp contrast to the cool air-conditioned knitting shop. So Kelly pulled out a wrought iron chair in the shaded alcove at the front of the shop. She had old memories of seeing her aunt Helen sitting in that alcove, knitting on her lap, looking out into the
pastures, watching the sheep graze. Burt settled into a chair across the wrought iron table from her.

There was no one else around, but even so, Kelly leaned forward a bit. “On Friday I went to visit one of Lisa's friends who had classes with Laura Brewster. I'd asked Lisa earlier to check with her friends to see if any of them knew her. Turns out, Lisa's friend Sandy was also a grad student in the Anatomy and Physiology Department, and she had an interesting story to tell.”

“Okay. I'm listening,” Burt said with a smile before sipping his iced coffee.

“It seems Sandy witnessed an argument between Laura Brewster and Professor Paul Smith. Sounded like Laura was trying to get him to change her bad exam grade. Smith refused and walked away. Sandy said Laura stared after him for a while, then went into the women's restroom. A couple of minutes later, Laura came running out, crying loudly, her blouse opened and hair messed up. She ran down the hall crying and raced out of the building. Sandy was sitting on the floor across from Professor Smith's office, so she saw the entire scene. She didn't think anything of it at first until she learned that Professor Smith had been accused of sexual assault by a student. Sandy had a feeling in her gut that the student was Laura Brewster.” Kelly took a drink from her own mug of iced coffee.

Burt's smile had changed to a frown as he listened. “Did this Sandy tell anyone what she saw?”

“She told one study group friend who advised her not to say anything. After all, Sandy didn't really
see
anything. Just an argument and a young woman running from the restroom.”

Burt gazed out onto the golf course greens, dark clouds starting to gather. “She's right. All that scene does is raise questions and suppositions. But it does catch you by surprise. It makes you wonder even more about Laura Brewster's motivation in accusing Tommy.”

“It sure does,” Kelly agreed. “It sounds like Laura Brewster was someone who held a grudge.”

“I'll mention this to Dan when he gets back from Denver. He's down there for a meeting. Meanwhile, I wouldn't tell anyone else, Kelly,” Burt advised, turning back to her.

“I've already told Lisa, since Sandy was her friend. And Megan, but no one else.”

“Good. Let's just keep this particular bit of Laura Brewster's background to ourselves. Right now, it's simply supposition.”

Kelly nodded. “Agreed. By the way, doesn't the department keep those official complaint files for officers to check? The complaint against Professor Smith should still be there.”

Burt found his smile at last. “You're ahead of me, Sherlock. We'll have to wait for Dan.”

Kelly snapped her fingers in a pretend gesture of impatience as Burt chuckled.

Early afternoon

“Now, wet down the entire piece again,” Mimi said. “It needs to be thoroughly wet.”

Kelly dutifully followed Mimi's instructions, shaking
the plastic bottle of liquid dish soap and water and spraying it onto her fire-engine red silk scarf, which was stretched out over a worktable covered in plastic.

That morning, Kelly and the other three students in Mimi's Wet Felting class had pressed their chosen colored fibers onto their solid-color silk scarves by wetting the scarves and the fibers thoroughly by spraying them with the soapy solution. Then Kelly and the others methodically pressed the bunches and clumps of fibers onto their silk scarves with a sponge that was thoroughly wet with the soapy solution.

It had taken Kelly and her classmates over an hour to carefully apply all the fibers they'd chosen to add to their silk scarves. Kelly had stayed with her original inspiration of burnt orange and deep rose. She was really pleased with the effect those colors created once applied to the fire-engine red silk.

Once all the fibers had been carefully pressed into place on their silk scarves, Mimi instructed Kelly and her classmates to thoroughly wet down their creations with the soapy solution—not once, but twice.

Kelly held the spray bottle poised over her scarf. She placed her open palm gently on the fibers. They felt wet, not simply damp. Surely that was enough, Kelly thought. But she decided to check with the Sage Herself. Mimi.

“Mimi, this feels wet to me,” she said, pressing her hand against the fibers again. “What do you think?”

Mimi walked around the table in the workroom and touched her fingers to Kelly's creation. “That feels right. Everyone, touch Kelly's scarf and make sure yours feels just as wet.”

The two younger women across the table from Kelly reached over and pressed their fingers gently to Kelly's red and orange and rose fibers.

“Oooooooh, this is wetter than mine,” the blonde said, then picked up her spray bottle and proceeded to spray her scarf again.

The young redhead with gaminelike features and short-cut hair pressed her fingers to Kelly's scarf and closed her eyes. “Hmmmmmm, mine feels just as wet. I think. Hmmmmm, maybe not. Yeah, this is a little wetter.” She too went back to her side of the worktable and started spraying.

“Boy, this is going to take a long time to dry out,” the older woman said as she felt Kelly's scarf, then touched her own creation. “Just about the same. What do you think, Mimi?”

Mimi obliged and felt the woman's dramatic royal blue and shamrock green creation. Those bright fibers against a soft turquoise silk scarf looked stunning to Kelly's eye. She'd always loved blues and greens together. She'd have to tell Megan to check out her class's creations once they were finished. Megan also loved bright blues and greens.

“I think yours feel just right, Sara. Exactly like Kelly's,” Mimi said. “And don't worry about the drying. All of you still have a lot of prep work to do before you lay these pieces out to dry. In fact, you won't be finished today, probably. It may take until tomorrow.” She smiled at them all.

“What kind of prep work?” the redhead asked.

“You'll be helping to dry out the scarves by wrapping them in a thick towel around a rolling pin, then rolling them over and over again to help squeeze out the water. The
rolling also thoroughly presses the fibers into the silk so they completely join as one piece of fabric.”

“Okay, I've gotta see that to understand what we're doing,” the blonde said. “I can't picture it yet.”

“I glimpsed one of your classes a few months ago, Mimi, and I watched those students rolling over and over and over again,” Sara said with a smile. “They sure were rolling a lot.”

Mimi's smile widened. “Oh, yes. It takes five hundred rolls to do one scarf.”

Kelly and all of her classmates stared wide-eyed at Mimi. The blonde piped up. “Five hundred! Yeow! How long does that take?”

“Forever,” the redhead opined, wagging her head. “Oh, brother. I'm gonna have arm muscles to brag about by the time this is finished.”

Mimi laughed her little laugh. “Well, you might. Actually that's a good thing. Burt says you're stronger afterward, and that's always a good thing.” She looked at Kelly. “This should be easy for you, Kelly, since you play softball.”

Kelly smiled. “Probably. All those years of throwing the ball and batting. But, five hundred rolls is still a lot. We'd better break it down in segments.” She glanced around at her three classmates. “Do fifty and see how that feels. Everybody is different.”

“That's right. You'll need to get it all done by tonight or early tomorrow morning at the latest, while the fabric is at its dampest,” Mimi advised, reaching over and touching the blonde's bubblegum pink and lime green fibers joined to an electric pink scarf. “This feels ready, Cindy.”

“How about mine?” the redhead asked, giving her scarf and fibers one last spray.

Mimi reached over and touched the bright yellow and vibrant purple fibers on the young woman's dark gray scarf. “Yours, too, Melanie. Nice and wet. By the way, those colors are really going to pop next to your gorgeous red hair.”

“Thanks. They're kind of shocking, and I like that,” Melanie said with a grin. “Shake people up.”

“Wake them up is more like it,” the older woman teased.

Mimi clapped her hands together. “All right. You've all done very well. Now, grab one of those thick towels over there on the shelves. And grab a rolling pin, too.” She pointed to the other side of the workroom where the wall was covered with yarn bins. On the bottom level, one bin held four towels. The bin next to it had wooden rolling pins stored.

“I'll get them.” Kelly quickly walked over and grabbed all four of the towels. She also managed to gather two rolling pins. Melanie stepped up and carried the rest. Both Kelly and Melanie handed out towels and wooden rolling pins to their classmates.

“Okay, now you're each going to lay out the towel right beside your scarf.” Mimi went to stand beside Cindy. She opened up the light blue bath towel and spread it on the table beside Cindy's electric pink scarf. “Carefully lift your scarf plus the plastic beneath and place them together on the towel.”

Kelly watched as Mimi untaped the plastic layer from the table, where it had been fixed in place. Then she gently
lifted both the layer of plastic plus the scarf on top and placed them on the outstretched towel.

“You're going to gently roll up the towel like you were taking it to the beach except you'll have a rolling pin inside,” Mimi instructed. “Now, take the rolling pin and gently wrap the scarf, the towel, and plastic all together around the rolling pin.”

“Okay, here goes,” Melanie said as she started to remove the tape that held the plastic to the worktable.

“We might as well get at it if we're going to do five hundred rolls today,” Sara said as she placed a rolling pin at the edge of her scarf. Slowly she started to roll all three—scarf, towel, and plastic—around the wooden rolling pin.

Kelly followed suit, gently placing the rolling pin at the edge of her scarf, then carefully, carefully wrapping the scarf, towel, and plastic around the rolling pin. Glancing up once, she noticed Melanie and Cindy doing the same.

Mimi hovered over them. Kelly took that as a compliment that Mimi no longer hovered over her and whatever project she undertook. Apparently, Kelly had moved up a notch on the expertise scale in Mimi's eyes. Who would have thought? Kelly smiled to herself.

Kelly carefully wrapped the last few inches of scarf, plastic, and towel around the rolling pin. It was no longer visible inside the thick roll. Only the red handles were sticking out of each end.

“All right, everyone. Now we can start our arm exercises. Get a chair if you want or simply lean over the table, and let's do these rolls together to start, okay? You're going
to roll it out as far as you can without the towel roll opening up. Then you're going to roll it back. Out and back is one roll.”

“Oh, darn,” Melanie said. “I was hoping out and back would count as two.”

“Dream on,” Cindy joked.

“You guys are stronger than you think,” Kelly said in an effort to encourage her classmates.

“Boy, I hope you're right,” Sara said, rolling her arms out straight, then back. “That's one.”

Kelly, Melanie, Cindy, and Mimi all laughed as they each started rolling.

A little later

“My arms are aching,” Cindy said, rolling her wrapped towel a little slower. “And I've got two hundred to go.”

“We'll take another break. Doing it in sets of fifty at a time then taking a break makes it easier,” Mimi said. “I'll stay here with you all until you're finished.”

Kelly started another set of fifty. She was starting four hundred. Clearly, all her years of sports, especially throwing softballs and swinging a bat, had given Kelly extrastrong arm muscles. Consequently, she wasn't tiring as fast as the other three. Strangely, Melanie and Cindy, who were younger, were tiring faster than their older classmate Sara. Kelly thought she knew why. With their sleeveless summer tops, Kelly could see whatever arm muscles they had flex
every time they rolled the large towel roll. Kelly didn't see much muscle mass in either Cindy's or Melanie's arms. That told Kelly neither one of them exercised or worked out regularly. Building arm strength happened naturally whenever someone worked out a few times each week.

“Wow . . . my arms are sore now,” Melanie said, dropping the rolling pin–towel setup. She rubbed her upper left arm.

“You know, doing this motion reminds me of those old Hollywood movies I saw as a child. There were a couple that took place in ancient Rome and had scenes of Roman galley slaves rowing those longboats.”

“Oh, yes, I remember those,” Mimi said. “The galley slaves were chanting as they rowed.”

“That's right,” Sara said as she continued to roll beside Kelly. “They did it rhythmically in time with each stroke of the oars. Like ‘Row! Row!'”

Mimi chuckled. “As I remember, there was also a slave master on the ship with a big whip who kept them all in line and rowing.”

“Actually, they were all chained by the ankles, that's what kept them there. In fact if their boat was sunk in battle, they would go down with it,” Sarah added.