If Hooks Could Kill

CHAPTER 22


“Sunshine, I’m going to have to back out of our plans,” Mason said. It was the next day and I was just getting ready to leave the bookstore. We’d talked several times during the day and had planned on barbecuing at his house. I could almost hear Mason shaking his head with frustration as he told me there was another family wedding meeting.

“Whatever,” I said, trying to hide my disappointment. It was ridiculous for me to feel left out—it was his family—but I did.

“I’m sorry,” he said and I knew by his tone he really meant it. “I’ll make it up to you.”

“An invitation to the wedding would do,” I said, trying to sound like I was joking. There was a long silence on his end and for a moment I thought we’d been cut off.

“I’m working on it, sunshine,” he responded finally before we said our good-byes and hung up.

Working on it? How much work was involved with saying “Hey, Molly, come to my daughter’s wedding.” I knew it wasn’t quite that easy for him. I gathered there was some agreement with his ex about keeping family things separate from their new social lives. Maybe I was being silly, but in my mind unless Mason acted like I was a fixture in his life, our relationship wouldn’t go any further. We’d stay friends, but friends without benefits.

After that I went directly home wondering what was waiting for me this time. I came in through the kitchen door and was relieved to find quiet. But I’d barely closed the door when Barry walked in. Was it my imagination or did it seem like he’d been listening for me to come home?

He acted surprised to see me, but he could have been faking it. Then he made a move toward the cabinet with the dishes. “I was just coming in for a cup of tea.” He reached for a stoneware mug. “You really started something with the tea drinking. It’s a nice way to cap off the evening. He looked at the area around me. “No entourage?” I knew he was referring to the previous evening when North had been with me and Mason showed up right after.

Whatever distress he’d shown the previous night had been filed far inside and he was back to his usual self.

“Not tonight,” I said.

“Where’s the counselor?” Barry asked. I explained about Mason’s daughter’s wedding and his efforts to try to put it together.

“Hmm, so the lawyer finally found something he couldn’t fix so easily. It must be a shock.” He went to reach for another mug. “Want to join me?”

Having tea at night had become a nice habit and I nodded in agreement. He took out another mug and set up both drinks. As we went outside, Cosmo came in the kitchen to see what was going on and the small black mutt followed us out.


* * *

I leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath of the night air. The crickets were chirping and all the night birds were talking to each other.

“Isn’t this nice how we can just sit together, have tea and talk.” I smiled at him. “See, no matter what you thought, we can still be friends.”

Barry flinched at the comment. I asked where Jeffrey was and he said he was spending the night at one of his drama friends. They were camping out in his backyard. I glanced toward the house. “What about Samuel?”

“He’s off somewhere. He doesn’t keep me in the loop,” Barry said. “So, it looks like it’s just you and me.”

There was no reason for me to feel awkward, but I did. Although there had been a time when having the place to ourselves would have meant something, that was long past. Barry let out a noise that sounded like a wistful sigh. I knew he was thinking the same thing I was.

For a few moments we just sat there drinking our tea. I didn’t know about him, but I was feeling this vibe in the air that seemed to be getting more intense. Barry leaned forward slightly and I saw his hand coming toward my arm.

There was nothing to do but throw cold water on the situation. So I started talking about Kelly’s murder. “I know that Detective Heather has zeroed in on Dan as the killer and dismissed the other suspects, but I’m not so sure she’s right.”

My comment had the desired effect. Barry had pulled his hand back to his armrest as if he’d just hit a hot coal and then he laughed. “As if it’s anything new that you think Heather has it wrong. I suppose you’ve come up with your own list of suspects.”

“Maybe I have,” I said.

Barry sat up in his chair. “Okay, let’s hear it.” His lips were curved in an indulgent smile.

“To start with there’s Nanci Silvers.” Barry’s eyes flickered in response to the name before I went through the reasons why, which were adding up. She lived next door and had no alibi, which gave her opportunity. I had a pretty good idea she knew how to use a gun and probably had one. And as for motive—it appeared there was something going on between her and Dan, along with the fact Nanci seemed determined to keep the Donahue house from being used in future productions. If Adele had been there, she would have said Nanci had the golden triangle of guilt.

“Autumn’s mother?” he said.

“You’d love it to be her, wouldn’t you? Then you could tell Jeffrey his girlfriend’s mother was a murderer. That would break them up for sure.”

Barry rolled his eyes. “I’m not that bad. I just worry about Jeffrey getting in over his head.” He picked up his mug. “Is that it, or do you have more suspects?”

I mentioned that the two prop guys had said they knew Kelly from before.

“I saw them go to lunch, but they could have easily come back. As for means, there are lots of guns in L.A. 911.”

Barry stopped me. “They’re prop guns.”

“But what if they mixed a real one in with the prop ones? It would be a great way to hide it in plain sight.” Barry explained that fake guns were all supposed to have an orange plug in the barrel.

“And what’s their motive?” he said.

“I don’t know.” I gazed upward and began to improvise. “Maybe it had something to do with the disappearing lamp.” Barry seemed unimpressed and I brought up Kelly’s online business. “Maybe it was a disgruntled customer or someone random,” I offered. “But one thing I’m sure of.”

I reminded Barry that Dinah and I had been there that day and someone, which we now knew probably hadn’t been a real estate agent, had come to the door. “Don’t you think that person probably is the killer?”

Barry nodded with approval. “That sounds reasonable. Why don’t you try to think back to what you saw in the street when you left Kelly’s.” He suggested I close my eyes and try to picture the scene. I was surprised how well it worked. After noting that the sidewalk was empty, I began to see a line of cars and commercial vehicles parked along the street.

“Let’s see, there was a plumber’s van, several cars, a cab, the truck with the wooden slates that the prop guys used and the Crown Victoria, North Adams drove. But they were all just parked there for the production.”

When I opened my eyes Barry’s face was lit up in a smile.

“It doesn’t sound like your remembrance changes anything. And who would be more likely to show up at her house than her husband? Ah, we’re back to what Heather thinks.” He rolled his eyes, while shaking his head in good-natured disbelief. “I can’t believe you got me to play clue with you,” he said as we both got up to go inside.


* * *

I never knew quite how to dress for a funeral. The day of everybody wearing black dresses and veils was long over with, if it every really existed anywhere but in my imagination. Besides, with the temperature in the high nineties, long sleeves and heavy clothes were even less appealing. Couple that with my helping at the house afterward, and I felt even more confused about what to wear. Who would have thought Barry would have ended up helping me?

As a homicide detective he’d been at far more funerals than I had and when we went inside after our tea, I made a comment about my clothing dilemma. He took both our mugs and put them in the dishwasher and offered his assistance.

It was weird showing him my closet, but then we were just housemates now, right? He stood next to me as I pushed clothes down the rack. Close enough that I could feel the heat coming off his body.

“How about that,” he said when I got to a linen dress that had tiny black-and-white checks. From a distance it appeared gray. It was sleeveless and loose fitting. “Do you need help with shoes?” he said with a teasing smile. “I’ve become quite an expert thanks to Heather. Those heels sure do something with the way a woman walks.”

I pulled him out of my closet and said I could handle the shoes myself. I should have left it at that, but the whole heels comment had annoyed me. “Sorry I didn’t have that tart walk going when we were together,” I said.

Barry stifled a laugh and I asked how the work was coming at his apartment.

“Huh?” he said as I walked him back toward his side of the house. I repeated the question and he threw up his hands. “You know workmen. It was too hot to paint, so there’s a delay. They brought the wrong carpet. The one I wanted had to be special ordered so there’s another delay. If it’s such a burden having us here, I could find someplace else to stay. Heather’s building has an elevator.”

“It’s okay if you stay here until your place is decorated,” I said. I knew the comment about Heather was a setup, but I fell for it anyway. Frustrated with myself I shut the door to my wing of the house and called it a night.

Barry’s clothes choice for me turned out to be perfect. Kelly’s funeral was held at a small chapel at Forest Lawn. The cemetery was set on an expanse of green hillside with a view of the eastern Valley and there was no shade to soften the blinding sun. Dinah and I arrived together. Commander was off getting the things for the reception in order.

Inside, we found CeeCee. She was the only one decked out in a black sheath dress and a wide-brimmed black hat with a veil. In her mind there might be paparazzi anywhere and she was always ready for her close-up. Rhoda and Elise were next to her. Both of them had a small crochet project in their laps. I think just like some people always carry a book, they carried crochet.

Eduardo hadn’t been able to make it. Then Sheila came in and took the seat next to Dinah. “Funerals make me nervous,” she said in a breathy voice. Adele plopped into the seat next to Sheila and launched into the benefits of them sharing an apartment, which Adele was pushing for.

“If we get a place together, I’ll throw in confidence lessons. In no time you’ll own every room you enter, just like me,” Adele said as she adjusted her hat. I didn’t say anything, but I thought Adele’s concept of owning a room was really more like kidnapping it.

No surprise, Adele didn’t wear black. All I could think of was that she looked like a block of butter. She wore a long yellow dress that appeared to be cotton, but had a sheen to it. She had added a scarf of crocheted flowers, all creamy yellow as well. No big hat for Adele this time, she’d worn another tiny yellow fascinator on the front of her head. It had a snippet of yellow veil and seemed to be erupting tiny flowers on long wire stems. Every time she moved, the flowers bobbed. Adele was big on wearing things with moveable parts.

The Hookers began to talk among themselves while Dinah and I checked out the rest of the crowd. I noticed Detective Heather slip into the last row. What did she think—that Dan was going to jump up and confess in the middle of the service?

Dinah and I turned our attention to the first row. Dan was already seated in the first seat on the end.

“I bet that’s Kelly’s mother,” Dinah said as a slender woman in a classic black dress walked along the front row. I could just make out her expression as she approached Dan.

“It looks like she’s on the same page as Detective Heather and thinks Dan killed her daughter,” I said. She scowled at Dan as she offered him a cursory greeting before she took a seat at the opposite end of the row.

“I’m actually beginning to feel sorry for him,” Dinah said. “It’s not like he’s been convicted. What happened to innocent until proven guilty?”

“What happened is everyone thinks he did it and is getting away with it. Detective Heather will keep investigating and trying to get him to confess, but if he doesn’t, it’ll be shelved like the cases Barry’s working on. He said in one of the cases they knew the maid did it, but could never get enough evidence to charge her. There’s no statute on murder, so Dan will forever be in limbo unless they get evidence that he did it, or evidence that he didn’t do it. In the meantime, they might be treating him like he’s guilty, but he’s still a free man.”

“But the important thing is, are we convinced he’s the guy?” Dinah asked.

“I keep going back and forth. With no real evidence, I’m not sure who did it,” I said as we went back to watching the first row. Even from a distance I recognized the family dimples of the two little girls who walked in with their father. The girls seemed confused and unhappy and the man with them seemed distraught. “He must be Kelly’s first husband,” I said. His greeting to Dan consisted of an angry head shake as he kept his arms protectively around his daughters.

“How about him for a suspect?” Dinah said.

“No motive. Even Dan said there was no problem between her first husband and Kelly. The divorce has been settled for a while and there weren’t any custody issues.” I continued to watch the family drama in the first row. An older man had joined the group. He had the trademark dimples and I was sure he was Kelly’s father. He was a little wooden in greeting his granddaughters. It might have had something to do with the young woman with him. By the rock on her finger and the way she was hanging on to him, I was guessing she was his wife and also guessed he probably didn’t like being called “Gramps.”

Stone came in last. I was glad to see he’d worn long pants and a dress shirt instead of his usual shorts and Aloha shirt. He’d even replaced his sandals with loafers. He moved down the row talking to his father and then his mother. The only seat left was next to Dan.

A few more people came into the chapel. I noticed Nanci Silvers take a seat in the back. The service was short and referred to a life cut off in the middle, but made no mention of her death being murder. I wondered who’d planned it.

Dinah and I left early to meet up with Commander who had picked up the food. We’d just pulled up in front of the Donahue house when Dan drove into the driveway.

He seemed distracted as he let us in. More cars arrived and the living room filled up with neighbors, the Hookers, Dan’s store employees and some of Kelly’s family. I had wondered if they would even come, but I suppose it was more out of respect for her than sympathy for Dan. Dan sat on the couch staring off into space and didn’t act as the host. Commander was particularly good at playing host and worked the room to make sure everyone went into the dining room and helped themselves.

I had hoped to get a chance to talk to Kelly’s family, but they stayed only long enough to make an appearance and then left en masse.

I looked around the living room and wondered if anyone would notice if I took a little side trip. I had never been alone in Kelly’s crochet room and I wanted to poke around in it without watchful eyes.

The room seemed dimmer than I remembered and I realized the sheer curtains had been drawn across the sliding glass door. It seemed eerie and still and I suddenly wished Dinah had come with me. The computer was sitting on the library table and when I hit the power button, it came on. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I was curious about her business. Nobody seemed to know the name of it. I sorted through the folders and came across one called online store. When I clicked on it, two folders appeared. I clicked on the one labeled “Crochet.” There was a long list of files with unintelligible names. I clicked on a few and saw that each had a picture of a crocheted item and a brief description and whether she’d sold it, and for how much, along with how long it had taken her to make it and how much the yarn had cost.

She had spent a lot on yarn, but she’d also sold the pieces for a lot. The fact that they were one of kind and almost art pieces was probably why she got her price. I wondered about the other folder under the “Online Store” heading and backtracked until I got there. It was marked “Non-Crochet Items.” Kelly must have been selling more than just things she made. I clicked on the folder and a list of files with numbers instead of names showed up.

I was about to open the first one, when Adele sashayed in. “Pink, I thought I’d find you in here. What are you doing?”

I took it as a rhetorical question and didn’t answer it. “Did you find anything else made with the bull—” Adele looked around to see if anyone was listening. “You know that special stitch.”

Adele moved further into the room and began looking around. She noticed a pillow that had fallen off the couch. It had a three-dimensional design with rows and rows of different-size bullion stitches.

She picked it up and was touching the stitches as if they could impart the magic of how to make them.

Suddenly CeeCee swept into the room. “There you two are. I’m going to have to leave. The atmosphere in there is terrible. All those people staring at Dan. He finally got up and went outside.” CeeCee saw Adele clutching the pillow and took it from her to examine it.

“Dear, those bullion stitches are lovely.” She commented further on how perfectly the stitches laid next to each other before turning to Adele. “The Hookers should make something using that stitch. Of course, we’d probably have to teach almost everybody how to do it.” She looked at Adele again. “What do you think, dear?”

Adele squirmed and looked to me for help. I shrugged as an answer. CeeCee was busy looking at the pillow and around the room and didn’t notice Adele’s look of panic.

“I had no idea that Kelly was such a fine crocheter,” CeeCee said. Adele had plastered herself against the back of the couch with the terrified expression as if any second CeeCee was going to make her prove she knew how to do the tricky stitch. CeeCee apparently had other things on her mind, because she didn’t seem to notice that Adele had never answered her comment. She checked her watch.

“I have to get across the Valley to a meeting,” she said moving toward the door. “Success has its drawbacks,” she said in a feigned upset tone. “Everybody wants you in their project.” She waved her hand toward the yard. “I’m surprised the L.A. 911 people haven’t asked me to do a guest spot.”

When she was gone, Adele let out her breath. In panic mode she grabbed a hook. She made a foundation chain and the next thing I knew she was wrapping the yarn around the hook and then trying to pull the hook through it with no luck. I thought Adele was going to cry and did my best to console her as I pulled her out of the room and shut the door.

“Pink, you really are the best friend I’ve ever had,” Adele said. She had lost her usual look of bravado and appeared vulnerable as she hugged me. But typical Adele, she was back to her usual self by the time we reached the living room and she made her way through the people standing around. I didn’t see Dan anywhere.

I picked up some used dishes and carried them into the kitchen. The window over the sink faced the driveway. Dan was standing there having an animated conversation with Nanci Silvers. Abruptly she put her arms around him and hugged him tight.

Not exactly the sign of a grieving husband.