2 Knot What It Seams (23 page)

“June Bug? I’m remembering now. Isn’t she the really slow woman?” asked Karen.

Meadow frowned. “Slow? Do you mean disabled? She seemed able-bodied enough to me.”

“No, I mean dim-witted. She always ran away whenever I knocked on Opal’s door,” said Karen.

“I think she’s just shy, Karen,” said Beatrice briskly. Karen exuded confidence—her manner was probably very intimidating to such a shy woman.

Miss Sissy scowled and shook her fist at Karen, not taking kindly to her friend being labeled dim-witted.

Karen shrugged, losing interest in the conversation, so Meadow said quickly to her, “You’re such a wonderful cook that I
know
you’re going to find a wonderful husband. The way to a man’s heart . . .” She frowned as she lost her train of thought. “Anyway, I’m surprised that no one has put a ring on your finger yet.”

Karen gave her guest a rather tight smile.

“Are there any contenders?” asked Meadow sweetly, taking a gulp from her wineglass. “You and Wyatt were fairly friendly at my dinner party. Isn’t he a lovely man?” She turned to Piper and Beatrice. “Isn’t he? I just think he’s lovely. Handsome, smart, ethical. What’s better than that?”

A slight flush crept up Karen’s neck. She
did
fancy him.

To her horror, Beatrice heard Meadow dragging her name into it. “Of course, Beatrice and Wyatt have a special connection. Don’t you think so, Beatrice? You always look so well together. And you’re both always smiling and laughing and pleased to be together. I really do think you’re at the brink of a wonderful relationship with each other.”

Beatrice gritted her teeth and Karen’s flush grew. Miss Sissy made a growling sound.

Piper jumped in. “Did you hear the rumors about Glen and that lady who does all the volunteer work in Dappled Hills. What’s her name?”

“Penny?” asked Meadow with a concerned eye at Beatrice. “You’ve heard things about them having a romance?”

Piper nodded. “Well, I’ve seen them together for a while now, but it was always a volunteer partnership before. At least, that’s what I saw. I know they were serving food next to each other at the pancake breakfast fund-raiser a few months ago. And I’ve seen them doing other fund-raisers, too. But this time, there are rumors that they’re an item.”

Meadow was staring at Beatrice again. What on earth was going through her head? She couldn’t think that Beatrice liked Glen?

Karen’s shoulders relaxed in relief by the change in conversation. “That’s interesting. But I think it’s way too early for Glen to be starting a relationship with somebody else. He and Jo were married for a long time—he should respect her memory a little more. I haven’t noticed anything romantic between the two of them, though. I’m like you, Piper—I’ve just seen them volunteering together. And I saw Penny by herself the other day, coming out of the county hospital when I was driving to meet a client.”

“Penny is probably running the Pink Lady program over there,” said Piper. “That’s sort of a long drive for such a big commitment, though.”

Karen shook her head. “That’s what I thought, too. But when I asked her the next time I saw her, she acted real flustered to see me. Then she said that she was there to have tests run. She apparently has some very aggressive form of rare cancer.”

“What a pity!” said Meadow. “Oh, I hope that she pulls through it all okay. She does a lot of good things for Dappled Hills.”

“It’s a good hospital and she’s in good hands. I’m sure she’ll be fine. But when I asked her if she was going to be admitted to the regional hospital for any kind of treatment, she shook her head and said that the only hospital that really knew the most about her illness was a place up North. They had some kind of experimental treatment. And it was going to cost too much money for her to be able to get it. Such a shame,” said Karen.

Beatrice said, “I’m not even sure I’d recognize Penny if I saw her. I haven’t crossed paths with her, I guess. And I’ve been thinking about putting in some volunteer hours for Dappled Hills. I never got the chance to do it while I was working, and now that I’m retired, I’d like to be able to help out in the community a little.”

Piper raised her eyebrows. “I thought you’d decided to learn how to relax first before you got involved in any more activities.”

Beatrice sighed. “Maybe I’m not cut out for relaxing. But I think I’m better. Now I can spend a few minutes in the hammock and not immediately leap right back out of it because I’ve thought of something I needed to do. I’m working on it. But if I could even fit volunteering into one weekend a month, or something like that, I’d be pleased.”

“I’ll introduce you to Penny!” said Meadow eagerly. “I can’t believe you two haven’t met—she’s such an important part of Dappled Hills. And she’s sick? I have to do something for her, then, since she’s done so much for everybody else!”

Karen shifted uncomfortably. “You know, I have a feeling that she wasn’t wanting a lot of people to know about her condition. It sounded like she didn’t really want to talk about it.”

Karen definitely messed up by telling Meadow, then.

“Pooh on that! All I’m going to do is show her some support and give her some good home cooking and a few hugs. I’m not going to go around gossiping about her or anything. You can come along with me, Beatrice. We leave tomorrow!”

Karen frowned uneasily and Beatrice said to her, under her breath, “Don’t worry. Tomorrow morning she probably won’t remember any of this. If she has more wine, she probably won’t even remember that she was here tonight.”

Chapter 16

But the n
ext morning, Meadow
had
remembered, no matter how foggy she’d seemed when Piper had finally taken her home.

The phone rang early and Meadow sounded surprisingly composed and organized. “So, what I was thinking,” she said briskly, “is that I could bring Penny a lunch and a supper. And maybe something for the freezer. You wouldn’t have to bring anything, since you haven’t even been formally introduced. I’m going to start cooking now and I’ll call ahead and let Penny know we’re coming by.”

“Won’t she be working? It sounds like she spends most of her time with her volunteer groups.”

“I meant that we’d drop by her office. She has a small room off the back of the town hall, same as Booth Grayson and Ramsay. They have a kitchen in the building with a full fridge and freezer. But those men might try to eat some of the food, so I’m going to write dire warnings on some sticky notes. And I’ll tell Ramsay it’s for Penny, since she’s so sick.”

Poor Penny. She had no hope of keeping that illness of hers under wraps.

A few hours later, Meadow was tooting her car horn outside Beatrice’s cottage. “I don’t see how you cooked this so quickly,” said Beatrice, noticing the dishes in the backseat. “There’s enough food here to feed an entire army.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Besides, I doubled the recipe so that I’d have supper for Ramsay and me tonight, too.”

If only Meadow would do that every day and bring Beatrice some meals! She’d gotten very tired of her own, uninspired cooking very quickly.

In minutes they were at the town hall. And only a few moments later, they were barging into an office so tiny that Penny could barely fit a desk in it, a desk that was nearly buried in flyers, papers, and a bunch of files. Penny was also tiny—a little woman with a warm smile. But, Beatrice noticed, with worried eyes. She looked like the complete opposite from Jo Paxton. Jo had dark hair and was difficult, where Penny was fair with a sweet disposition.

“We brought you some food!” said Meadow in her booming voice. “I thought I’d show it to you before I stuck it in the kitchen fridge. Chicken salad sandwiches, chicken
cordon bleu
, and a frozen hamburger casserole for later. And they’re all covered with sticky notes warning of cataclysmic disaster befalling anyone who eats it besides you.”

Penny looked somewhat taken aback, but gave Meadow a tentative smile. “What’s the occasion, Meadow? You’re such a great cook that I’m thrilled to get these, but . . . why are you bringing them to me?”

“Because you’re sick, of course!” Meadow might have remembered Penny’s illness, but had clearly forgotten that Penny was trying to keep it quiet.

Penny’s brow furrowed. “But I haven’t told anyone that I was sick.”

“Sure you did! I heard it through the grapevine,” said Meadow.

Penny was obviously still trying to figure out how Meadow had heard the news when Meadow bubbled on. “And where are my manners? Let me introduce you to Beatrice Coleman. She’s one of Dappled Hills’ newer residents. You probably know her daughter, Piper.”

“Of course I do,” said Penny warmly. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” said Beatrice. She turned to say something to Meadow and saw she’d already trotted out to put the dishes in the fridge. She smiled at Penny and shrugged. “I wish I had a fraction of her energy.”

“Me, too,” said Penny. Her eyes were sad.

Beatrice cleared her throat. “I’m sorry to hear that you’re not feeling well. That’s miserable.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” said Penny in a comforting tone. “It’s not really so bad. For the longest time, I didn’t even know that I was sick.”

“I’ve heard so much about you,” said Beatrice. “You do a lot to help the people in Dappled Hills, and the rest of the county, too. I’m planning on doing some volunteer work myself soon.”

Penny passed Beatrice one of her business cards. “I hope you’ll give me a call when you decide to. I help coordinate volunteer work so we can get volunteers to the places where they’re most needed. And I try to match people’s talents with the volunteering they do.”

Meadow came back in, smiling with satisfaction. “Well, that’s all put away. And I don’t think either Booth or Ramsay will touch them.”

“Thanks again, Meadow. That was really thoughtful of you.” Penny hesitated. “I had a question for you, so it’s lucky for me that you dropped by. I hope you won’t mind.” She paused again.

“Ask away!”

“It’s . . . it’s actually about Ramsay’s case. Or cases, I guess. You might know that I’ve been spending some time with Glen. He started volunteering after he lost his job.”

Beatrice raised her eyebrows. Were they about to hear that Glen and Penny were dating?

Penny bit her lip. “But I’ve been concerned about him lately. I know that when married women are murdered, the husbands are the prime suspect. I was wondering what you thought Ramsay might be thinking.” She waved a hand quickly. “I’m so sorry to be asking about this. I know I’m putting you in a spot.”

Meadow, though, was perfectly happy to talk about Ramsay’s cases. Probably a lot happier than Ramsay would have been, in the same position. Whatever she didn’t know, she was delighted to speculate on.

“Well, of
course
he doesn’t think that Glen murdered Jo. He’s known Glen forever—everybody knows the kind of man he is. No, he’s definitely considering other suspect options,” said Meadow breezily.

Penny spoke quickly, words tripping up over each other. “Oh, that’s so good to hear, Meadow. Thank you. You see, Dappled Hills is such a small town. And he was in the hardware store a couple of weeks ago, buying wire cutters. I heard that wire cutters were probably what was used to cut Jo’s brake lines?” she asked.

Beatrice and Meadow nodded.

“So I was sure that the hardware store owner was bound to tell Ramsay. Like I said, it’s such a small town, and he would probably remember something like that. It’s not like the store is superbusy all the time.”

Beatrice said, “Why did he buy the wire cutters?”

“He was looking for ways to make a little money, on the side. He loved volunteering, but he said he was feeling bad about Jo being the breadwinner. He’s always been handy and a little crafty, and he noticed that the store signs in downtown looked worn. He decided to offer to make replacement signs for the stores—nice wooden ones that had a sort of retro feel to them. He made a sample one. But he had to have wire cutters to make the signs.” She shrugged. “That was all.”

“Well, I certainly can’t see how that would be considered suspicious,” said Meadow with a laugh. “He has them for business reasons! Besides, probably half the people in town have wire cutters. They’re helpful to have around.”

Penny’s face brightened. “That’s true. It’s just that . . . you know. What with him having been a mechanic and all, I was worried that Ramsay might add it all up and think that Glen was responsible for killing Jo. And I know he loved her and would never have done anything to harm her.”

So there were no confessions of undying love here. Penny could easily be concerned about Glen solely through friendly interest.

“Anyway,” said Meadow confidently, “he has alibis for the times of the murders, right?”

Penny’s brow wrinkled. “Not for Jo’s murder. But that’s because he lived in the house with her. The only person who could have given him an alibi was Jo.”

“Understandable! But what about for Opal’s death?” said Meadow.

Penny said eagerly, “I know exactly what he was doing that day. He went by the Patchwork Cottage first thing in the morning to ask Posy if she was interested in getting a sign for the shop made. She wasn’t there, so he came right here to the town hall and he and I spent the rest of the day at the county library for adult literacy.” She stopped quickly as she saw Meadow’s and Beatrice’s faces. “What? That’s all right, isn’t it? Opal died in the afternoon, didn’t she?”

Beatrice said softly, “I’m afraid not. The police are saying that Opal was dead by the time that Posy returned to the Patchwork Cottage that morning.”

Penny slumped, face white.

Meadow said, “Don’t worry, Penny! Like I said, Ramsay has known Glen for
ages
. For ages!”

Beatrice started pulling at her sleeve. “Penny, really, you shouldn’t worry. It was good to meet you. Meadow, we should be going.”

Meadow called behind her, “Remember the food in the fridge, Penny. Food always helps!”

As they left the tiny office, Beatrice uneasily found herself staring right at Booth Grayson, who was heading up the flight of stairs to his own office. He glowered at her and Beatrice lifted her chin to stare him down. There was no way that a man like Booth Grayson was going to intimidate her.