Barbara Graham - Quilted 03 - Murder by Music (21 page)

“You've met my birth mother,” Patrick said loud enough to qualify as an introduction to the gathering in general.

Tony heard him whisper into Celeste's hair. “Stay, love. It's just part of her diva display. She'll move on. She's not really interested in us.”

Celeste nodded and leaned back against Patrick before she extended her hand. “I'm sorry about your sister's death.”

Ignoring the hand, as well as the younger woman, Elf's wide smile did not seem grief laden. The tears of a moment earlier could have been a mirage. “Well, it did give me a reason to use the fabulous loophole in my contract.” She caressed Patrick's cheek. “I came for the funeral, but I get to stay for your wedding. Isn't it marvelous!”

Tony guessed the couple might not have chosen the same word to describe their feelings.

Theo watched the local musician known as Dan-the-Dulcimer Man edge through the crowd, his eyes fixed on Elf.

When he was about ten feet away, the muscular bus driver stepped into his path, blocking the way. “Stay back. This is a family moment.”

Next to Theo, Pops Ogle growled. “Like Dan's not part of her family.”

Obeying the driver's command, the rangy, weather-beaten man stopped, waiting, his eyes focused only on the petite singer.

“He's in love with her.” Nina moved closer to Theo.

Theo grinned. “I'm glad you aren't too jet-lagged to see the obvious.”

“Is he Patrick's father?”

“That's certainly been one of the more persistent rumors in town.” Theo studied the two men. Patrick was the taller of the two. The dulcimer man was somewhere between his late fifties and late sixties, but looked older, mainly because of his shaggy gray hair and beard stubble. Every autumn he let his beard grow out and shaved again in the spring. He lived in a small cabin above The Lodge. He kept to himself. He made dulcimers and old-fashioned wooden puzzles and toys, all by hand, and sold them to tourists and musicians.

Theo whispered. “I think Elf was about fourteen or fifteen when Patrick was born. Dan wasn't a young man. He'd been in the Army a long time before he ever moved here. Don't you remember the excitement when she gave the baby away?”

“Yes,” Nina agreed. “It was the talk of the town for months.”

“He's lived in the same cabin since he arrived. He doesn't make trouble.”

Nina looked from Dan to Patrick. “They don't resemble each other.”

“That's true, but genetics can be funny.” Theo waved at her brother-in-law. “Gus and Tony and are obviously related, but neither of them look anything like their brother Tiberius.”

“And Elf is just a little older than we are,” said Nina. “Can you imagine having a son as old as Patrick?”

“Not exactly.” Theo patted her belly. “I'm not sure I'm old enough to be the mother of little ones.”

The stand-off between Elf's driver and the dulcimer man ended when Elf herself dashed between them and stopped, facing Dan. She smiled almost shyly at him. He opened his arms, and she gave a little jump and wrapped her arms around Dan's neck. His arms closed around her, holding her until the driver turned and left, anger contorting his attractive face.

“Well, I guess she showed him who's her favorite.” Nina began pushing Theo's wheelchair away from the couple.

“I just hope Dan isn't being used to make the driver jealous.”

Theo glanced at the couple again. Elf was back on her own feet.

“He's a nice man and deserves better.”

Martha and Jane moved over to chat with Theo and Nina. “What if Elf stops the wedding on Friday?”

The pair seethed with worry and excitement. Theo understood. The grand unveiling of their museum was taking place in less than a week as part of the wedding reception. The two of them had battled termites, weather, a little murder, not to mention some assorted squabbles with donors and supporters.

They had begged and borrowed to get funding and family treasures to display, acquiring both trash and treasures. Martha and Jane considered the bride-to-be, Celeste, their best find. Celeste Durand grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, the daughter of wealth and privilege, and began visiting the world's finest museums when she was a child. She majored in art history and restoration at an Ivy League university, did graduate work at the Sorbonne and finally determined she wanted to be a museum curator. She especially loved preservation and display.

Theo first met Celeste when the Kentucky native came to Silersville to complete work on her master's degree in museum organization. Celeste rented a room in Martha's house. It hadn't taken long before she was dating Patrick, who had years earlier been Celeste's older brother's college roommate. Actually his presence answered a few unspoken questions about why she chose this town's small folk museum over some more prestigious museum's offer.

They chose, after only a couple of months, to marry and make Silersville their permanent home.

Not only to marry but to combine their wedding with the grand opening of the museum. Two buildings were completely ready. Or close enough to get by.

The main museum building, constructed by Tony's brother Gus and his crew, housed the quilt display, including their locally famous “murder quilt,” as well as bits and pieces of the area memorabilia and artifacts. Cradles, medical instruments, garden tools, butter churns—if it had survived hard usage, it was left on the museum doorstep.

The women worked long and hard setting the museum in order. They dusted and labeled and catalogued for countless hours. The second building was a reconstructed barn with one of the original advertisements painted on the roof. “See Rock City.” The dismantling, preserving and reassembling had entertained Gus and his construction crew for weeks.

On Friday, the wedding vows would be exchanged in the Methodist Church for a limited number of guests. The reception, however, would be in the museum barn on a fresh plywood floor, part of which was currently being used at Ruby and Mike's reception. The main museum display building would be open for the guests to visit. Food, drinks and dancing would stay in the barn. Besides every resident in Park County, a huge contingent was expected from Kentucky. Every motel room and guest cabin in the area was reserved. The Lodge was staying open until the first of November, just to accommodate the wedding guests.

Everything was set. The caterer from Knoxville had been contracted to supply a kitchen trailer complete with ovens, burners and refrigerator with all the food and beverages, tables, chairs, tablecloths, napkins, china and glassware.

Silersville's local florist, Queen Doreen, put out the call to her extra workers to be ready to go to work when the huge shipment of flowers arrived. They would be making giant swags of greenery, roses, carnations and an assortment of berries, dried flowers and acres of baby's breath. The hope was to make the decorations last so they'd still be beautiful at Christmas, two months away.

The bride's parents were prepared with credit cards and a checkbook with a high starting balance.

Theo had been consulted on issues involving community protocol.

As part of the decorations, Theo had been asked to special order sixty full bolts of white tulle. Either they would be able to decorate the barn in style or the local dance teacher could make enough costumes for a production of Swan Lake, including dressing the audience.

Theo first met the mother of the bride on one of her excursions from Lexington to Silersville on fact-finding missions. Theo thought she was lovely and gracious. She also thought the mother-of-the-bride has a difficult job in many weddings. On her shoulders are wings borrowed from fairy godmothers. She is there to help her daughter achieve the wedding of her dreams. At the same time, she is supposed to protect the father-of-the-bride from bankruptcy. A difficult balancing act at times. Add in keeping the bride from nervous fits, pacifying cantankerous family members, losing that stubborn twenty pounds and finding a dress that is flattering.

Now Elf's untimely arrival and the tragedy of Scarlet's death threatened their grand plan. Theo was almost positive not even Elf could derail the wedding, but stranger things had happened.

Like Tony telling her Mr. Beasley had ordered a car for her. And paid for it. Theo couldn't believe it. Or at least she wouldn't believe it until she saw it.

Suddenly fatigued, she signaled for Tony to take her home. The sight of Blossom dancing with her two suitors made her smile. What would Blossom do with a house and plenty of money of her own? Would she still cook and do housekeeping, or would her life take a completely different direction?

Patrick's adoptive parents, the MacLeods, arrived on Wednesday morning, perhaps twelve hours behind Elf's dramatic intrusion on Ruby and Mike's wedding. Tony knew because his mom called to complain about Elf. While Celeste had been giving her parents a private tour of the museums and explaining what she and Patrick planned for the reception, Elf arrived at the museum with her driver.

“Can't you come out here and get rid of her?” said Jane.

“Her who, Mom?” Tony really hoped she wouldn't say Elf.

“Easter Lily, of course.” Jane rattled something into the earpiece. It sounded like thunder. “She has no business being here.”

“What is Celeste doing about it?”

“Nothing.” Jane sniffed. “I don't know what is wrong with the girl. I thought she'd have a bit more spine.”

“She's probably trying to keep peace with one of her mothers-in-law to be.” Not for the first time, Tony wondered how different his life would be if Theo's parents hadn't died when Theo was just a baby. He'd never had to deal with in-laws. “You ought to call Patrick's folks and have them join you all. As I understand it, the MacLeods are staying with her mother. She lives just down wind of Nellie Pearl. I'm sure they'd welcome a reason to get away from the smell of camphor.”

“Ha, ha, ha.”

Before Tony could think of something else to irritate his mother with, she whispered into the phone, “Never mind. Not only are the MacLeods here, but your wife and Katti just arrived.”

Katti coasted up to the handicapped space, hung the blue wheelchair tag on the rearview mirror and jumped out of the pink Cadillac. She pointed a finger at Theo. “You stay. I find peoples.”

Theo laughed and saluted. Katti was born to lead. She was going to organize herself and Claude and probably the whole dump before Christmas. She and Theo had come to check on the quilts designated for display and find appropriate storage for the rest. To celebrate Celeste's wedding, they wanted to have as many wedding quilts as possible hanging for viewing during the reception. Theo had been surprised at the number that had been donated. Families were proud to have something in the museum. Some of the quilts were little more than worn out rags, and some looked pristine, like the couple had never used them.

Theo's personal favorites were the ones so worn that it was difficult to identify many of the fabrics. They were well-loved quilts.

Katti trotted back from her fact-finding mission and opened the trunk to retrieve Theo's wheelchair. “Here too is all the parents.” She grinned. “Fighting is in barn. We go there?”

Tamping down the nosy side of her nature took a bit of work. Theo finally shook her head. “No. We are going into the museum.”

“Too bad.” Katti helped Theo out of the car with natural expertise. “More fun where yelling is.”

Katti needn't have worried about missing the family battle, Theo thought when the group consisting of the bride and her parents, the groom's parents and the groom's birth mother burst into the museum building. Everyone was talking. No one was listening. The six people created enough sound to drown out what Theo was saying to Jane.

Her mother-in-law's eyes filled with tears. “I don't think this is going to work out.” She sniffled. “What if Celeste quits?”

“Where do you get these ideas?” Theo patted Jane's shoulder. “Celeste might do away with a couple of Patrick's relatives, but she's not leaving the museum. She loves it here. I've seen her face when she is setting up an exhibit. She can't stop smiling.”

Jane's reply was drowned out by a scream coming from the doorway.

“I am his mother, and you will do as I say!” Elf stormed across the gift shop toward the quilt display. As if reading Theo's mind, Katti stepped into Elf's path, sending the irate woman in another direction. “It needs more flowers. I'll order them myself. It still looks like a barn!” Leaving a trail of perfume almost visible in the air, Elf charged past Katti, a cell phone pressed to her ear.

Theo heard the door slam. Then silence. Finally, Celeste's voice could be heard. She sounded calm and gracious. “I want you all to meet my friend Theo. She's our museum's quilt expert.”

Five people gathered near Theo's worktable. “Hello.” Theo studied their faces. The bride was still smiling. Always a good sign. The couple she didn't know was introduced as Celeste's parents, the Durands. Their smiles looked a bit strained. The MacLeods, she remembered from when they lived in the area. The MacLeods weren't smiling at all.

Theo didn't blame them. The wedding was only two days away and Elf as a surprise guest had its drawbacks. Theo suspected the area florists were about to get a lot of business.

Tony stared at the reports on his desk. It was a tall stack, almost burying his new super-jumbo sized jar of antacids. He wondered when he would be able to order them in a fifty-gallon barrel. It would save a lot of time, and hopefully money, if he could trot into the storeroom with a gallon pickle jar and a scoop each morning and get his day's supply.

Okay, so he was stalling. The reports had to be read, and he guessed if any of them had a little sticky note with the words “Here's your killer” on it, Ruth Ann would have put it on the top. He peeked at the edges of the files. Nope. Not a single one. Whoever had strangled Scarlet LaFleur with a wire around her neck and dropped her in the shrubbery had gotten away with it. So far.

He started with the file on the top, mostly because it was the skinniest. The phantom with the .22 had been shooting again. Sheila's notes were legible and concise. He wondered why everyone couldn't be so capable.