Behind the Seams (25 page)

“Should I bring it for Miles?” I asked.

Annie nodded. “I think he’d like that.”

As she was getting ready to leave, I threw a few more questions at her about Robyn, but all I managed to find out was that the celebrity couple knew about their daughter’s death and that was why they were at the memorial service. But they had decided it was best for everyone not to publically acknowledge their relationship. I suspected the only ones it was best for was them. I wanted to ask if she thought the couple capable of murder, but she looked at her watch and rushed off.

The rest of the day went by in a blur of books and yarn, and it was dark when I drove home. As I pulled into my driveway, I saw Barry’s Tahoe parked on the street in front of my house. Barry and Jeffrey were walking toward me when I got out of my car.

“We’re just coming from open house at school,” Barry said as an explanation. I was glad that Barry had made it to the event, though the expression on his son’s face made me wonder if he felt the same. We all walked into the backyard together just like a regular family.

“Any more problems with your cell phone?” Barry said. I was relieved to see he was smiling. If we were going to be together, he had to have a sense of humor. I asked how he’d happened to show up and he laughed.

“Babe, all I had to hear was the color and make of the car. How many blue green 1993 190 E Mercedes, do you think there are?” He unlocked the back door with his key and slipped on the lights. Cosmo was waiting by the door and ran outside. Jeffrey went on ahead, saying he would feed them.

“Have you eaten?” I asked. Barry said he’d taken Jeffrey out after the school thing.

“Sushi,” he said with an unhappy face. “I can’t believe my kid wants to eat raw fish.”

When we were out of earshot of Jeffrey, I asked Barry if he’d had the “talk” with him yet.

“I’m waiting for the right time,” he said, obviously uncomfortable. “And some noisy restaurant with the tables on top of each other isn’t the place.” As we passed the hall that led to Samuel’s room, I noticed a stack of moving boxes against the wall.

I went to check them out and Barry followed. “I wonder what this is about. I told Samuel not to worry about getting a place. Better for him to take his time than move in with the wrong people,” I said.

“He’s an adult. I’m sure he can figure it out.” I detected a note of pleasure in Barry’s voice and called him on it.

“Of course the idea that he’s moving on sets well with me. Then we can fix your house up and put it on the market.”

“Hey, hold on,” I said, suddenly feeling like I was being rushed into a decision.

Barry’s voice got a tired sound. “I know you still haven’t officially said yes. You know you are going to. We’re good together.” He was hesitant to act affectionate in front of Jeffrey, concerned it would make him feel uncomfortable. He hesitated to act affectionate when Samuel was around because of the way Samuel looked at him made him feel uncomfortable. But here in the hallway away from everyone, he put his arms around me and held me against him.

I started to tell him about the rest of my day. It was fine until I told him that I wasn’t buying the tainted sweetener to discredit the company theory, and I explained why I thought Becca Ivins and Derek Trousedale were valid suspects in Robyn’s murder.

He listened, but I could tell by the way he was breathing he didn’t really want to hear about it. But he still got an A for effort. He also didn’t tell me to stay out of it. It would have been nicer, though, if I could shoot ideas around with him, and if he’d share information.

Jeffrey called out that he was finished with the dogs and then said he’d forgotten he had homework. Reluctantly Barry left my side and went with him. “If we were married . . .” he said with heat coming off his eyes.

Once they’d gone, I realized I hadn’t eaten and made myself a salad out of whatever was in the crisper. It was the one part of the refrigerator that didn’t seemed to get ravaged by Samuel, Barry and Jeffrey. The house seemed quiet without Samuel there and with Barry and Jeffrey gone.

I thought about Mason. He’d be interested in hearing about my potential meeting with Robyn’s brother. He’d be interested in who I had for suspects. Or he would have been. I knew I’d said I’d only call his office from now on, but I punched in his cell number anyway. When it went to voice mail, I hung up.

AS SOON AS THE GROUP HEARD ABOUT THE PLAN to teach crochet at the halfway house, they all wanted to help, but since it was short notice, not everyone could come. Dinah had a class, Sheila had to work, CeeCee had a meeting about the new season of her show. Oscar buzz might be nice, but she was concerned about keeping her paycheck. Nell said her reason for not going was that she felt like too much of a beginner to be much help, but I knew the truth was she didn’t want to meet Robyn’s brother. It wasn’t a secret that the cops had their eye on her in the death of his sister. How friendly would he be, even if she was there to help.

The one person I was hoping wouldn’t come, of course, did. When Mrs. Shedd heard Adele wanted time off to help at a rehab place, she was all for her going. Our boss was very generous when it came to any kind of charity or good deed. So the three of us headed over the hill and to the beach town of Venice. I was always struck by how the light was totally different by the ocean than in the Valley. All the moisture in the air caught the sun and made it iridescent.

The building appeared to be an old hotel or rooming house. Annie signed us in, and we went to a large room on the first floor.

Annie had brought balls of cotton yarn and had a cup full of hooks. I took out a wad of papers and set them on a coffee table. Rhoda had been all for the plan and agreeable about me making copies of her directions to hand out. Adele staked out the middle of the room as the participants came in. The four women and two men situated themselves on the couches and chairs around the room. A young man, holding a clipboard, came in last. He hugged Annie, and before she introduced us, I knew by his resemblance to Robyn that he was her brother, Miles.

On the drive in, Annie had told me more about him. He’d kept the last name Trousedale and was still hoping for some kind of relationship with his parents. Annie confided that she knew Miles’ problems had shut the door forever on that. It was a Pandora’s box they weren’t going to open. Robyn had stuck by her brother through everything and had found the halfway house for him.

Though he appeared to be putting on a good face, Annie said Robyn’s death was devastating to him, and he was very angry that the police hadn’t arrested anybody. She was concerned about him backsliding. “But I can only get involved so far. Don’t get me wrong, I care about Miles, but I’m not family.” Finally, she admitted that she was still being paid by their parents to stay in touch with them, though Robyn and Miles had never known.

I watched the young man in loose jeans and a blue polo shirt with the collar up perch on the arm of the sofa. He appeared to be there as a supervisor.

I was happy to give Adele center stage when it came to a demonstration. No matter what our differences were, I never denied that she was superior at crochet. And it meant so much to her to be the center of attention. Once she’d given them all the idea how to do impatient crochet, Adele supervised while Annie handed out supplies and I gave them each a copy of the directions to make a cell sock.

The three of us helped the six of them get started. Then we just watched as they worked. I took the opportunity to talk to Miles and immediately noticed that he was much softer than his sister. Something about him tugged at my heart. He seemed very needy, like someone who longed to be hugged and reassured. But at the same time, he was aware of being in charge and responsible for the residents in the room. It was as though he was handling his need by helping others. Knowing everything I did, my heart went out to him.

I took the crocheted boy doll out of my bag and offered it to him.

Miles’ eyes got round when he saw it, and then instinctively he picked it up and held it to his chest. Both dolls had been dressed in moss green crocheted clothing. Robyn’s doll had a dress with a pocket and pink flowers along the hem. Miles’ had overalls in the same color with a tiny pink hankie sticking out of the pocket on the front. A moment later, he set it down as if he’d suddenly remembered where he was.

“What were you doing with the doll?” he asked. His demeanor had changed and he seemed wary.

I didn’t give exact details about where I’d found the doll, but I mentioned I was investigating his sister’s death. I explained I was an amateur sleuth and my real job was working at the bookstore. I gave him my card as a visual aid. I was surprised when his expression hardened.

“I don’t know what they’re waiting for. Why don’t they just arrest that production assistant and lock her up?”

He didn’t want to let go of Nell as the prime suspect, but while the group continued on their project, I worked on him. I explained I’d been there when Robyn died and that I knew Nell and was sure she’d had nothing to do with it. “I have reason to believe that your sister had a plan for one of the shows she was working on. Do you know anything about it?”

He took a moment to think. “I know Robyn was worried about someone she worked with. Another person had been up for the job as segment producer. Robyn thought the woman hadn’t taken it well when she got it. Maybe it had something to do with that.”

I took a moment to absorb what he said. I had to admit that Talia hadn’t seemed very broken up about Robyn’s death. And it was impossible to ignore that Talia now had the job she’d been passed over for before. As I was thinking that she certainly could have sent the box of sweetener, Miles said something else.

“Robyn said a bunch of things about her job. I can’t remember it all. Just that she was working on something that would either make Barbara Olive Overton look really good or get Robyn fired.”

I asked him if he knew who the guests were on the shows Robyn was working on. I wasn’t really surprised when he claimed ignorance. No doubt telling him his star-couple parents were being featured would have been awkward for Robyn since the siblings’ feelings about their parents wasn’t the same.

“I asked my sister if she was sure she knew what she was doing, taking a big chance like that.” He looked me right in the eye. “I tried to get her to tell Barbara Olive Overton about what she had planned.”

“Did she?” I asked. His eyes burned with intensity and he made an uncertain shrug in response. Silence hung between us. Was it possible that the talk show host was involved in Robyn’s death? “Well, if you think of anything else.” I pointed to my cell number on the card. I started to move away, but he stopped me.

“I forgot. The last time my sister came here, she gave me a weird framed photo of herself.”

I asked if I could see it. He seemed a little hesitant at first but agreed to get it. He left and came back as Annie was winding things up with the crocheters.

When he handed me the photo in a flowery silver frame, I almost choked. It was similar to the picture I’d seen in the box of Robyn’s things, as if it had been taken at the same time. She was in the funny hat, and there was a hole next to her. “She must have said something when she gave it to you,” I said. He thought for a moment and finally spoke.

“She did, but I can’t remember exactly what. Something like she couldn’t tell me about it then, but she’d explain it later.” He hung his head. “That was the last time I saw her.” His voice trailed off, and the sadness in it touched my heart. No matter what Robyn had been to anyone else, her brother had definitely loved her.

An hour later, Adele and I were trooping through the café on the way to the bookstore.

“Pink, why were you hanging out with the guy with the clipboard? He wasn’t even crocheting,” Adele said. Apparently, Adele had been listening to her MP3 player on the drive in and missed Annie’s whole story. When I explained who Miles was, she got all huffy.

“You should have told me you were investigating. I could have helped. You know, we could have played good cop, bad cop or something.”

I said a silent prayer that she hadn’t known. “Thanks for the thought, but I doubt it would have gotten me any more than I got. He said something about his sister’s job, and then he showed me a photo similar to the one I saw before with Robyn’s ex-boyfriend cut out of it. I’m hoping he thinks of something else.”

“Who’s the ex?” Adele asked. When I shrugged and said I didn’t have a name, she put her hand on her hip and looked toward Bob for agreement. “If I were Sherlock Pink, I’d be looking for Mr. Missing.”

Bob seemed to ignore her comment. He was up to his elbows in brownies for Salute to Chocolate. D. J. was standing at the counter with his empty mug, and Bob stopped cutting the squares long enough to give him black coffee and make me my trademark drink.

“Pink, you’re a caffeine addict,” Adele said with a snort before she rushed on to the bookstore.

Thankfully, most of the preparations for Salute to Chocolate had been taken care of, but still I knew once I walked into the bookstore I’d get snagged into doing last-minute stuff, so I let Adele go on ahead and I found a private corner and called Mason’s office. Adele’s comment had reminded me of what I still hadn’t been able to ask Mason. His assistant answered, and when I asked to speak to Mason, he hemmed and hawed and asked what I wanted. Mason had left instructions that he was to take care of anything I needed. I could feel my face falling. This was worse than when I’d called and he wasn’t alone. When I told the assistant I wanted the name connected to a license plate number, he sounded doubtful but took the information. If I couldn’t get one kind of information, I thought I’d try for another.

“I guess a lot of stuff has changed now that Mason has met someone,” I said. “Do you know anything about her?” I asked.