Road Trip (11 page)

“I just saw him,” Mr. Gold interjected.

“Really?” Stella turned sharp eyes toward the slender man. “Did he need to question you again?”

“Not me, no,” Mr. Gold said with a shake of his head. “He was talking to some of the waitstaff. I happened to notice because the detective stands out in this crowd. I mean, really, what could stand out more than a cowboy at a crafts convention?”

“Could you point me in the right direction?” Annie asked. “I really must speak to him.”

Mr. Gold gave them directions, and Annie turned to Kate. “Do you still want to come with me?” she asked. “I’ll understand if you’d rather not miss any of the master’s class. You’re much more of a master at crochet than I am.”

Kate reluctantly shook her head. “No, I’ll go with you. You shouldn’t have to talk to him alone, and I saw the guy grab Cat too.”

Mr. Gold’s eyes went wide. “You saw a crime?”

“Was it the woman you were looking for?” Mary Beth asked.

“Yes,” Annie said. “I promise to tell you all about it, but you should go to your class, and I should go find the detective.”

At that, they separated and Annie wove through the crowded hallway with Kate just behind her. Finally, the crowd began to thin as most of the people headed to the masters’ classes. Annie turned into the hallway Mr. Gold had directed them to, and they saw the detective’s dark head of wild hair as he bent over his notebook, flipping pages. He was alone in the hall, and Annie was glad to have caught him before he left.

“Detective?” she called.

The man raised his head, and his face lit up with recognition. “Ah, the ladies of Stony Point, Maine,” he said with a grin. “How can I help you?”

“Could you tell me if Cat Reed contacted you?” Annie asked.

The detective shook his head. “No, I’ve talked to a number of people, but no one by that name. Does she know something about the murder?”

“Murder?” Kate said. “So you’re sure now?”

“We’re leaning that way,” the detective said. “Now what about Cat Reed?”

“I met her yesterday,” Annie said. “We talked about some trouble she was having with her boyfriend. Then when I talked to her again this morning, I found out her boyfriend was Max Lessing.”

The detective raised his eyebrows. “Interesting.”

“She didn’t know he was dead,” Annie said. “And she was very upset when I told her. She promised me that she was going to call you.”

“I never heard from her,” the detective said. “I checked in with the office just a few minutes ago.”

“Maybe she’s on your voice mail,” Annie said. “When I tried to call your cell, the call rolled over to voice mail.”

“The department wouldn’t have given her my cellphone number,” he said. “And it’s not on my cards.”

“It was on the one you gave me,” Kate said. “You wrote it.”

He smiled crookedly at her. “That was special.”

“Oh!” Kate said, clearly surprised.

“There’s more about Cat,” Annie said.

“Of course—what else?” the detective asked pulling his gaze away from Kate with some reluctance. “Did you get her phone number?”

“No, though I imagine the convention organizers have it. She is one of the models in the fashion show,” Annie said. “But when Kate and I walked outside this morning to get a good signal on my phone, I saw Cat waiting near the parking garage. A black SUV drove out of the garage, and the driver got out and pushed her into the backseat. She didn’t look like she wanted to go.”

“You’re saying it looked like an abduction?” The detective frowned. “Why didn’t you say that in the first place?”

“We were kind of far away,” Annie admitted. “But Cat definitely didn’t look like she wanted to get in.”

“Did you get a good look at the driver of the SUV?” he asked.

Annie shook her head. “The door blocked my view. I could tell it was a man, but that’s all.” Annie took a deep breath and finally added. “When we were coming to the convention, I thought a black SUV was following us. It might have been my imagination, but I just wanted to add that.”

“Max Lessing drove a black SUV,” the detective said. “We found it in the parking garage here.”

“Do you think whoever grabbed Cat was using Max Lessing’s car?” Annie asked.

The detective shook his head. “There are a lot of dark SUVs around, and we impounded the victim’s car, so I’m sure it wasn’t the same vehicle.”

“Detective Matthews,” Annie said. “Cat seemed genuinely broken up when I told her that Max Lessing was dead. She clearly cared about him. I don’t think she had anything to do with his death.”

The detective nodded, writing in his notebook. Then he looked up at Kate. “Do you have anything to add, Mrs. Stevens?”

Kate turned to look at Annie. Then she said, “Annie got part of the license plate.”

“Oh, right!” Annie said. “I completely forgot. Yes, I wrote it down.” She read off the numbers to the detective, and he wrote them in his notebook.

“You ladies have been very helpful,” he said. “You wouldn’t be part of the Stony Point mystery club would you?”

“Now you’re making fun of us,” Kate said. “We were just trying to help.”

He held up his hands. “Not making fun, I promise. Maybe just teasing a little. But you have been helpful. I’m going to put out an APB, and we’ll begin looking for Cat Reed immediately.”

Kate looked at him skeptically, but the detective seemed sincere.

“OK,” Annie said. “We’ll leave you to your work. We’re going to go back to enjoying the convention. Oh, I just thought of something. Mr. Gold said Max was wearing a vendor’s tag. Was he a vendor here?”

The detective shook his head. “No, we tracked that down. Apparently he took it from someone’s jacket during the dinner hour.”

“Oh,” Annie said. She wondered if a lot of clues just turned out to be nothing.

“Well, thank you ladies again,” he said. “Are you both staying through until Sunday?”

“Right after Sunday brunch is the ceremony honoring my grandmother,” Annie said. “We definitely won’t be leaving before that.”

He nodded, though his gaze had wandered back to Kate. “Well, I hope the rest of your convention is pleasant. I’d hate for any of you to go home with a dim view of Texas.”

“Not likely to happen,” Annie said.

They turned and headed back toward the convention areas, leaving the detective alone with his notebook. “Well, that settles that,” Annie said, once they were out of earshot.

“What?” Kate asked.

“He
definitely
likes you.”

Kate stopped walking, disbelief on her face. “Where do you get that from?”

“It certainly wasn’t me that he was staring at the whole time we were there,” Annie said.

“Right,” Kate said. “He stares at me with those suspicious eyes.”

Annie laughed. “I definitely didn’t see suspicion in his eyes when he looked at you.”

“Let’s be realistic,” Kate said. “I’m the mother of a teenager. And the men of Stony Point are not exactly lining up to date me.”

“That’s because they’re scared of Harry,” Annie said, “and because you respond to male interest by assuming the man thinks you’re a killer.”

Kate just shook her head. “OK, OK,” she said. “I’m sorry I ever took part in teasing you about Ian. You don’t have to try to get me back.”

“I’m not,” Annie said. “I just don’t think you need to worry about being a suspect. His interest in you is not because he thinks you’re a killer. I promise, no teasing—but you
really
don’t have to worry about him slapping the cuffs on you.”

Kate looked at her for a second. “Thanks,” she said finally. “Now we should get back to the convention. I’m
so
ready to think about crochet for a while.”

They did exactly that for the rest of the afternoon. They even banished mystery talk from the dinner table after Annie and Kate told the others about seeing Cat abducted.

“We’ve told everything to the detective,” Annie said. “Now I’d like to just enjoy the rest of the convention.”

“OK,” Mary Beth said agreeably. Stella looked less enthusiastic, but she didn’t argue. “I know I’m having a great time,” Mary Beth added. “I’ve found two new yarn vendors for A Stitch in Time. People are going to love these gorgeous handmade yarns.”

“That’s great,” Kate said. “I love working with that kind of yarn. It has so much personality. I’d also like to try needle felting like they talked about in the workshop today. I was going to see about getting some wool roving from the Two Ewe Spinnery.”

“That was an interesting workshop,” Annie agreed. “What are you thinking of making?”

“Flowers,” Kate said. “I could picture this Alpine-styled, short jacket with embroidered accents and felted flowers—all in muted colors.”

“Sounds great,” Annie said. She could definitely imagine wearing a jacket like that on the nippy spring days in Maine.

“Are you nervous about the fashion show tonight?” Mary Beth asked.

“Me? Or Kate?” Annie asked in return.

“Both,” Mary Beth answered. “But you’re the one who’ll be in the public eye.”

“I’m hoping that if I don’t fall down or faint during the fashion show tonight, it will give me confidence for Sunday,” Annie admitted.

“You’ll be fantastic,” Mary Beth said.

“So, you’ve seen all the clothing in the fashion show,” Stella said. “How stiff is Kate’s competition?”

“You know I love Kate’s work best,” Annie said. “The competition is fierce though. I saw so many really beautiful things, and not just knitted or crocheted. There was one embroidered dress that was stunning. The dress was made in jewel-tone fabric, and the embroidery was all metallic and mirrors. I know it sounds garish, but somehow it just looked amazing.”

“I can’t see how any of them could beat Kate’s work,” Mary Beth said loyally.

“I am just happy to be a finalist if the competition is like you say, Annie,” Kate said. “I really never expected to win.”

“It’s far too early to count yourself out,” Annie said. “Your dress is incredible. And the way it wears—some of the pieces I saw were beautiful workmanship, but yours also hangs and flows so perfectly.”

Kate smiled and patted Annie’s arm. “Thanks.”

“You know,” Stella said. “I’ve heard that companies often look for new designs at these kinds of original fashion shows, so this could result in more opportunities than even the prize money.”

“I think I’ll not count my chickens before they’re hatched,” Kate said. “In this case, it’s before the eggs are even laid!”

“I think you should spend more time dreaming big,” Mary Beth said.

Just then, their conversation was interrupted as the four Brookfield women walked up to their table. “Annie,” Dorothy said. “We just wanted a chance to meet your Stony Point friends.”

Annie stood and introduced everyone, and then invited the women to join them for dessert and coffee since they already had a couple of extra chairs at the big table where they’d been seated. The waitstaff brought more chairs, and everyone was soon seated and chatting like old friends.

Annie looked over the group with a smile. It really shouldn’t have surprised her that her old friends and her new friends would get along so well. They had so much in common, and not just a love of crafting. They were also all loyal, kind women with big hearts—even Stella was going out of her way to be open and friendly.

It reminded Annie of an old song she had learned in Girl Scouts and her eyes twinkled as it ran through her head.
Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, and the other gold.
Despite the rough moments of the convention, this really was a perfect moment, as Annie found herself surrounded by her silver and gold friends.

12

Later, as Annie walked into the makeshift changing room for the fashion show, she noticed right away that Cat Reed wasn’t there. Annie was worried. Had the young woman been too upset to take part in the fashion show? Was she busy talking to the police detective? Or had Annie and Kate really witnessed an abduction?

Worry gnawed at Annie’s stomach as she changed into Kate’s lovely dress. Finally, Annie paused and bowed her head to say a silent prayer for the younger woman’s safety.

When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see Cat herself, slipping in beside her to reach her jacket. “Oh, Cat,” Annie said. “I’m so glad to see you’re OK.”

Cat looked at her and smiled. “Oh, I’m so sorry I worried you. I know I was pretty messed up this morning.”

“Well, yes, I was worried about that,” Annie said. “But also, I saw you this morning near the parking garage. It looked like someone forced you into that SUV.”

Cat laughed ruefully. “Someone did—my brother! He can be such a big brother sometimes. He was sure I needed to go straight home to Mom’s and let her wrap me up in a quilt and feed me sweet tea like when we were kids. We were halfway to Littleton before I talked him into turning around and bringing me back. It’s not that I couldn’t use some Mom time, you know? It’s just that it felt important that I do this show.”

“I can understand that,” Annie said. “Did you ever talk to the police detective?”

Cat shook her head. “I called his office after we finally got back, but they just took my name and information. I’m sure he’ll call me.” For a second her eyes grew wet, and then she blinked the tears away. “I’ll think about all that after this is over.”

Annie gave Cat a quick hug, though she knew that sometimes a little sympathy could crumble a person’s effort to stay strong, so she quickly changed the subject. “So your brother had the same kind of car as Max?”

Cat looked at her in surprise. “Yeah, actually, Jake bought it after he drove Max’s SUV once.”

“I didn’t know they were that close,” Annie said.

“Close to throttling one another—all the time,” Cat said. “No, Jake just had to move Max’s car when we went to my Mom’s birthday party. Apparently Max had someone blocked in. The way Jake acted, you’d have thought Max parked on top of Mom’s rosebushes.” She shook her head at the memory. “But Jake did like the car, so he bought one.”

Just then, the backstage manager called for all the models to line up as they had practiced, and the show began. From her place in line, Annie heard the master of ceremonies running through the description of each outfit, just as she had during the rehearsals. She also heard the applause, and it was louder than she expected.
How many people are out there?
Annie thought as she fought down a jolt of nerves. She had to do this well for Kate’s sake.

In line just ahead of her, Annie heard Cat’s name called. “Good luck,” she whispered.

Cat smiled back at her and walked through the door. Annie took several deep breaths, but still nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the master of ceremonies call Kate’s name. Annie pasted a smile on her face and walked through the door.

Annie counted in her head so that she would do the turns to show off the dress just as she’d practiced. Then she slipped out of the jacket to show off the detailing in the dress bodice. She knew the master of ceremonies was describing the dress, but her nerves were so jumpy, she could barely hear her.

At the last turn, Annie looked out over the audience. She saw Mary Beth standing in the center aisle snapping pictures, and Annie felt her smile relax into something a bit more natural. Mary Beth was clearly glowing with pride, and Annie knew that pride was all for Kate. This really was her friend’s moment.

As the announcer stopped speaking, the applause from the audience roared back at Annie. Were they really this enthusiastic for everyone? It certainly seemed extra loud to Annie. She crossed the small platform that made up the stage and stepped off the other side to take her place with the other models.

Annie enjoyed watching the last five models. Each outfit was truly a work of art. One made clever use of granny squares in a pantsuit. The slacks were fabric but with a row of small, bright granny squares up the side seams. The matching sweater had scattered granny squares in a matrix of lace. Annie was charmed to see an old design like granny squares given such an updated look by a clever, talented designer.

Two of the final outfits didn’t use crocheted or knitted parts at all, except as a lace trim on one. Instead, they used different sorts of embroidery to accent the fabric. Annie wished Gram were there to see the darling Western-look jacket with a gorgeous cross-stitch landscape across the back yoke. She would have loved the idea.

Finally the announcer drew the show to a close. She explained the voting to the audience and added that the top three vote getters would be presented the following morning. Then a panel of industry experts would pick the person who would win the grand prize for original clothing design.

When the show was over, Annie headed back toward the dressing room. She hoped to speak to Cat before she slipped out. Instead, Annie was engulfed in a hug before she made it halfway across the room.

“You made my dress look beautiful,” Kate said, excitement shining in her eyes. “It doesn’t even matter about winning. It was just amazing to see my dress up there with all those gorgeous things.”

“Your dress would be stunning in any crowd,” Annie said. “Let me go get out of it though. I don’t want to rumple it before morning. I have a feeling I’ll be wearing it again.”

Kate laughed. “You guys are always so encouraging.”

Annie made it to the dressing room and looked around, but she didn’t see Cat anywhere. When Annie hung up Kate’s dress, she noticed that Cat must have taken her jacket with her. Shaking her head, Annie chided herself.
You really need to leave this whole murder mystery alone. The detective has it well in hand.

With that, Annie slipped her own cardigan back on and walked back out to the main room where her friends were clustered around Kate. Annie was glad to see the Brookfield ladies congratulating Kate right along with her friends from Stony Point.

“I would love to be able to design like that,” Dorothy said wistfully. “I love to crochet, but I am definitely tied to using patterns.”

“Not all my attempts turn out that well,” Kate said modestly. “It’s a good thing no one sees some of the messes I come up with.”

“I wish I could buy patterns for something that nice,” Lily chimed in. “My granddaughter would look amazing in a dress like that.” She turned to smile at Annie. “You were lovely.”

“I’m just glad I didn’t faint,” Annie said. “I definitely felt a little wobbly at the beginning.”

“Well, I couldn’t have done it at all,” Kate said. “I’m so grateful to you for taking my place.”

“You’ll still have to be brave tomorrow when they call you up on stage,” Mary Beth said.

Kate just laughed fondly. “Let’s let tomorrow take care of itself. Do we have any plans for now?”

“If no one minds,” Annie said. “I’m going to call it a night. I want to call my daughter and see how the twins are feeling.”

“Tell LeeAnn they’re in our prayers,” Mary Beth said. “We definitely want to see them all on Sunday.”

“She’ll appreciate that,” Annie answered. Her friends all wished her good night before returning to their plans for the evening. Annie felt a warm glow as she headed out into the hall.
Well
, she said to herself,
one scary hurdle down, one to go.
At least she’d only been expected to walk in the fashion show; she’d actually have to speak on Sunday.

Annie wandered down the hall, looking around absent-mindedly. She was surprised to see the door open to the display room. It had been closed all day. She guessed the police must have finished with it.

Annie walked into the room and looked at her grandmother’s work. Seeing the peaceful scenes in the pictures, Annie was awash in nostalgia. How many times had she seen Gram tucked into the corner of the sofa at Grey Gables stitching one of these lovely things? “I miss you, Gram,” she whispered.

Annie turned and looked curiously at the other displays in the room. She realized they were all showcasing different designers. She spotted one set up by her favorite crochet magazine. It showed a darling baby layette carefully pinned to the display so that it best showed off the sweet lacy design. Beside it hung a collection of cute crocheted hats. And across the table laid a row of crocheted slippers. The display declared that all were the work of one designer, and it showed the woman’s sweet smiling face.

“Maybe someday that will be Kate,” Annie said aloud. She liked the idea of seeing her friend’s designs in a magazine and wondered if Kate had ever considered doing something like that. It seemed like it might be a nice side income. She’d probably need to design pieces a bit simpler than most of her masterworks though.

With that thought, Annie found herself stifling a yawn. It was definitely time to head upstairs and call LeeAnn. She realized she’d been dawdling a bit mostly because she was afraid her daughter would give her bad news. She hated the idea of her family missing out on Gram’s ceremony.

“I need to just get this over with,” she said and strode out of the room. As she headed into the lobby, she caught sight of Cat chatting with a man with similar features.
Probably her brother
, she thought. She started to veer toward them, but then decided not to intrude.

Still, her movement had apparently caught the younger woman’s eye because she smiled and gestured for Annie to come over. “Jake, this is the lady I told you about,” she said. “Annie, this is my brother Jake.”

The young man looked to be a few years older than his sister. He had a solemn expression and the same high cheekbones as his sister. He nodded toward Annie. “Nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Annie said. “Your sister speaks highly of you.”

A little bit of a smile cracked his grave expression. “Not always,” he said. “Sometimes she talks about me like a sorry dog.”

“No, that’s only when I’m talking
to
you,” Cat quipped. “I save the nice stuff for when I’m talking
about
you. Otherwise Mom would ban me from Sunday dinner into eternity.”

“Sounds like family,” Annie added. “I’ve always thought it would be wonderful to have a big brother.”

“That’s ’cause you don’t have one,” Cat said. Then as her brother put on a fake pout, she gave him a quick hug. “You know I couldn’t do without you.”

“Though you might want to try now and then,” he finished for her.

They all laughed, and then Cat turned toward Annie again. “I was telling Jake that he missed a great fashion show,” Cat said. “I still can’t believe my little jacket made it into the finals. You should have seen the fancy ensemble Annie wore in the show.”

“I only wore it,” Annie said. “I certainly couldn’t have made it. I thought your jacket was lovely and so creative. I’m impressed by people who can create out of their imaginations like that. My grandmother could do it with cross-stitch, but I’m afraid that talent did not get passed on to me.”

“I like making my own things,” Cat said. “And you just wait. The next time they have one of these fancy things here in Texas, I’m make something every bit as fancy as that dress you wore.”

“I believe you will,” Annie said.

“Cat’s really talented,” Jake said, pride clear in his voice. “And she’s got a great eye. She sometimes helps my wife in her business.”

“Oh?” Annie said. “What does your wife do?”

“Melanie’s a personal shopper,” Cat said. “It is so much fun. You help people get the things that will really suit them and make them happy. I love that.”

“And you can do a lot more of it—
now
,” Jake said. “You know Mel’s always wanted you in the business, and now you can do that.”

Cat frowned at her brother. “Let’s not hash that up again,” she said. “You know I didn’t think you were being reasonable.”

“Well, you tell me, ma’am,” Jake said turning to Annie. “What do you think Mel’s clients would think if they knew the lady helping them in their private homes was some felon’s girlfriend?”

“Max’s problems were a long time ago,” Cat said, her face darkening with anger. “He worked an honest job selling office machines.”

“He certainly managed to sell you that story, didn’t he?”

“Um, I really feel like I’m intruding on something best kept private,” Annie said. “It was lovely to meet you, Jake. I’m going to go on up to my room now.”

Jake seemed to realize then that he’d gotten a little out of hand. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I shouldn’t have tried to drag you into it. I do appreciate how nice you’ve been to my little sister.”

Annie smiled. “Your little sister is easy to be nice to.”

The thunderous expression on Cat’s face faded, and she smiled. “Good night, Annie. It was fun being in the show with you.”

“You too,” Annie said. “And who knows, maybe we’ll both be on stage in the morning.”

Cat laughed. “Not likely, but it’s good to dream—right?”

“That’s my motto,” Annie agreed. Then she bid them good night and walked the rest of the way to the elevators. Annie stepped inside and pushed the button. Something Jake had said nagged at her memory. What was it?

She tapped a foot in time to the elevator music as she went through Jake and Cat’s conversation in her head. Then it hit her. Cat had said Max sold office machines, and their computer search that morning showed that Edgar Harvester had several businesses that sold office machines. What were the odds that the company Max sold machines for might be one of the ones Mr. Harvester owned?

The elevator dinged and opened on Annie’s floor. Annie pushed the button to close the door and headed back downstairs. She had to know if Mr. Harvester and Max Lessing were connected. She had a feeling the answer to that question would interest Detective Matthews very, very much.