The Tapestry in the Attic (12 page)

12

Annie was in a swivet. Bill called the police right away, and Reed Edwards, Stony Point’s chief of police, was at the Cultural Center in a matter of minutes. Officer Cal Peters, who had actually saved Annie’s life not so long ago, was also there. They promised to do everything they could to find the tapestry, but Annie knew the clues were scarce. There was no way for her to know exactly how long the tapestry had been gone since she hadn’t seen it since the day she had returned the key to Stella.

The other problem was the number of people who knew about the tapestry. Annie had learned through firsthand experience that news of any sort spread like wildfire through Stony Point. It had become common knowledge that the tapestry was going to be used on the stage set among the college people involved with the play as well. She remembered that Cyril had taken photos with his cellphone and was going to contact his friends in the antique and auction businesses about it. Who knew how far afield the news had traveled?

And it wasn’t like the Cultural Center was Fort Knox. The people of Stony Point were generally pretty trusting. Anyone who came into the building could have come up to the fourth floor. The door didn’t show any signs of being forced, but Annie didn’t think the lock would be that hard to pick for a real thief, or perhaps someone had stolen a key.

It had been Annie’s gut instinct to keep the tapestry at Grey Gables, but she had ignored it. Now she berated herself for not listening to that instinct. She felt like she had let her grandmother down. And what about Lily Cornette? Had she let her down too? With all the activity of the last several weeks, Annie had never followed up on her discovery of the letter. The two boxes of letters still sat in the corner of the living room, and she had never made it over to Longfellow College to see what she could find out about Lily.

All of this still weighed heavily on Annie’s mind the next evening at the Friday-night rehearsal. The professor had arranged for a longer rehearsal than usual, so that they could do a complete run-through of the play. He asked everyone to show up at six that evening and to be prepared to stay as long as necessary.

Peggy’s sister, Mitzy, had been at the theater early on; the professor wanted her to have a chance to apply her newly acquired theatrical skills for hair and makeup. All the actors had either applied makeup themselves, or they had been guinea pigs for Mitzy. To Annie, they looked a little grotesque close up, but she knew that from a distance and in the bright stage lights, the heavy makeup wouldn’t look so odd.

Jacob Martin was there too. Annie had seldom seen him at the rehearsals, and when he was there, she had never seen him interact with the Fortescues—the same was true that evening. Apparently the trouble between them had not been resolved yet. Jacob sat next to Professor Howell in the house seats as they watched the actors work their way through the play.

Annie was in her usual place in the prompter’s box, but it was hard to keep her mind on the play. Several times, one of the actors had to ask Annie for his or her line, rather than her offering it at the right moment, as she had been doing. Annie wasn’t sure if it was just her perception, but it seemed like everyone in the play was on edge. At the intermission mark, Professor Howell called for a twenty-minute break.

“Let’s see if we can come back with a little higher level of concentration,” said the professor. Annie didn’t think he was referring to her; perhaps it wasn’t just Annie’s perception after all that everyone seemed to be affected by the disappearance of the tapestry.

It was Stella who suggested that the members of the Hook and Needle Club who were present at the rehearsal should take their break up on the fourth floor in the conference room where they could talk privately. Gwen was still sick, but she didn’t normally come to the rehearsal anyway. Mary Beth was also at home. Kate was there that evening, getting some of the actors to try on their costumes to make sure they fit properly. Alice was there too; the main structure for the great hall set had been put in place, and she had started to work her magic to make it look like a real castle. Peggy was at every rehearsal. Now they were all seated around the conference table.

Stella began by once again apologizing to Annie, taking the responsibility upon herself for the disappearance of the tapestry. Though Annie was upset, she didn’t blame Stella and told her so. “It’s not your fault, Stella. Please don’t think that I blame you. I was blaming myself for letting the tapestry out of my sight, but the person we should be blaming is the person who took it.”

Peggy took a long drink from her bottle of water and then asked, “How are we going to figure out who that is? You don’t think it was anyone that’s part of the cast or crew—do you?”

“I hate to think that,” said Annie, “but I don’t see how we can rule it out. Maybe we can spread it around that we are on to a lead.”

“Like what?” asked Kate.

Annie thought a moment. “We could let it be known that I’m going to go to Longfellow next week, to get information about Lily Cornette and the tapestry. That’s not untrue—I really think it would be a good idea to find out everything we can about her. Over the weekend, I’m going to try to go through some more of Gram’s letters too. There might be something there that could help.”

“So, you think telling people about Lily Cornette might help smoke out the culprit?” asked Alice. “Sounds like a long shot to me.”

“Do you have a better idea?” asked Annie.

“Not at the moment,” Alice admitted. “But if I come up with something, I’ll be sure to let you know.” Alice was facing the windows. “Wow! Look at it snow—it’s really coming down. I wonder when that started.”

They all looked out the windows from where they were sitting. “I love the snow,” said Kate. “I’m not crazy about the cold, mind you, but the snow is beautiful.”

Just then, Peggy’s cellphone rang. She looked a little sheepish as she retrieved it from her pocket. Professor Howell had given strict orders that he did not want to hear or see a cellphone during rehearsals. Apparently Peggy had forgotten to set her phone to vibrate. Luckily for her, it hadn’t rung during rehearsal. She looked at the display and said, “It’s Mitzy.” Peggy pushed a button and placed the phone over her ear. “Hey, Mitz. What’s up?” Peggy listened for a minute, her expression concerned.

When Peggy had finished talking and had ended the call, Annie asked, “What is it, Peggy?”

“Mitzy just got home,” said Peggy.

“Didn’t she leave about an hour and a half ago?” asked Alice.

“That’s the point—she said the roads are terrible. She barely made it home. She said she wouldn’t even try going out now.”

All of the ladies got up from their chairs to look out the windows of the conference room. It was difficult to see the street below in the dull glow of the streetlights through the swirling snow. “Maybe we should go down to the main level and see what it looks like from there,” said Stella.

They took the elevator down to the main floor and peered out through the glass doors of the entrance into the Cultural Center. The ladies could see what could only be described as a blizzard. The wind whipped through Main Street and had already begun to bury the cars that were parked along its sides.

“Were they predicting this much snow?” asked Alice.

“I don’t know,” said Annie. “I didn’t listen to the radio or turn on the television today.”

“They were predicting some snow this evening,” said Kate, “but I think this is a lot more than they expected, and I don’t remember hearing anything about such strong winds.”

Just then a powerful gust of wind whipped through, making a fierce howling noise and rattling the doors; the snow was so thick in the air that Annie couldn’t even see the business that was located directly across the street.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the sheriff calls for a code white,” said Stella. “I should go talk to Professor Howell so he knows the situation. He might not understand that a code white means there are whiteout conditions—that visibility goes down to almost zero, and that no one is allowed out on the roads, even road crews.”

Just then, a tall man, wearing a skullcap, heavy coat, and gloves, and a scarf wrapped around his face, pounded on the outer door, startling all of the women. Alice didn’t hesitate to unlock the door and let him in. He shook off the snow and undid the scarf. It was Ian.

“What are you doing out in this?” asked Annie.

“I was working late at the office, and I’m sorry to say I ignored the phone so I could get some paperwork done. When I checked my messages just a little while ago, I’d had five calls from Chief Edwards. He told me the county sheriff has declared a code white. No one’s going home this evening.”

****

The news that they were all essentially trapped in the Cultural Center affected people in different ways. Most of the students seemed to think it was kind of exciting, and went to the windows in the lobby of the theater to watch the snow pile up deeper and deeper. The locals from Stony Point were worried about their families. Most were busy calling home, including Kate and Peggy.

“Vanessa is all right,” said Kate as she placed her cellphone back in the pocket of her cardigan. “She did her homework, and she said she still has electricity. I told her to call me whenever she wants to. I don’t care what the professor says tonight—if she calls during the rehearsal, I’m taking it.”

“Wally and Emily are all settled in too,” said Peggy. “I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” said Annie. She didn’t have any family in Stony Point, but she did think of Boots at home. Fortunately, she had filled Boots’s water and food bowls just before she came to rehearsal, so the cat wouldn’t starve. Annie thought it might do the chubby feline some good to miss at least one meal in any case.

She knew that Gwen would be fine—her husband, John, would be at home with her, and Annie was certain that Gwen’s son George, who lived in Portland, would be calling to check on both of them. But Annie wondered about Mary Beth. She lived alone, and she didn’t have any children. Her niece, Amy, was far away in New York City, and who knew where Melanie might be. Annie decided to give Mary Beth a call.

When Mary Beth answered, Annie just said, “Are you all right?”

“Who is this? Annie? Is that you?” said Mary Beth.

“Yes, sorry,” said Annie. “I was just calling to make sure you were all right, because of the snow.”

“What snow?” asked Mary Beth.

“Look out your window,” said Annie. She waited a moment.

“When did this start?” asked Mary Beth.

“I’m not sure,” said Annie. “Sometime after six. Did I wake you up?”

Mary Beth confessed that she had been asleep, and Annie apologized for waking her.

“Not a problem,” said Mary Beth. “It’s good to know that someone cares.”

“Lots of people care about you, Mary Beth,” said Annie. “I won’t keep you any longer. Go back to sleep. A code white has been declared, so we’re all stuck here. I’ll call you when I get home, hopefully sometime tomorrow.”

After Annie ended her call to Mary Beth, Ian walked over to talk to her. His hair looked unruly after he took off his hat, and he had “five o’clock shadow” around his jaw. He was usually so neat and well-groomed. She barely resisted the urge to reach up and run her fingers through his tousled hair. Instead, she said to him, “You were crazy to come over here in this—why didn’t you just stay at your office?”

“And miss all this fun?” asked Ian. “Besides, I didn’t want to be in Town Hall by myself. That place gets spooky at night.”

“With the conditions out there, what if you’d gotten lost on the way here?” asked Annie.

“I could never get lost in Stony Point,” said Ian. “I know the place by heart. If you were to blindfold me and set me loose, I could find my away around just fine. And believe me, walking over here tonight was like being blindfolded.”

“And what if we hadn’t been right there by the doors to have let you in?” asked Annie.

“Then I would have headed on down to The Cup & Saucer,” said Ian. “Jeff would have let me in. He never goes home before ten o’clock, even when he can. Or I would have used my cellphone to call one of you. There are always options.”

“Well, next time, call first before you just plunge into a storm,” said Annie.

“Why?” said Ian. “Would you miss me if I got lost?”

Annie tried to look as if she didn’t care, but she found it hard not to smile. “I might miss you, just the tiniest bit, Ian Butler. You know, sometimes you’re just infuriating.”

Ian turned the full force of his smile on her. “I think you might care about me, just the tiniest bit, Annie Dawson.”

Annie blushed profusely and looked around the room. “We should find out what Stella and Alice are doing.”

Stella and Alice were talking with the professor and Jacob. When Annie and Ian joined them, they were discussing sleeping arrangements and what to do about food in the morning. After Ian made a couple of quick phone calls, they made some decisions. Professor Howell used his “theater voice” to get everyone’s attention and asked them to sit in the house seats.

There were about thirty people present. Annie sat down and looked around and saw Trent Bodkin sitting at the opposite end of the row just in front of her. She had seen him a couple of times since the incident in the workshop. He never acknowledged her, but she noticed that he barely acknowledged anyone, except the professor and Stella, and she had seen him talking with the two young men from the college who were working with him as sound and light technicians. Other than that, Trent appeared to have been born with a perpetual scowl on his face. She felt sorry for him. What a terrible way to live.

“As you are all now aware,” began the professor, “we’re going to have to remain here overnight at the very least. Mrs. Brickson and I and some others have been discussing our situation. First, I think we should continue with our rehearsal this evening. We’re here; we might as well take advantage of it. As far as sleeping goes, Mrs. Brickson has suggested we use the fourth-floor offices, with men in the offices off the east hallway, and women in the offices off the west hallway. We don’t have any blankets, or cots, so we’ll have to sleep on the floors, but we all have our coats, and the carpet is well-padded. Mrs. Brickson has said that the temperature in each room is easily adjustable. There are several chairs if you prefer to sit up, but we’ll have to insist on quiet during the night so that those who want to sleep can. Are there any questions?”