Knitting With the Dead Read online

  Good for her, Nora thought as she walked away.

  *****

  She’d finished showering and was brushing her hair in the locker room when Brooke walked in fifteen minutes later, her eyes downcast. Maybelle was nowhere to be seen.

  “Brooke?” Nora smiled. “Everything okay?”

  Brooke sat down on a wooden bench and toweled herself off. She bit her lip hard. “I hate her,” she said. “She can be so mean sometimes. I just hate her.” Her voice was small and shrill, and Nora felt a chill up her spine. It was the malicious voice of a teenager that’s been denied something they took for granted.

  “Brooke?”

  Brooke blinked, recovering herself. “Sorry. I…I’m sorry. I’ll just leave now.”

  “Hey, hang on a second.” Nora patted her on the shoulder. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “I can’t.” Brooke looked more miserable than ever. “Never mind. I’m just being silly.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re clearly upset because of something May said. What was it?”

  But Brooke only shook her head. “She’s just…too much to handle sometimes. You know, Natalie once told me a story about May’s behavior back in high school.”

  “What was it?”

  “May was the head of the cheerleading squad. She wanted to win so badly that she pushed everyone, even a girl named Cynthia who complained that she couldn’t do a certain move.”

  “Okay?”

  “Well, May and the squad ended up winning the championship cup, but Cynthia developed an injury that eventually forced her to drop out of sports altogether.” Brooke’s eyes were gleaming.

  “That’s horrible,” Nora said quietly. “Poor girl.”

  “Yeah. May might have felt bad herself, but she couldn’t change what she’d done,” Brooke said. “But she hasn’t learned from it, either. She’s still the same. If she thinks something is right, she’ll go at it full speed ahead. Ugh! I hate her!”

  The venom in Brooke’s voice had Nora wincing.

  “She needs to learn that everyone has their own way of doing things,” Nora said. “Even if they don’t seem right to her. Part of growing up is adopting a 'live and let live' policy.”

  “Exactly!” Brooke said, breathing harder. Then, she added, “I love May but sometimes she gets in a temper, and then she’s not the sweet, nice Maybelle anymore. She just…changes into this wild beast charging at its prey.”

  “What did she say to you?” Nora asked again, feeling concerned. “Did she threaten you?”

  Brooke shook her head again, vehemently. “Not exactly.”

  “You can tell me, you know. Maybe I could help.”

  “Never mind. Just…I need to go home and think.”

  “Brooke, don’t let her bully you, okay?” Nora said. “Not for something as stupid as the knitting club.”

  “Knitting cl…” For a moment Brooke looked confused, then her eyes cleared. “Oh, yes, the knitting club.” She barked out a laugh and put a hand over her eyes. “Forget it, Nora. You’ll never understand. Thank you anyway. Goodbye.”

  *****

  Chapter 4

  The Genius

  Nora found that the conversation with Brooke lingered in her mind, even as she did other things. She had a productive afternoon, finishing off some paperwork at the bank and shopping for shelves. But the look on Brooke’s face had stayed with her. The abject misery in Brooke’s voice as she professed to hating Maybelle stayed with her, too. Nora wondered why she even cared about the bickering of a group she hardly knew, wondered why her gut was warning of some impending storm. But, as she drove back home that evening, Nora found herself thinking of all four of the “Stitchin’ Witches”.

  “Hey, Mom.” Hazel swung open the door while Nora stood on the porch, key in hand.

  “Hi, sweetheart.” Nora’s smile widened. Hazel had moved out of the house some time ago when she'd decided to start her own landscape-design company. The business was doing well, and Hazel now had a very nice condo of her own near Main Street. She still dropped by quite often, and Nora always felt much happier when she did. With both daughters having flown the nest, it often felt a little too empty, and days like this would help to fill up her heart a little.

  “Austin and I are making cookies, wanna help?” Hazel asked.

  “Cookies? What’s the occasion?”

  “We thought we’d go for a hike this weekend, and you know hiking is always better with cookies,” Hazel said. “You know how anti-social Austin is, and he has to deal with my party this Sunday. So this is how I make him happy.”

  Austin’s blonde head popped out through the kitchen doorway, a few strands of silky hair covering his eyes. “Hey, don’t badmouth me to your mom, woman. I’m perfectly social.”

  “Just not well-socialized,” Hazel teased. “Admit it, you’re dreading being surrounded by loud, happy people.”

  “That’s not true...” Austin muttered, but he bit back a smile. “I just prefer being surrounded by quiet trees and the gentle babbling of a brook.”

  “So, what kind of cookies are we making?” Nora asked, washing her hands and rolling up her sleeves. She saw mixing bowls and flour out on the counter, along with cinnamon and honey.

  “Gingersnaps,” Hazel said. “Austin can’t get enough of yours, Mom. I’m a poor second, but he’ll have to live with it.”

  They’d already mixed together the ginger, flour and other ingredients to form the dough, and were now working together, pinching off small balls from it. Nora joined in, muscle memory taking over as she rolled the dough between her hands. Austin had connected his phone to the bluetooth speakers in the hallway and was now blasting a song by Pearl Jam. All of them were soon singing along and laughing away as they created the cookies.

  “Thanks, you know,” Austin said, as he placed a flat disc of dough on the baking tray. “My boss has been on my case real hard all week, and I needed a break.”

  “Thanks for what?” Hazel smiled.

  “Just…letting me hang out with no pressures,” Austin said. “I’m so looking forward to the whole weekend - the hike, the party…everything.”

  “Poor Austin.” Hazel leaned over and kissed him gently on the cheek. “Don’t let your boss be too mean to you, okay?”

  “Tyler’s okay. I think he’s just stressed,” Austin said.

  “Tyler Abelard? Maybelle’s husband?” Nora raised an eyebrow.

  “Yeah. I told you he’s my new boss, right?” Austin asked. “He owns the Abelard factory and I’m his executive assistant.”

  “I’ve heard of the company.” Nora nodded. “I don’t know Tyler too well. It’s a family-run business, right?”

  “Right.” Austin nodded. “Tyler’s taken over now, and he’s doing things differently. That’s why he hired me. Said he needed to inject some new blood.”

  “Mmm.” Hazel grinned. “I did the landscaping for their new offices last year. Tyler’s good, but he’s not an easy guy to deal with. Super moody.”

  “You said it,” Austin agreed. “If he’s in a good mood, you feel like royalty. If he’s not, you feel like scum. He’s a genius, though.”

  “Hmm.” Nora’s mouth curved sidewards.

  “What?” Austin asked her. “He really is. I think he’ll take the factory from a million dollar to a billion dollar business someday.”

  “Mmmm.” Nora bit her lip but didn’t say anything.

  “Spit it out, Mom.” Hazel laughed.

  “Yeah, go on, Mrs. Nathaniel. Don’t hold back,” Austin said.

  “It’s just that I’m not a big fan of men who consider themselves geniuses and decide that it’s a license to treat others badly,” Nora said. “I’ve known many extremely successful men, and a lot of them managed to be polite and humble at the same time. Others just…pretend that success makes them an exception to the rules.”

  “In all fairness, I don’t think he’s deliberately mean,” Austin said. “He’s just really, really smart and dynamic and has a
hard time keeping his cool if you don’t catch up to his ideas, you know?”

  “Austin’s Tyler’s number one fan,” Hazel teased. “Do you collect his autographs, too?”

  Austin messed up Hazel’s hair. “You are a mean, mean girl.” He grinned. “I don’t have stars in my eyes. I’ve actually seen the man work sixteen hour days for weeks at a time. I admire him.”

  Nora shrugged. “Admiring a work ethic is one thing. Admiring a character is another. Just don’t mix them up.”

  “Your mom should have been a sage instead of a cook.” Austin grinned at Hazel.

  “What makes you think she isn’t?” Hazel grinned back.

  Nora swatted at them both and dusted her hands. “Looks like the tray’s ready to be popped into the oven.”

  “Yay cookies!” Hazel threw the tray into the preheated oven, then poured out lemonade for all three of them. They leaned against the counter, talking and laughing as they drank. When the cookies came out, Hazel grabbed one and tried to bite in, even though it was still steaming hot. She gave a little yelp as she sunk her teeth into the cookie, then jumped around the room comically waving a hand in front of her mouth.

  Nora laughed. Austin took the cookie out of her hand and replaced it with a glass of lemonade.

  “The first rule of cookie-baking is not to eat it until it’s cool,” Austin said. “I learned that at five.”

  “Hazel never learns.” Nora smiled. “Even as a kid, she’d grab a cookie as soon as it was out of the oven and then complain she’d burned her mouth.”

  “Well, that’s when it tastes the best,” Hazel protested. “Besides, life’s too short to wait for deliciousness.”

  “A fine philosophy,” Austin said. He kissed Hazel on the nose and licked his lips. “Mmm. Delicious.”

  “Get away.” Laughing, Hazel swatted at him.

  The doorbell rang and Nora glanced at it. Hazel sighed and looked at Austin. “Your turn to get it.”

  “I’ll go,” Nora said, wiping her hands on her apron. “You two carry on.”

  Humming to herself, she opened the door with a bright smile, expecting to see Harvey back home. Instead, Tina stood on the porch, trembling a little, her eyes wide and teary.

  “Tina?” Nora blinked in shock, then recovered quickly. She tried to pull her friend inside. “What’s the matter?”

  Tina resisted, pulling back at Nora and holding the door open. “Can you come?” she asked, her voice hoarse. “It’s…you have to come. Please.”

  Nora felt her stomach sink. She’d seen Tina like this before and she knew it had to be bad. Really bad. “What is it?” she asked.

  “Just grab your coat. I’ll explain in the car,” Tina said. “It’s Maybelle Abelard. She’s…I think she’s dead.”

  “Dead?” Nora stared at Tina. Austin and Hazel had come up behind her and they both looked at each other in shock.

  “No. No way. I just saw her talking to Tyler today,” Austin said. “She can’t be dead. You’ve made a mistake, Tina.”

  Tina bit her lip. “Austin…you work with Tyler, right?”

  “He’s my boss,” Austin confirmed. “Tina, I just saw him and Maybelle together like two hours ago.”

  Tina blinked. “You did?”

  “Yeah. She came over to the office to talk to Tyler. They went home together,” Austin explained. “She can’t be dead, Tina.”

  “I’m sorry, Austin.” Tina said softly. She placed a hand on his arm. “I’m afraid she really is gone. I just drove past her house and saw police cars all over. They’re cordoning off the area. Tyler was talking to the sheriff and…well…I saw the stretcher being carried out.”

  “You’ve made a mistake,” Austin repeated adamantly, still in shock. “A person can’t just die. She’s so healthy. They run marathons together and everything. She just can’t drop dead like that.”

  “She didn’t just drop dead,” Tina said, looking miserable. “They’re saying she was killed.”

  “Killed?”

  “I talked to one of the paramedics at the scene,” Tina said. “They found Maybelle in the living room of the house with a knitting needle through her heart. The police are saying she was murdered. I think…I think maybe Tyler did it.”

  *****

  Chapter 5

  A “Friend” In Need

  Darkness had set in by the time they reached Maybelle and Tyler’s house. A small crowd was standing on the curb in front of it. The Queen Anne style house was made of red-brick, with an imposing veranda and a surprisingly-cheerful yellow picket fence in front of it. Built in 1880, it was one of Milburn’s oldest houses. It stood on a corner of Delphi Street, sandwiched in a valley between two heavily wooded hills.

  On the veranda, Nora could see Sheriff Dave Ellerton speaking into a phone, while a deputy wearing blue, plastic gloves stood in the doorway staring out at the crowd.

  Yellow police tape now surrounded the house, and the ambulance that Tina had seen was long gone. So, too, was Tyler, and Nora wondered where he might be. Being interrogated at the station, she guessed.

  Catching sight of Nora, Sheriff Ellerton immediately pocketed his phone and came striding down the lawn.

  “I’m not surprised to see you here,” he said, his voice a little chilly. “Sharks can sense blood a mile away, I’ve heard.”

  “Well, good day to you too, Sheriff,” Nora said.

  “Come to the side.” Taking her away from the crowd, Sheriff Ellerton headed towards his squad car. He paused at the door and took a breath. “Look, Nora. We’ve played this game before. I’m going to warn you to stay away from the investigation, and you’re going to ignore me. Right?”

  “Right,” Nora said with a shrug.

  “Wrong,” Sheriff Ellerton said. “This time, I think I might actually need your help.”

  “You…what?” Nora was stunned. Sheriff Ellerton had never appreciated her “interference” in his cases before, going as far as to threaten to arrest her a few times.

  “Just hear me out.” The sheriff took a breath. “I’ve arrested Tyler Abelard on the charge of murdering his wife, Maybelle.”

  Nora put a hand over her mouth.

  “I had to.” Sheriff Ellerton explained. “We got a call that a scream was heard from Maybelle’s house. We reached the house fifteen minutes later and Tyler was sitting by her body in shock. They were the only two people in the house. Maybelle was dead when we arrived. There was a knitting needle right through her heart.”

  “That’s terrible,” Nora said.

  “It is. But what’s also terrible is that, in America, the spouse is responsible for the homicide 90% of the time,” Sheriff Ellerton explained. “You see what I’m saying? It’s human nature. If the fight is bitter enough, if the circumstances are bad enough, terrible things can happen. We can even kill someone we love. Apparently any of us can.” He rubbed his balding head. “Anyway, I had to arrest Tyler. The two of them were seen heading into the house together and an hour later she’s dead. Got to be him. He had blood on him, and he was in shock and refusing to speak. Open and shut case, right?”

  “You don’t think so, though,” Nora said. “Do you?”

  “I honestly don’t know what to think,” Sheriff Ellerton admitted. “I know it has to be him. Logic says it’s him. I’ve spoken to their housekeeper and she stated that the knitting needles were always kept in a small basket on a side-table next to an armchair in the living room. Easy for Tyler to lift one up in a fit of rage and stab Maybelle. Three other witnesses also declared that they’d overheard Maybelle and Tyler fighting angrily two days ago at Coach James’s party.”

  “I was at that party.” Nora gasped.

  “Yes…so was I,” Sheriff Ellerton said. “As a matter of fact, I overheard them fighting, too. This was after you and Harvey left, I think. They were both pretty drunk and didn’t seem to care who heard them. It’s not looking good so far for Tyler, is it?”

  “Not at all,” Nora agreed. “I still don’t understand,
though.”

  “I’m getting to it.” Sheriff Ellerton took a deep breath. It was clear he was struggling with himself. “Look, Nora. I don’t like you. Ok? I think you’re an interfering busybody with no scientific method. You just go bumbling into people’s lives and talking to them and thinking you can figure out the truth that way. Me, I prefer hard science. DNA and blood pattern analysis and fiber traces - that’s crime solving to me.” Sheriff Ellerton paused, looked sideways at the ground and then back up again at Nora. “The thing is, I have to arrest Tyler because all the evidence is against him right now. I have to build that case. Logically.”

  “Ah,” Nora said. “Logically.”

  “Yes. If I don’t, I’ll get accused of favoring Tyler just because he’s rich. That’s not a good look on me. Not right now,” Sheriff Ellerton said. “And, obviously, there’s a high chance he did it, and that he’ll just confess. But…”

  “But,” Nora repeated. “Your emotions are getting to you, aren’t they?”

  “It’s just wrong,” Sheriff Ellerton said. “I know Tyler. Let’s just put it that way. He isn’t a great man. He isn’t even a good man. But I just don’t feel like he’s the murderer. I know murderers. I’ve arrested them. I’ve seen all types - the cold calculating ones, the crazy ones, the hot-blooded ones who dissolve into puddles of regret. Tyler’s not a murderer, Nora. It’s illogical and stupid but I feel it. He’s just a grieving husband.”

  “So why do you need my help?” Nora asked. “Release Tyler and chase the real bad guy. That’s what you should do, right?”

  Sheriff Ellerton shook his head. “Like I said, with all the evidence against him, I have to arrest Tyler if I want my public image to stay intact. Meanwhile, I need you to talk to people, and then come to me,” Sheriff Ellerton said. “Will you do that? If you get any leads, I’ll chase them, too. The thing is, I’ve got a feeling that we’re dealing with someone very dangerous and tricky here. I want to lull the murderer into complacency.”