Hooked on Murder: A Crochet Mystery

someone who wouldn't help themselves.' A tear rolled down her cheek.

To my surprise, Adele went over and hugged her.

'We're not all as lucky as Molly,' Dinah began. Though I tried to stop her, Dinah told them all about Barry and that the worst thing about him was that he kept trying to get me to make a commitment. 'On top of that, he's great looking and has a regular job.'

'Pink's not the only lucky one. My man isn't a skunk, either. In fact, he's a total hunk.' Adele's face was all animated,and she was obviously anxious to give details. But we were spared by an interruption.

'Ladies,' Natalie Shaw said, rushing up to the table. She was dressed in her usual business attire and seemed harried. 'I was going to call you,' she went on, gesturing at me.

Both Adele and CeeCee gave out little gasps, apparently upsetthat Natalie thought I was in charge. 'But I had a breakfastmeeting over at the deli, so I thought why not just come over and see the blanket in person.' She took out a digital camera. 'I need to get a photo of it for the publicity.'

She glanced around the table and looked a little puzzled when all she saw were some loud place mats, a baby blanket,a dreamy blue and green scarf and each of us working on a single square.

'I got a call from the chair of the Hearts and Barks auctioncommittee, and she wants to bump up the blanket from silent auction to live. They already put a special blurb about it on their Web site. She thinks it has sentimental value as Ellen's last contribution.' She glanced up and down the table again. 'Where is it?'

For once, neither Adele nor CeeCee rushed to take charge and give an answer. Finally Sheila spoke up. 'You don't want to take a photo of it yet. The squares still need to be put together, and a lot of them have yarn stragglers,' she explained.

'It's close to finished, isn't it? Maybe you could lay out the squares on the table and just fold the stragglers under. I'm writing a press release, too. Something touching that will tug at the heartstrings.' Natalie looked at all of us. 'So?'

I had to do something. No way could we display the squares we had. If Natalie saw how far we were from finished,she would have no confidence in our being able to complete the blanket. I didn't want her to be upset about the afghan and let it color her feelings about Will Hunter's author event.

I had an idea.

I encouraged CeeCee to tell Natalie a story she'd told us about a dog with short brown fur that had been abandoned on the freeway and was running between cars. Someone from Hearts and Barks had seen her, and with the help of the highway patrol had gotten the traffic to stop long enough to get her off the freeway, but not before the dog had been hit.

'The poor dear. One of her legs was so badly injured, it had to be amputated,' CeeCee said with a catch in her voice. 'The Hearts and Barks people named her Miracle and paid all her vet bills and even sent volunteers to visit Miracle until she recovered. Then a nice woman in Chatsworth kept her in foster care and helped her adjust to three legs.'

'What happened after that?' Natalie asked, clearly touched by the story.

'Hearts and Barks found just the right family for Miracle,and hopefully she'll live happily ever after in Sherman Oaks,' CeeCee said.

'You could include that story in your press release. It would show the great work the charity does, and then you could mention something about how much Ellen supported them and this blanket is a final gesture from her,' I said, fighting back a tear. Even though I'd already heard the story, it got me again.

Natalie nodded with approval and turned to me. 'I like the way you think.' She scribbled down some notes and then looked up. 'But I still need to see the blanket. How can I describe something I've never seen?'

'I know. CeeCee made a diagram of it,' I said, trying to sound optimistic. 'That should give you some idea what it's going to look like.' I gestured to CeeCee to bring it out.

'Of course, dear,' CeeCee said, rummaging through her tote bag and taking out the sheet with the squares. In the meantime she'd done some work to the design, adding some detail of the motifs and colors of the finished squares. She'd filled in the blank ones with some color and given all of them black borders. The unfinished squares far outnumbered the completed ones, but thanks to the colors, the afghan looked good on paper.

CeeCee had four all-black squares drawn in the corners. She'd glued red paper hearts on two and a white dog and a white cat on the other two. CeeCee explained that it had originally been just dogs, but cats had been added. The organizationdidn't want to change its name, so the cats were silent partners.

'This can work for me. At least it gives me an idea of what I'm writing about,' Natalie said, brightening. 'I'll skip the picture and just build up the anticipation, saying that the blanket won't be unveiled until the auction.'

'Of course, you'll mention that I've made many of the squares in the blanket. I don't have to tell you, a celebrity name adds value,' CeeCee said sweetly. 'You probably should include that I'm carrying on the banner for Ellen and leading the group.' Natalie nodded and reminded CeeCee that they were meeting for dinner at The Palm. They talked back and forth about what time. So Natalie was trying the wine-and-dine-to-keep-the-client maneuver on CeeCee. I bet they were going to discuss the contents of the file CeeCee was so concerned about and that I was sure Natalie had found.

'Be sure to mention that Shedd and Royal Books and More sponsored the blanket. We provided the yarn and a place for the meetings,' I said. Why not get a plug for the bookstore?

Adele's face was getting stormier by the second. CeeCee had taken all the credit for the group, with no mention that Adele was coleader. Just when I thought Adele was going to blow, CeeCee gave her a cease-and- desist stare.

I didn't want to waste the opportunity, and I pitched Natalieagain on the Will Hunter event.

'You know I won't make a decision until I actually see how the other one goes. When is it again?' I repeated the date and time and promised to call her the afternoon of, to remind her. She nodded at me, pleased. 'I like the way you take care of things. We should talk. I think we might be able to put something together where you do some work for PSS PR on a consultant basis. I certainly need some help.'

I was taken aback by the offer and wondered whether she really had too much work or whether it was some kind of bribe. Maybe Natalie had seen me at the restaurant and was worried about what I'd heard and seen. I told her I appreciatedthe thought. Since CeeCee still needed the diagram,I walked Natalie to the front and made her a copy before she left.

On my way back to the table, I noticed a bubble of white-blond curls peeking above a nearby bookcase in the auto repair section. I walked into the aisle and found DetectiveHeather engrossed in How to Do Your Own Lube and Oil.

'Can I help you find something?' I did my best to keep the edge out of my voice, but it snuck in anyway.

'No need,' she said, putting the book down. 'I already found everything I was looking for.'

Was it my imagination, or did she have a little selfsatisfiedsmirk?

An hour later dinah and i were sitting at a table at a small French cafe down the block from the bookstore. The group had called it a day, but not without a face-off between Adele and CeeCee over CeeCee's commentsto Natalie about heading the group. CeeCee had managed to subdue Adele by telling her that she had said it to get more attention for the group's afghan.

'Adele, dear, whether you like it or not, my name connectedwith a project means something, and yours does not.'

Adele for once had no comeback. Then the two of them had launched into a rah-rah speech aimed at the rest of us about working on squares every possible minute.

Dinah and I ordered lunch. My head was still reeling from seeing Detective Heather.

'There's nothing you can do,' Dinah said. 'The bookstoreis a public place, and she was looking at a book.'

'Right. Miss Blond Bombshell is going to do her own lube and oil. Please. She was spying, listening. What do you think she heard?'

Dinah looked down at her cup of espresso. 'I don't think you want to know.'

''C'mon, that's what I always tell Barry.'

'Okay, she probably heard everything, including Natalie'scomment about offering you work, and your soundinganxious about Will Hunter's book thing. . . .' Dinah sighed and shook her head. 'And my spiel about Barry beingthe perfect guy.'

'Yikes. I didn't realize it was that bad. We've got to hurry up and find out who really did it.'