slipknot and beginning a foundation chain, 'and you'll be able to get past that moment and back to your good sense.
'Personally, I like to make something if I'm crocheting, even with string.' When she'd made fifteen chain stitches, she turned her work and began doing single crochet. She kept going, doing row upon row, and then she held up a littlesquare.
'So I make little coasters and get past the chip moment.' She went on to explain that the book had charts showing how many calories you could save by crocheting for different amounts of time. For example, if you crochetedfor five minutes instead of eating an iced cupcake, you just saved four hundred calories from hitting your hips. And if you crocheted five hundred calories' worth a day, in a week you'd have knocked off enough calories to lose a pound.'
There was a sudden gush of excited voices as the audiencestarted talking. I had the sense that this event was goingreally well, and that Debbee was going to sell a lot of books. I felt even better when I glanced toward the door and saw Natalie coming in.
She wasn't alone. Will Hunter trailed in after her. His dark brown hair had that just-woke-up look. He was wearinglambskin moccasin slippers, baggy khakis and a T-shirt under a flannel shirt. In other words, his typical outfit. Surprisingly,nobody noticed him. They were too intent on listeningto Debbee say that she'd be happy to sign books and mention there was a limited supply of hooks and string available for people who wanted to get started on the plan right away.
All at once the chairs emptied, and everyone funneled toward the display. At first they walked; then they began to run.
'I think you've got a problem,' Dinah said, coming up next to me. There were clearly more people than supplies. The pushing and shoving had already begun. I saw at least one person snatch a ball of string from someone else's hands. Balls of string had fallen onto the floor and were rolling off, with people running after them. The customers who had managed to get a hook and string were crowding around the table as Debbee did another demonstration. Others were walking away, crocheting little chains and not looking where they were going. It was chaos, pure and simple.
The people who were still empty-handed were milling around, looking angry.
'What are you going to do, Pink?' Adele said, surveyingthe hostile group.
I knew how the woman with the erotic book had felt. I just wanted to run away. Natalie was standing outside the throng, and her lips were pursed in a judgmental pose. So much for things going well.
The hookless crowd had surrounded CeeCee, but when they saw Will Hunter, they abandoned her. Between asking for autographs, they asked for his help. They seemed to think that since he was a movie star, he had some extra clout, and they started complaining to him about the lack of hooks and string. Being the movie hero that he was, he came over and told me about the problem, like I didn't know.
'Hey, dude, you've got to do something. This mob is turning nasty,' he said with his usual laconic delivery. No question, he was right. Reading Fern's passage out loud, with all its love nubs and shuddering, volconic eruption orgasms, was nothing compared to this. All eyes seemed to be on me. I started to feel panicky, but then an obvious solutionappeared. It turned out everyone in the crochet group had brought along their tools. A few minutes later, I had a handful of hooks, and Adele cut lengths of her yarn. Will Hunter helped pass them and even kept a set for himself.
The pushing and shoving stopped, and the tone of the crowd turned excited as they all began making chains of stitches. Dinah gave me a thumbs-up.
'This is cool,' Will said, showing me the coaster he'd made out of some of Adele's pink yarn. Natalie was standingnext to him. She didn't have a hook or string, but she looked as though she could use one. There was a tired tensionaround her eyes.
By the time the group dispersed, all the books had sold, everyone had a hook and some string or yarn, along with the hope of losing a thousand pounds, and the cafe was cleaned out of rustic apple pie cookies.
As Natalie and Will headed toward the door, she stopped to say good-bye. 'That was interesting,' she said cryptically. 'I'll have to let you know.' Will gave me a little salute as they left. I noticed he took the hook and yarn with him.
Though the bookstore needed major straighteningthe next morning, money wise the event had been a big success. In addition to selling out Debbee's books, we'd moved a lot of crochet books and calorie counters. As I collected stray bits of string and abandoned coffee cups, I kept listening for the phone. Natalie had said she'd let me know, but she hadn't said when.
Since the whole Will Hunter venture was more importantto me than to Natalie, I knew I might never hear from her. When there was no word from her by lunchtime, I cut to the chase and called. It seemed like a good sign when she took my call.
'I was going to get back to you later this afternoon,' she said. Who knew whether that was publicist baloney or whether she'd really intended to. All I wanted now was the answer either way. Before I could get to my point, she beganon hers.
'I like the way you handle things. I really meant it about having some work for you. There is just too much for me to do,' she began. 'It would be on a consultant basis, and Lawrence can't know about it. He keeps fussing with that blond detective for not arresting you.' She asked me to come in the next day to discuss it. 'I'm booked solid, so it'll have to be late,' she said, suggesting I come to her office around nine-thirty p.m. 'By the way, you were right: Ellen did have an appointment book. I was going through some things in her closet, and I saw the bag she used for a briefcase.And there it was.'
'Did you look at her schedule? Who did Ellen have down for lunch?' It was hard to hide my impatience.
'It's not so much what was there--more what wasn't,' Natalie said, hesitating. 'You can look at it tomorrow and decide for yourself.' There was some noise in the background,and Natalie seemed distracted. 'Oh, I didn't realizeyou were here,' she said to someone. She suddenly seemed anxious to get off the phone, and I had to rush to get in the real reason for my call--her answer about the book signing.
She sounded hurried. 'I may be sorry for this, but okay. I like the idea of doing something different from what Ellen would have done.'
I pumped my arm with a
When I got off the phone, at first all I could think of was that I had scored Will Hunter. But as I was congratulating myself, somewhere in the back of my mind it registered that if Natalie had been in Ellen's closet, she must have been in Lawrence's bedroom first.
CHAPTER 16
As i walked across the bookstore, i was mentally reeling off everything I had to do now that Will Hunter was a go. The crochet group was already in full swing, and I couldn't wait to tell Dinah the good news. And I was thankful I didn't have to tell Mrs. Shedd any bad news.
Just then, two women stepped in front of me and blocked my path. 'We want to join the Tarzana Hookers,' a woman with rust-colored hair said. She introduced herself as Stacy Hart and her friend, who had a brown ponytail, as Meg Hauser. 'We were here last night,' Stacy continued. 'What a wonderful program. Who knew crochet had so much to offer?'
'We saw the column in the paper, too,' Meg said in a conspiratorial voice as we approached the event area. She looked at the table and seemed awestruck, as if she suddenlyfound herself in the presence of Queen Elizabeth. 'Wow, is CeeCee Collins in your group?' I almost thought she was going to curtsy when CeeCee looked up and smiled at the new arrivals.
'I just loved your weight-loss commercial. You were so inspiring,' Meg gushed, though as her gaze wandered down CeeCee's body, it was obvious that she noticed some of the inspiring weight loss hadn't lasted.
'I grew up watching
CeeCee fluttered her eyelids and patted Stacy's hand. Somehow she pulled off being humble and the star in the same gesture.
I explained that Meg and Stacy wanted to join us.
'That's just wonderful,' CeeCee said. They were still giving her awed looks, and CeeCee gestured toward a coupleof chairs and introduced Dinah, Sheila and Adele.
