wouldn't go for it. Then I rememberedsomething she said at the crochet group about her boyfriend being stressed, which had to mean they were back together. Lawrence and Sheila? They weren't a coupleI would put together if I were playing matchmaker, but, then, who knew what attracted people to each other?
I finally undid the whole chain and tried to start at the beginning, determined to keep track of my ten-stitch groups. The phone rang, and it was Barry. He apologized for not being able to make it back. Work called. He didn't give any details, but I knew it was a body or bodies with blood and who knew what other gore. I would be freaked if that was facing me. Not Barry. There was a hint of excitement in his voice. I wondered whether an outsider would think we were an odd couple.
I was feeling hopeless with my foundation chain. Maybe someday I'd be able to think about other things while crocheting,but not yet. I still needed to give it my full attention,and that just wasn't going to happen now. As I put the yarn back into the shopping bag, I remembered my meeting with Natalie and felt a ray of hope. Maybe Ellen's appointmentbook would get me off the hook. That was, if I didn't get arrested first.
My eyes were swimming with sleepiness by now. I went to bed and hoped for happy dreams.
I spent the next day looking out for Detective Heather and her handcuffs. Every time someone came in the bookstore,I was afraid it was her, but she never showed. Adele and I spent our break together working on squares for the blanket. I didn't tell Adele, but I wanted to do as much as I could in case I got arrested. Though I was still in a certain degree of denial.
I refused to think of what a shambles it would make of my life. It had been an uphill battle since Charlie's death, and I was just beginning to see the light. Would I get fired? Would the crochet group shun me? Would Adele get my job? At least Jeffrey would take care of Blondie for me.
I worked late at the bookstore, putting everything in orderjust in case, even though Barry had said he thought I would get bonded out quickly. I was relieved to still be a free person when I left the bookstore and headed over to Natalie's office.
Natalie had told me to come to her office so late, it seemed as though she was practically living there. It had to be a daunting task to run the public-relations firm and try to convince all of Ellen's clients to stay, on top of doing all the hand-holding chores such as showing up at CeeCee's commercial shoot.
The front parking lot was almost empty, and I supposed the one in the back was, too. It was well after office hours, and the retail stores and restaurants were all closed. It felt a little eerie to go into the empty office building. The elevatorstood open and waiting.
I had my fingers crossed that something in that date book would point to somebody else, though I still hadn't figured how I would get that information to Detective Heather.
The corridor was silent as I turned down the hall. All the other offices were closed and their inhabitants long gone.
At the end, I saw the door with the new sign: PSS PR. No matter how modern it was, it still looked stupid to me. But Natalie was going for a whole new look. I had my hand on the door and was pulling it open when it pushed toward me from the inside. I almost choked when I looked up and found myself eye to eye with Detective Heather.
Instinctively I put my hands in my pockets.
'What are you doing here?' she demanded.
'I have an appointment to see Natalie Shaw,' I said, tryingto look beyond her and into the office. 'Is something wrong?'
'I'm the one who gets to ask the questions,' she said curtly and then told me to wait in the hall. 'And don't go anywhere,' she commanded before closing the door.
My automatic thought was to run, but I stopped myself. Like where was I going to go that she couldn't find me? I'd wait and deal with the consequences, even if it felt as if my heart was going to thump its way out of my chest. It seemed like eternity but was more like ten minutes when another detective opened the door. I recognized him as Detective Heather's partner, Rick Allen. I closed my eyes and held out my hands, waiting for the feeling of cold metal and the inevitableclick as the handcuffs locked shut.
After a moment when I felt and heard nothing, I opened my eyes. The detective was looking at me oddly.
'You okay?' he said. I nodded, though I was feeling a little queasy from nerves. Before he could blink, I'd pulled my hands down and out of sight. 'What are you doing here?' he asked in a benign tone.
'I had an appointment to see Natalie Shaw. What's goingon?' I again tried to see into the office.
'It might be better if you sat down.' He took me into the reception area. His suggestion of sitting down made me tense up again. I figured he wanted me to sit because I might fall down when he said whatever he had to say. Somebody had gone overboard with air freshener, and the fragrance only added to my unease. That was when I noticed there was yellow tape across the entrance to Natalie's office.
He took out a recorder and a notebook and pen. 'I'd like to ask you a few questions here. It seems more efficient than going to the station. Is that okay?'
My heart rate accelerated. This was beginning to remindme of the Ellen episode. I nodded, and he asked for my personal information and took it down.
'How well did you know Natalie Shaw?'
'Something happened to her, didn't it?' I said, staring at the yellow-tape barricade.
He looked at me levelly. 'Natalie Shaw is dead.'
I swallowed hard, and for a moment the room started to spin. I was glad I was sitting, because my legs suddenly felt like they were made out of Gummi Worms.
'I had nothing to do with it. I wasn't even here. Why would I kill her? She agreed to the Will Hunter book signing,and she wants to give me work. Where were all of you, anyway? The parking lot was empty when I got here.'
He put up his hands to stop me. 'One of the cleaning crew found her in the courtyard and called 911. The first officers and the rescue ambulance went into the other parkinglot.' He gestured toward the back and then looked at me directly. 'It appears she jumped off the balcony. There was a note on her computer.'
'Suicide?' I said, choking on the word. 'But she was just getting what she always wanted.' I explained how she had worked for Ellen and been pretty much an invisible slave, and now she was in charge.
'In the note she confessed to killing Ellen Sheridan and said she couldn't live with herself anymore.'
If my legs had felt weak before, they felt like they had melted now. I was having trouble wrapping my mind around what he was saying. Natalie was dead? And she had killed Ellen?
He asked me again how I knew Natalie. Somehow I pulled my thoughts together and told him my whole history with Natalie, from my last day at Pink Sheridan to the present.
'How has her mood been lately?'
I explained that she had been stressed out trying to keep all the clients from leaving after Ellen died. 'But she seemed like she was happy with what she was doing. Her dreams were coming true. . . .' I let my words trail off as another thought made its way into my mind. If Natalie had confessed to killing Ellen, they couldn't arrest me. There would be no middle-of-the-night raid with Detective Heather barging into my bedroom and handcuffing me. I didn't have to worry about a lawyer anymore or how to make bail. I was embarrassedby my own self-serving thoughts in the face of everything,but I also felt a tremendous sense of relief.
It was a tidy little circle. Killer confesses and then kills self. However, when you knew the actual people in that circle,it wasn't tidy anymore. It was shocking. I knew withoutlooking in a mirror that I could give any ghost a run for their money in the paleness department. The blood that had drained from my face had pooled in my rubbery legs, and I felt light-headed.
Detective Allen appeared concerned and asked if I was all right to drive. I appreciated his thought, but I just wanted to get out of there, and I assured him I was fine.
'Of course there will be an investigation, but I doubt anything will change,' he said as I hobbled out the door.
I held on to the wall as I made my way to the elevator. I realized why Detective Heather had sent her partner: Her whole plan had just collapsed, and she probably couldn't stand to be the one to tell me.
The cool night air revived me as I walked outside. The front parking lot was no longer quiet. There were several police cruisers, and the news vans had just started arriving. How convenient for them; it was just in time for the eleven o'clock news. The loud
