their partners in the sky. As the only person exiting the building, I suddenly found myself surrounded,as though it was some kind of news conference.
The reporters already had the basic details, and were runningwith the idea the suicide note was also a confession. Having celebrities involved upped the ante of the story.
'I understand Will Hunter was one of Shaw's clients, and was Ellen Sheridan's client before her death. What's he going to do?' The eager young reporter from Channel 3 stuck a microphone in front of me. I tried to explain that I wasn't Will's spokesperson. They kept badgering me with questions, hoping I'd give them something good. Poor CeeCee would be upset that no one was asking about her.
One of the reporters brought up the fact that I had been at the Ellen Sheridan murder scene. In an effort to say something, without regard for how stupid it was, she asked me if I was some kind of death groupie.
I finally escaped and went to my car. As I was getting in, I noticed another car parked next to me. It had a lighted Yummie Pizza sign on top, and there was someone in the driver's seat. The door opened, and he hopped out and grabbed an insulated bag from the back. He looked at the news vans and police cars, and stayed put.
'What's going on?' he asked me. He looked about eighteen,and nervous.
I gave him the rundown, and he looked more uneasy. 'Her name wasn't Natalie Shaw, was it?'
When I nodded, he looked worse. 'My boss is going to be pissed. It's the second time this week I've shown up with a pizza and not been able to deliver it. It's not like it's my fault. The first one was a prank, and this time it's a dead woman.'
I felt for him. Peter'd had a delivery job during high school. I paid the kid for the pizza and put it in my car. The kid seemed relieved and thanked me before he drove off.
Once I was back home, I saved Peter the trouble and called him. His response surprised me: no recriminations for showing up on the news again. He didn't even mention the death-groupie comment.
'Are you okay, Mother?' He sounded genuinely concernedabout me. 'You looked pretty pasty.'
I assured him that I had recovered, and the pasty look was more a product of the news van's lights. That wasn't altogether true, but it was hard to admit weakness to my son. 'You can cancel the attorney. I don't think I'll be needing him now.'
Peter breathed a sigh of relief. 'I'm glad. Brunch can be a celebration of sorts. No more worries.'
I agreed before hanging up, though I didn't feel much like celebrating. Yes, I was off the hook, but Natalie was dead. Then there was a barrage of phone calls, from Dinah, the crochet group and Samuel, all expressing shock and wanting to know if I knew any secret details. Barry also called on his cell from the back door, which was locked again. He hugged me and seemed relieved.
'Now I won't have to get you a cake with a file in it,' he said as we sat down in the living room. I expressed some concern about Natalie's death, but he cut me off.
'I'm just glad you aren't a suspect anymore. You don't know how close it was.'
'And I probably don't want to know, either.'
'Where'd the pizza come from?' he asked, opening the box on the coffee table. Without waiting for an answer, he helped himself to a piece. When he lifted the lid, the order invoice fluttered to the floor. I picked it up and read it.
'Why would Natalie call up and order a pizza to be deliveredat ten p.m. if she was planning to kill herself?'
CHAPTER 19
'Dear, i thought that death-groupie commentwas a little crude,' CeeCee said as I joined the group at the event table the next day. I was glad to see that CeeCee appeared to be back to her usual self, although I got in at the tail end of her reprimanding everyone for not crocheting more squares on their own time. CeeCee unzippedher amethyst-colored warm-up jacket and set out skeins of different-colored yarn. 'Though I suppose it must have seemed strange to the reporters, running into you at both scenes.' She shook her head. 'I can't get used to the idea that Natalie killed Ellen. I mean, it was obvious that she stood to gain from Ellen's death. But then to take her own life . . . Well, at least it closes the circle.'
'It leaves you in kind of a bind, doesn't it? Who's going to handle your publicity now?'
'I hardly thought about it.' CeeCee's comment was a little too quick, and it gave the opposite impression. I was sure she had figured it out exactly. 'For now I think I'll just handle things myself. Who knows what will become of the business?'
'Pink, what were you doing there so late, anyway?' Adele joined CeeCee at the head of the table. She seemed to be trying a toned-down look, wearing boxy jeans with layered tank tops of different shades of blue under a safari jacket. She'd pulled her hair back into a minuscule ponytailwith the help of an army of hair clips. When I explainedthat it had been about doing some consulting work for Natalie, Adele looked pleased, then stricken as the realitythat it wasn't going to happen sank in.
CeeCee interrupted and said she thought we ought to have a moment of silence for Natalie. We all agreed and spent a minute looking down. When it was done, everythingwas back to business as usual.
'If you had worked for Natalie, it would have been hard for you to keep your job here,' Adele said, dejected. When CeeCee and I gave her a dirty look, she protested, 'It's not like with Ellen. We barely knew Natalie.'
With Dinah's arrival, we got down to business. Stacy and Meg had come back and begun working on single- colorsquares. Two other women had shown up, brought in by the book signing. They shared in the moment of silence, even though they didn't have a clue who Natalie was.
'I hope you two know something about crochet,' CeeCee said. They pulled out their hooks and lengths of string and held them up proudly. Then they displayed their string coasters.
CeeCee hit her forehead with the heel of her hand. She looked at Adele. 'You deal with them.' Then she leaned close to me. 'It's nice that we're getting more members, but they're more hindrance than help. Nobody seems to understandthat we're facing a crisis.'
'Which reminds me,' I said. 'The chairwoman from the charity called me all frantic. She was shocked about Natalie and suddenly very nervous about the afghan. She wanted some word on its progress.'
CeeCee and Adele both swivelled their heads toward me. 'She called you?' they said in unison. 'Why didn't she call me?' Again said together by the pair.
'That was probably the work Natalie was going to give me, handling her pro bono clients. She probably gave them the number and told her to deal with me before she . . .' I couldn't say the rest. CeeCee and Adele bought the excuse and relaxed.
'We really need to change the subject to something more cheerful,' CeeCee said. Appearing to have a sudden thought, she patted her face. 'What do you think of this face cream? I could swear I see the years melting away every time I look in the mirror.'
Adele looked and shook her head. 'You look the same to me.'
'We have to talk,' Dinah said, sitting down next to me.
'Not here, not now,' I said between my teeth.
Sheila had a pile of string coasters next to her work. It must have helped relax her, because she was busy at work on a patterned square and for once seemed to be having no troublewith too-tight stitches. Dinah and I both watched her.
I knew we were thinking the same thing.
Adele stayed with the newest of the newbies and looked at their swatches. The two women eyed her like she was some kind of crochet goddess. Sensing that she was finally on the pedestal where she belonged, Adele drank it in. When she finished with them, they looked over at me.
'Wow, you're the death groupie,' one of the newbies said. Her name was Jen, and she came in the bookstore a lot with her young kids. She was all bright eyed and enthusiastic.'You keep turning up on the news, don't you? I saw you when they found Ellen Sheridan . . .' She stopped herself. 'Maybe that's an uncomfortable topic. Since she was your founder and everything.'
'Ladies, I know we are all very saddened by the death of Natalie Shaw, but we really need to be putting this energyinto crocheting. We are getting closer and closer to the date of the auction.' CeeCee glanced around the table.
'Who was Natalie Shaw?' the other newbie asked. Her name was Bonnie, and she had great hopes of losing enough weight with the crochet plan that she'd be able to wear a size two.
