uniformsarrived, along with Detective Heather, who, it turned out, was also at the fair. It seemed strange to see her in shorts. She was talking to Meredith and wanted a statement from Adele and me. Someone had found a roll of paper towelsand covered the oily area with layer upon layer of them. Adele was making the most of her moment and was telling everyone she had saved me.
I was sitting on the massage chair, giddy from it all and at the same time about to cry. I can only imagine how I looked. I had at least pulled my shirt on and closed it.
I saw CeeCee, Sheila and some of the other crocheters just outside. CeeCee was talking to the various newspeople and camera crews that were there to cover the fair. Mason Fields stuck his head in the door. He took one look at me and disappeared. He reappeared a few minutes later and used his attorney powers to get inside. He had some wet paper towels for my mouth, and a frozen lemonade. Both were greatly appreciated. Barry glanced over, and I saw his expression darken. He left Detective Heather and came over.
'Do you need a rescue ambulance?' He had positioned himself in front of Mason. My lip was still oozing, and I was feeling a little shaky, but I told him I was okay. He stayed a little too long. He just kept looking at me and breathing. His jaw clenched a few times and then he went back to business. Mason watched him go, and when Barry looked back, they exchanged glances.
'Do you know him?' Mason asked me.
I just nodded.
Dinah arrived after that. I saw her look through the door. Her eyes widened when she saw me, and she blew me a kiss.
As Meredith was about to be led out, I went over to DetectiveHeather and pointed toward the messenger bag. 'You might want to take that as evidence.' I told her Ellen had made it for her daughter, and the only way Meredith could have gotten it was if she had killed Ellen. 'The beige yarn in the middle and on the catch match the yarn Ellen was holding when she died. She must have been just finishingthe bag.'
'You can't prove that's Dakota's bag,' she screamed. I started to answer, but Adele stepped in first and explained to Meredith and everyone else within earshot that the centerof the bag Ellen had made used yarn spun from her daughter's Siamese cat's fur. Adele gave Meredith a haughty stare. 'I don't suppose you know about DNA. Well, just like people's hair, cats and dogs and other animals,too, have DNA in their fur. All we have to do is to take a sample from the bag and a sample from the yarn Ellen was holding and compare the DNA.'
Even in my state, I had to laugh at Adele's use of 'we.'
I followed the crowd outside as Meredith was led to the parking lot. No matter how I looked, she looked worse. Her white cotton pants and top were like oil rags. Her ponytail was clumped together and resembled a rat's tail. Remnants of my crocheted restraint were still stuck to her leg, and the fragrance of lavender and eucalyptus trailed after her. I hoped they'd offer her a shower in jail.
She passed Lawrence, who for once didn't look collected.He moaned with such pain, it made the hair on my neck stand up. His eyes were wet, and his emotions bared. Felix was in his arms and was trying to lick his face to comfort him.
'You killed my Ellen?' he said in a ragged voice. 'You killed my Ellen,' he repeated. Meredith told him she did it for him. Lawrence reacted as if the words were a punch to the gut. She yelled for him to get her an attorney, and he just shook his head.
'You're on your own,' he muttered.
Meredith called to Mason just before the cops turned towardthe parking lot and the cluster of cruisers. She asked for his card. He shook his head, too.
I wanted to think it was on principle, rather than because she was the one person he didn't believe he could get off.
I was still standing there, recovering from it all, when Jeffrey rushed up to me with a fuzzy little dog in tow. 'Are you okay? Like, are you hurt or anything?' I thanked him and told him I was fine. Then he leaned closer. 'You have to get back with my dad. He's going nuts. I can't take his mopingaround, and he's paying way too much attention to me. He even tried to cook.' Jeffrey did a mock throw-up move.
With Meredith and the police gone, the crowd dispersed, and Dinah caught up with me. We watched as things began to return to normal. A few minutes later, there was an announcementthat the live auction was about to begin.
Only as an afterthought did I find Mason's card in my pocket. On the back was the promised name, but it wasn't the agent for Samuel as I had thought. It was Lawrence's date from the charity event. It was no surprise that the name was Meredith Brancussi.
CHAPTER 24
It took a few weeks after the fair for the crochet group to meet. We had all been in shock about Meredith and amazed that she had hidden such a dark side under such a seemingly pleasant demeanor. CeeCee rememberedthat Meredith had said once that she wanted to have the kind of life Ellen had. But CeeCee never guessed how serious she was.
And Meredith probably never guessed how far from that life she would end up. She was charged with two completedmurders and one attempted, and was awaiting trial, forced to depend on the services of a public defender.
Lawrence formally apologized for behaving as though I'd killed Ellen. In a gesture of conciliation, he'd not only agreed to let Will Hunter's book signing go forward, but he'd also promised a second event with another of his celebrity author clients.
'It's good to be together again,' CeeCee said when we'd gathered around the long table in the event area. She looked like her old self, maybe even better. 'I have an announcement to make.' The whole group turned toward her, and she beamed. 'You are looking at the host of the new reality show
Meg and Stacy clapped excitedly and gushed about beingpart of a group with a TV personality.
Dinah and I looked at each other. They were hearing the happy ending. We knew the whole story, and why CeeCee had been acting so strangely.
I'd made another pound cake and taken it to CeeCee's, and she'd confided in us. It turned out CeeCee's late husband,the world-famous dentist, had been an idiot with money. When he died, she'd found out he'd blown it all. She'd taken the diet infomercial as a way to make some much-needed cash, but her runaway sweet tooth had made it impossible to lose the weight she'd promised strictly usingthe diet herbs.
Ellen had helped her get prescription diet pills. However, when CeeCee tried leaving the PR firm in a cost- cutting move, Ellen used copies she'd made of the prescriptions to stop CeeCee. When Natalie took over, she'd found the file and gone down a similar road.
CeeCee couldn't afford to let the information come out, as she'd instantly lose the face cream infomercial and any chance for future spokesperson work. However, when the PR business landed in Lawrence's lap and he saw the file, he pressed CeeCee to come forward and admit what she'd done. Who knew he'd be the one with ethics?
She didn't agree at first, but the night we put together the afghan, he'd worn her down. The news conference was set for several days hence.
Sound bites of it appeared on the eleven o'clock news, the entertainment news programs and all the morning shows. The next day all the shows forwarded the flood of e-mails they'd gotten. The public had spoken, and they loved CeeCee for admitting what she'd done.
Lawrence, manager, TV producer, and now publicist as well, took all the e-mails and sold the XBS channel on doinga reality show hosted by CeeCee that followed people making amends for past mistakes.
'Of course, even with the show, I'll still be part of the crochet group. I have a bunch of ideas for our next charity project,' CeeCee said. 'I'll have to depend on Adele's help, though.'
Adele didn't react. She sat with her face resting on her hands, staring into space, no doubt reliving her moment of glory. The newspeople had snagged her at the fair, and she'd told them how she had caught Meredith and saved me, and pointed out the DNA evidence in the cat fur yarn. She had been all over the news, even on CNN. At last she had what she thought was her due. One of the kids even asked for her autograph at story time.
'I'll be glad to help.' Sheila smiled at CeeCee. She had been all nerves when she'd heard about Meredith's other side. On a positive note, she had turned that frantic energy into the beautiful shawl she'd laid out on the table. It was done with three strands of mohair in royal blue, sea foam green and lavender yarn on the huge hook.
