I waited until she handed the gift item back to the customer and they’d walked away before approaching her. Adele was still trailing me. “I need to talk to you,” I said.
“It’s okay, you can go now,” Mrs. Shedd said to Adele. “I know you have plans.”
Adele leaned against the best-seller table in a leisurely manner. “It doesn’t matter now. My boyfriend called and said he can’t make dinner.” Inside I was groaning. So her comment must have been to hassle me. What else was new?
I told Mrs. Shedd maybe we ought to go in the office. It didn’t seem like a good idea to tell her about my afternoon where anyone might hear. Adele tagged along as we went to the room in the back. “It has to do with your sleuthing stuff, doesn’t it?” Adele said. She fingered one of the yarn candy canes hanging on her necklace. “Since I almost went along, I ought to hear what happened, too.”
“Is it about Bradley Perkins?” Mrs. Shedd asked. “I told Joshua all about handing over the money to Bradley.” She looked down and added she’d mentioned using the bookstore’s line of credit, too.
I swallowed and told Mrs. Shedd that I knew for sure that Bradley’s suicide had been a fake and I’d seen him alive. Her eyes brightened, but only for a moment. Once I told her the rest of it, her face fell.
“How awful for you,” she said. Then she sighed. “Well, I suppose that really closes the door on the whole situation.” She explained Mr. Royal had convinced her she ought to go to the SEC investigators and show them her paperwork in the event they did recover any of the money. “Joshua was very understanding. He said, thick or thin, we were in it together,” she said. Just mentioning Mr. Royal’s name brought a flush to her face. I was glad that she’d straightened things out with him since there seemed to be a strong bond between them.
“It sounds like a pretty open-and-shut case that his wife did it,” Mrs. Shedd said.
“No question that Detective Hea—Gilmore thinks she’s the guy. But I’m not completely sure. Maybe it’s because I know her, but I just can’t imagine her stabbing him. There must be a lot of people angry enough to kill him.” I prepared to offer a list, but Adele cut me off.
“Nancy Sherlock Fletcher Drew, I think you’re losing your touch.” Adele gave me a disparaging look. “You said yourself that it was empty up there except for the four of you. It wasn’t you or Dinah, was it? That leaves the wife.”
Mrs. Shedd ended the line of conversation by saying she appreciated what I’d done, but at this point, who did what to Bradley wasn’t my responsibility anyway. She opened the door. “We need to focus on the Anthony launch party. It’s probably going to be the biggest event in the bookstore’s history. The eyes of the world will be on us, ladies. Whatever happens after, let’s make this a shining moment for Shedd and Royal Books and More. Not to mention helping our holiday shoppers in the meantime.” She waved us back into the main part of the store.
The store was busy for a night with no event. Forcing myself to shut out all thoughts of what I had witnessed, I paused and surveyed the main area. The two young men hired for the holidays were at the help table aiding customers. Rayaad was at her station at the cashier stand. In addition to the young men, Mrs. Shedd had hired Rayaad’s older daughter and she was manning a second cashier stand. The cafe alcove was busy, too. I looked over the customers. “Isn’t Mr. Royal here?” I said to Adele before she went to the kids’ department.
She turned back just long enough to say, “He left around the same time you did this afternoon. I don’t know where he was going. Nobody tells me anything.”
I supposed Mr. Royal was entitled to some time off. Besides it was none of my business.
The exhausted feeling I had from the afternoon’s events began to go away and I got a second wind. I was glad to occupy my mind with looking over the list of news people covering the vampire book launch. The local TV stations, CNN and all the entertainment shows were supposed to be sending someone to cover the midnight signing of
Everyone seemed to be doing okay, so I went back to the yarn department. I’d finally gotten the owl’s head right and wanted to start the body, but the swatches were work related. I took out the knitting needles and a ball of red mohair and started casting on. I was getting a little better at it. Once I had enough stitches I began to knit. I was using large needles and the rows came out loose and lacy.
“When did you start knitting?” Detective Heather said, walking into the yarn department. She stopped at the table and fingered my work.
I mentioned my being in charge of the department and our intention of having swatches on all the bins. I put down my work and offered to help her with yarn. Not that I thought shopping was the real reason she was here. I was right. She’d barely picked up a skein of multicolored sock yarn before she brought up Bradley.
“You haven’t decided that I’m the guy, have you?” I said.
“No, Molly. I don’t see you as the stabbing type. You’re too wishy-washy. Stabbing takes decisive action. You’d think about it too long.”
I wasn’t sure if I should thank her or not, but I was glad not to be a suspect. Been there, done that and didn’t like it.
“Your neighbor brought up an afghan,” Detective Heather said, hesitantly. Her manner instantly got my attention since it was not her usual assertive self. I got it. She felt awkward bringing up the afghan after she’d practically laughed at me when I’d told her about it when she was questioning me.
“Did Emily Perkins tell you what was so important about it?” I said.
“I’ll ask the questions,” she said curtly. “You saw her giving it to him?”
I thought back to watching them and remembered the photos on the BlackBerry. I pulled it out and flitted through them. “Here,” I said, holding it out. I think Detective Heather was expecting another cat picture by mistake and barely glanced at it. But her eyes moved back and stayed on the small pictures. She took the BlackBerry and held the screen closer.
I had captured the moment when Emily handed Bradley the backpack. After the last time, I suppose he wasn’t taking any chances. I told her to scroll forward. The next pictures showed Bradley holding up the unfolded afghan.
“That’s what the fuss is about,” she said, disappointed. On the small screen the flowers didn’t show up well.
“It’s much prettier in person.”
Detective Heather rolled her eyes at me. For a moment I thought she wasn’t going to give the BlackBerry back, saying it was evidence, but she gave it back and told me to e-mail her the photos. She stood over me while I did it. Her presence was making me tense and I was glad that I didn’t screw it up.
“I’m sure you noticed that both the backpack and afghan were missing,” I said. Her answer was a withering sigh.
“I think Emily Perkins took them with her. The backpack and afghan must have traces of her DNA, and after she stabbed him, probably his blood.” The detective looked at me to see if I was following what she said.
“Right, so they would tie her to the crime,” I said. Detective Heather walked around the yarn department.
“I can’t believe I’m actually asking for your help, but I really need to find that backpack and afghan. The murder weapon would help, too,” she muttered. “She let me look around her place, which makes me think she knew I wouldn’t find anything. Any ideas?”
We threw ideas back and forth for a moment. I suggested she might have thrown the knife by the side of the road or in a trash can. But Detective Heather nixed the idea. “I don’t think she’d take the chance of dumping it. I think she has it stashed somewhere. Keep your eyes open.”
She had stopped in front of a bin of rust-colored mohair. She picked up a skein and turned it around in her hand.
“That color would look good on you,” I said. She turned toward me and seemed surprised. My comment was personal—girlfriendish—and all of our dealings had always been on the adversarial side. For a moment she let down her guard and held the skein up near her face.
“You really think so?” I nodded and she gathered two more skeins.
“There’s a lot of tension in my job and knitting helps.” She caught herself and went back into professional mode and finished up our interview. After she left, I saw her take the yarn up to the cashier stand. The color really did look good on her.
