probably assuming the murder occurred someplace else. If you were lucky and no one was picnicking, you could even get away , with bringing in a body in broad daylight.'
“And Seth hadn't started working out there yet,' Gert added.
“I know.' Pix stil found it hard to keep the irritation from her voice whenever she thought about it. If Seth had stuck to his promised schedule, or what Pix had assumed was promised, the foundation and cel ar floor would have been poured and the murderer would have had to find someplace else for the body. Yet with Seth's mother sitting across from her, hard at work on a smocked baby's dress, Pix couldn't give vent to her true emotions.
“Poor Mitchel , he was a likable soul,' Louel a said.
'But he swindled you out of al that money!' Pix's emotions found an outlet.
“I know, I know, stil I'm going to miss him.' It was the first real expression of mourning Pix had heard. 'It hasn't been easy to make up the loss, but he intended to pay me back, I'm sure. He simply didn't have it.'
“Wel , he'd have it now if he could've taken it with him,'
Ursula commented dryly. 'Seems like there's quite a fortune in his bank account in Bar Harbor—close to half a mil ion dol ars.”
This was news, and for an instant the ladies were too amazed to comment, then everyone spoke at once.
Mother has been holding out on me again, Pix thought, and after I slaved away al morning concocting gourmet cheese spreads for her party!
Ursula's voice cut through the fray. 'I found out just as you were al arriving and haven't had a chance to tel anyone' She gave her daughter an apologetic look. 'Nan Hamilton cal ed to say she'd be late and told me Freeman had heard it from Sonny, who picked it up on the police band”
This was an impeccable source, and the obvious question was voiced by one of the Sanfords, 'Where in this world would Mitchel Pierce get al that money?”
It was what Pix was asking herself. Less than a year ago, he was skipping town to avoid his debts and now he was on easy street—or would be if alive. Either he'd been restoring houses at breakneck speed up the coast or he'd been branching out into some other lines of business. The multitude of coves and inlets on the coast brought to mind several il egal possibilities.
Jil offered a suggestion. She was younger than the other members, but she had come so often with her aunt, who had raised her, in days gone by that when the aunt died, it seemed only right to ask Jil to take her place. 'He did sel a lot of antiques and maybe he came across something real y valuable.'
“That's possible,' Pix agreed, 'but the police would have discovered that by now.'
“How do we know they haven't?' Jil asked.
“Wel , if you don't know, no one on this island does,'
Dot teased her, and Jil obliged by turning red.
“Has anybody claimed him yet?' Serena Marshal asked. 'Because when they do, you march right down, Louel a, and get your money back' Serena was partial to Court TV. Cable had changed the landscape of the minds of islanders forever. 'They have to settle his debts from the estate.”
Everyone nodded and they moved away from the topic of Mitch to the consideration of a new member.
“She hasn't lived here that long, but she does beautiful work and they are year-round now.”
Pix assumed they were talking about Valerie Atherton.
She said Samantha was enjoying her work at the camp.
“Oh no, not Valerie'—Mabel. laughed—'though she'd liven things up. I don't believe that girl has ever even threaded a needle in her life. We're talking about Joan down to the Inn.' Joan Randal and her husband, George, owned the Sanpere Inn. Smiles of the 'sil y old Pix' variety crossed some lips and Pix lowered her age to five. She loved these women—but one at a time.
“I don't see why we shouldn't have her,' Louise said.
'There's a space open.' Everyone grew silent for a moment as they remembered their friend who'd died the year before. 'Joan's eager to join and she's a gifted quilter, although a bit shy about her talents. I've seen her quilts. In some of them, she's taken the traditional patterns and given them a new twist by using contemporary fabrics. She has a wonderful sense of color.”
It was agreed that Joan would be the newest Sanpere Stitcher and informed of this signal honor as soon as possible so she could contribute to the sale.
The afternoon drifted on. A lot of coffee was drunk, some gossip conveyed, and a surprising amount of work accomplished. The only note of discord had been struck when Adelaide misplaced her scissors and, finding that her sister-in-law was sitting on them, chewed Rebecca out in no uncertain terms. 'I do believe you are getting scattier by the minute, Rebecca! You know you put cream that had turned in the gravy last week.' Rebecca appeared not to hear her and just went on working. It was something she'd grown adept at over the years. The other women ignored Addie, too. They'd also heard it al before.
After the last woman left, Ursula looked about at the wreckage of half-fil ed cups and crumb-laden plates and said, 'Don't you wish we could leave al this until tomorrow?' Unfortunately, Gert had had to leave, as it was her evening to do for the Bainbridges. Besides Ursula, Gert seemed to do for most of Sanpere.
“Why don't we? Come to my house for supper and leave everything,' Pix suggested. She had no problem with it, yet she was sure what her mother's response would be.
“Getting up and seeing a pile of dirty dishes in my living room would be worse than seeing a ... wel , let's just say it would be unpleasant.”
Pix knew what her mother had intended, but she didn't agree. Seeing a body would be far worse. And she, Pix, should know.
It didn't take as long as they thought to clean up. Ursula turned down Pix's offer of supper. 'Maybe it's the noise, but al I ever want on Sewing Circle days is a boiled egg and early bed.”
Pix kissed her mother good-bye and headed home.
She felt like talking to Sam and hoped her husband would be around. She'd always thought it was one of life's little inequities that when a man was left on his own, he was showered with dinner invitations—the poor thing. When Sam was out of town, kids home or not, no one so much as offered her a casserole.
Samantha was in the living room reading. Pix was glad to see it was Alice Hoffman and not Martha Stewart —this after Samantha's remark the other evening that their soup bowls didn't match. It had never come to her attention before, and the bowls had been around as long as she had.
She'd be tying ribbons around their napkins next.
“How was your day, sweetheart?'
“I like the teaching part, but it's boring standing around while they eat, then it's a big rush to clean up. The kids are great, except it's kind of sad.'
“What do you mean?'
“Wel , some of them real y don't want to be there, although I think they kind of like me.'
“They're probably just homesick. Most kids are that way at camp in the beginning.'
“I know. I remember Danny sending you al those cards to come get him, then when you final y broke down and went, he wanted to know what you were doing there”
Pix remembered the incident wel . Danny, or their unexpected little dividend, as she and Sam cal ed him in private, was predictably unpredictable in al things.
“But these kids have been sent to camp for years, even though they're so young. It's like their parents want to get rid of them,' Samantha continued.
“Maybe their parents need to have a program for them.
If both are working, a child can't simply stay home.'
“I know and I think that's true in some cases, but there's one little girl, Susannah, who's so sweet, and I know her mother isn't working. She said so. And then there's this boy I'm kind of worried about. He's real y mad at his parents for what he cal s `dumping' him at camp while they're on vacation.'
“It's hard to know what's going on in other people's families.' With that understatement, Pix went to make some supper for the two of them, after which she had a delightful and foolish talk with her husband, reminiscent of al the talks of al the other summers.
“Dad thinks he wil be up on Sunday,' Pix happily told Samantha. 'And he can stay on through the Fourth.'
