A Crafty Christmas

by Mollie Cox Bryan

“A desperate person who thinks Sheila can finger them for murder would find out where she lives, right?” DeeAnn said.

  “Yes, but that person is on the ship,” Annie said.

  “Unless the killer has a partner,” said Beatrice.

  Chapter 32

  “Well, here we are, cropping on a Saturday night. Who’d have thunk it?” Vera said, as she sat down at the crop table. It was their table; they camped out there, claimed it for their own and were able to leave their things there while they moved about the ship.

  “Where’s Paige?” Sheila said.

  “She’ll be here,” Randy said. “She needed a quick shower.”

  “What?” Vera said.

  “I think she was a bit tipsy,” Randy replied, with a grin. “I’ve never seen my mother tipsy.”

  Sheila stifled a giggle. Paige was tipsy a lot—almost every Saturday night in Cumberland Creek. Clearly Randy hadn’t lived at home for years.

  Sheila stood and pulled out one of her cutting boards from her bag. “I’m eager to see if she found out anything. The more I think about being on this ship with a killer, the more freaked out I get. Steve too. I spoke with him a few minutes ago. He wants me to find the closest airport when we hit land and come home.”

  “What? That’s a bit crazy. This is such an important trip for you,” Vera said.

  “He’s just worried,” Sheila said, and shrugged. “I’m not going home. I’m leading a class tomorrow and I get my award tomorrow night.”

  Vera placed her photos on her paper, then switched them around again. She sighed.

  “Where’s Eric?” Randy asked.

  “He said he needed a break from all the scrapbooking,” Vera said. “I don’t know where he is. He was in the room catching up on e-mails and some reading. He also mentioned a football game at one of the bars.”

  Sheila’s eyes caught Randy’s and then quickly looked away. She felt like a fool. Ashamed of herself for butting in.

  “It’s good that he can be honest with you about needing a break,” Shelia said, and then checked out Vera’s page. “I like that layout the best.”

  Vera nodded and reached for the glue dots.

  “I love those glue dots,” Randy said. “I never knew about them until this cruise. I can’t believe how much I’m learning. And in one of the sessions I sat in the teacher talked about repositionable adhesives. Amazing.”

  “I love playing with those,” Vera said. “But I did one whole book with the repositionable adhesive, then a year or so later had to go back and use the real stuff. I think it’s not as good as the real stuff.”

  “Ah, something to keep in mind,” he said, finishing up his page and sliding it into his book. He stood. “I’m off for my date.” He turned to walk away, as Paige entered the circle. He kissed her cheek and left.

  “You’re looking a bit peaked,” Vera said.

  Sheila looked up from her page, filled with musical notes and violins and photos of her Jonathan. Vera was right. Paige did not look good. She had a green hue to her skin.

  “I had a bit too much to drink,” Page said, and sat down. “And this ship has been rocking a lot.”

  “I’ve never known you to get sick from drinking,” Vera said.

  “There’s a first time for everything.” Paige looked over her page from earlier in the day. “Drinking and rocking around the ocean don’t mix for me. Lesson learned.”

  “Poor dear,” Vera said, and patted Paige’s hand.

  “So did you find out anything?” Sheila asked.

  Paige nodded. “I met two of the men on our list. Hank and Colton.”

  “And?”

  “I think it’s safe to say that they are both here to get laid,” she said, picking up her doily and placing it onto a red scrapbooking page. “Of course, that doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of murder.”

  “Did you get any weird vibes?” Vera asked.

  “Yes,” Paige said. “But they were weird vibes of another kind.” She twitched her eyebrows and laughed.

  Sheila giggled. “Okay, maybe we can take them off our list,” she said. “I still need to find Sharon Milhouse. I left a note on the message board. I hope it’s not the one I knew before.”

  “People can change,” Paige said. “I wouldn’t worry too much.”

  “Not that crazy woman,” Vera said.

  But then an odd feeling crept over Sheila once more. Someone was watching her again.

  She scanned the area as Vera and Paige laughed about something. And then she noticed him—the man who had been watching her throughout the trip. She caught his eye and he sneered. She looked away. Her stomach flipped around in her body and then squeezed.

  She reached for Vera.

  “What?” Vera said.

  “Hush,” Sheila said, almost in a whisper. “That’s the man I’ve been telling you about. The man with the orange shirt on and the glasses? Do you see him?”

  Vera twisted and looked at him. “Should I call Eric? He looks kind of menacing. I can see why he worries you.”

  “What the hell is Eric going to do?” Sheila snapped. “Beat him up? What are we, in middle school?”

  “Well, what should we do?” Vera said.

  Paige sighed, long and deep, her forehead in her hands. “I can’t help you. I just can’t. I still feel sick.”

  Sheila thought a moment. “Let’s keep our eyes on him. That’s all we can do really.”

  “It looks like he’s married,” Paige said. “He has a ring on his finger. But I can’t figure out which of those women he’s attached to.” She had the best and closest view of him. “There is something very strange about him. I agree that we should keep our eyes on him.”

  “What do you mean?” Vera said.

  “I don’t know what I mean,” Paige said. “Something about him doesn’t seem right.”

  “I agree,” Sheila said, setting down her photos. “I think he’s wearing a wig, for one thing.”

  “Yes!” Paige said. “But look around; there are a lot of men wearing wigs, even on this cruise. Women too. And let’s not even talk about the fake boobs everywhere.”

  “But maybe this guy’s bald. A lot of bald men wear toupees,” Vera pointed out. “They are very self-conscious about their baldness.”

  “Which I’ve always thought ridiculous,” Sheila said. “But it’s not only the wig. It’s his clothes, his stance, the way he’s always watching me.”

  “Maybe he has a bit of a crush on you,” Paige said. “You are one of the stars of the cruise.”

  Shelia laughed. “I can’t imagine anybody having a crush on me.”

  She touched her head, which still ached. A crush? Oh my. She’d not had another man in her life for twenty-five years. Steve and she had married right out of college and started raising their family. If there was anybody who had a crush on her, she’d not have noticed. She was entirely too busy and focused on her family and scrapbooking. The thought of someone having a crush on her swirled around in her mind and she found herself giggling.

  Chapter 33

  Beatrice’s theory about the killer maybe having a partner held no water at all, as far as Annie was concerned. Murder was a lonely business.

  “If the killer has a partner—let’s just say if—then the partner is in Cumberland Creek,” DeeAnn said, setting down her scrapbook with a thud.

  “Sorry, Bea, that makes no sense,” Annie said. “Most killers don’t work with partners, for one thing. For another thing, I doubt that Sheila has had time to butt in to any investigation on the ship. It pains me, but I agree with Bryant on this.”

  “Now, hold on,” Beatrice said, after finishing one of the chocolate peanut butter cupcakes. “I know I’ve read about couples who kill.”

  “Yes, I’ve read about them, too. But let’s not get carried away,” Annie said. “Let’s look at the facts.”

  “Sheila trips over a dead body on the ship,” DeeAnn said. “Fact one.”

  “A woman she barely knows,” Annie
added, then sliced a photo in the cutter.

  “The woman was poisoned,” Beatrice said. “Then her boyfriend was poisoned.”

  “Both of them officially still married to other people,” Annie said.

  “That right there tells you this has nothing to do with Sheila,” DeeAnn said, waving her hand.

  “Other than the fact that she stepped into the middle of it, it has nothing to do with her,” Annie said.

  “So you think the note is some weird coincidence,” Beatrice said.

  Annie nodded. “The note came from someone in town.”

  “Who on earth?” DeeAnn said. “I don’t understand who would write something like that to Sheila. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like the woman.”

  They sat for a few minutes, listening to the music and scrapbooking, each with their own thoughts. Who didn’t like Sheila? Annie had no idea. Now, if it was her getting the threatening note, she could think of several people, starting with any member of the Schultz family, who didn’t like the fact that she was writing a book about the murder. Any of the people who had attachments to the New Mountain Order would also like to see Annie leave town.

  “What are you thinking?” Beatrice interrupted her thoughts.

  “Thinking about all of my potential enemies,” Annie said, and grinned.

  Beatrice shrugged. “Well, you and me both.” She cackled.

  “But not Sheila,” DeeAnn said. “Oh, that’s a fabulous page, Annie!”

  Annie held up her Hanukkah book: blues and golds, candles and flames. She’d found some Star of David embellishments, which she used on the page where she had several photos of her boys lighting the menorah. She’d taken photos without the flash so the flame and the hands were the only things shown in the picture. The Star was at the center of the page with the photos on each pointed end. It did look pretty good, Annie mused. Her final touch was the overlay that said “Day 1” on it.

  “I love the colors of Hanukkah,” DeeAnn said. “What’s the meaning behind them? Anything?”

  “I don’t know, really,” Annie said. “Some say the colors come from the Israeli flag. The flag’s blue stripes symbolize those found on prayer shawls that are worn at synagogue, bar or bat mitzvahs, and Jewish weddings. That’s about all I know. What about the red and green of Christmas?”

  “Hell, who knows?” DeeAnn said. “I’m not a big fan of Christmas anymore. It was fun when my girls were small. Now, it’s all about work. The bakery keeps me hopping right up until Christmas Eve. I swear if I was open on Christmas, I’d have folks coming in.”

  “I always thought that the blue and white of Hanukkah had universal association. You know, purity, peace, light. That kind of thing,” Beatrice said.

  “Sounds good to me,” Annie said. “I’ll take that explanation.”

  “Well,” Beatrice said, getting up from her seat, “now that I’ve eaten all the cupcakes, I need to get home. It’s late for me. And you two have been no help at all.”

  “Sorry, Bea,” DeeAnn said.

  “I’ll feel so much better when they get home. I don’t like any of this business. I don’t like cruises and I don’t like my daughter being on one. And this cruise’s security is a big mess. I can’t allow myself to think about it too hard,” Beatrice said.

  Damned fool of a daughter, sailing off on a cruise right before Christmas. Beatrice had told her not to go. But it was as if all sense had recently left Vera’s brain. Her dance studio usually produced The Nutcracker every year, but not this year. Vera said she had been thinking of not doing it anymore and when the opportunity to go on a cruise for free came up, that settled it.

  “It’s a struggle each year,” Vera said. “I’ve decided to focus only on recitals every year.”

  “For how much longer?” Beatrice had asked her.

  “For as long as I can,” Vera replied.

  But Beatrice knew that Vera had been thinking of calling it quits. Her dance studio had never completely recovered from the Emily McGlashen episode. She had gone on a campaign against ballet and stolen many of Vera’s students. Only a few returned after Emily’s death. Many of them now made the trek to Charlottesville to continue with their Irish dance studies, leaving Vera and her beloved ballet in the dust.

  But beyond all that, Vera was evolving once again. Beatrice watched, awestruck, as her daughter picked up the pieces of her life without her husband and with a new baby and more than simply survived, but flourished. She’d scaled down her business, but was still able to make a profit.

  Then there was Eric, the new man in Vera’s life, whom Bea approved of. Finally, after years of Bill being a pain in the ass, there was a man that Bea liked. She was surely glad that she’d never met Tony, the man Vera had dated briefly who lived in New York.

  Beatrice never liked walking the streets after dark—even the streets in Cumberland Creek, which had relatively very little crime. Dark streets were no place for a lady, she mused. And there were not many streetlights in Cumberland Creek; people didn’t want them. Once when she was walking in the dark, she nearly tripped over a cat that was lounging about on the sidewalk.

  As she approached the corner of Ivy and Oak, there was a big streetlight that threw its light halfway down the street. She liked that. She walked by her neighbors’ houses and noted many of them already had their lights out. It was late, even for a Saturday night.

  She marched down the street to her front door and noted a man walking toward a car on the other side of the street. She had never seen him before; maybe he was visiting someone. She opened her gate and walked into her yard, deciding to sit for a moment on her front porch. The man was opening the door of some kind of fancy red car. Ain’t that something?

  She noted his black leather jacket—the way it shined as the little bit of light on the street played off it. She caught a glimpse of his face in a momentary slice of light. He had a goatee. Beatrice always hated facial hair. She twisted her mouth. He might have been a decent-looking man if it weren’t for that damned beard. There was something about his stance that Bea didn’t like either. He was trying too hard to be cool.

  Her brain clicked into action as she remembered what Bryant had said earlier in the day.

  “All I can say is this cruise has more links to Cumberland Creek than Sheila Rogers,” he said. “And now that there’s been two murders . . . and then this other thing came up. I’m trying to make sense of it.”

  She reached into her bag and jotted down the license plate number. Few strangers came to Cumberland Creek, though it was not unheard of, of course. But you couldn’t be too careful.

  She shrugged. He most likely was a visitor, but even so, it couldn’t hurt to check him out.

  One thing was for certain—she had his license plate number. That could be a very good thing.

  “What are you doing out here?” Jon said as he walked onto the porch. “It’s cold.”

  “It is cold. I never minded the cold,” Beatrice said. “I love looking at the snow at night.”

  “Come inside. I made some hot cocoa,” Jon said.

  She smacked her lips together. “And that’s why I love you so much. You make a mean hot cocoa.”

  As she walked into her home, the car pulled away. Its headlights briefly lit up the street. She tucked the license plate number into her bag. She’d call Bryant in the morning after a good night’s sleep.

  Chapter 34

  Sheila tossed and turned. She couldn’t get her last conversation with Steve out of her mind. He wanted her to come home, which was sweet and maddening all at once. He knew how important this trip was to her. He’d never even asked about her meetings. So frustrating! Would he ever recognize her need for more than a family? He mouthed it all the time. He seemed proud of her. But when it came to really taking it seriously, did he?

  Up until this point, she had tried not to care. It didn’t matter how he felt. She’d forge ahead. But what did that say about their marriage?

  She sat up, flicked the light on
, and sat on the edge of her bed. How to get to sleep? If she were at home she’d make herself some warm milk with cinnamon, nutmeg, and a drop of honey. Sometimes bourbon. But she’d drunk her weight in gold already and was not hankering for booze at all.

  She could call room service—but the idea of a stranger coming into her room in the middle of the night unsettled her.

  She glanced at the clock: 1:18 A.M. Which of the closest cafés or restaurants were still open? She dressed in her running clothes and headed out the door.

  When she walked into the all-night café, she was surprised by the crowd. Didn’t anybody sleep anymore?

  “What can I get you?” the man behind the counter asked as she approached.

  “Warm milk?” Sheila asked.

  “I’ve got just the thing,” he said. “Milk with vanilla and cinnamon sound good?”

  She nodded. “Sounds delightful.”

  “Please have a seat and I’ll bring it to you.”

  She searched for an empty table and, much to her surprise, she spotted Randy alone, eating. She sauntered up to his table. “Why, hello there,” she said before she realized how upset he was. “Are you okay? Do you want to be alone?”

  “Oh . . .” He waved his hand. “I’ll be fine. Just feeling sorry for myself. Please sit down.” He was eating a huge bagel with cream cheese. “I’m so hungry,” he mumbled.

  “I can’t sleep,” Sheila said. “I’m here for warm milk. I thought you had a hot date tonight.”

  He wiped his face with a napkin. “Hmph. I did. I’m no good at the dating thing. I was much better in a committed relationship.” He took a drink of water. “Sometimes I miss him more than other times. Night time is hard. We used to, you know, talk about our days, our dreams. I miss the companionship.”

  Shelia reached out and touched his hand. “It will get better,” she said.

  Looking up, she spotted the creepy guy. sitting just beyond Randy. He was there with Rhonda from Life Arts, who draped herself over him in a most unattractive manner. Every now and then she kissed him or reached up and touched his face or hair. The man appeared completely disinterested.