Cross-Stitch Before Dying

by Amanda Lee

  “There isn’t much to update,” Manu said. “We’ve been following every lead, and police departments all across Oregon and our neighboring states have a description of our guy. But he seems to have gone underground. We’ll simply have to wait him out.”

  “You don’t think he’d try to find either one of you. . . . Do you?” I asked.

  “No way,” Ted said with a chuckle. “He’s avoided capture for this long by being smart. It isn’t likely he’ll suddenly go stupid on us.” He put his arm around me and drew me close. “So how’s Bev?”

  With a sigh, I rested my head against his chest. “I really wish she’d pull out of this project. I’ve got a terrible feeling about it.”

  • • •

  I was having a major battle with my conscience over having to leave Angus while Reggie and I met with the locations experts and took them to the site the next morning. I cupped the dog’s large head in my hands. “I shouldn’t be more than an hour, and then I’ll be right back to get you. I promise.”

  Angus whimpered as if he didn’t believe me. I almost relented and took him along on the scouting expedition then; but I wasn’t familiar with the area we were visiting, and I didn’t know how Sonny and Ron felt about dogs. So I reiterated my promise and tried to avoid his eyes as I slipped out the door.

  Before I could back the Jeep out of the driveway, Angus pushed aside the curtain at one of the living room windows and pressed his nose against the glass. It was adorable. I caved.

  I put the Jeep in park and rushed to unlock the front door. “Come on, Angus,” I said.

  He nearly ran over me getting to the car.

  When I got to the Inn at Tallulah Falls, I cracked the windows and hurried inside. Reggie was already standing in the rustic, ski lodge–inspired lobby. I was surprised to see that she was wearing jeans, though her top was a traditional Indian tunic.

  “Good morning,” I said. “This is different. I’ve never seen you in jeans before.”

  She smiled. “This is the only pair I own. I wear them when Manu and I go hiking.”

  “So when you said this place was remote, you weren’t kidding.”

  “Not by a long shot,” she said. “It makes Point Bonita look tame. I hope our friends are up to the trek.”

  “I hope I’m up to it. By the way, I brought Angus along. Do you think they’ll mind?”

  She shook her head. “They’re movie people. Surely they’ve worked with animals before.”

  “I could probably slip in a snarky jab at Babushka Tru here, but I’d better not,” I said.

  “Will your mom actually have to work all that closely with Babs?” Reggie asked.

  “I’m afraid so. I just don’t know how much of her abuse Mom will be able to take.”

  The elevator doors opened and Sonny and Ron stepped out.

  “Hi, ladies.” Sonny greeted us in his booming voice. Ron merely raised his hand in a cordial wave.

  “I hope you don’t care that I brought my Irish wolfhound along,” I said. “I figured I’d just follow you guys in my Jeep since I don’t know where we’re going anyway. Plus, it might be good to have him along on a hike.”

  “Oh, I love dogs,” Ron said. “Can I ride with you?”

  “Of course,” I said.

  Sonny turned to Reggie. “Then, Mrs. Singh, please lead the way.”

  Reggie was driving Manu’s Bronco; and as I followed it out of town, I chatted with Ron. I learned that he had two dogs—a beagle mix and a chocolate Labrador retriever. And he told me that he had an ex-wife and one child—a son—and that he’d worked with Henry Beaumont for the better part of fifteen years.

  Of course, I really wanted to ask him about Babushka Tru, but I knew I’d have to broach that topic carefully.

  “Has it ever been difficult for you to work with someone on a particular movie set?” I asked.

  “I get along fine with most people,” he said. “When I cross paths with someone whose personality doesn’t gel with mine, I find it’s best to simply avoid that person.”

  “But what if you can’t? Then what do you do?”

  Ron sighed and turned in his seat to pet Angus. “Look, Marcy, I know what you’re getting at. Everyone on set is aware of how your mom feels about Babushka Tru. None of the guys seem to have a problem with Babs. And while the other women in the cast and crew don’t particularly like the girl, they all know they’ll have to work with her.” He turned back to face the front. “Actresses have the reputation for being divas—for throwing tantrums, being disrespectful, showing up at their leisure, making constant and often ridiculous demands. . . . They’re not all that way, of course, but the behavior of those who are is more widely tolerated because they fill cinema seats.”

  “Costume designers don’t,” I said, finishing the thought he’d left unsaid.

  “Not so much, no. Don’t get me wrong—your mother is an important cog in the machine.”

  “But she’s not the star.”

  “She’s not the star . . . and, as far as I know, there aren’t any rumors about your mom and Henry,” he said.

  I whipped my head around to look at him before turning my attention back to the road. He was looking down at his hands.

  “Babushka and Henry?” I asked, my voice emerging as a screech. “But she’s young enough to be his daughter, and he’s married.”

  “It could just be unfounded gossip,” Ron said. “You know how people like to talk . . . especially when they don’t know anything. I’m only telling you because I’d hate to see your mom lose this job. If she can’t work with the situation as it now stands, tell her to get out while the decision is hers to make.”

  I mumbled a thank you as I noticed that Reggie had pulled off the road. I followed and parked on the shoulder behind her.

  She got out of the Bronco and came to my side of the Jeep. “We’ll have to hike the rest of the way.”

  I grabbed Angus’s leash, got out of the Jeep, and opened the back door. Angus shifted over to allow me to snap the leash onto his collar, and then he bounded out to greet Reggie.

  “Hi, baby,” she said. “Ready to go for a walk?”

  Angus wagged his entire body.

  Ron slung his camera bag over his shoulder. He wore one camera around his neck; and before we began our ascent, he took the lens cap off and started snapping photographs.

  As we climbed the rocky path that led to Tallulah Falls’ answer to Somwarpet, India, Reggie led the way, Sonny walked as closely to her as possible, Ron trailed behind them, snapping shots all the way, and Angus and I brought up the rear. We must’ve presented a strange parade to anyone watching.

  Not that I’d have thought anyone was watching until someone whizzed past on a dirt bike. The bike came out from behind a thicket of brush and had to swerve to miss Reggie. She jumped out of the way and would have fallen had Sonny not been there to catch her.

  I hurried forward. “Reggie, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” She pushed her hair out of her face and her glasses back up onto the bridge of her nose. “I was just startled.” She pointed. “The area I was telling you about is right up ahead.”

  I could see that Reggie had been embarrassed by her reaction to the dirt biker, but that biker had come dangerously close to hitting her. The biker had been wearing heavy clothes and a dark, face-hiding helmet. And the biker had been alone. I didn’t think it was a swell idea for anyone to be in such a remote area alone. I made a mental note to ask Ted if this was a popular dirt biking spot. If so, and if Sonny and Ron found this to be a good set location, they might need to hire extra security to keep the bikers from coming onto the set—accidentally or otherwise.

  When we got to a clearing, Reggie explained that the wooded area surrounding it had always reminded her of Somwarpet. “The only thing missing is Abbimatta Falls.”

  �
�We can edit that in,” said Sonny, surveying the area both critically and appreciatively. “This sure comes closer to the pictures we’ve seen than anything in California. Don’t you think so, Ron?”

  “Absolutely.” Ron spoke from behind his camera and amid the whir of photos being captured. He eased the camera bag off his shoulder, opened it, and took out a tripod. “I think this is it. We need to get Henry out here so that if he agrees, we can move on it.”

  Sonny nodded. “In the meantime, we can go to the courthouse to see who owns the land and go through the proper channels for permission to film.” He looked at Reggie. “Is this place in the town or the county?”

  “Tallulah County,” she answered and then went on to give him directions to the courthouse.

  “When we get back to the hotel, I’ll upload these pics and send them to Henry,” Ron said. “Sonny, you can handle the legalities.”

  • • •

  Ron rode with Reggie and Sonny back to the hotel, so Angus and I could go straight on to the Seven-Year Stitch. For some reason, the incident with the dirt biker was really nagging at me, so I called Ted and asked him if it was a popular hangout.

  “I can see why kids might like the thrill of that rocky terrain, but no one should be out there alone,” he said. “That’s a dangerous area. I’ll check with the county officers and see what they say about it.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Thanks.”

  “Hopefully, I’ll know something by lunch,” he said. “What are you in the mood for?”

  “I could really go for a chef’s salad.”

  “I could go for a chef’s salad between two slices of rye.”

  I laughed. “I think they call that a club sandwich, don’t they?”

  “Something like that,” he said.

  After talking with Ted, I called Mom and asked her how things were going. It was only midmorning. I hoped things couldn’t have gotten too bad already. They had. Mom launched into a tirade about Babs and how spoiled she was and how she didn’t have any decency in her whatsoever.

  “Furthermore, she doesn’t have an ounce of acting ability,” Mom said. “I don’t know how in the world she got this job.”

  “Have you heard any rumors . . . about Babs and Henry?” I asked.

  Mom was uncharacteristically quiet.

  “Are you there?” I asked, afraid the call might’ve been lost.

  “Yes. I’m just processing your question. It isn’t a random one, is it? Someone said something.”

  “One of the locations experts,” I said. “He told me to tell you that if you can’t work with Babs to leave now.”

  “Before they throw the old broad out and ruin her reputation?” Mom spat the question out of her mouth as if it were poison.

  “He didn’t say that in so many words. . . .”

  “But that was the gist, yeah, I get it.”

  “Mom, I’m only telling you this for your own good. I have a bad feeling about this entire project.”

  “I appreciate your concern, Marcella, but I will be completing this project. I’m in for the long haul. I’ll prove myself to that guttersnipe if it kills us both. I’ll talk with you soon, darling. Good-bye.”

  With that, she was gone. But that wasn’t the last I’d heard of killing that morning. About an hour after I’d first spoken with Ted about the dirt bike incident, he called to tell me that the Tallulah County Police Department had gone up to investigate whether or not there were dirt bikers trespassing along the trail. I hadn’t considered that we were trespassing this morning, but there were more important issues to think about.

  The officers hadn’t found trespassers, but they had found the body of the gunman who’d shot at Ted. The biker who’d nearly hit Reggie was more than likely the person who’d killed him. Lunch was canceled. Ted and Manu were on their way to assist in an examination of the crime scene.

  Chapter Six

  Given the fact that Mom was determined to continue on with the movie, I began working on one of the costumes in between customers. I had been given a sky blue tunic which I was to embellish with chikankari around the neckline, hem, and cuffs. Thankfully, this particular tunic called for a simplistic design. It was for one of the low points in Sonam Zakaria’s life—either during her late childhood or after her first divorce. I felt it was a good starter piece for me.

  I used a washable fabric marker to freehand the design onto one of the cuffs. I decided I’d begin with the wrists. The fabric on the cuffs was a little heavier and would better tolerate my ripping out the stitching if I wasn’t satisfied with the work and had to start over.

  I was sitting in the sit-and-stitch square working on the cuff when Reggie came by the shop. After kissing Angus on top of the head, she flopped onto the sofa across from me and sighed.

  “Uh-oh. You look like you have bad news,” I said.

  “Not bad really . . . just not great. Ted told you the gunman they’ve been looking for was found dead near the location we visited this morning, didn’t he?”

  I acknowledged that he had. “He also said it’s likely the biker we saw killed the gunman.”

  “Yeah, he and Manu think the two of them were partners and that they’d met there to work out a new plan or to divvy up their loot or something,” she said. “What concerns me is that Sonny Carlisle stopped by the library earlier and told me that Henry loved the location and is eager to use it.”

  “Why is that bad?” I asked. “Did the owner of the property refuse them permission to film on the land?”

  “No, but the land has been cordoned off with police tape. It’s an active crime scene.”

  “So, now what? Is Sonny scrapping the location?”

  Reggie shook her head. “Oh, no. Right now he’s at the county sheriff’s office trying to persuade them to let the film crew work around the crime scene.”

  “I don’t really see that happening,” I said. “Do you?”

  “Manu certainly wouldn’t let them, but I don’t know what the Tallulah County Police Department will do.”

  We didn’t have to wait long to find out. Reggie had gotten up to leave when my cell phone rang.

  “Wait,” I told her. “It’s Mom.”

  Reggie sat back down as I answered the phone.

  “Rally the troops,” Mom said. “We’re headed your way.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “Henry just called and told me to be ready to fly to Tallulah Falls in an hour. I’m packing as we speak.”

  “Hold up. Has Henry spoken with Sonny? Does he know the area meant to become Somwarpet is now a crime scene?”

  “Only part of it has been designated a crime scene,” Mom said. “And the police department will have officers protecting that secure area around the clock. We have to get our Somwarpet scenes shot as soon as possible . . . which is why I need for you to get me and my assistants some stitching help.”

  “Of course. Reggie is here now, and I’ll call Vera. I know she’ll be excited about this turn of events.” I paused. “Is Henry sure the police chief is okay with him filming there now? I mean, the investigation should be concluded within a few days, and—”

  “Trust me,” Mom interrupted. “The police chief is fine with the shoot. Henry has promised the department a new computer system and the chief’s daughter a walk-on.”

  When I called Vera with the news that we were going to have to begin our work sooner than we’d originally expected, she was delighted.

  “This is so exciting,” she said. “Paul is having to write nearly nonstop to keep on top of it all. Did I tell you he came by the shop on Saturday and took a few photographs?”

  “I believe you did,” I said, remembering how she’d gushed about Paul’s visit and the article he’d planned for a special Wednesday feature when I’d spoken with her last night. “I’m looking forward to seeing the piece in Wedn
esday’s Chronicle.”

  “So am I. And I’m glad he’d already written it up because, of course, the big story today is that body the police found on the outskirts of town.”

  “Of course,” I said. “Mom and the necessary cast and crew are on their way to Tallulah Falls now. Can you be here at ten thirty tomorrow morning to get started?”

  “I’ll be there with bells on,” Vera said.

  Knowing Vera, she might actually show up wearing bells.

  Ted came by just as a group of bridesmaids were leaving the Seven-Year Stitch. The women were going to make a quilt for the bride as a wedding present. Each of the five women was making ten squares, so it would be quite a sizable quilt when they got it sewn together.

  Ted held the door for the women as they departed, and I saw more than one throw an admiring glance his way. He either didn’t notice or pretended not to as he walked on into the shop and dropped a light kiss on my lips.

  “That must’ve been a sizable sale. I counted five customers, and they all had more than one bag.” He grinned. “Does that mean you can knock off early today?”

  “Actually, I am going to have to leave at about four thirty.” I glanced at the clock—it was three forty-five. “I have to pick Mom up at the airport. Henry is flying her and some other members of the cast and crew here in his private jet.”

  Ted’s smile faded. “Manu and I heard that Beaumont was going ahead with the filming.”

  “I can hardly believe that the Tallulah County Police Department is letting him do that,” I said. “Surely Henry could wait until the crime scene was processed.”

  “You’d think so. But the county’s crime scene techs are pulling an all-nighter trying to completely scour the area so Beaumont can begin setting up tomorrow.”

  “An all-nighter? Tired crime scene technicians are bound to miss something.”

  Ted flipped his palms in a gesture of helplessness and then moved over to the sofa facing the window. Angus came to sit on the floor beside him, and Ted absently scratched the dog’s head as he spoke. “The county guys allowed Manu and me to do some investigating of our own. We weren’t able to find much other than the same types of things recovered by their techs: smartphones, credit cards, and a few tablets and laptops hidden near some dilapidated buildings on the property.” He blew out a breath. “Their guys are good, and their initial search was thorough and impeccable. But it’s like you said, once they’re twelve hours into their shift and they’re exhausted, the investigation will suffer.”