Till Death Do Us Purl

by Anne Canadeo

Claudia Lassiter got up and spoke for the family. She told a few anecdotes from childhood that softened and humanized the austere image created by the previous speakers. Jeremy also had a sense of humor and had been quite a prankster, often switching identities with his brother, Alec, who would somehow always catch the blame, Claudia reported. Alec was the older brother, by two minutes, she explained.

  This detail drew a soft laugh from the crowd and even a small brief, smile from their mother, Patricia. She glanced at Rebecca and squeezed her hand.

  This was a different side of the young man, one that had not come across at their first meeting, she had to admit. But that was why these gatherings were important. You learned a lot about the person who had passed on and could honor his memory more completely.

  Claudia also praised her brother’s commitment to the family enterprise, At-Las Technologies, and his great contributions.

  “He felt a deep, personal connection to every one of our employees. He knew them all by name, the names of their spouses and children. He may have seemed the classic, absentminded professor, with his head off in the clouds. But Jeremy was very much of this world and cared about the well-being of everyone who works in this company.”

  Maggie noticed Rebecca nod in agreement. She was proud of her late husband’s fine qualities. At least that was some comfort to her.

  Finally, the minister led the group in a short prayer. Maggie bowed her head, though she didn’t close her eyes completely. She noticed Lewis Atkins had not closed his eyes, either, and now glanced over one shoulder.

  What—or whom—was he looking at? she wondered. She couldn’t help herself and discreetly followed his gaze.

  The beautiful Erica Ferris. Of course. Erica met his glance for a moment, then quickly shook her head. She closed her large brown eyes and continued—or pretended?—to pray.

  When the service was over, Maggie rose and looked around for her friends. But before she could make her way out of the row, Lewis Atkins drew her attention.

  “It was nice meeting you, Ms. Messina . . . even under such sad circumstances. May I stop by your shop sometime, to say hello?”

  Maggie was suddenly flustered. She still didn’t know what to make of Lewis Atkins. Was he the villain of this drama . . . or just much maligned by the Lassiters? The family was no prize package, either. That was for sure.

  “Please do. Anytime. Here’s my card.” She pulled one from her knitting bag and handed it to him.

  He looked at the card a moment, then slipped it into his wallet. He then offered his card to her.

  “Here’s one for you. In case you’d like to Google me,” he joked.

  “I didn’t think of it,” she admitted. “But I guess I probably should.”

  Her frank reply made him smile. He seemed to like her all the more for it.

  “Just remember, you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet,” Atkins reminded her.

  “Yes, I know. Remember that if you Google me,” she added as they parted.

  As Maggie had expected, the line leading to Rebecca, Jeremy’s mother, and the rest of the family could have circled a city block. Maggie had to get back to her shop and she doubted Dana or Lucy wanted to wait, either.

  She found her friends and they made their way to the foyer, retrieved their coats, and gave the valet their car ticket.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t get to speak to Rebecca. But I’m glad I came,” Lucy said.

  “I’m glad we came, too. It was very interesting to hear everyone speak about Jeremy. That’s a great benefit of these gatherings,” Maggie noted. “Especially for people like us, who hardly knew him.”

  “Who was that sitting next to you, Maggie? You seemed to be getting along very well,” Dana asked as Maggie’s car pulled up.

  “You’ll never believe it.” Maggie slipped into the driver’s seat. “It was Lewis Atkins, Philip Lassiter’s former partner. We had an interesting conversation. He said he wants to stop by the shop.”

  She didn’t relate that he suggested she Google him. She knew they would tease her mercilessly.

  “That is interesting,” Dana murmured in the backseat as they headed to town.

  “I also got an earful, sitting behind Jeremy’s brother and sister,” Maggie added. “I didn’t mean to listen in. But they weren’t even trying to be discreet.

  “It’s funny how well we can hear when we really want to, isn’t it?” Dana asked. “It’s some amazing connection between our mind and body going on, I think.”

  “What did they talk about? Now you’ve made me curious,” Lucy admitted.

  Maggie smiled at her. “It was all very . . . juicy stuff. But I think I’m going to save it for our meeting tonight. I’ll feel bad enough repeating it once. I don’t want to be a complete gossip.”

  Dana laughed. “Very noble of you. If you only disclose it once, that doesn’t count?”

  “I suppose it does,” Maggie said, caught in an ethical quandary. “Okay, my lips are sealed. I won’t tell you what I overheard. That’s the high road, right, Dana?”

  “The high and boring road,” Lucy said.

  “Oh, you’ve tantalized us now. Just make sure we all promise not to repeat anything. I think I can live with that.” Dana sighed and sat back in her seat.

  “I can, too,” Maggie decided. “People are fascinating. The things they say, their grievances and passions. What makes them tick. I’m sorry, I just can’t help listening in at times.”

  “Don’t apologize to me.” Dana patted Maggie’s shoulder. “I make a living at it.”

  Maggie laughed. Perhaps she should have gone back to school after her career as an art teacher and become a therapist. But she was better off running her shop and teaching knitting, she decided. More of a fiber therapist. She was helping people, too, she thought. A different path, to the same end.

  That night, Maggie was the last one to arrive at Dana’s house for their meeting. Dana greeted her at the door with a hug and hung her coat in the hall closet—tidy as a pin, Maggie noticed, with plastic boxes on a shelf above the rack, bearing labels such as “Baseball Caps,” “Umbrellas,” and “Waterproof Gloves.”

  “Where’s Phoebe? Does she have a class tonight?” Dana asked.

  “She has a paper due tomorrow and put it off until the last minute, as usual. She has to hunker down and pull an all-nighter,” Maggie explained. “She did ask me to bring her some dessert.”

  “No problem. Lucy made a flourless chocolate cake. It looks like a killer.”

  “A slice of that should cheer her,” Maggie agreed.

  Lucy and Suzanne looked up from the knitting to greet her as she entered the great room adjoining the kitchen, at the back of Dana’s house. They were seated on the cushy leather sectional that circled a large slate table. A fire flickered in the sleek, black marble hearth.

  Lucy had started a new project, Maggie noticed, but she couldn’t quite tell what it was. She’d put aside the shrug she’d begun for herself, right after the wedding. Understandably. It was an unhappy reminder of the newlyweds’ tragedy and was a bit unnerving for everyone to look at it.

  Maggie sat next to Lucy and took out her own knitting, and wondered how long it would take for anyone to ask her about it.

  Lucy peered over at her project. “What are you working on now? I can’t figure it out.”

  “An amigurumi,” Maggie replied, knowing that was no explanation and no one in the room probably had the vaguest idea of what she meant.

  “An ama—what?” Suzanne looked at her across the table. “Sounds like an appetizer at a Japanese restaurant.”

  Dana laughed. “I know what it is. A little stuffed toy, right?”

  Maggie nodded. “Exactly. There are loads of different patterns. But I’m focusing on a spring theme. I’m going to knit up a bunch of birds and such and put them in the window for a display . . .” She dug around in her knitting tote. “Here’s a picture.”

  She put a photo of the cute, colorful amigurumi birds a
nd beasts on the table. Everyone immediately oohed and aahed.

  “Oh, these are adorable. You’ll have people asking right away how to make them.” Suzanne picked up the picture to take a closer look.

  “That’s my hope. Business has been a bit slow lately. I was thinking of running a special: Birds of a Feather Knit Together. A two-for-one class.” Maggie looked around, trying to gauge their reaction. “And maybe a contest of some kind? Win a free basket of yarns and needles and such. And a lesson or two?”

  “That all sounds good to me,” Lucy said. “Maybe everyone is just making that transition from winter knitting to spring and summer?”

  “Could be,” Maggie mused. “The birds were a fallback plan. I had really wanted to do a spring wedding theme for the window using Rebecca’s gown and the bridesmaids’ shrugs that you all made. Maybe use some photos of the wedding. Nora even dropped off the gown after the wedding. Before . . .” She paused. Everyone knew what she was about to say. “Well, I certainly can’t do that now.”

  “It would be hard to look at her gown or any of that right now,” Suzanne agreed. “But I still want to hear about the memorial. I’m so sorry I couldn’t make it.” Suzanne stared straight at Maggie. “I hear you sat up close and personal to the Lassiters. And chatted up Philip Lassiter’s old business partner. Who asked you on a date or something?”

  “Oh, dear . . . I wouldn’t go that far. He just gave me his card. Who told you that wild story?”

  “He was definitely interested, Maggie. I’d be surprised if he didn’t stop by the shop very soon.” Dana set down a plate of freshly made hummus circled by little triangles of pita bread and alongside that, a bowl of cucumber yogurt dip and one of black olives.

  “He was just being friendly. I gather he had ventured into enemy territory and was happy to talk to anybody. He did express great fondness and respect for Jeremy,” she recalled. “Alec and Claudia seem to have mixed feelings about him. They call him Uncle Louie and it seems he was a member of the family while they were growing up. But the breakup with Philip Lassiter was definitely bitter. Claudia takes her father’s side. But it sounded like Jeremy sided with Atkins in the feud. Strange, right? But he does have issues with his father.”

  Dana theatrically cleared her throat. “To put it mildly.”

  “And what about the sibs? You haven’t filled us in yet on that conversation. You said it was very juicy,” Lucy reminded her.

  “I did say that, didn’t I?” Maggie regretted that now, though it was true. “Well . . . if you all promise not to repeat anything, I’ll try to recall. It was enlightening, I must say. Let’s see . . . they noticed a lovely, dark-haired woman first, Erica Ferris. Seems she was Jeremy’s former flame and worked with him at the lab. I thought she was a real knockout. But they both seemed to think Jeremy was very smart to break off the relationship.”

  “I know who you mean.” Lucy had noticed her, too. “She sat a row or two ahead of me and Dana and had on a black sweater set?”

  “Yes, that was her. Claudia and Alec tore her apart mercilessly.” She shrugged, working the small stitches on the mother bird pattern.

  “Interesting. What else did they talk about?” Suzanne asked eagerly.

  “Mainly about At-Las Technologies and the formula Jeremy had been working on. It seems there’s a race with Atkins’s company to perfect it and get it to the marketplace. I had no idea that was going on. Rebecca and Nora never mentioned it. But it makes sense if you think about it. The project has been a long time in the making and Atkins must have been at the company for the original idea and early research.”

  “And they may not have filed a patent yet when he left, so it wasn’t protected,” Dana added.

  “It sounded to me like Jeremy still hadn’t perfected it,” Maggie told the others. “Alec talked about some missing pieces to the puzzle. But Claudia claimed Jeremy had it all in his notes and all they have to do is put it together.”

  “I guess the explosion and fire set them back,” Lucy said. “He must have had a lot of notes in his lab.”

  “Maybe . . . maybe not. Claudia said he had saved notes off-site.”

  “That’s what I should do,” Lucy said. “I’m terrible about backing up my files. If my hard drive ever crashes, I’m in serious trouble.”

  “Lucy, I can’t believe you’re bad about backing up. That’s your business,” Dana reminded her. “I have the same issue with my office records. There are services you can use. Cheap, too. But a big company like At-Las must have had all kinds of builtin backup systems. And loads of security for their trade secrets.”

  “Yes, they must,” Maggie agreed. “Who knows what’s really going on? But it did give me a glimpse into the rivalries between scientists, how competitive they are, racing toward some big discovery. Sounds worse than professional sports,” she said with a small laugh. “Especially since this one is potentially so valuable. From what Claudia said, it sounds like the fate of At-Las Technologies—and the family fortune—is hanging in the balance. Another reason Jeremy’s death was such a blow.”

  “Oh, yes, they talked about that, too. Alec made some sardonic remark about how their father would have kicked Jeremy out of the family, too, but he needed his brains too much.”

  Dana looked up from her knitting and blinked. “Wow, that sounds positively toxic.”

  “Oh, it was,” Maggie said quietly.

  They all sat knitting for a few minutes without talking.

  “You know, if this was a movie or book, that explosion and fire that killed Jeremy wouldn’t have been an accident,” Suzanne surmised. “It would have been corporate sabotage or something like that.”

  “Sabotage . . . by whom? Lewis Atkins, you mean?” Maggie heard a certain defensive note in her tone that was surprising. Even to herself.

  Lucy glanced at her. “I know you enjoyed his conversation. But he wouldn’t be the first charming scoundrel.”

  “Of course not. But . . . well, I don’t think so. He just didn’t seem the type. The things he said about Jeremy . . . It sounded like he genuinely loved him and felt real grief.”

  Maggie knew she was defending him. But she felt she had an objective perspective on Atkins. She just didn’t think he had any part in Jeremy’s death.

  “Maybe he didn’t think Jeremy was there. He probably knew about the wedding and thought the couple had left on their honeymoon and the lab was empty. Especially at that time of night.”

  “Well, possibly. He did know about the wedding,” Maggie recalled. “But a lot of people knew about it and could have thought the same. It didn’t have to be Atkins,” Maggie pointed out. “Once you take a close look at this mix of personalities and past history . . . well, there are a few people who may have wanted to throw a wrench into At-Las Technologies’ big project.”

  “That is true,” Lucy agreed. “And I’m not at all sure this notion of corporate sabotage even makes sense. The notes for this supersecret formula had to have been backed up in a few different places. If anything, the fire and explosion would have made a mess and diverted the company’s energy for a little while. But it wouldn’t have destroyed the formula altogether.”

  “Not unless Jeremy didn’t have it figured out yet. Maybe that’s why he was working up to the last minute before his honeymoon trip.” Suzanne took a slice of pita bread from the platter and chewed it thoughtfully.

  “I’m sorry, ladies,” Dana said. “As interesting as this corporate sabotage theory sounds, I have it on good authority that both the fire department arson experts and the insurance investigators haven’t found anything to suggest the explosion and fire were intentionally set.”

  “On good authority . . . meaning Jack has talked to people about it?” Maggie asked.

  Dana’s husband, Jack, was a former police detective turned attorney and had a lot of law enforcement connections in town. If there was a hot case going on, Jack usually had the inside story, and Dana usually passed on what she could to her friends.

 
Maggie was glad to hear that, for some odd reason.

  The notion of anyone—not just Lewis Atkins—killing poor Jeremy, just for the sake of some glue formula, was too heinous and cold-blooded to even consider.

  “Let’s talk about something a little more upbeat for a while,” Maggie suggested. “Doesn’t anyone have something positive to report?”

  Nobody answered. Maggie looked around the room. Her gaze gravitated to Lucy. She knew that little smile by now, though her friend did her best to hide it behind a thick veil of wavy blond hair.

  “Lucy? Do you have something to tell us?”

  Lucy looked up from her knitting, staring around as if she’d just woken up from a nap.

  “Well . . . actually, I do,” she said slowly. “Matt and I were talking the other night and he’s going to move in with me.”

  Chapter Six

  Lucy didn’t expect the news to surprise anyone. Not after all their well-intentioned but needling remarks on this topic.

  But her friends stared at her wide-eyed. All except Dana, who stitched away steadily with a small knowing smile.

  “You’ve been sitting here the entire time and didn’t say a word?” Suzanne’s voice rose on a note of miffed surprise.

  “I’m telling you right now, aren’t I?” Lucy replied calmly. “We only decided last night.”

  “I think it’s great.” Dana’s smile was warm and encouraging. “You two are definitely ready. When does he move in?”

  “He needs to leave his apartment by April 15.”

  “That’s not very long. What is it . . . two weeks?” Maggie said.

  “Did our conversation last week inspire any of this?” Suzanne shot Lucy a look.

  “More like an interrogation,” Lucy reminded her. “But no . . . it didn’t figure into things at all.”

  But, since Suzanne brought it up, Lucy wondered now if their prodding had, in a very tangential way, played some part. Did the mere fact that she’d started thinking about it somehow send a silent vibe to Matt? They were uncannily in sync at times. He said so himself.

  “I never mentioned it,” Lucy said. “Matt’s landlord needs the house for his mother. She can’t live alone anymore and is moving down from Vermont. Matt has to find a new place so he brought it up. I guess he’d been thinking about it, too.”