by Amanda Lee
PRAISE FOR THE
EMBROIDERY MYSTERY SERIES
Thread Reckoning
“Lee’s latest Embroidery Mystery will hook readers with its charming setting and appealing characters. Plenty of spunk and attitude follow Marcy as she solves this well-crafted mystery in a close-knit town full of colorful characters.”
—Romantic Times
Stitch Me Deadly
“The writing is lively, and the pop culture references abundant.…This book should appeal not only to embroidery enthusiasts, antique hunters, and dog lovers, but to anyone who likes a smartly written cozy that neatly ties up all the loose ends surrounding the murder but leaves the reader wanting to know more about the amateur detective, her friends, her life, and her future.”
—Fresh Fiction
“A well thought-out, free-flowing story that captures your attention and keeps you interested from beginning to end. The comfort of being in a craft store seeps through the pages as Marcy shows her sleuthing side to figure out the town’s newest murders.”
—The Romance Readers Connection
“There are plenty of threads for readers to pick up and those who pick up the right thread will have the mystery sewn up in short order.”
—The Mystery Reader
The Quick and the Thread
“Lee kicks off a cozy, promising mystery series…a fast, pleasant read with prose full of pop culture references and, of course, sharp needlework puns.”
—Publishers Weekly
“In her debut novel, The Quick and the Thread, author Amanda Lee gives her Embroidery Mystery series a rousing start with a fast-paced, intriguing who-done-it that will delight fans of the cozy mystery genre.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Stands out with its likable characters and polished plot.”
—The Mystery Reader
“If her debut here is any indication, Lee’s new series is going to be fun, spunky, and educational. She smoothly interweaves plot with her [main] character’s personality and charm, while dropping tantalizing hints of stitching projects and their history. Marcy Singer is young, fun, sharp, and likable. Readers will be looking forward to her future adventures.”
—Romantic Times
Also by Amanda Lee
The Quick and the Thread
Stitch Me Deadly
Thread Reckoning
THE LONG STITCH
GOOD NIGHT
AN EMBROIDERY MYSTERY
AMANDA LEE
OBSIDIAN
Published by New American Library, a division of
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First published by Obsidian, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First Printing, April 2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright © Penguin Group (USA), Inc., 2012
All rights reserved
ISBN: 978-1-101-58019-6
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PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, I must thank God first and foremost. I thank my beautiful family—Tim, Lianna, and Nicholas—next. They’re wonderful and put up with a lot when deadlines sneak up on me. And I’d be horribly remiss if I didn’t give a shout-out to Cooper, my own furry “little” muse who almost always helps me write. (He’s almost as small as Angus.)
Special thanks go out to Lieutenant Gregg Hastings of the Oregon State Police for his help in understanding the Oregon major crime team units and judicial procedures.
Thank you to my editor, Jessica Wade, who has made me a better writer since we’ve been working together. (I now hear you in my head as I self-edit!)
Thank you to my agent, Robert Gottlieb, for your guidance, patience, and support.
Great big bear hugs to all of you!
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Epilogue
About the Author
Chapter One
I was ensconced in my favorite red club chair in the Seven-Year Stitch seating area listening to the rain drumming on the roof and the sidewalk. It was Saint Patrick’s Day, and I was reading a book on Mountmellick embroidery. I’d ordered several copies of the book on the traditional Irish craft to sell in my embroidery specialty shop this month, and I’d become really interested in it. I was eager to learn the stitches and make something using the technique.
I’d placed the phone on the ottoman in front of me before getting comfortable. My friend Riley Kendall, who was pregnant and had been on bed rest, had
a doctor’s appointment today, and I was eager to hear how it went. When the phone rang, I grabbed it quickly. “Seven-Year—”
“Marcy, it’s Keith. Riley wanted me to let you know she just checked into the hospital.”
“It’s time?” I asked, dropping my book onto the floor as I scrambled to my feet.
“Pretty close. We went in for her regular obstetrics appointment, and the doctor thought she should head on over to the birthing center.” Riley’s husband took a deep breath. “If she doesn’t go into labor by tomorrow morning, the doctor plans to induce. I could be holding Laura within a few hours.”
Laura was the name he and Riley had chosen for their daughter. She was their first child, and I could hear the anxiety in Keith’s voice.
“It’ll be great,” I said in what I hoped was my most reassuring voice. “Is there anything either you or Riley needs?”
“Your prayers and support,” he said.
“You’ve got it. I’ll be leaving for the hospital in—” I checked my watch. It was a little past four, and I closed the shop at five on Fridays. I’d left Angus, my Irish wolfhound, at home playing in the backyard this morning—it hadn’t been raining then—but I would still need to swing by, let him inside, and give him some fresh food and water. “—about an hour. Call me if you think of anything you’d like for me to bring.”
“Okay. Thanks, Marcy.”
After talking with Keith, I called Sadie. She and I were planning on hanging out this evening while Sadie’s husband, Blake, attended a Saint Patty’s Day/fraternity reunion party thrown by Todd Calloway at the Brew Crew. Blake and Todd had gone to Oregon State University together and had been members of Alpha Sigma Phi. Blake had been chanting their motto all week: Causa Latet Vis Est Notissima—which is Latin for The cause is hidden, the results well-known. And he’d worn his phoenix-emblazoned sweatshirt at least three times this week. Sadie said every time she washed it, he wore it again. She’d been threatening not to wash it again but said Blake told her, “That’s okay. I know how to work a washing machine…probably.”
Todd might’ve been as excited about the reunion as Blake was, but I wouldn’t know. I hadn’t seen him this week. I hadn’t seen him much at all since I went to the masquerade ball last month with Ted Nash. Todd asked me after I’d already accepted Ted’s invitation. Todd had gone with Keira, a waitress at MacKenzies’ Mochas.
Sadie and I had been invited to the party, but we felt it was really more of a guy thing. So we were going to make dinner and watch a movie at my house.
“MacKenzies’ Mochas,” answered Blake’s cheerful voice.
“Hi, Blake. It’s Marcy. Would you care to fix me up a muffin basket and let me speak to Sadie, please?”
“No problem. Anything wrong?”
I usually took muffin baskets to sick people or grieving families. I explained about Keith’s call and how I wanted him and Riley to have some food on hand there at the hospital. “I don’t think Keith will leave Riley’s side for anything…at least, not until after the baby is born.”
“Can’t blame him there. I’ll have the basket ready for you in just a few minutes,” he said. “And here’s my lovely wife.”
“From what I could gather from Blake’s end of the conversation, you’re getting ready to become a fairy godmother, aren’t you?” Sadie asked after she’d taken the phone from Blake.
Thanks to my somewhat petite stature and short platinum hair, both Riley’s father and uncle had dubbed me Tinkerbell after the blond, diminutive pixie from Peter Pan. Her uncle, Captain Moe—who ran a diner in nearby Depoe Bay—teased that I’d be Laura Kendall’s very own fairy godmother.
“It looks like it will be that way pretty soon,” I told Sadie. “Riley isn’t in labor yet, but given her high blood pressure and the fact that she’s been on bed rest for the past month, the doctor has admitted her. If she doesn’t go into labor on her own, they plan to induce tomorrow.”
“So then you’re canceling on me?”
“Only postponing,” I said. “I just want to take the muffins by the hospital and check on Riley, and then I’ll be on home.”
“Cool. I’ll go on over to Todd’s party with Blake and say hi to a few of their friends. Do you mind swinging by there when you’re finished at the hospital? That way, I won’t get to your house too early or too late.”
I waited for Sadie to reveal her real reason for wanting me to stop by the Brew Crew.
“And you can say hello to Todd—”
There it was.
“—and meet some of his and Blake’s fraternity brothers,” she finished.
“I don’t mind that at all.” I paused. “Do you think I should refrain from mentioning Riley’s news to Todd?”
Todd and Riley had dated in the past—Sadie went as far as to say Riley had broken Todd’s heart, and I sometimes wondered if he was truly over her.
As if reading my mind, Sadie said, “Marce, Riley is yesterday’s news to Todd as far as romance is concerned. He’ll be thrilled for her.” She lowered her voice. “You know it’s you he has feelings for now.”
“And what about Keira?” I asked.
“She was a last-minute replacement,” she said dismissively. “You know that.”
Actually, I didn’t know that. Todd had dragged his feet on even mentioning the masquerade ball to me, and he did mention it only after I accepted Ted’s invitation. Had Todd wanted to take me to the ball, he’d have asked earlier. Maybe he’d been waiting for me to have another date so he could ask Keira without hurting my feelings and ticking off Sadie and Blake, who had first introduced Todd and me (and had been hoping for a romance between us) since I moved to Tallulah Falls about five months ago.
I reiterated to Sadie that I’d see her later, and then I ended the call. I sank back into my chair, picked up my book off the floor, and reflected on the past few months.
Since I’d left my accounting position in San Francisco to open an embroidery specialty shop here in Tallulah Falls, Oregon, I’d been drawn to both Todd and Ted. I’d been hurt badly by my former fiancé about a year ago, and I was reluctant to embark upon a serious relationship with either man. I just wanted to casually date, and I thought that was what they wanted too. Todd had been through the breakup with Riley, and Ted was divorced.
But the more I got to know both Ted and Todd, the more I realized that they were both serious-relationship material. And I knew I’d have to risk giving my heart to one of them eventually, but I simply wasn’t quite ready to do that.
Of course, that hadn’t been much of a problem lately. Todd had been a little remote since the masquerade ball, and I assumed he’d been seeing Keira. Ted had been swamped with his duties as second-in-command of the Tallulah Falls Police Department since Chief Manu Singh was visiting relatives in India. Manu’s wife, Rajani—or, more commonly, Reggie—our local librarian, had returned from vacation last week and had told us Manu’s uncle had died while they were there. Manu had stayed behind to help the family get his uncle’s affairs in order. Reggie was hoping Manu would be back at home within the next week or so.
I tucked my book into my tote bag and then straightened the pillows on the two navy sofas that faced each other in the sit-and-stitch square. The oval-shaped maple coffee table looked good—no smudges—so I decided a quick dusting would suffice. I crossed the black-and-white-tiled floor to the counter and moved Jill, a mannequin who bears a striking resemblance to Marilyn Monroe, so I could get to the cash register. I emptied the till and locked the money in the safe in my office. I usually made my daily deposits the following mornings, since I didn’t often get off work before the bank closed in the afternoon.
I stood back and surveyed the rest of the store to make sure I wasn’t leaving anything undone. The yarn and embroidery flosses were neatly in their maple bins, the books were carefully aligned, the red and blue braided rug in the seating area didn’t need vacuuming, and Jill was wearing a white beret with a four-leaf clover on the side and a KISS ME, I’M
IRISH T-shirt. Everything looked super. I was proud of my little shop.
I locked up and headed down the street to MacKenzies’ Mochas. Every time I opened the door to MacKenzies’ Mochas, I had to wonder if this is what Heaven smelled like: cinnamon, chocolate, vanilla, coffee. I saw that Blake had my muffin basket waiting on the counter.
“Aye, and there’s the wee Blake MacKenzie,” I said with a horrible attempt at an Irish accent.
Blake wasn’t “wee.” He was actually about six feet tall, with a broad, sturdy build. With his All-American blond hair and blue eyes, he was a stark contrast to Sadie, his raven-haired, brown-eyed, European-looking wife.
He scoffed. “You’re calling someone wee?”
“It’s an Irish thing.” I grinned. “Today even Angus O’Ruff is wee.”
“A dog as tall as I am and weighing in at about one hundred fifty pounds is wee,” he said. “Right.” He lapsed into his own terrible accent. “And what’ve ye been drinkin’, lassie?”
“Nothing. I’m just excited about Riley and the fact that it’s Friday, and Sadie and I are having a girls’ night later,” I said. “Just don’t you and Todd get into too much trouble tonight at your frat party.”
He placed his hand on his chest. “You wound me, me girl.” He didn’t roll his r properly and tried again. “You know, I should be able to do a better Irish accent, given that my last name is MacKenzie.”
“You really should.”
“Sadie tells me you’re stopping by the party,” Blake said. “That’s good. I know Todd will be happy to see you.”
Blake was every bit as transparent as his wife. I spotted Keira—a curvy brunette—walking toward the kitchen with a tray full of empty glasses.
“Will Keira be at the party?” I asked.
“Nope. She’s working tonight.” Blake smiled, making me wonder if he and Sadie had asked Keira to work just so she wouldn’t be at the party.
“Did Sadie make out the schedule?”
He laughed. “You know her too well.”
I shook my head and paid Blake for my muffin basket.
“Give my best to Riley and Keith,” he said.
