Close Knit Killer

by Maggie Sefton

  “Don’t be surprised if they come again with more questions,” Kelly advised. “From my experience, police detectives keep asking questions as they investigate and learn more.”

  “Have you ever been questioned by the police?” The older woman next to Kelly stared, clearly apprehensive.

  Kelly had to smile. “Only as a witness, not as a suspect, thank heavens.” She declined to go into detail. “Incidentally, have you called Mimi and Burt to tell them?” she asked Connie.

  Connie made a face. “Not yet. I really hate to spoil their mini-vacation, but I guess I have to. I’ll wait till five o’ clock, right before we close up.”

  “That’s a good idea to wait until later, Connie. Otherwise Burt would be itching to drive back here right away.”

  “Don’t we know it,” Connie said, totaling the bill. “Once a cop, always a cop.”

  Jennifer leaned around the corner that led to a back way into the café and beckoned to Kelly.

  Kelly caught her gaze and walked over to the counter. “Excuse me, Connie. I want to catch Jen up on the moving project.” She scooted behind Connie, who was still working the customer’s yarn purchases.

  Jennifer stood around the corner in the passageway that opened to the rear of the café and grill. “Julie told me she updated you on what happened this morning. I would have called you, but I misplaced my phone somewhere around here yesterday. I looked all over the café but couldn’t find it, then I had to run to the office. I used the phone there. We’ve been so busy since I got here this morning, I haven’t even had a chance to check the shop yet.”

  “I’ll take a look around before I leave. By the way, I glimpsed the car being towed out of the parking lot. That was Rizzoli’s car, wasn’t it?”

  Jennifer glanced over her shoulder toward the grill. Eduardo was talking to tall, skinny Frank. “Yeah, it was Rizzoli’s, all right. I finally had a second and went into the shop to look out the window, and I recognized his car. I didn’t have time to watch what the cops were doing, but I spotted the ambulance when it turned out of the Lemay driveway toward the hospital.”

  “A woman in the shop said she saw his body come out on a stretcher and there was a lot of blood on his suit front.”

  Jennifer grimaced. “Please, no details. I’ve been unfortunate enough to be around two dead bodies. I don’t need any more gruesome images in my mind.”

  “Sorry, I forgot.” Kelly stared out into the café alcove where Julie was serving a table of four. “Wow. That guy had a lot of enemies in town. You know all those stories in the newspapers, interviewing people who’d been cheated by Rizzoli. It’s gotta be someone like that, don’t you think? Someone who was still holding a grudge.”

  Suddenly two images flashed before Kelly’s eyes. Barbara confronting Rizzoli in the garden patio. So angry she was shaking. And Malcolm, yelling at Rizzoli in the driveway, furious, blaming Rizzoli for ruining his life. Two people she knew and cared about. Two people who hated Rizzoli, whose hatred still burned bright after twelve years.

  Kelly looked at Jennifer and read the same concern in her eyes. “Oh, no, Jen! Barbara and . . . and Malcolm. Both of them confronted Rizzoli. In front of other people!”

  “That’s exactly what I’m thinking. Barbara was enraged. And she even went down to his seminar. I don’t know what to think.”

  “Were you guys questioned? Connie said they were.”

  “Yeah, a cop came in and asked each of us if we saw anything when we opened up this morning. Of course, we didn’t. We’re in the back of the building. We can’t even see that part of the driveway. Plus, we were busy cooking and serving customers. I don’t think any of us has even had a break this morning.”

  “What else did they ask?”

  “They wanted to know if we had seen anything last evening. And I explained to the cop that we aren’t open in the evening, so no one was here to witness anything.” Her voice underscored the word.

  Kelly could tell her friend was on edge, understandably, so she switched topics slightly. “So what happens now with the sale of Hal’s property?”

  Jennifer exhaled a breath. Familiar territory. “The contract will have to wait until Rizzoli’s estate is settled. Any closing would have to wait until then. Who knows? Maybe the widow will want to keep the property. Maybe she’ll want to sell it because it brings bad memories of Fort Connor.” She shrugged. “One thing’s for sure. The closing will be postponed.”

  “Jen, your orders are up,” Frank said over his shoulder.

  “Thanks,” Jennifer said as she turned away. “Gotta go. By the way, how’s the move going?”

  “A piece of cake. We’ll be finished by midafternoon. So why don’t you come over after you’ve closed up here. You’ll need to relax. Listen, I’ll take a quick look around the shop for your cell phone while they’re finishing my order.”

  “Thanks,” Jennifer said as she headed for the counter.

  Kelly walked back down the hallway leading into Lambspun. She’d start with the workroom. There were lots of tables and shelves where it was easy to place a cell phone—or a coffee mug—when you were in a hurry. Kelly was an expert in hurried behaviors. Since this was a busy Saturday, there were plenty of shoppers there, so Kelly slowly made her way around the room, scanning every surface. Shelves, tables, boxes, work counters. No phone to be found.

  She rounded the corner into the main knitting room. The long library table had several knitters clustered around the edges, working on various projects and comparing yarns.

  “Hey, folks, don’t mind me,” she said as she approached. “I’m checking for a misplaced cell phone. Just ignore me.”

  “Oh, brother. I hope your luck is better than mine,” one woman said, glancing up from the royal blue yarn she was working. “Whenever I’ve misplaced my phone, it never appears again.”

  Kelly started checking under some of the assorted items that always seemed to clutter the long table. Skeins of yarn, books, patterns, magazines, teacups, teapot, plates of cookies, and various other edibles.

  “Good luck finding anything in all the clutter,” an older woman observed. “I’m always amazed at how much stuff accumulates on this table.”

  Kelly picked up cups and saucers and teapot. No phone. “You’re not the only one. I wonder how Mimi and the staff find anything here.” She lifted a stack of magazines, then picked up a fluffy ball of pink-and-white yarn. No phone.

  “I swear, I have to put my phone in my jacket pocket after I use it or I’d lose it for sure,” a younger woman with blond hair said. She was knitting what looked like the beginning of a sweater with that same pink-and-white yarn.

  Kelly moved toward the middle of the table, where the “odds and ends tray” sat. The tray contained an ever-changing collection of scissors, different-sized knitting needles, stitch markers, tape measures, gauge measures, and various other important and necessary-to-knitters items.

  “Is that why you always wear a jacket?” another woman asked the blonde.

  Kelly joined the other women as they laughed. She pushed some of the napkins to the side and thought she felt something hard beneath them. She lifted the napkins and spotted a black cell phone. And it looked exactly like Jennifer’s.

  “Hey, I found a phone! Quick, everybody check your cell phones. See if you have them. Maybe this is one of yours.” She held up the phone for the others to see.

  “Nope. Mine’s in my pocket,” the blonde said with a grin.

  “Mine’s got a blue case.”

  The older woman rifled through her purse. “Nope, mine’s here.”

  The other woman held up her phone. “Got it. Today’s your lucky day.”

  “Thanks, everyone. And good luck with all your projects,” Kelly said as she headed for the hallway once more. She pushed one of the phone’s buttons and saw the view screen. A message was waiting. No name.

  As Kelly rounded the corner into the café, she spotted Jennifer at a nearby table, serving coffee. “Hey, I found your p
hone, Jen.”

  Jennifer spun around and grinned at her friend. “You’re kidding! Where was it?”

  “Buried beneath all the stuff on the knitting table, of course.” Kelly handed her the phone. “You’ve got a message. No surprise there.”

  “I’ll check it later.” Jennifer pocketed the phone. “Thanks a bunch, Kelly.”

  “Kelly, your order’s been up for five minutes. It’s gonna get cold,” Eduardo warned, spatula in hand.

  “Oooops, better get back before Marty faints from hunger,” Kelly said, and hurried over to the grill.

  * * *

  “When’s Jennifer coming?” Greg asked, sipping from a brown bottle with the familiar colorful label.

  Kelly leaned back into the plastic webbed patio chair and looked past her friends who were reclining in an assortment of outdoor chairs they’d all brought as housewarming presents. The backyard of this house was smaller than the one where she and Steve lived. But it also had a pretty tree that was bigger than most in the development.

  She took a sip of her Fat Tire ale and noticed the late-afternoon sun had started its downward path. “She should be here soon. So why don’t we do some brainstorming before she comes? You know, thinking of ways we can help out Jen and Pete with Cassie.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that,” Lisa said, taking a potato chip from the open bag in the midst of their semicircle. “School’s out now, so Cassie will need supervision during the daytime. At least in the mornings because Jennifer and Pete are working in the café, seven days a week, early morning until two or three o’clock when they close up. Then Jen goes to the real estate office.”

  “How old is Cassie again?” Marty asked, and tipped back his beer.

  “Eleven, but she’ll be twelve in July,” Jennifer’s voice came from behind them.

  “Hey, Jen,” Megan greeted. “There are more chips on the kitchen counter. There’s cola, too. We’re going to have Chinese delivered for dinner.”

  “When’s that food coming?” Marty asked, checking his watch.

  “By five o’clock. You can last,” Lisa teased.

  “We were starting to brainstorm some ideas for helping with Cassie while you and Pete are working every day,” Kelly said as Jennifer sank into a patio chair between Lisa and Greg. “And I was thinking that maybe Cassie would like to come with me to the softball clinic a couple of mornings each week. I’ve agreed to teach a kids’ class this summer. Ten – to twelve-year-old girls, so she’d fit right in. We’ll meet two times a week for eight weeks.”

  “Hey, that sounds like a great idea,” Megan said. “Do you know if she’s ever played before, Jen?”

  “I haven’t a clue. She’s never mentioned anything like that when we’ve gone to visit them in Denver. I know Ben took her around to concerts with him in Denver. She reads a lot. Pete said Ben used to read to her from the time she was a baby. Oh, and I remember her telling us about Girl Scouts. She really liked the campout.”

  Marty perked up. “Hey, I was a Boy Scout.”

  “So was I,” Greg said, balancing his beer bottle on his knee. “In fact, I was an Eagle Scout.”

  “Hey, so was I!” Marty grinned. “Betcha I had more badges.”

  “Dude, don’t even go there. I got you beat.”

  “Oh, no . . . not another contest.” Megan rolled her eyes.

  “Then you guys can talk badges with Cassie. Common interest,” Kelly teased. “And I’ve got all my favorite books from when I was a kid. They’re finally on the shelves.”

  “Thank God, we finally live someplace we can have shelves.” Steve laughed. “You had most of those books in storage for four years.”

  “Still don’t know how you guys lived in that cottage for as long as you did,” Lisa said, snatching another potato chip.

  “Greg, I know something else you and Cassie can share,” Jennifer said. “She loves looking up stuff on the computer. Ben limits her time, of course. He doesn’t want her grades to suffer.”

  “Good grades?” Lisa asked.

  “Oh, yeah. She’s smart as a whip, in Ben’s words. But Ben’s computer is an old, old desktop and slow as molasses. I don’t know how Cassie puts up with it.”

  Greg leaned forward. “Heck, I’ve got a couple of used laptops in the computer lab at the university in case someone needs a loaner. One’s only a couple of years old. She could have that.”

  “Wow, Cassie ought to love that,” Megan said. “It’ll be way faster.”

  “Oh, yeah. Warp speed compared to her granddad’s ancient one,” Greg added.

  “Greg, you’re a doll,” Jennifer said. “You know, Pete and I were there one weekend when she tried to ‘fix’ Ben’s old desktop. She had the back off and asked us what she could replace to make it faster.” She laughed softly. “Of course, Pete and I were clueless.”

  “All riiiiight,” Greg said, nodding. “Sounds like she might enjoy coming over to the computer lab with me sometime. We’ve got trays of circuits and motherboards. I could show her how to make something. Something easy. She may get a kick out of it.”

  “Okay, now you’ve got me thinking,” Megan piped up, reaching for a chip. “There are a lot of hours in a week. Kelly’s taking her to softball two mornings. Greg’s gonna tear apart computers with her. I think she needs more outdoor time. How about I take Cassie to tennis with me? Parks and Recreation have tennis classes for kids every week. I try to play every afternoon in the summer, so I can play over at those courts.”

  “Fantastic,” Kelly said, delighted at her friends’ suggestions.

  “My turn.” Lisa held up her hand. “Why don’t I ask the clinic director if Cassie can hang around with me once a week? There’s a lot going on in the clinic. People doing physical therapy, doctors coming in and out and talking to the therapists. Lots of great machines there. She can learn all about working out.” Lisa smiled.

  Jennifer looked around the group. “Wow, you guys are amazing, you know that? I can’t thank you enough for offering to help.”

  “Hey, it’ll be fun,” Megan said, then drained her cola.

  “Amazing, that’s us,” Greg said, then jerked his thumb toward Marty. “All except for him. He didn’t volunteer because all he does is talk all day. How boring is that?”

  “It’s the quality of conversation that counts,” Marty said, leaning back in the patio chair, hands behind his head. “Besides, I’ve been pondering what’s the best way for me to help, and I think I’ve got it.”

  “What? You’re gonna take the kid to the courthouse and show her some criminals?” Greg taunted.

  Marty didn’t even look fazed. “Naw, I decided this is a job for Spot, the Wonder Dog.”

  Megan put her hand over her eyes and sank back in her chair. “Oh, no! Not Spot!”

  “Stop him now, Jen, before he lifts a leg in your new backyard,” Greg warned.

  “Better be a good dog, Spot.” Jennifer shook her finger at Marty. “Or Pete and I will take you to the vet’s to be fixed.”

  At that, everyone erupted in laughter, including Spot.

  Eight

  “Look, Carl, squirrels are waiting for you,” Kelly said, watching her dog race across the cottage backyard.

  Brazen Squirrel and family members skittered in all directions—along the chain-link fence top, leaping into overhanging branches of the cottonwood tree, and sprinting down to the grass and onto the golf course greens. Sunday golfers were easier to escape than Big Dog. Undeterred, Carl barked furiously in each squirrel’s vicinity. Doggie threats of: Next time!

  The cottage yard was still Carl’s favorite. The new house may have a bigger backyard, but it lacked the towering shade trees that only the passage of years can provide. New housing developments usually had smaller, or starter, trees. And without big trees, squirrels were hard to find. They were happily living in the larger trees along the older streets that bordered the new development.

  Kelly slid the patio screen door closed. The temperatures would be in
the nineties again today, not the typical early summer weather. She decided to let what light breeze there was inside the cottage while she went for some of Eduardo’s coffee. Since Steve, Marty, and Greg were playing an away ball game, she and Megan and Lisa were going to indulge in a Sunday dinner in Old Town tonight. Their ball game was in midafternoon.

  Grabbing her coffee mug, Kelly headed out the cottage front door. She had just crossed the driveway when she spotted a familiar SUV turning in—Mimi and Burt returning from the mountains. She watched them pull into a parking spot beside the café patio garden and walked over to their car.

  “Hey, there,” she greeted them as they both exited the SUV. “I’m sorry you cut your vacation short.”

  “That’s okay, Kelly,” Mimi replied, her extra-large knitting bag over her arm. “We had five glorious days.”

  “I’m glad you’re here, Kelly. Connie only told us that a man was found dead inside a car parked in our driveway. Over there beneath the trees.” Burt gestured toward the tall cedar trees that shaded the driveway and the tall spruce trees on the side. “She didn’t know if it was a suicide or . . .”

  “Don’t even say it, Burt,” Mimi ordered, hand up in ‘stop’ position. “I don’t want to think about another murder being committed near our shop.” She gave a very visible shiver.

  “I understand, Mimi. Why don’t we grab one of these outside café tables and order something yummy. I can fill you in while we’re eating.”

  Burt gave her a slight smile. “That’s a good idea, Kelly. I’ve been hankering for some biscuits and some of Pete’s sausage gravy.”

  “Well, I might as well join you,” Mimi joked. “I have certainly been ignoring my diet all week. Why start now?”

  “Why, indeed.” Kelly grinned. “In fact, we can make that an order for three. I’m sure temp cook Frank is using Pete’s gravy recipe. C’mon,” she beckoned, leading the way along the flagstone path into the garden. One empty table was within their reach.