Wicked Weaves

by Lavene, Joyce

  “I’ll do that, son. You all be careful out here.” Detective Almond hitched up his pants and got back in his car.

  Officer Grigg looked at Chase. “I understand you’re what passes for the law here.” He looked at the tall gates where the young maidens of the Village had begun gathering to throw rose petals at visitors as they came in. They were giggling and simpering at Chase as well. It almost made me wish I’d fallen for a less hunky guy. Almost, anyway.

  The town crier was laughing at Grigg as he tried to read the news of the day. Grigg looked even funnier with rose petals in his dark hair. Something had to be done if he was going to blend in.

  “I’ll take Officer Grigg to costumes.” Chase raised his voice over the sound of the musical quartet beginning their daily round of song.

  “I’ll keep an eye on Jah,” I promised. “I hope we’re doing the right thing not telling Detective Almond about him.”

  “I think we both agree the only thing he’s guilty of is trespassing.”

  “But what if we’re wrong?”

  “It’s not like the police have been able to figure this out any better than us.”

  I agreed with him and glanced at Grigg, who was watching the organ grinder with his monkey. “Make sure you clean his face. There was lipstick and rouge during the Renaissance, and men wore it as well as women. But most people don’t know that.”

  Chase laughed. “Don’t worry, Jessie. I’ll take care of the details. I was just thinking that we lost Tom, Tom the Piper’s Son a couple of days ago. Officer Grigg could fit right in there.”

  “That’s a little too symbolic, isn’t it?”

  “Around here?” Chase looked at the giant chasing Jack, the Green Man out for a stroll, and a knight attending a young lady in robes. “I think he’ll be exactly what we’re looking for.”

  I left him to take care of the problem. Officer Grigg was already looking lost and bewildered. Not everyone could handle stepping back through time.

  I was glad to head back to Wicked Weaves. My weaving was right on the verge of competency. If I could get in a few more sessions with Mary, I was sure I could produce a basket. It might not sell for four hundred dollars, but it would be enough for my purposes. I’d planned to have something substantial to go with each one of my craft papers.

  I turned to walk back to the shop when I was accosted by the Tornado Twins. They were a brother act that usually confined themselves to one of the play stages. Between acts they walked around the Village drumming up an audience for the next performance.

  Both of them were kind of cute and sexy. The only problem was they didn’t mind honking horns or throwing cream pies at the worst possible moments. I’d dated Diego for a few days one summer. When he wasn’t greeting me with a hand buzzer or telling the worst jokes in the world, his brother, Lorenzo, was dropping water bombs on us or throwing cream pies. They were both completely obnoxious.

  “Good morning, Jessie.” Diego swept his large, blue-feathered hat off his head as he bowed. “You’re looking very fair and desirable today.”

  Lorenzo consulted the plate-sized watch on his wrist. “And it’s early in the morning to be able to say that.” He held out his watch for me to consult.

  “I’m not that stupid.” I brushed by them. The watch squirted water, of course.

  “Jessie!” Diego turned and ran up to me, grabbing one of my arms as Lorenzo took the other. “Why don’t you write about us? You could be our apprentice for a summer.”

  “A summer of love.” Lorenzo kissed my hand. “You would never forget us.”

  “Or forgive us!” Diego pinched my butt as Lorenzo honked his little horn.

  I slapped at both of them until they moved away from me. “You guys need to find someone who appreciates you.”

  “Don’t you mean two someones who appreciate both of us?” Diego laughed and was right back at my side.

  I kicked at Lorenzo as he used a stick to lift up the hem of my skirt. “No. I don’t think you’ll be that lucky. If you can find one woman between you, you’ll be doing good.”

  At that moment, there was the sound of trumpets as the queen strolled through the Village with her entire court. Livy was resplendent in blue velvet that morning. Her crown glittered in the sun as she slowly inclined her head to visitors who addressed her as she walked by.

  I felt a tug at the side of my skirt and slapped at the hand, thinking it was Lorenzo or Diego. Instead, it was the queen’s royal page. He yelped and gave me an angry look. “The queen requests your presence at the castle this afternoon at three p.m.,” the page said. “I suggest you be there.”

  I bowed to the page, who was a high school student from Brooklyn dressed in livery that matched Livy’s costume. “I thank you, Sir Page. I will attend the queen at her command.”

  Lorenzo picked that moment to stick his whole hand under my skirt. I reacted instinctively, lashing out with my right fist. I hit him squarely on the jaw, and he collapsed on the ground at my feet.

  All the fairies, damsels, maidens, ladies-in-waiting, and even the queen herself began applauding. It was something they all wished they’d done.

  Lorenzo laughed. “The view is even better down here.”

  Wicked Weaves was busy when I got back. Mary scolded me for leaving her with so many customers. Jah sat in one corner, ignoring the rest of the world. I guess we could make him stay there for three days, but we couldn’t make him like it.

  I was a little put out that Mary didn’t seem to be grateful for everything I’d tried to do for her. Here I was, bringing her and her son together, single-handedly trying to solve the murder of her husband and run the basket shop for her. What else could I do?

  “How did the class go yesterday?” she asked me after the rush of shoppers had passed.

  “It went fine. Ham showed up and was a big help. I think everyone had a good time and learned something.” It sounded good to me.

  She sighed and began straightening baskets, ignoring Jah the way he was ignoring her. This was never going to work. How could they reunite as mother and son in three days if they didn’t interact? As usual, I was going to have to take care of this problem, too.

  “I’d really like to get started on a new basket,” I told her. “I think I’m past the stage of sticking my finger with bulrush and bleeding all over everything. I think I’m ready to produce something.”

  “All right. Let’s give it a try.” Mary picked up her corncob pipe and looked at it strangely for a moment. I wondered if she could tell that I’d had it in my mouth. She pulled on her pink shawl that matched the scarf covering her head, and we moved to the back steps.

  I was ready. I cut my sweetgrass to even lengths, tied the knot in the bottom of what would be the base of the basket and then began to work the sweetgrass together. I could feel Jah hovering over me as I began to coil and sew the first row.

  “What am I supposed to do?” he asked finally. “You won me, remember? I was supposed to do something, not sit around being bored to death.”

  Mary nodded. “So you do have a tongue. Likely you have hands and feet, too. The shop could use a sweep, and those shelves need to have the cobwebs swept down.”

  Jah didn’t move. “She’s weaving baskets, but I have to sweep the shop? She weaves like she has too many fingers. Her knot is sloppy, and her technique is bad. Why doesn’t she sweep the shop, and I’ll make baskets?”

  This would’ve suited my purpose fine. I was prepared to go inside and sweep, leaving the two of them alone on the stairs. I could always work on my basket.

  “It appears to me that she was here first.” Mary spoke without looking up from the bone that moved quickly around the coils of new grass. “Jessie’s a fine assistant, and she’s learning a craft. You sweep the shop. We’ll see what else we can find for you to do when you’re done.”

  I sat back down and picked up some pine needles to thread with my sweetgrass. It wasn’t a good beginning for the mother-child reunion. “It would be all right if
he worked with you.”

  She huffed at me. “Maybe for you. Not for me. He can’t just come in and tell me how to run my shop. He may be my son, but he has a lot to learn.”

  I heard a customer come into the shop and left Mary working on her basket. It was actually a man and woman dressed like Robin Hood and Maid Marion. It was probably one of the most popular costumes for visitors. “Can I help you, my lord and my lady?”

  “We’re looking for a basket,” Marion told me. “It can’t be more than a foot high.”

  “I think I see something for you, my lady.” I led them to the smaller baskets. “These baskets are made right here by our expert basket weaver.”

  “Who doesn’t mind selling out her own people,” Jah said quite clearly.

  “Ignore him, good sir and lady. He is only a simpleton who cleans this shop.” I glared at him but apparently not hard enough.

  “My people were making baskets when your people were still gathering eggs in their skirts,” he growled. “None of you deserve to touch these works.”

  Robin and Marion looked unsure and were about to leave when Mary came in through the back door. “Don’t pay him no mind. The boy is all mouth and no brain. I made these baskets to sell. My ancestors did what they had to do with theirs. I do what I want with mine.”

  Jah opened his mouth to speak again, his hands still on the broom. Before he could say anything, Mary grabbed him by one ear and took him out the back door like a naughty child. It was amazing to see her, barely reaching his shoulder, yet she was in command.

  I smiled at Robin and Marion again. “Have you decided, my lady?”

  Marion bought three small baskets. Even though they were small, they were nicely priced. Of course, the price could never really equal the work that went into each piece, but I thought Mary made a fair living.

  I crept toward the back door to find Jah sitting on the ground with the beginning of a basket in his lap. He and Mary weren’t saying anything to each other, but I thought that would change.

  I watched his long fingers weave the sweetgrass around the bottom knot, sewing with the bone as he went. He fed the new grass into the coil with a uniformity only time and experience could achieve. I couldn’t tell yet what kind of basket he was creating, but I knew he was already a master of the craft.

  I wanted to throw myself at his feet and ask him to teach me everything he knew until my hands moved with that same dexterity between the sweetgrass and the black rush. I knew better; the peace between Mary and her son was fragile. They’d have to find a way to get back what was lost between them before I could declare him my weaving idol.

  Wicked Weaves’ front door opened again. It was Chase with Officer Grigg. “What do you think?”

  I looked at Grigg. Chase had found a red hat and tunic with green breeches and matching boots for Grigg. He looked every inch the piper’s son from the rhyme. The only thing missing was a real pig, but I was sure Chase would find a way to supply that. “He looks great! Where are you going to put him?”

  “He’ll be stationed near Mother Goose, but he’ll be free to wander the Village.”

  “Queen Olivia sent her page to summon me to court this afternoon. Maybe you’d like to come with me?” I smiled up at Chase but was rudely interrupted by Grigg.

  “Is that the woman who found the body?”

  “Yes. But I doubt if that’s what she wants to talk about.” The piper’s son was going to have to learn his place in the hierarchy of the Village. Merchants were under royalty, but piper’s sons, especially those who stole pigs, were on the lower rung.

  “I’ll walk over there with you,” Chase volunteered.

  “So will I.”

  We both stared at Grigg, then took turns trying to talk him out of going with us. I’d had a more leisurely pace in mind while traveling to the castle; one that would take us by the dungeon for a while. But that wasn’t going to happen if Grigg came along.

  Grigg brandished his badge, which was stapled into the underside of his shirt. “If there’s any intelligence to be had about this crime, I want to be there to gather it.”

  Chase finally gave up and shrugged. “Fine. Come along then. But don’t forget Village protocol; you have to walk ten paces behind us.”

  Grigg nodded and tucked away his badge.

  There was nothing more to say.

  Grigg kept his respective distance behind us as we walked past the privies, Peasant’s Pub, and Bawdy Betty’s. “Good move,” I told Chase. “At least he’s not all up in our faces.”

  “Yeah. Better than nothing,” Chase agreed. “I didn’t know he still had his badge.”

  I giggled. “I wasn’t sure for a minute what he was going to pull out.”

  Chase laughed with me and put his arm around my shoulders. It was hot and humid as it can only be on the southern coast. The fairies gave me dirty looks as we strolled down the King’s Highway. Adora at Cupid’s Arrow, a Renaissance boutique for lovers, smiled and waved a little. Beth Daniels from Stylish Frocks raced past us toward the castle with an arm full of dresses no doubt destined for Livy’s closet. The pirate ship was in full sail across Mirror Lake, which was only a few acres wide. But it made a gorgeous sight with the white sails blossoming against the clear blue sky and the turrets of the castle.

  The master-at-arms greeted us at the gate. “I heard she’d sent for you. Go on in. You’re late already.”

  “I did the best I could,” I argued. “I work for a living, you know.”

  He shrugged brawny shoulders beneath leather padding. Gus Fletcher was a professional wrestler before he came to work at the Village. “Don’t matter to me. Explain it to her.”

  One of Livy’s ladies-in-waiting took us through the main entrance to the private quarters after taking a look at Grigg’s badge. The castle was divided into public and private sectors along with the King’s Feast and joust area. The biggest difference between the two areas was that the elaborate wall hangings and other ornamentation in the public sector were cheap fakes. In the private sector, Livy and Harry had the expensive Renaissance decorations, they thought were still faux.

  Livy turned on me the minute I walked into her domain. “You took your own time about getting here, Jessie. I suppose my life being in danger because of what I know about that man’s death means nothing to you.”

  Eighteen

  I tried to calm Livy down, but even when she’s not using the royal we, she’s still pretty high maintenance. That day she was worse than usual, wringing her hands and pacing the floor. “Really, Livy, why would anyone want to kill you?”

  Her white face was blotchy from crying, and her red hair was a mess. “Because of what I know. I should’ve told the police, but I didn’t think anything of it until today.”

  “What happened today?” Chase asked politely.

  “The killer, aka Roger Trent, tried to get rid of me. He knew what I saw and must’ve been afraid I’d talk.”

  Chase and I exchanged meaningful glances. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but I remembered the monk’s robe I saw hanging in Roger’s shop. “Slow down and start at the beginning,” I encouraged. “We don’t know what you saw, so we don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  She stared at Officer Grigg. “Who is this man, and why have you brought him into our presence?”

  “I’m a police officer, ma’am.” Grigg stepped forward. “I’m here to solve this crime and set the Village to rights.”

  Sensing a new and untried audience, Livy managed to swoon languidly on the brown brocade sofa behind her. “It’s all so terrible. I don’t know where to start.”

  “How about at the beginning,” Chase suggested. “I assume that was the day we found Joshua Shift next to Wicked Weaves.”

  “That’s right.” Livy’s lady-in-waiting fetched her a glass of water. “I was taking one of my usual strolls through the Village. I was wearing my new gown; it’s quite beautiful, really. The little seed pearls make all the difference.”

 
; Chase rolled his eyes. “Sometime today would be nice.”

  “You have become quite rude, Sir Bailiff. Methinks it may be your close association with Mistress Jessica. It has not gone beneath our notice.”

  “In just a minute, I’m walking out, and if someone wants to kill you, they have my blessing.” Chase got to his feet.

  Livy looked at Officer Grigg imploringly. “You see what we have to endure here, sir. Perhaps you can be of assistance to us.”

  Grigg all but prostrated himself at Livy’s silk-slipper-clad feet. “I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe.”