On the Hook

by Betty Hechtman

  Mikey took one look at them and, muttering under his breath that talking to them once was enough, got up and headed out of the store, still in his superhero attire.

  “You certainly keep interesting company,” Barry said as he came up to my table while Detective Heather continued to the counter to place her order. “Isn’t he a little young for you?”

  I let out my breath, relieved that Barry hadn’t seen beyond the Wonder Man suit.

  I thought I was in the clear, but then I noticed that Mikey had left a card on the table, which Barry picked up and read. Suddenly his eyes opened wider and he stared at me.

  “Why were you having coffee with Mikey Fitzpatrick?”

  “Do you know him?” I asked innocently, and Barry half closed his eyes and blew out his breath.

  “Molly, you are playing with fire here. I’m not the only detective working on this case. Somebody else is going to connect the dots between you and that scarf, and I won’t be able to do anything about it. Your best bet is to come clean with me.” He slipped into the chair and looked across the table at me just a little too long. “I know what you’re up to. You think you can catch the killer before you’re in over your head. I’m telling you now, you’re already in over your head.”

  Detective Heather came up to the table and gave me a piercing look, then turned back to Barry. “I got you a coffee,” she said, holding out the paper tray containing two large cups. “I had an interesting conversation with the barista. Do you know who Wonder Man really is?”

  “Yes, I know, he’s Mikey Fitzpatrick,” Barry said in a world-weary voice.

  He got up and stood at the table for a moment while Detective Heather walked to the door. Barry held up two fingers and pointed them at her and then pointed them at me. I got it—she was watching me.

  Lara-Ann walked into the café and glanced at the two detectives as they walked out.

  “Someone is looking for a copy of Marjorie Morningstar. The computer says we have it, but I can’t seem to find it. Can you help?”

  I got up, tossed my cup, and followed her into the main part of the store.

  “That man you were talking to—I ‘ve seen him in here before. He looks like a cop,” she said.

  “It figures you would notice that, with your love of mysteries,” I said, putting on a pleasant expression before explaining that he was my ex.

  “Is he stalking you? I remember that in The Cop Who Cropped, the heroine was being stalked by her ex. They’d met in a scrapbooking group. Even when they broke up, he kept coming to the scrapbooking group, and then he’d follow her home and sit outside her house.”

  “It’s nothing like that. He’s just working on a case he thinks I know something about.”

  “Well, do you?” she asked, sounding interested.

  I wasn’t sure how much to say. “You remember the Hookers were talking about an actor who was killed?”

  “Sure. We all started talking about poison rings,” she said.

  “That’s the case,” I said.

  “Then you have some inside dope. Did the police find one of those rings?”

  “I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “I’m more concerned about finding out who did it. It’s the only way I’m going to get him off my back.”

  “How interesting,” she said. “You’re really in the midst of it, while I only read about it. Though Mrs. Shedd and I were talking about hosting a mystery event at the bookstore.”

  “Really?” I said. “I’m the one who arranges most of the events.” I smiled, trying to cover the edge in my voice. Lara-Ann was a great addition to the staff, and I was sure she was just trying to be helpful. At least I hoped that was all. I really needed to make an effort to get to know her better.

  Still, I was grateful to have Lara-Ann as it got to be time for the Hookers’ happy-hour gathering. I could join the group and let myself get lost in crocheting instead of constantly glancing around the bookstore, worried that a customer might need help.

  “Tomorrow we do the presentation. I hope you can all come. We’ve got someone from the newspaper, and Channel 3 is sending Kimberly Wang Diaz. So, dears, remember to be ready for your closeup,” CeeCee said as she added another baby blanket to the stack. “But these days, with all the cell phone cameras, I guess we all have to be always ready for our closeup.”

  CeeCee certainly was. Of course, she had a stylist who oversaw her appearance. By keeping the classic style of her chestnut-brown hair the same since the days of The CeeCee Collins Show, she had managed to appear unchanged. Her makeup was perfect and never overdone, and her black slacks and turquoise linen shirt had a timeless look of casual elegance.

  The rest of us all surveyed ourselves with concern. Everyone, that is, except Eduardo. He had long since given up the leather pants of his cover model days and, now that he owned The Apothecary, generally wore well-cut designer jeans and a blazer. The only leftover from his days as a model and celebrity personality was his luxuriant long black hair, which he wore pulled back in a ponytail.

  And then, of course, there was Adele. “I know just what to wear,” she said brightly as we all rolled our eyes. Adele didn’t know the meaning of the word subtle.

  Rhoda fastened off the yarn on the toast-colored baby blanket she’d been making. “Leo couldn’t stop talking about last night,” she said, looking at me. “He said you kissed him.”

  “What?” Dinah said.

  “It wasn’t like that,” I said, turning to my friend then I spoke to the whole group. “I looked at the evening as his graduation.” Then I realized how that sounded. “This kiss had nothing to do with it. It was for camouflage.” I dropped my voice and spoke to Dinah, telling her about the people sitting next to us.

  Rhoda interrupted. “Leo wondered about Mason, but I explained he was your attorney.”

  “What do you need an attorney for?” CeeCee asked.

  Adele and Elise both stopped what they were doing and shook their heads as they stared at me.

  “It’s always good to have an attorney around, just in case,” I said.

  * * *

  By the time I got home, I was looking forward to a quick dinner and a hot bath. But I knew from the cars parked in front of my house that my mother and the girls must be rehearsing. I pulled into the driveway and crossed the yard. When I opened the kitchen door, I heard singing and hand clapping. Cosmo and Felix were waiting by the door and ran out as soon as I opened it. I quickly shut the door behind them, keeping the cats in.

  The upside of the rehearsal was that my mother had made another Mystery Cake and it was sitting on the counter along with a bunch of white containers. I knew by the smell that tonight’s takeout was Italian. I’d have a plate of food and then it was crochet time to finish my baby blanket so I could add it to the bunch in the morning. But first a nice bath.

  As I passed through the living room, my mother and the girls were practicing some choreography I’d never seen before. The song wasn’t from their usual repertoire either. Samuel was accompanying them on the keyboard, and my father was watching from the couch. My mother would always be a star as far as he was concerned, and he was a proud grandfather to Samuel. He barely flinched as the three women had a bit of a misstep and my son cut off the music.

  “Thank you again,” my mother said when she saw me. “I want you to know the girls and I really appreciate you letting us practice here. It’s really essential now that we’re adding the Diana and the Dinettes hit to our show Bop Biddity Do Boob Boob.” She turned to Lana and Bunny. “Let’s show her what we’ve got.”

  Samuel played the intro, and the three women started gyrating with amazing flexibility while clapping their hands. They got a little further into the routine before they fell out of step and my mother called a halt. “Let’s try again,” she said.

  “I’ll catch you later,” I said, thinking of the nice bath that awaited me.

  Blondie was sitting in her chair and looked up when I came into my bedroom. I gave her the litt
le bit of petting she would tolerate and then headed to the bathroom.

  As I closed the door, the handle came loose again and actually came off in my hand, but luckily before I had shut the door completely. I really needed to find a handyman. I put the handle back in and tightened the plates around the base. Still, to be on the safe side, I left the door slightly ajar, then turned on the water. The tub looked out over a small enclosed area that I had planted with flowers. A cascading fountain sat against the wall. It was completely private, so there was no need to cover the windows.

  I always found the bathtub a good place to think. That night, I rethought everything Mikey had said. It was funny that a man in a superhero suit had seemed the most realistic about Timothy, or was that merely a cover? Mikey had seemed way too familiar with how to add almond flavoring to a Bobaccino. But then I thought about what he’d said about Deana and Alexandra being at odds with each other, and suddenly I had an idea. By the time I’d gotten out of the tub, it had turned into a plan.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  CeeCee had told the Hookers to meet in front of the bookstore and then we’d carpool to the three spots where we were presenting the baby blankets. I had managed to finish mine just in time. When I got to the bookstore, only Elise was standing out there.

  “Where is everybody?” she asked.

  “Dinah couldn’t make it—she has a class this morning—but I don’t know about the others.”

  It seemed that the rain was done for a while. The wind had changed, bringing in warmer air and making my tan suede blazer appropriate for the day. I had added a rust-colored cowl to jazz up the all-black I had on underneath.

  Now that Elise had dropped the vampire look, her so-called professional outfits were pretty blah. I guessed that was the point. She wore a casual pantsuit in a color that would probably be called wheat with a white shell. The only excitement in her outfit was the nubby shawl in shades of earthy browns she wore over the suit.

  She glanced around and then at me. “As long as we’re alone—what did you tell Logan when you talked to him the other day? You seemed to be talking for a long time,” Elise said. Her birdlike voice sounded a little frantic.

  I had to think back; the conversation with Logan already seemed like a long time ago. I realized I hadn’t told him anything because he had been too busy telling me about his deal with the Clark house and how he hadn’t told Elise anything about it. I tried to figure out what I could say without divulging any of his secrets, but Elise was too impatient.

  “You didn’t say anything about going to that house, did you?” She swallowed a few times before continuing. “It was bad enough when I was just worried about him finding out I’d shown the place, but for us to have been there with a dead person who had been murdered…” Her voice warbled as she said murdered. “I’m still trying to figure how I missed seeing him,” she said.

  “You went right to the master suite when you went to the lower floor, and then you got Logan’s text.”

  “And I got all crazy,” she said with a sigh.

  Adele had just come out of Shedd & Royal. She’d put her own spin on CeeCee’s suggestion that we dress up for the newspeople. Adele had made a black cardigan and then covered it with small crocheted squares done in different colors and different stitches. She looked like a walking afghan. She hadn’t stopped there and had also added a black crocheted headband she’d covered in different-colored crocheted flowers. She seemed pleased with her appearance and made a point of standing near the door where anyone going into the bookstore would be sure to notice her.

  Elise glanced in Adele’s direction. “Between you and me, I don’t know why she’d want that house now. Unless she likes the idea of sticking her mother-in-law in a room where someone was murdered.”

  We agreed that seemed too much, even for Adele. I was just glad that Elise had forgotten that she’d asked me about my conversation with Logan.

  CeeCee joined us, glancing around in dismay. “I was hoping more of the group would show up. Particularly Eduardo. He shows that we aren’t just a women’s group, and he photographs so well.”

  I mentioned that Dinah had a class and couldn’t come. Adele gave up her position by the door and came to join us.

  “We have to go,” CeeCee said.

  There was some wrangling about who would drive, and Adele won out. CeeCee rode shotgun in the front seat of the Matrix, while Elise and I got in the back. At least her car had four doors.

  “Remember, ladies, the newspeople are meeting us at our first stop, so everyone be on your best behavior,” CeeCee said. She was staring straight ahead out the windshield, but the back seat crowd all knew who her comment was meant for.

  The fire station was located on Ventura Boulevard between a plant nursery and a mattress store, about a half mile from Shedd & Royal. Adele pulled up to the curb, and I noted that the large garage door was open and the shiny red trucks stood ready to zoom out if there was an emergency. A knot of men in midnight-blue uniforms hung around the front as Kimberly Wang Diaz checked her makeup in a small mirror while her cameraman set up. Another man who looked to be in his late twenties was hanging out nearby. I guessed he was from the newspaper and, by the way he was shifting his weight from foot to foot with an annoyed twist to his mouth, not so happy to be there. But then, covering a bunch of yarn-loving women donating baby blankets was a pretty light assignment. An older man standing near him had a camera bag on his shoulder and was grabbing shots of the fire station.

  The whole group looked in our direction as we got out of the car and made our way toward them. “I’ll introduce everyone,” CeeCee said, but Adele objected.

  “We should each do our own introduction,” Adele said. There was no time to argue, so CeeCee took the path of least resistance and agreed, though she insisted on speaking first since she had arranged the presentation.

  CeeCee turned on the charm and greeted the group of men. “I’m CeeCee Collins,” she began. They all recognized her and the reporter moved in closer, beginning to scribble in a notebook. His photographer started shooting photos of us. Kimberly Wang Diaz held out her microphone as her cameraman got it on tape.

  CeeCee was about to say more, but Adele moved in front of her and did a twirl to display her showy sweater as she began to rap. “I’m Adele and I’m here to say, that I’m also known as the Queen of Crochet.”

  At that, she began to pull scarves out of the tote bag she’d been holding behind her back and skip around the group, keeping a beat as she rapped, “We’re here to give blankets for babes away. Hey, crochet. Give crochet a yay.”

  The assembled group seemed stunned, then chuckled as she began to hang the scarves around the necks of the firefighters. When she tossed a wild pink scarf made out of fluffy yarn around the neck of one of the men, he began to vamp.

  “Let me hear you now,” Adele called as she moved on. “Give crochet a yay.” She kept at it until she had everyone calling “Yay!” back to her. She swirled a striped yellow-and-white scarf around another firefighter’s neck. He began to dance along with Adele, putting his hands in the air as he called “Yay!” back to her. She pranced up to the newspaper reporter, who had joined in with the chanting, rocking back and forth with the rhythm she was creating as she threw a scarf made of multicolored granny squares around his neck. All the while she was playing to Kimberly’s cameraman.

  Finally, CeeCee stepped in front of Adele and put her hands up to end her rap. Adele did a last “Say yay for crochet” and then winked at the camera. “Got you hooked, huh? Stick with us; there’s more to come.”

  “Thank you, Adele, for your colorful…” CeeCee was at a loss to describe what Adele had done. I wasn’t sure what to call it either, other than typical Adele.

  CeeCee did her best to take charge and held out one of the baby blankets as she spoke to Kimberly. “I’m sure you know that parents or persons with lawful custody can surrender an infant in the first seventy-two hours after their birth to a fire station, hospital,
or some other locations with no questions asked. We want to make sure the fire station has some lovingly crocheted blankets ready to wrap around any surrendered newborns.”

  Adele behaved herself as CeeCee made the actual presentation of the blankets to the fire captain, though she made sure she was in the shot. Then she collected the scarves she’d distributed, and we were just about to wrap up when Adele spoke to Kimberly and the newspaper reporter.

  “Too bad you can’t come with us. You never know what I have up my sleeve.” At that, she pulled out one of the giant metal hooks that was really a hook holder. She had somehow managed to use it to crochet, and there was a row of chunky work hanging off of it. Everyone but our group was surprised and laughed.

  Kimberly conferred with her cameraman and then turned to Adele. “Maybe we will follow you to your next stop.” Adele mentioned Tarzana Hospital, and Kimberly started toward the news van. The reporter overheard and nodded to his photographer, and they rushed off to a Prius.

  “When you’ve got it, you’ve got it,” Adele said to herself, after saying good-bye to the firemen. Then she led the way to the Matrix.

  Elise and I traded glances when we were in the back seat of the car. “I guess we’re just the extras,” she said. CeeCee overheard and apologized for us not being introduced. She promised to do it at the next stop. I’d believe it when I saw it.

  The news van was already parked at the curb when we got to our next stop. The reporter and his photographer were hanging around near the entrance. Tarzana Hospital was small and had been built in such a way that if it ever flopped as a medical establishment, it could morph into a hotel. An overhang sheltered the main entrance and, in keeping with the Tarzan theme, there were topiary bushes in the shape of lions on either side.

  Adele was still on a high from her performance at the fire station, and she giggled as she rushed ahead to the cluster of people standing just outside the sliding doors.

  Making sure that Kimberly and her cameraman were ready to catch it, Adele began her performance in front of a woman in a severe business suit, who was no doubt a hospital administrator, along with a group of men and women in scrubs I took to be doctors and nurses from the ER.