Leonora looked at Elsa-May. “Hello.”
“Can we come in?”
“Of course.” She stepped back and opened the door. “Tea or kaffe?”
“Nee, we’re fine denke,” Ettie said.
When they sat down on the couch, Leonora started, “I suppose you know they took the quilt. If that's what you're worried about, the police have already been here."
Ettie looked over at Elsa-May and looked back at Leonora. "Wait, they have?"
"Jah and denke very much for telling them I removed my quilt. Do you know how many hours it took me to make it, how many hours not just in the quilting process itself but the time I spent experimenting to get that effect of the sky, and the ripples in the water?"
"I would imagine that it would have taken quite a while," Elsa-May said. “I heard all about it, 'the sky, the water, the cottage.'”
Ettie narrowed her eyes at her sister.
"It took me several months to finish and I'm very disappointed."
"I'm very disappointed too," said Ettie. “Very disappointed that you took the quilt out of the tent in the first place without listening to me."
Elsa-May put a hand on Ettie’s arm and then said to Leonora, “What did the police say when they took it?”
Leonora looked directly at Ettie. “They said she told them I took the quilt away. And, she also told them exactly which quilt it was.”
“Only because it was the nicest one I’ve ever seen. I did tell you they’d need it, but I guess it’s not much use to them now since you took it away from the crime scene.”
“They have it now so what does it matter? The damage has been done. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I can’t even look at you right now, Ettie.”
“You’re throwing us out?”
Leonora pointed to the door as her answer.
Slowly, Elsa-May nodded. “Hmmph. It’s not the first time that's happened to me this week.”
Ettie and Elsa-May got up and walked out of the house. The door was shut very firmly and loudly behind them.
“Well, that was embarrassing.” Elsa-May hung her head as she walked to the waiting buggy.
“Jah, it was.”
“That was fast,” Gabriel said when they climbed back into the buggy.
“We only had a question or two,” Ettie replied.
Gabriel smiled at them. "Where to now?"
"Elsa-May, what do you think about us visiting Detective Kelly? He didn't even tell us he got the quilt from Leonora."
"Of course he would've got the quilt, Ettie, and he would've talked to the councilor too. He is going to act on what you tell him."
"I know, but … I just didn't think he’d take her quilt."
"Where to now?" said Gabriel, stopping the buggy as he was about to turn onto the road. "I need to know left or right."
"Go right. We’ll visit Barbara before we go back to Kelly. Maybe Kelly will be more likely to tell us something if we have something to tell him."
"Jah, I saw her on the list, but she’s not top of the list."
"We should go there now because she always knows the latest gossip."
Ettie and Elsa-May spent half an hour at Barbara's place talking about nothing in particular and by the time Ettie got back into the buggy, she knew there was something she had to do.
"I think I'm getting the bug," Ettie said, as Gabriel drove the horse and buggy onward.
Elsa-May moved her body away. "Don't give it to me."
"Not that kind of bug. The quilting bug. What if we made a quilt together?"
"Ach, Ettie, we’ve talked about this before. Our small kitchen table is the only table we have in the haus and it’s not large enough for cutting things out on. Not something large like a quilt."
"We can do anything if we try. I think it's big enough. A quilt doesn’t start off as a quilt. It starts out with small pieces of fabric and we’ve got enough room to cut out those.”
“It’s a lot of work.”
“Of course, and it wouldn't be fancy like the one Leonora made. She's been at it for years, but we could do it together, you and I.”
"And after we make it, I suppose it goes on your bed? Hmm?"
"Well, we could make two."
Elsa-May shook her head. "I thought as much."
"What about it?"
"I have enough knitting to do for my charities. And if you were a proper Christian woman, you would help me instead of staring out the window watching passersby."
Ettie pinched her lips together. "I am a 'proper Christian woman,' Elsa-May. It’s just that your …"
"Am I going the right way?" Gabriel asked.
Ettie said, “I think we should stop what we’re doing and rethink everything.”
“So, do you want to make a quilt, or should we visit Detective Kelly first?” Elsa-May asked with sarcasm.
“Nee, I’m not talking about that. We should make sure we’re not wasting our time and Gabriel’s time.”
“I don’t mind. I don’t mind at all.”
“What are you suggesting?” Elsa-May stared at her sister.
“We should visit the detective and see if we’re wasting our time. He might’ve caught the killer by now.”
“Would you mind taking us to the police station, Gabriel?”
“Sure can.”
“First, we’ll take you to lunch, Gabriel. Then, you can leave us, and we’ll find our own way home after our police visit.”
“I don’t mind waiting.”
“Nee. We never know how long we’re going to have to wait to see Detective Kelly. He could be out somewhere doing investigations.”
“Okay. If you’re sure.”
“We are,” the two sisters chorused.
Chapter 16
As soon as they arrived at the police station, Kelly came out of his office to greet them. Soon they were sitting in front of the detective wondering why he was looking smug.
“I found out quite a few pieces of interesting news.”
“From the evidence?” Ettie asked him.
“Yes, from the coroner. I found out that not only was the victim strangled, she might also have been poisoned.”
“Might have?” Elsa-May asked.
“Doesn’t it take weeks for toxicology reports to come back?” asked Ettie.
“It does, but the coroner saw strong suggestions of poison.”
“That’s strange. I saw her moments before and she looked alright. How long would it take her to be poisoned?”
“It depends. There are slow acting poisons. She might not have had the desired reaction so the killer finished off the job. If she did have poison in her system, she would’ve been easier to strangle. She showed no signs of resistance and perhaps that’s why. There were no defensive wounds, no skin under her fingernails and so forth.”
“She did seem a little agitated, but she certainly didn’t look like she’d been poisoned.”
“She might’ve had enough of the drug in her system to make her drowsy and unable to put up a fight.” He looked from one sister to the other. “Do you know what this means?”
“It could’ve been a woman? A woman might have killed her?” Ettie said.
“I wasn’t thinking that. It points to our main suspect. He would’ve had access to her home to administer the poison. Perhaps she offered him a drink after he mowed her lawn. And perhaps that took place in the kitchen where he was able to slip the poison into her food, or a drink.”
“So, you think it was the young man and not a woman?” Elsa-May asked.
“At first, we thought it might have been a man because of the strength it takes to choke someone enough to kill them. With the drugs in her system, though, it does open it up to being a woman who’s the perpetrator.” He then stared at Ettie. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Ettie frowned at him. “Why would that be something I’d want to hear?”
“Does it fit with the person you have in mind? I’m thinking you suspect that a woman has d
one it.”
“I don’t have anyone in my mind who might’ve done it.”
“Is that true?” he asked.
“Yes, it is.”
“Well, that’s just made our job twice as hard.”
Ettie said, “What if two people wanted her dead. If one poisoned her, and the other strangled her with no idea about the poison?”
He stared at her. “That is also possible, but before we go down that avenue we’ll wait for the toxicology report.”
“I heard you took Leonora’s quilt,” Ettie said getting to the point of why they were there.
“We do have her quilt, but it’s useless now since it’s been away from the crime scene. I did have forensics go over it anyway.”
“Oh, I hope you didn’t say that I said she took the quilt.”
Elsa-May dug her in the ribs. “He did. Leonora said that they said you told them.”
“That’s right. I guess she did.” Now Ettie felt foolish.
Kelly smiled. “Even if I’d said nothing, she would’ve guessed you’d said something since you were the only one who saw her taking the quilt.”
Elsa-May said, “That’s why she was upset with you, Ettie.”
“She’s the one who should feel awful for tampering with evidence. I’d be well within my rights to arrest her. And you, Mrs. Smith, if you hadn’t told me.”
Ettie stared at Kelly, tempted to say that he wouldn’t have known anything about it if she hadn’t told him. Under the circumstances, she didn’t want to upset him any further.
He put up a finger for her to be quiet and then picked up the phone and pressed some buttons. “Baldwin, bring me that quilt we picked up today, would you?” Then he hung up the receiver of the phone. “I did notice something funny with the quilt. Let’s see if you notice the same thing.”
A minute later, an officer brought the plastic-wrapped quilt to them and walked out.
Ettie immediately recognized it as the best quilt she’d ever seen. Now she found herself wishing she’d never laid eyes upon it.
He stood and unwrapped the plastic and then spread out the quilt.
“Oh, Ettie, it is wunderbaar!”
“I know. It’s beautiful.”
“I have to admit it is rather stunning and very cleverly done,” Detective Kelly commented as he picked up a corner. “I was going to see if you noticed, but for the sake of time I’ll tell you. In this area, I noticed that the cottons are slightly different colors. They’ve done all the forensic testing on it, so you can touch it. Do you call it cotton, or thread?”
“Either one is fine,” Elsa-May answered. "Around here, it's mostly called thread."
“The wife likes these quilts. She’d love one like this, but I know they’re not cheap.”
Ettie picked it up and peered at it. What he said was right. Not only was the thread a different color, there were rough stitches in one section and Ettie couldn’t figure out why. “It’s different from the other stitches.”
“I had one of the evidence technicians pay close attention to this one since the owner was so intent on taking it.”
“Do you have scissors?” Ettie asked.
“What are you going to do?” he asked.
“Just snip these couple of stitches.”
He passed her scissors and then she carefully slipped the blade through and cut all the stitches that looked like they’d been hastily sewn. It opened to reveal a pocket. Leonora had made a section where she could conceal something. What was Leonora up to?
“What do you see?” he asked.
“It’s odd that she’d sew those stitches so badly since the quilt is so beautiful. She must’ve been in a hurry to finish it for the fair.”
“She must’ve been.”
“And, she must’ve run out of that color thread.”
“Why did you cut it just now?” Kelly asked her.
“Just to see if I could tell why they were sewn like that, almost as an afterthought.”
“So you think she was in a hurry and had run out of the other thread?”
She wasn’t ready to tell him what she’d found and since he wasn’t looking too closely, she wasn’t going to tell him. “That’s a guess. You’d have to ask her, I suppose, if she’ll talk.”
“She didn’t have much to tell us about anything. Didn’t see anyone or hear anything,” Kelly said.
“That’s probably because she didn’t know anything and didn’t see anyone.”
An officer knocked on the door and then poked his head in. “Now Mondo’s under arrest he won’t talk. Says he wants a lawyer.”
Kelly looked annoyed and waved him away. “Not now.”
The officer apologized and closed the door.
Ettie stared at Kelly. “Mondo? Isn't he the young man from the fair that you brought in for questioning?”
“Who was that?” Kelly asked.
“Ettie’s talking about the young man with a criminal record that was at the fair. You call him Mondo, but that’s not his real name.”
Ettie sat back in her chair. Elsa-May had been right. Kelly was trying to keep them busy with nonsense to keep them out of his way.
Kelly loosened his tie. “What do you know about him?”
Ettie leaned forward. “You wouldn’t have arrested him without evidence to make a strong case. Why are we talking to quilters? Are we wasting our time? Why even bother us with quilts if you’ve arrested someone? Are you throwing up a snow screen to us?”
“It’s a smoke screen, Ettie,” Elsa-May said.
He looked down and his eyebrows knitted together. “No one is wasting anyone’s time. In our search of Greta’s house, we came across checks she’d written to Mondo. I didn’t know this when I asked you to ask your quilting ladies questions.”
“He mowed her lawns, though didn’t he?” asked Elsa-May.
His jaw dropped open. “How did you know that?”
“When I was in the waiting room the other day, I happened to overhear a few things.” Elsa-May grinned, clearly pleased with herself.
“This wasn’t money for grounds keeping. We’re talking checks that amounted to a lot of money. One was for five hundred, another for two thousand dollars, another for five thousand.”
Elsa-May gasped. “No wonder she had money problems if she was paying that much to get her lawns mowed.”
“She wouldn’t have been. The detective is saying that something’s not right.”
“Very true, Mrs. Smith. Now he’s not saying a thing. Sounds to me like he was bribing her or blackmailing her over something. Since she was a woman living on her own, there’s also the possibility of bullying or threatening involved.”
“Why didn't you tell us this when we first came in?” Ettie knew full well he had never intended to tell them. Him throwing Elsa-May out had been beneficial.
“Yes, we were wasting our time when Ettie could be quilting.”
Ettie ignored her sister’s strange comment and waited for Kelly’s reply. She knew that when Kelly had made arrests in the past, he usually had blinders on to other possible suspects.
“And the biggest piece of news of all …”
Ettie and Elsa-May leaned forward.
“Is that he’s got prior convictions.” He picked up a pen and tapped the end of it on his desk.
“We already know that,” Elsa-May said.
“Prior convictions for something similar?” Ettie asked.
“No, but he’s trouble. No one gets that kind of money from lawn mowing.”
“So, do you still want us to do what we’re doing?”
“Yes.”
Ettie huffed. “Why?”
“I need to rule out each of the suspects. I don’t want to miss even the smallest clue. We’ll look foolish if we take an innocent man to trial. He might have been blackmailing her, but did he kill her?” He placed his hands on the desk and interlaced his fingers.
“I don’t know,” Elsa-May said.
Ettie dug her in the ribs. “Is th
ere anything else we should know?”
He leaned back. “That’s it.”
Ettie looked at the folders on his desk and under one folder, she saw a green hard covered book that looked exactly like the one from Greta’s quilt store. “We should go, Elsa-May.”
Even though Leonora was upset with them, Ettie had to find out why she had sewn a secret pocket into her quilt.
Chapter 17
Elsa-May asked an officer at the front desk of the police station to call a taxi for them. While they were waiting for it out front, Ettie told Elsa-May about the green book she’d spied on Detective Kelly’s desk, and about the pocket she’d seen in the quilt.
“What could the pocket possibly be for?” Elsa-May asked.
“I don’t know, but something fairly small. She had something hidden in there and she didn’t want the police to see what it was. That’s obvious. You should’ve seen her frantically shoving the thing in the bag. I didn’t think it would fit, but she made it fit.”
“Jah, but let’s just say she had something hidden in there and didn’t want anyone to find it. It would’ve been perfectly safe from detection if she’d left it, wouldn’t it? They wouldn’t be cutting up the quilts to see what was inside them.”
“It depends on what she had hidden, doesn’t it?”
“Hopefully, we’ll soon find out. That is, if she even speaks to us.”
Ettie’s lips twitched upward. “I’ve got a feeling she’ll talk when we tell her what we know. Kelly didn’t see it, or if he did, he didn’t think too much about it.”
“Or was he throwing it out there, so you could take the evidence and run with it, Ettie?”
Ettie breathed out heavily. “That’s a point. With Kelly, it’s hard to know.”
Twenty minutes later, they knocked on Leonora’s door and she opened it. Her expression revealed she was more than a little annoyed, so Ettie spoke before Leonora could order them off her property. “I’ve found out something interesting about your quilt.”
Leonora’s eyes grew wide. “I’ve no idea what you mean and I haven’t forgiven you, Ettie. The more I think about it the more upset I get. How could you tell the police that I took my quilt? If you hadn’t opened your mouth, they would’ve never known it was there in the first place.”
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