The Gray-Haired Knitting Detective Series: (Books 1 - 3)

by D. E. Haggerty

  After about 15 minutes, Bobby announces his break is over and needs to get back to work. Everyone heads out to the parking lot and piles into the cars. We drop Bobby off at his very staid looking governmental building and then turn the cars in the direction of the highway and home. I’m trying very hard not to think of how Grandma is going to use the information from Bobby.

  Chapter 16

  “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

  It’s Friday morning and I’m standing on a ladder in the stockroom at Fabulous, Darling daydreaming about Tommy’s tight butt when my phone rings and rudely interrupts my musings. We’re supposed to turn our phones off at work, but I’m pretty sure there’s an exemption for someone suspected of murdering her husband. I tremble a bit when I see the display says it’s Noel calling.

  “Hi, Noel,” I answer with a bit of trepidation. I really don’t fancy another day of being interrogated about Brock’s death.

  “You need to get down to the station, now,” Noel’s voice is harsh and just a bit scary.

  Son of a gun! Guess I’ll be getting more acquainted with the interrogation rooms after all. “What’s going on?” I try to stall.

  “Your grandma and her posse are down here making false statements,” he responds and that’s when I notice the shouting in the background.

  “I’ll be down as soon as I can,” I answer and end the call before Noel can respond. I jump off the ladder and go in search of Jack.

  Jack shares an office with Damien and after seeing them spend the afternoon cuddling together in the back of Tommy’s jeep, I’m more than a bit cautious of opening the door. I knock and shout. “Jack, it’s Dee. There’s a bit of an emergency.”

  “Come in,” Jack yells. I open the door and breathe a sigh of relief when I see he’s alone. “What’s going on?” He asks as he stands up from his desk and starts walking toward me.

  “The grandmas are down at the station getting in trouble.” I roll my eyes.

  “Damn it! They said they’d wait for me!”

  I whip my head up and squint my eyes at Jack. “What are you talking about?”

  Jack clears his throat and then shakes his head. He grabs my arm and starts pulling me out of his office toward the rear exit of the building. “Come on. We better get going.”

  Five minutes later we enter the police station. The desk sergeant looks up from the computer and her eyes are immediately riveted on Jack. “Hi, darling,” Jack says as he saunters to the desk and gives the sergeant a smile that probably melts panties on women who aren’t scared they have to bail their grandma out of jail. “Can we go on back?”

  Before she has a chance to answer, Noel shows up. He looks harried. His hair is mussed as if he just climbed out of bed, his shirt is wrinkled, and his face is tight with anger. Uh oh. He doesn’t say anything just points to Jack and me and then crisply turns around. I gulp and grab Jack’s shirt as I trail behind him into the bowels of the police station.

  I hear the grandmas long before I see them. “But it’s the God’s honest truth,” yells Betty as we round the corner to see Betty, Ally, Martha, Rose, and Grandma sitting in an interrogation room. The detective with them is the same man who interrogated me on Tuesday. He doesn’t look so smug now.

  “We know you’re lying,” he grits out to Betty.

  Betty leans back and crosses her arms over her abundant breasts. She looks around the room at the ladies. “Did you hear that? He said I’m a liar.”

  “I think he said we’re all liars,” adds Ally in her shy voice. Looks like her role as peacemaker isn’t applicable while in a police station.

  “Humph,” Grandma says. She turns and sees me standing just outside the room. “Hi, Delilah.” She sounds happy and excited to see me, totally oblivious to the fact that she’s sitting in an interrogation room with a detective in a police station.

  The detective slams his hands down on the table. The grandmas turn sharp eyes on him. “We know you’re lying because Dee told us she was alone all weekend.” That quiets the room down.

  I think about this horrible man and his stupid questions. He didn’t ask me about where I was the past weekend. What’s he playing at? “No, I didn’t.” My voice isn’t much louder than the buzz of the station behind me, but I know the detective hears me when he turns those sharp, evil-looking eyes on me.

  “What did you say?” His jaw is clamped shut and I nearly don’t understand him.

  I shrug as if my heart isn’t trying to escape my ribcage. “You didn’t ask me.” I’m tempted to tell him what a jerk he is, but I don’t think that will help the situation.

  Rose clears her throat. “So, as you can see, there is no reason whatsoever for you to believe we’re lying.” She leans back after that little speech with a sparkle in her eye. I need to remember never to cross her.

  The detective’s face is bright red and he looks like he’s about to explode. Noel steps forward and takes control of the situation. “Sorry, Smith, but Ms. Clark is correct. You never asked for her whereabouts over the past weekend. You only asked when the last time Ms. Clark saw her husband was.” He stares Detective Smith down until the detective’s face loses its color.

  “Ok.” Noel takes charge while Smith continues to sputter. “We’ll need you all to sign your statements and then you’re free to go.”

  Detective Smith stands and barges out of the room. He slows down enough to give me a nasty look before continuing on. I turn to see the gang of grandmas giggling like school girls. Jack enters the room and sits in the chair Smith just vacated. “You said you’d wait for me,” he pouts.

  Grandma looks at him and shrugs. “We didn’t know if you could get away without Delilah figuring out what was going on.”

  Jack rolls his eyes at her and leans back. “Darling, just because I’m gay doesn’t mean I don’t know how to sneak around on a woman.” The giggles turn into full-out laughs now.

  Noel’s obviously had enough. He pushes me into the room and shuts the door behind him. “We will talk about this tonight.” With that, he turns and opens the door, almost running into a uniformed officer carrying a pile of print-outs.

  The officer enters the room. “We need to get the witnesses to sign their statements now.”

  Jack stands and grabs my hand. “Come on,” he says as he pulls me out of the room. “There’s nothing we can do here now. Let’s get back to work.”

  Chapter 17

  “Reality continues to ruin my life.” Bill Watterson, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes

  “Come on,” Jack shouts from the door to the employee-only exit of Fabulous, Darling. I turn to him and just stare in confusion. “It’s time for an update.”

  “An update? What’s going on?”

  “You know with the knitting detectives and their trip to the police station.” He looks at me in exasperation as if I’m slow. When I don’t respond, he sighs and continues. “The gang’s meeting at Izzy’s to talk strategy.”

  I walk to him and lean close to whisper. “You mean they’re serious about trying to catch Brock’s killer? I thought they just wanted to get me off the hook and now that I have an ‘alibi’ they’d get their noses out of the murder case.”

  Jack grins. “You obviously don’t know the gray-haired knitting detectives. They’re chomping at the bit to solve another crime.”

  I shake my head as I follow Jack out of the store and to his car. Damien’s already sitting in the passenger seat. He smiles and nods at me as I get into the back seat. Noel is waiting for us on the front porch when we arrive at their house. I climb out of the car and start walking to him. When I see he’s in full-on detective mode with his arms crossed over his chest and glare in place, I stumble and start to turn around. Jack and Damien each grab one of my hands and pull me into the house. They completely ignore Noel, who turns ever so slightly to let them through the door. I’m not liking the vibe I’m getting here.

  The grandma brigade is wa
iting in the kitchen for our arrival. Izzy looks a little green around the mouth. The rest of the group is quiet and subdued, which makes me even more apprehensive. Just then my attention is distracted by the hunk of deliciousness leaning against the wall. I shouldn’t be surprised to see Tommy, but I shake my head at him anyway. “What’s going on?” I ask as I take a seat. “You guys are making me nervous.”

  Grandma reaches over and pats my hand. “It’s nothing for you to worry about.”

  Noel clears his throat behind me. I look up at him. I’m the only one of the group that does. Everyone else is looking anywhere but at Noel. He crosses his arms across his chest and plants his feet shoulder-width apart. Uh oh. This doesn’t look good.

  “What were you thinking?” His voice is calm, but I can nearly taste the steel behind his words. I think I see a vein throbbing in his neck.

  Betty starts to talk, but Grandma cuts her off. “No, this was my idea. Dee is my granddaughter. I’ll take the blame.” She turns and looks at Noel with fire in her eyes. “I was thinking that my granddaughter is not going down for a murder she didn’t commit.”

  Noel sighs and relaxes enough to run a hand through his hair. “Don’t you get it? This doesn’t eliminate Dee as a suspect. It makes her more suspicious.”

  “How can that be?” Ally responds in her quiet voice. “The police now think that Dee was with us when the murder happened.”

  Noel shakes his head and stares at Ally until the shy woman’s face turns red, but he does soften his voice when he speaks. “No, Ally, the time of death hasn’t been released to the public yet. The fact that you ladies knew the time of death and showed up at the police station to provide Dee with alibis only makes her more suspicious.”

  “He’s right,” Tommy speaks up and pushes off from the wall to stand up straight. “By going to the police before the time of death was generally known, you’ve made Dee look even more guilty. You should have discussed this with me before going off half-cocked. I could have told you to wait until the police asked for Dee’s alibi.”

  Betty snorts. “Like that’s going to happen. They’re not even looking for Brock’s killer. Dee is still the main suspect.”

  Noel turns on Izzy. “Did you tell them?” Five gray-headed ladies’ heads suddenly pop up.

  She shakes her head in response. “No, but you should.”

  “Tell us what?” Grandma snaps.

  Noel sighs and looks at the ground. After a while, he looks up and speaks. “I’m not on the case and Detective Smith is careful that I don’t hear anything at all about what’s going on with the investigation.”

  I snort. “Detective Jerk-A-Lerk you mean.”

  Noel smiles at me before sobering and speaking again. “But I did hear one thing when I walked into the break room at shift change the other day.” The entire room is quiet and staring at Noel with bated breath. “Everyone thinks Smith is obsessed with finding Dee guilty. He’s doing everything he can to pin the murder on her.”

  My eyes nearly pop out of my head. “How can he possibly think I did it? What’s he got against me?”

  Noel chuckles. “Babe, you humiliated him in that interrogation room. He had everyone convinced he was going to have a confession from you in no time at all and you made him look bad.”

  “Really?” I whisper, but my voice gets stronger with my anger. “I mean I know men are asshats. Lord, do I know men are asshats. But to try to convict someone of murder just because she’s smarter than you? He’s like the king of asshats. So, now I’m going to go down for a murder I didn’t commit because the detective is such an ignorant a-hole.” I nearly collapse in my seat. Yeah, I knew that I was a suspect, but I thought that was just because I’m the wife. I didn’t think anyone could actually believe that I murdered him. I could barely look the man in the face when he was alive, how could I possibly have killed him? The edges of my vision go fuzzy and the room starts to wobble.

  The next thing I know I’m hunched over in my chair with my head between my knees. Someone’s hand is on my neck keeping my head down. “Just breathe, baby. Just breathe.” I try to lift my head when I realize it’s Tommy’s voice. He doesn’t let me, though. He keeps gentle pressure on my neck. “Give it another minute, Dee. You were out of it for a while there.”

  I take deep breaths in and release them out. My vision clears and I nod my head to indicate I’m alright. Tommy lets up the pressure, but he keeps his hand on my neck. He’s rubbing his thumb in circles at the base of my neck and it’s all I can do to stop myself from leaning into him and melting. Tommy doesn’t have such inhibitions. He lets go of my neck to pick me up from my chair before sitting on it himself and placing me in his lap.

  “I don’t think friends do this,” I whisper to him.

  “Right now, I don’t give a shit,” he responds before putting his arms around me. “I need you in my arms.” I’m not going to argue with him in front of the grandmas. At least that’s the reason I tell myself for allowing him to continue holding me. I look around to see the entire room staring at us. Martha’s eyes are filled with glee while Grandma looks on with hope in her eyes.

  “So,” Betty says in her commanding voice from the head of the table. “We need to get this investigation started.” She looks at Noel. “Since the police aren’t doing anything that is.”

  Noel shakes his head. “I’m making discreet inquiries, but it’s going to take time to see results. I have to be careful.” He looks at me. “It’s not only about losing my job. It’s about respecting the process.”

  I smile at him. “Don’t worry, Noel. I don’t want you to lose your job for me. Please be careful.” Just then my phone beeps loudly from my pocket. “Sorry,” I say as I grab it to turn it off. “I get so few emails I don’t bother to turn off the notifications.”

  Izzy stands and walks to the kitchen. “That’s fine, Dee. Go ahead and have a look. We could use some refreshments anyway.”

  As the ladies all stand to help Izzy in the kitchen, I grab my phone and open the email app. I gasp when I see it’s an email from Brock’s secretary. “What is it?” Tommy asks with his mouth close to my ear. I shiver at the contact and have to force myself to answer. “It’s from Brock’s work.”

  “Brock’s work?” Ally asks. The woman is so quiet, but man she has the hearing of a bat. “What does it say?”

  Of course now the whole group of would-be crime solvers is staring at me. I sigh and look down to read the email. “It’s from Brock’s secretary. She wants me to come in and clear out his office. She doesn’t want to contact Brock’s parents.” I shrug and look up. “No one really likes his mom.”

  “That’s an excellent idea,” Rose says. “I’ve always wanted to go to an investment brokerage firm.” I raise an eyebrow in question at her and she shrugs. “I was lucky I was allowed to study accountancy back in the day. It’s kind of fun to see what the options for women in the financial world are today.”

  “We can combine it with the funeral,” Grandma pipes in from the kitchen. “Which is on Monday by the way.”

  “Why didn’t you say something earlier?” I ask.

  Grandma shrugs. “I haven’t had the chance. I just found out a few minutes before we got here.”

  Martha nods. “Yeah, Bobby called to let me know the body was being released.”

  I place my hand against my chest. “So, we’re going to Brock’s funeral on Monday and then we’re going to his office to clean it out.” It’s not a summary. I’m asking to be clear on what’s going on because my head is spinning faster than a tilt-a-wheel. Several gray heads nod in response.

  “Okay, I’m getting off the ride now,” I whisper to myself and start to climb off Tommy’s lap.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Tommy whispers his question in my ear.

  “Home. I’ve had enough of my crazy, out of control life for today.”

  Tommy helps me to stand from his lap and I start to walk away, but he grabs my hand. “No way anyone but me is taking
you home. That’s what friends do.”

  I roll my eyes. “Fine.”

  Chapter 18

  “Death ends a life, not a relationship.” Mitch Albom

  I stand, staring at the clothes in my wardrobe. I know I need to play the part of the grieving widow and, to be honest, I’m upset enough about the disaster currently masquerading as my life to not even have to act the part. Sure, I stopped loving Brock years ago when he became verbally abusive and the indifference turned to hate when he started to speak with his fists. But it’s still disturbing that someone I once loved was murdered. Someone I spent nearly a decade of my life sleeping next to.

  My problem is the outfit. The only appropriate clothes I have are somethings Brock bought me so that I could ‘entertain’ his clients. Lordy, how I hated those evenings – dressing to Brock’s specifications, having to act perfect, and hardly allowed to speak let alone speaking my mind. I shake my head and grab the stupid, offending black suit.

  I’m just finishing restraining my unruly hair into a chignon when there’s a knock on my door. It’s probably Grandma coming to pick me up. Even I know it’s not a good thing for me to drive today. I open the door without checking the peephole. I really should start checking .

  “Hi, Tommy. What are you doing here?” I manage to ask after my heart finally slows down from the shock of seeing the man who is normally scrumptious in jeans and a t-shirt looking absolutely divine in a black suit. He must have had the suit made for him. No way an off-the-rack suit could contain those muscles. I shake my head to force those pervy thoughts out of my head. No perving on other men on the day of your husband’s funeral – even if said husband was an asshat.

  “Rosemary asked me to pick you up.” He smirks at me when he sees me checking him out. It’s kind of hard not to. “She figured my jeep would be more comfortable than Betty’s car.” Unfortunately, I can’t really argue with that logic. Otherwise, I’ll end up squished in the back seat of Betty’s boat of a car. Not to mention having to spend an hour listening to the grandma gang spout theories over Brock’s murder. And I thought everyone was kidding when they said the group is referred to as the gray-haired knitting detectives.