Spin a Wicked Web

by Cricket McRae

  Meghan, another bastion of sympathy, nodded her agreement.

  "Gabi suspects Ariel was also responsible for the accident that killed her and Rocky's parents," I said.

  Both women looked surprised. "Gabi sounds like a very bitter woman," Meghan observed.

  Ruth murmured her agreement. "At least when it comes to her sister-in-law."

  "Like I said, I think she's doing the best she can."

  "This whole situation must be very hard on all of them," Ruth said. "I, for one, think it was very nice of you to take that little girl's artwork up to her family, and I'm glad you met another spinner."

  "Say, Ruth?" I asked.

  "Yes, dear?"

  "You were over at Chris' house the night Ariel was killed, right?"

  She met my eyes and slowly nodded. "Along with Irene. Her husband's funeral was the next day, and the three of us have become quite close through the co-op."

  "Jake was there, too?"

  "For a little while. As her friend and her doctor. She'd asked him for something to help her sleep, and he brought over some samples."

  "So he didn't stay long?"

  "He left a little after seven-thirty."

  Plenty of time to provide Felicia with an alibi.

  Ruth looked at her watch. "I have to go-Uncle Thad will be needing his dinner, and he's helpless as a newborn when it comes to feeding himself." She stood, and Meghan and I clambered to our feet as she took her leave.

  Back in the house, Meghan collected her wallet and car keys. "How 'bout pizza for dinner? I can whip up some dough and we can all make our own after I pick up Erin." "

  I won't be here for dinner. Barr offered to cook for me."

  She grinned. "You're kidding."

  I grinned back. "Don't wait up."

  TWENTY-TWO

  I TURNED A CORNER, and the canvas bag of groceries on the seat next to me started to topple. My hand shot out in a classic Mommove to prevent the bag from tumbling to the floor by blocking it with the side of my forearm. Keeping my eyes on the road in front of me, I moved the bacon to make the bag less top-heavy.

  Barr might be making me dinner, but I planned on making him breakfast the next morning.

  He greeted me at the door, laying a big smacker on me and then taking the bag. When he saw what was in it, he waggled his eyebrows in approval and carried it into the kitchen.

  "What is that heavenly smell?" I called after him.

  "Garlic sauteed in butter," came the answer from the other room.

  There was a big bunch of flowers in the living room. They sat on a simple, glass-topped coffee table.

  The spool was gone.

  I felt a little guilty, complaining about it so much earlier. But not so much that I couldn't handle it.

  He returned with two glasses and an open bottle of single malt Scotch. The enticing aroma of smoky peat drifted my way.

  "What's for dinner?" I asked.

  "You'll see." He sat down on the sofa, and I joined him. He poured a finger of Scotch into each glass and handed me one. We clinked them together.

  "To new beginnings," he said.

  I looked at the coffee table and smiled. "To new beginnings," I agreed. "Thank you for the flowers. And for getting rid of the spool."

  He settled back against the corner cushion. "You're welcome. Now give."

  I spent the next hour telling him every detail of my trip to La Conner. He listened carefully, only interrupting a couple of times to clarify a point. When I'd finished, I retrieved Ariel's diary from the tote I'd brought that also contained a change of clothes and basic toiletries.

  Handing it to him, I said, "I know it was a bad idea to take this. I'm sorry."

  But he didn't look upset. "From what you said, it probably wouldn't come into play in any court case anyway. If it does, you're a private citizen. If Robin or I'd taken it without a warrant, then it wouldn't be admissible, but you're you, and while a judge might not appreciate that you basically stole it, anything in it could still be used in court."

  "So I did good?"

  He glowered melodramatically from under his eyebrows. "It's wrong to steal."

  I grinned. "Sorry."

  His face relaxed. "Well, okay, then."

  "It must make Robin nuts to work with you."

  "If it does, the feeling's mutual."

  "Uh-oh. Are things okay between you two?"

  He shrugged. "Sure. She's not happy about the Hannah thing taking up so much of my time, but then again, neither am I"

  "Still don't know where she is, huh." At least she wouldn't try to talk to me tonight, I figured.

  "She's nowhere in Cadyville, and we haven't been able to find her in any of the neighboring towns, either."

  "Maybe she left after this morning."

  "Maybe." He didn't sound convinced. I didn't believe it, either.

  "And Ariel's murder?" I asked.

  "Lots of running around, lots of follow up, not much in the way of results. Robin's nearly apoplectic with impatience. But we're making some progress, learning more every day."

  Naturally I wanted them to find the killer, but hearing there was a soupcon of trouble in paradise didn't exactly bother me. I nestled my back into the cushions and took a sip of Scotch. Mmm. My favorite: Laphroaig. Barr had thought of everything.

  "Do you think Ariel could have had anything to do with Scott's death?" I asked.

  "Even if she really did have the mechanical ability to damage his vehicle, he was killed in his patrol car. It would have been awfully risky to sneak into the motor pool to do that."

  I sniffed. "`Motor pool.' It's a parking lot behind the police station, Barr."

  "Fenced off, with limited access," he said. "It still would have been risky."

  "Did he always drive the same car? Or do they switch around?"

  Barr gave a facial shrug. "Same one. And he could have taken it home, parked it in the driveway; many officers do. But he liked to leave it at the station, and drove his truck to and from work."

  I took another sip of Scotch and changed the subject. "So who are the suspects in Ariel's murder?" I held up my hand and began ticking them off on my fingers. "There's Chris."

  "Alibi," Barr said.

  "I know. But right now I'm focusing on who might have wanted Ariel dead, not opportunity."

  "What, you think someone hired it out?" he asked.

  "How should I know? It's a possibility, isn't it?"

  "Strangling someone with your yarn? Sounds more like a crime of passion. Though you may be interested that the medical examiner told us Ariel was struck on the head with a blunt object before she was strangled."

  I perked up at that. "Really? Was she knocked unconscious?"

  "Possibly, but probably not."

  "But she might not have been able to fight back, at least not much. Not that she was very big or strong to start with. So whoever strangled her might not have been that strong, either."

  "True. And please don't say anything to anyone about the blow to the head. We're trying to keep that under wraps. 11

  I nodded my agreement. "So anyway, we have Chris, because Ariel was sleeping with her husband. And Irene, because Ariel was sleeping with her son."

  "Same alibi."

  "Right. Then there's Felicia, because she thought Ariel was sleeping with her husband."

  "But she wasn't?"

  "Apparently not, according to Ruth and Lindsey."

  "Okay."

  "Then there's Zak," I said. "Because Ariel was sleeping with Scott."

  "At least Scott couldn't have done it," Barr said.

  "But: Jake could have known about both Scott and Zak. He may have been jealous."

  "By giving Felicia an alibi, he's giving himself one."

  "Exactly."

  "Then there's Daphne, her roommate. Ariel owed her a bunch of money, and it didn't look like she'd pay it back anytime soon. Daphne wanted a new roommate right away," I said.

  "That's really reaching, Sophie Mae."
>
  "Yeah, probably."

  "What about the brother?" he asked.

  "I didn't get any idea that he had a motive. He adored his sister and seems devastated by her death."

  "His wife?"

  "There was no love lost between Gabi and Ariel, but they live awfully far away."

  "It's only an hour drive."

  He was right. Why did an hour's drive through the country seem so much longer than the hour's drive to downtown Seattle?

  "Okay, put her on the list," I said.

  "The friend? Drucker? I'll tell Robin about her tomorrow, so she can follow up"

  I shook my head. "She may have more information to give you about Ariel-she clammed up on me all of a sudden at the end of my visit-but I don't see her as the murderer."

  Barr took a sip of his drink. "Okay, who else?"

  "I can't think of anyone. Can you?"

  He sighed. "She'd dated several other men, some of whom were married. But it was all awhile ago. You've hit the current ones. There certainly do seem to be a lot of convenient alibis floating around."

  "Somebody's lying," I said.

  "Somebody always is.,,

  "Well, this somebody's starving. Any chance you're going to feed me anytime soon?"

  He stood up and offered me his hand. "Come on, woman. Let's get some victuals in you."

  The tiny table in the kitchen was actually set with candles and dishes that matched. It was still light outside, but Barr lit the tapers anyway. Then he served shrimp scampi over rice with a simple salad. It was delicious. He had the good sense to buy a ready-made dessert, and the further good sense to make it cheesecake-only my favorite sweet indulgence in the whole wide world. He garnished it with fresh raspberries. As night fell, we snuggled on the sofa and watched an old black-and-white movie on TV.

  I was giddy as a school girl on Valentine's Day by the end of the movie and the wine. And I may have even giggled a bit during the activities that followed. Afterward, relaxed in the crook of Barr's arm with a light breeze curling in the open window, I listened to his deep breathing and thought about how happy I was when I was with him. Maybe this living together thing would work after all.

  ***

  At three a.m. I was wide awake again, thoughts running around in my head like rats in a cage. I found myself reflecting on what Barr had said earlier, before we drifted off to sleep. Ever since he'd told me about the money his uncle had left him, questions had been collecting in the back of my mind. As we cuddled in the dark it seemed easier to talk about, so I'd brought up a biggie.

  "Are you going to quit your job now that you have a ton of money?"

  "What? Why would I do that?"

  "People win the lottery, they quit their jobs. Follow their dreams. I just, you know, wondered."

  He'd laughed. "I don't know what I'll do with it yet, but most of it will be invested for when I do quit my job. But I like being a cop, and I like being a cop in Cadyville."

  "No changes?"

  "Oh, I imagine there'll be a few. Maybe I'll get a new car or something. But if you're worried that I'm going to change my whole life just because I have some dollars to play with, you can stop. It's just money. I'm just me."

  I'd also read that a lot of people who won the lottery were miserable and ended up going through their winnings within a few years. Barr was practical and viewed his inheritance as security, though. The guy was solid as a rock.

  Sighing with contentment, I pulled the sheet higher. The breeze wafting in the open window held the fragrance of roses as well as a chill. As I began to doze, my mind drifted to the list of suspects we'd discussed earlier. Which one had Ariel angered to the point of murder?

  She'd looked so small there on the floor of Ruth's studio space. Hmm. That was kind of strange. Why hadn't she been in her own studio space? She didn't spin. She didn't do anything involved with fiber or yarn, and had never showed any interest in learning. But she'd had that tuft of fiber clenched in her hand; I'd seen it myself. I could see it in my mind's eye now.

  It had been green. With a little blue and pink. Like the northern lights. The colors of nature obviously inspired Thea Hawke's choices of color combinations in her hand-painted batts.

  Green and blue and pink. Like the stuff Gabi had buried in her spinning basket. Said she'd bought it online.

  My eyes opened.

  I watched the sky brighten slowly on the other side of the window, from a lighter shade of night to early dawn. The air gradually filled with the songs of early birds looking for their proverbial worms. From beside me came the sound of light snoring. Finally, I slid out of bed and padded out to the kitchen. Barr's laptop sat on the counter.

  Thea Hawke Designs had a very nice website, but she referred anyone who was interested in her unique creations to the Cadyville Regional Artists' Co-op. She didn't sell online.

  I made coffee and stared out the kitchen window at the backyard. The crows that lurked in the copse of trees across the road joined their raucous calls to the other birdsong. The cacophony made my teeth hurt.

  I liked Gabi Kaminski, but she'd lied about where she'd obtained the fiber tucked deep into the basket by her spinning wheel. There was no reason to lie about that, not unless she was hiding something else.

  How much bamboo in that color combo had been at CRAG? Ruth would know. And Gabi could have come into the co-op when neither Ruth nor I were there and bought the batt. But that didn't account for the tuft of it in Ariel's clenched fist or why she'd been strangled with my yarn beside a spinning wheel.

  Besides, Gabi had come right out and said she'd bought it online. And now that I thought about it, she'd snapped at me when she found me looking at the fiber in that basket. I'd put her lessthan-gracious response down to the morning-after grouchies, but perhaps her bad mood had to do with something else-like guilt.

  Ariel had borrowed money over and over again from her brother, and it didn't look like that would have stopped anytime soon. Gabi was sick and tired of it. She believed Ariel was a slut, that she had seduced her teacher and made him lose his job.

  She also believed Ariel had been responsible for the car wreck that had killed the Kaminski siblings' parents.

  In fact, when it came right down to it, Gabi not only didn't like her sister-in-law, she believed she was evil.

  TWENTY-THREE

  AT SIX-THIRTY BARR CAME into the kitchen, sniffing the air like a hound dog.

  "Mmmm. Bacon."

  I surveyed him, taking in the bare, lean chest and long legs housed in pajama bottoms. "And hash browns coming up, along with your favorite cheesy eggs."

  "A real heart attack on a plate." He sat down at the table. "You must have been up for a while. Why so early?"

  I brought him a cup of coffee and gave him a long kiss. "I had some trouble sleeping last night."

  "Really? I would've thought you'd sleep like a log." His grin was wicked.

  I laughed and turned back to the potatoes browning in a frying pan. "I should have. Woke up, though, got to thinking about things. Do you remember the fiber Ariel had in her hand?"

  Behind me, Barr said, "I remember. There was a lot of that stuff around where you found her. I'm sure the lab folks have it neatly zipped up and cataloged."

  I turned down the burner and sat in the chair across from him. Resting both elbows on the table, I held my mug of coffee in front of my face and looked at him through the rising steam.

  "Gabi had some of the same fiber. At least I think so. There must be a way to see if they match."

  "Really. Is it common?"

  "Huh uh. Pretty hard to come by. What you might call limitededition bamboo roving. Hand painted. Small batches. And," I paused for effect, "only available through CRAG"

  "Maybe Mrs. Kaminski got it there."

  "She said she ordered it online."

  He leaned back in his chair, a speculative expression on his face. "You asked her about it?"

  "Well, yeah. But we talked about a lot. Yarn, spinning wheels, drum
carders, spindles-tons of stuff. But I didn't see the fiber I'm talking about until the next morning, right before I left." I made a face. "I told her I knew who made it, though."

  His jaw set. "That's not good."

  I lifted my palms and let them drop. "I didn't make the connection until this morning." I stood and moved to the stove again.

  He grew quiet, staring out the window and slowly sipping his coffee. I poured another cup for myself and leaned against the counter, curious as to what he was thinking but willing to wait.

  Finally he spoke, slowly, as if thinking out loud. "I can't see that we have probable cause, not just on your word. It's simply too weak. So no warrant. But if that hand-painted stuff is really that rare, and if we could unofficially get a sample from Gabi Kaminski, then maybe we could put something together for a judge."

  "I can go back. Figure out an excuse and go inside and take it. Like I did the diary."

  He gave me a look. "I told you that was a bad habit."

  I smiled.

  "No. I really mean it. And besides, it would be much better if that kind of evidence was gathered by me. Chain of evidence and all. Even outside of the jurisdiction of the Cadyville P.D."

  "So what do you want to do?" I asked.

  He narrowed his eyes in thought. "At this point I don't really see a choice."

  I leaned forward.

  "I want you to go back. But I'm going with you. We can lie and cheat if we have to, but I can be pretty charming when the occasion calls for it."

  "Even if you do say so yourself," I teased.

  "I bet we can finagle a sample of that fiber out of her."

  "By `we,' do you mean Robin will be going with us?"

  He pressed his lips together. "I think this is one trip just you and I will take."

  ***

  Barr had other work to do that day and so did I, so we didn't leave for La Conner until late afternoon. He drove, and I sat back and acted like I was watching the scenery flow by. The impending task of getting a sample of Thea Hawke's fiber from Gabi hung over my head like the sword of Damocles, making me all tense and jit tery. I just wasn't good at prevarication. At lying and cheating. I'd brought that up to Barr, but he'd only smiled and told me my job was to get us into the house, and to identify the fiber for him. He'd handle Gabi. Robin had gone to talk to the Kaminskis alone, so they hadn't met Barr yet.