The Lover's Knot

by Clare O'Donohue

  The train was pulling up as I turned the corner. I could barely catch my breath, so I stopped and leaned against the station’s small ticket booth. I knew I was doing the right thing, but I still hadn’t found the right way to do it. Ryan would be off that train any minute. I swallowed hard as the train stopped. The doors opened and an older man got off at the door nearest me. Down the platform, I saw Ryan step off the train into the sunlight. I could see the cold air from his breath as he stood and put his gloves on. I didn’t want to step out from behind the building. I wasn’t ready for him to see me. I knew the minute he looked into my eyes, he would know it was over.

  Then someone got off the train behind him. A woman. She was wearing a hat, scarf, long red coat, and tall black boots. There was almost no skin showing, but I knew who it was—Amanda. I didn’t know if her presence would make things easier or harder, but this wasn’t a conversation for three.

  I stepped out from behind the building and started walking toward them when I saw Amanda grab Ryan’s arm. He pulled away from her in an almost violent motion.

  “Get away from me,” he yelled. It stopped me in my tracks. “I’m not going to say it again.”

  “Ryan,” she said meekly. She was crying.

  “Hi,” I said. They both turned to me and stared.

  “I thought I was meeting you at your grandmother’s,” Ryan finally said.

  “I decided to surprise you, but I guess you beat me to it.” I could hear the flatness, the lack of emotion in my voice. I looked at Amanda, who was wiping the tears from her eyes. It was clear that she did not start crying as she stepped off the train. Her eyes were red and her face was swollen and flushed.

  “I’m sorry,” Amanda blurted out as though she had been holding it back with all her strength. Then she started crying again and walked down the platform toward the ticket booth.

  “I was supposed to meet you at your grandmother’s,” Ryan said again.

  I paused. I was watching Amanda sobbing and Ryan stammer. Then it hit me. “How long have you and Amanda . . .” I couldn’t get the last word out.

  “It’s not like that.”

  “What’s it like?”

  Ryan looked at his feet and shook his head slowly. “I don’t want to talk about this here.”

  “Is that why you postponed the wedding?” I tried to meet his eyes, but he avoided looking at me. “I knew you were lying to me about something. I guess it was easier to imagine you would kill someone, than . . . this. Isn’t that sick?”

  I smiled, but I felt like throwing up. I had spent the whole morning working on a speech explaining why I couldn’t go through with the wedding—a speech that was both caring and clear. I hadn’t even had a chance to say it and there was nothing else to say. I walked away.

  “Nell,” Amanda called out. “I know you hate me.” She walked after me as I passed her by. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. Ryan didn’t either. It just did. We were both really torn about it. Really we were. He came up here to tell you and then that guy was killed and it seemed . . . I’ve felt just . . . you’re my friend.”

  I wanted to be angry, but mostly I was numb. “Your friend?”

  She started crying again. “I’ve always told you everything. And I’ve been hiding this away in some secret place, and it’s felt so wrong. Not being able to talk to you.”

  “That’s what felt wrong?” I walked away and she followed. I stopped. “You should be running after him. Not me.” I turned away and walked as quickly as I could.

  CHAPTER 56

  I stopped twice on the way to the quilt shop to find some private place to cry. I kept thinking I would get sick, but it didn’t happen. That was probably for the best, but it left a brick in my happen. That was probably for the best, but it left a brick in my stomach that I had to get rid of before I faced Eleanor and the rest of them. I stood on the sidewalk, closed my eyes, and took deep breaths.

  “You okay? You look like you’ve been hit with a two-by-four.”

  I opened my eyes. Bernie was leaning into me, smiling worriedly the way people do around the insane.

  “I’m fine.” She reached out and touched my shoulder.

  “Is it over?” she asked. I nodded. “Was it someone else?” I nodded again.

  “How did you know?”

  She shrugged. “I’d like to credit my psychic gifts, but I think I’ve just known too many men not to recognize a man with a secret when I see one.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Bernie smiled sadly. “I wanted to be wrong.” We sat on the curb and watched Archers Rest at rush hour. Three cars drove by in five minutes.

  “Why did you write Marc a note to see him later?”

  Bernie looked a little confused, and then a smile took over her face. “Jesse asked me the same thing.” She relaxed her shoulders. “Marc was going to fix some stuff at the house. I left him a key and a note.”

  “And he kept the note?”

  “He kept the note and the key. I had to change the locks before that little bugger robbed me blind. He would have, you know. He’s stolen from several people.”

  “So I’ve learned.”

  “Did you think Marc and I were having a torrid affair and I killed him in the heat of passion?”

  I shrugged.

  “Well, I hope you did. I like to think I still inspire that kind of gossip.” She laughed to herself. “Are you going to the shop?”

  “I’m on my way. Want to go together?”

  She held up two deposit bags. “I have to go to the bank first, deposit one into my personal account and one into the business account. ” She got up. “You have more than a few wonderful moments in your future, Nell.”

  “Psychic gifts tell you that?”

  “No. I’ve just lived enough to know.” Bernie hesitated, then crossed the street and headed for the bank. I watched her for a moment, trying to believe her, trying not to think about the scene at the train station.

  As I watched her walk away, there was a feeling that came over me. What I was beginning to think about Marc’s murder didn’t make any sense, and I did my best to ignore it. It would have been possible, except I turned my head and saw Barney walking up the street, sniffing at every flower and fire hydrant he found. I was about to call out to him, but I knew he wouldn’t hear, so I just waited for him to get close enough to see me. I admired dear old Barney. I wouldn’t have taken the loss of something so important as easily as he had.

  As Barney walked over to me wagging his tail, I felt my face turn hot. The brick in my stomach was jumping around. I wanted to pass out. I knew. I didn’t know, and then a second later I did. And I didn’t want to know. I took my cell phone from my pocket.

  “Chief Dewalt,” I heard Jesse say on the other end.

  “Can you meet me at the shop?”

  “Now?” I couldn’t answer. “Is everything okay?” he asked.

  “Can you meet me there?”

  Silence. And then, “Do you remember when you asked me if anyone else’s fingerprints were on the money?” he asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “It annoys me to admit this, but what you said nagged at me, so I checked it against the prints I took after the murder.”

  “So you know,” I said, my throat closing.

  “I guess we both do.”

  I walked with Barney as slowly as I could to the shop, but it still took me less than a minute to arrive at the door. Nancy, holding a large box, was standing with Eleanor.

  “Now I see who you went after.” Eleanor patted the dog’s head. “I used to be your favorite. Guess I have competition.”

  Natalie and Susanne arrived just moments before Carrie. All three were talking about the huge bag Susanne had in her arms.

  “I have the quilt,” Susanne said to me. “Finished it last night.”

  The women gathered around the large shopping bag, but Natalie looked up at me.

  “Are you okay?” she mouthed. I nodded.

  “L
et’s see the quilt,” I said.

  Maggie arrived on the scene. “Not without all of us here.”

  “Bernie had to go to the bank. She’ll be here in a minute,” I said.

  For the first time since I arrived, Eleanor looked up at me. She gave me a sympathetic smile that made me wonder how bad I looked. “We should go inside,” Eleanor said. “I’m willing to wait for Bernie, but not if it means getting pneumonia.”

  When we opened the door to the shop, we saw Tom and his assistant were putting up the last of the shelves. The place looked huge and new, and not quite finished.

  “We beat you,” beamed Eleanor.

  Tom looked up, a little surprised. “Another few hours and I would have done it.”

  “Well, we cheated,” Maggie huffed. “We do our group projects by hand, but we had Susanne machine quilt this one. But you’ll have to wait to see until Bernie gets here.”

  I took a deep breath. “Can you guys give me a minute. I need to . . . I’ll be right back.”

  I headed into the basement and went straight to the office. I walked toward the back wall. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for, or even if I would find it, but I moved my hand across the smooth wall. I kept moving my hand back and forth, getting closer and closer to the ground until I was on my knees. I ran my fingers along the baseboard. It was loose. I pulled at a section until I’d removed the whole piece.

  Behind the baseboard was a small hole, and in it an envelope. I could hear the women upstairs talking about the quilt and the construction on the shop. They seemed so happy, and I was about to ruin it. I opened the envelope and found what I’d been expecting. Thousands of dollars in cash.

  When I got upstairs, Susanne was pulling the finished quilt out of the bag. Tom, his assistant, and the rest of us rushed over. Nancy took one of the sides so she and Susanne could show off the work. And it was some work. The squares of purples, blues, reds, and pinks that each of the women had made separately had come together to form an impressionist garden. My painted borders and Susanne’s quilted leaves set it off beautifully. We all stood and stared.

  “Why didn’t you wait for me?” Bernie said as she came into the shop. She walked over to the quilt and joined the rest of us as we stared at it.

  “Here to see the shop?” Eleanor turned toward the door. I looked in the same direction and saw Jesse.

  “No, ma’am. I’m here about the other matter.”

  “No more questions today, son. We’re unveiling the quilt,” Maggie shouted from the other side of the room.

  I turned to the women. “You kept money here,” I said. “You kept it in the hole in the wall and in the downstairs office. My friend Amanda said something to me about a secret hiding place, and I guess when I ran into Bernie . . .”

  Everyone was looking at me. Only Jesse moved to see where I was looking.

  CHAPTER 57

  “Yes,” Nancy said as casually as possible. “You said you hadn’t sold any of your quilts,” I said.

  Maggie’s head jerked toward Nancy. “That isn’t true. I send at least ten of your quilts to my daughter a month. She says they sell . . .”

  “You send Nancy’s quilts to your daughter?” Eleanor looked toward Maggie.

  “Nancy asked me so it wouldn’t stir up any gossip at the post office—her sending packages to my daughter. But she asked me not to say anything.”

  Nancy interrupted. “I didn’t want anyone to know. I did sell some of my quilts in New York. And I did keep the money here. If I’d put it in the bank or brought it home, my husband would have found it and gambled it away. That money was for my sons’ education.”

  “It was safer here,” I continued. “Until the remodel. Until I suggested tearing down the wall. And you tried to stop it.”

  “I didn’t care about the remodel.”

  “Yes you did,” Carrie started then stopped. She turned to me. “Nancy is just very careful, conservative. That’s why she cared about the remodel. She didn’t do anything.”

  “That’s not why,” I said, so quietly I doubted anyone heard me.

  Nancy and I locked eyes. There was a steel reserve in them that came from years of struggle. But after a few seconds it melted away into a soft regret. She blinked. “I didn’t mean to hurt you Eleanor,” Nancy said as she looked at Eleanor’s injured leg. “It’s just that you always say leaving money in the shop overnight makes us a target for thieves. I thought if you found out, you might make me take the money somewhere else, and I didn’t have anywhere else to take it.

  “I know, dear.” Eleanor patted Nancy’s hand.

  “You could have killed her,” my voice quivered. “She could have broken her neck on those stairs.” Nancy nodded meekly. “And then you killed Marc.”

  “That’s enough,” Susanne broke in. “I think we should stop now before anyone says something they’ll regret.” Natalie reached over for her mother’s hand and both women looked down.

  “I didn’t mean for it to happen,” Nancy said as tears rolled down her eyes. “Marc found the money. My money. The money that was paying for my children’s education.”

  “In the wall,” Jesse said.

  Nancy nodded. “Yes, and in the office downstairs. He took everything and didn’t want to give it back to me. He said it was his.”

  “He didn’t have the money from the basement.” I took the envelope from my back pocket. “I just found it a minute ago.”

  Nancy stared at me. “That’s not possible. He had almost fifteen thousand dollars. Just about a thousand less than I had in the shop. When I came in he was taking money out of the bank bag I had hidden in the wall. I saw him.”

  “You came into the shop and saw Marc taking money from the bank bag,” Jesse repeated. “And you asked for it back.”

  “Yes,” said Nancy, her eyes darting from one person to another. “The money was still in the bag and he had more money, thousands more. The money from downstairs.”

  “He won that money gambling on some horse races,” Jesse said calmly, with a sadness on the edge of his voice.

  “No, he didn’t. He stole it from me. He was stealing it from me, and I caught him. I asked him for the money back. I begged him.” Nancy was frantic now. “And he laughed. He said I could have the money in the bag but the rest was his. He said he was doing his good deed for the day. Can you imagine?” She turned to a sympathetic quilt club, who were crowding around her in support. Even Barney sat at her side.

  “I never liked that boy,” Maggie said quietly.

  “And then he said he had a lot of work to do, so I should get out of his way. He picked up a hammer and started working with his back to me, ignoring me. I kept begging him, and then he turned around and came at me.” She stopped and took a deep breath. “I thought he was going to kill me. I just wanted my money.”

  “Of course you did,” Bernie said.

  Jesse moved toward Nancy. “So you stabbed him.”

  She closed her eyes. “I thought he was going to kill me.”

  “Nancy.” I looked to Jesse, who turned up the sides of his mouth, into what might have been a smile under happier circumstances. “I think you caught Marc putting the money back. I think he knew through his cousin that you were selling quilts in the city, and he knew your husband. Since he wasn’t gambling it away, Marc must have figured you were hiding it somewhere. And what better place than in the shop.”

  “That’s why he wanted to do the remodel so badly,” Eleanor gasped. “I thought he was changing, I really did.”

  “I think he was,” I said. “I think he found the money in the wall and gambled with it. If he had lost, who knows what would have happened. But he won. And I guess he decided to put your money back.”

  “But he had almost as much money as I hid here,” Nancy protested.

  “Most of it was his winnings,” I said quietly. I could see Nancy was about to fall apart. “The rest was still safely tucked in the basement. When Bernie mentioned something about keeping her money i
n different accounts, I don’t know, it reminded me of a twenty dollar bill in the office. Money that Eleanor couldn’t account for. I thought if you were hiding money it might be safer to hide it in a couple of places.”

  “We found six thousand dollars hidden inside Eleanor’s fireplace, ” Jesse said.

  “You found that?” Nancy looked at me. “It’s my money. I put it there. Where is it?”

  “I have it,” Jesse said. “Where’s the rest? Where’s the money Marc won?”

  Nancy pointed to a box on the floor. It was addressed to her youngest son at college. Jesse opened the box. Inside was a large simple quilt that crinkled when he picked it up. He hesitated a moment and then tore at the seam. With some effort, he’d pulled a block apart and inside was a wad of cash.

  “I couldn’t risk getting money orders, or someone would have mentioned it to my husband,” Nancy said. “He’s a good man. He can’t help himself. But that money is for my kids.”

  “Of course it is, and they’ll get it too,” Susanne said. She wrapped her arm around Nancy.

  “Marc was doing the right thing?” Maggie’s face was frozen, but tears were rolling down her cheeks.

  “He came toward me with a hammer,” Nancy said almost to herself.

  “Did he have it raised up?” Jesse asked, raising his arm to show her what he meant.

  Nancy shook her head. “No, but I thought . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  “He had such a terrible reputation,” Bernie offered quietly. “Any one of us would have been afraid of him.”

  But Nancy didn’t seem interested in any comforting words. “I’m so sorry. I guess I robbed him. I didn’t mean . . .” She grabbed the quilt tighter around her, and then just let it drop to the floor.

  “I think,” I said softly, wanting not to speak but too caught up to stop. “I think Marc grabbed Grace’s quilt thinking he was leaving us a message.”

  Eleanor looked at me. “What message?”

  “I kept telling him that if those quilts got dusty, Nancy would kill him.” I stopped, looked down. I didn’t mean to use those words. “I just kept telling him that Nancy would be upset if those quilts got dirty. He must have thought they were all her quilts. When he grabbed one, he must have thought . . .”