Wicked Weaves

by Lavene, Joyce

  “I know I locked the back door, Jessie.” Roger gestured with the gun again. “I think you have some explaining to do. I’ve been here twenty years, and nothing like this has ever happened to me. I’ve never had to press charges with the bailiff, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

  “Roger, you’re making a mistake.”

  “Start walking toward the dungeon. If Chase isn’t there, we’ll wait for him.”

  I wasn’t sure if the shotgun was real or not, but I didn’t want to find out the hard way. We started walking with me in the lead, feeling the cold stare of the shotgun’s eye in the middle of my back. It was terrible.

  I opened the back door, hoping I would think of something to get out of this spot. Mary stood in the doorway, hand raised to knock. I put my arms around her and wouldn’t let go. “You have to help me,” I blubbered. “He’s gone crazy. He’s going to kill me.”

  She patted my back and looked around me at Roger. “What’s going on?”

  “I found her in here after the lights came on. She was planning to steal something.”

  “This girl may not be much of a basket weaver, but she’s honest. She wasn’t going to steal anything, were you, Jessie?”

  “No!” I slowly made my way around Mary so that she was between me and Roger. I knew it was cowardly, but I wasn’t good with guns. Knives, hatchets, axes, and swords aren’t too bad. Even a knight’s lance, I can handle. Guns made me want to cry.

  “See?” Mary pushed the gun to one side. “She wasn’t stealing anything.”

  “Then what was she doing?” Roger demanded. “And not that lame thing about wandering into the wrong place because it was dark.”

  I could see I was going to have to come clean. “I thought you might be Joshua’s killer,” I muttered.

  “What’s that?”

  I repeated it louder for him. “I’m sorry. I saw the monk’s robe hanging in your closet. Livy said she saw you coming from behind Wicked Weaves right before she found the body. I knew you and Mary had a thing going on.”

  “A thing?” Roger’s left eye squinted his disapproval.

  Mary laughed. “When you put it that way, I think he could be the killer, too.”

  “What are you saying?” He put the shotgun down. “Mary, you know I didn’t kill Joshua. As much as I love you, I wouldn’t kill a man for you. Now, it’s not that I haven’t killed before, but it was in the line of duty when I was a cop. I wouldn’t randomly kill anyone, and especially not for personal gain.”

  Mary put her arms around him and kissed him. “I know. I was funning you.”

  I looked away while they kissed again. I didn’t understand what she saw in him, but I could see their relationship was real. They probably had never married because she was technically still Joshua’s wife. Of course, that could be seen as another motive for Roger to kill Joshua.

  “As for you,” Roger suddenly remembered I was still standing there, “you need to mind your own business. If you weren’t in here where you didn’t belong, snooping around—”

  “I wasn’t snooping around when I saw the monk’s robe,” I defended. “I was in here talking to you.”

  Mary looked at him the same way she looked at me when I was messing up a basket. “So? Why do you have a monk’s robe, and where is it?”

  “I can have a robe if I want to. The nights get cold here over the winter. It keeps me warm and stays in character.”

  “And where is it?” I asked. “I followed you across the Village while you were wearing it tonight.”

  “I wasn’t out in it tonight.” He shook his head and glanced at Mary. “I’ve been in all evening keeping an eye on things. I’ll get the robe, and you can check it out. It would be wet from being outside.”

  He went upstairs, and Mary grabbed my ear the way she had Jah’s. “What are you about, sniffing around this thing that could get you hurt? Child, you are too curious and worried about other people. You have to get over it.”

  I couldn’t answer. It felt like she had my ear in a vise. She let go as Roger started down the stairs. “See here,” he held out the robe, “it’s dry as a bone. And before you go thinking I dried it, look around. I only have the fence to dry my clothes.”

  I didn’t have to touch the robe (thank goodness) to tell that it was dry. It wasn’t the robe I’d seen earlier with Carl. Whoever was wearing that robe was still out there. “I’m sorry. It was a logical assumption. Even Mary thought so.”

  “Don’t be dragging me into this.” She looked away.

  “I think next time you need to ask, Jessie,” Roger said.

  “I don’t think you get it. If I’d asked you if you’d killed Joshua, what would you say?”

  He shrugged. “No. I didn’t kill Joshua.”

  “Now, what do you think the real killer would say if I asked him or her if they killed Joshua?”

  “I get your point.” He grunted. “But I didn’t kill anyone. Livy saw me leaving Mary’s apartment that day. That’s all.”

  It made me feel squirmy inside realizing that what I’d feared was true. Roger may not have killed Joshua, but he was sleeping with Mary. Yuck!

  Twenty-one

  “So now we don’t think Roger killed Joshua.” Chase and I talked about the events of the night before over bowls of Cheerios the next morning.

  “I’m not a professional,” I said, “but I believe him. It was a total surprise when I accused him. He told me everything. Even the part about the monk’s robe made sense. We’re back to Abraham or Jah being the killer.”

  Grigg joined us, taking off his red stocking hat as he ducked into Fabulous Funnels. He ordered two powdered sugar funnel cakes then sat down at our table. “Hey! Where’d you get the Cheerios? I thought modern foods were off limits.”

  “Did you think they had funnel cakes and pizza during the Renaissance?” I hated to burst his historical bubble, but beyond the basics, the Village couldn’t exist totally during the 1600s.

  He shrugged. “I wasn’t ever much good at history. I can see why you all want to live here. Last night in Sherwood Forest was a blast. All the dancing and the girls. Right Chase?”

  “Yeah,” Chase mumbled between mouthfuls of cereal. “It was a blast.”

  “What dancing girls?” I wasn’t jealous. I knew Chase wouldn’t do something so obvious. I was just interested.

  “The Merry Men went out and got some dancing girls,” Grigg stumbled to explain. “They were all like belly dancers with colored costumes and scarves and bells and stuff.”

  “Robin convinced some of the girls from the Caravan Stage to come over and perform,” Chase explained a little better, if not in great detail. “I think it was some kind of cultural exchange.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “It’s always a cultural blast around here.”

  “I had a word with Detective Almond this morning.” Grigg returned from grabbing his plate of funnel cakes from the counter.

  “Why not talk to the Sheriff of Nottingham? He’d probably do you as much good.” I played with the rest of my cereal, not as hungry for the hard-to-find food as I’d thought.

  “Is there a real Sheriff of Nottingham?” Grigg’s eyes got big. “Can we go visit him?”

  “He wanders around the Village when he isn’t doing the falconry act over at the Hawk Stage,” Chase told him. “He’s the one with the really big, leather gloves.”

  Grigg seemed to consider the idea as he started eating his funnel cakes. It only took a moment before he was covered in powdered sugar. “Well, Detective Almond said they’re almost positive the pieces of cardboard they found in the dead man’s teeth match the cardboard funnel you gave him. There were traces of whiskey in the cardboard fibers, too.”

  “I guess that was the real funnel then.” I looked at Chase. “Maybe that was the real robe, too.”

  “Nothing on that yet,” Grigg said. “It takes a while to get most forensic tests back. We’re lucky the ME for Horry County is experienced enough to do some
of the tests himself, or we wouldn’t know about the cardboard yet, either.”

  I sat back in my chair and tried to zone out of all the yawning and stretching going on as the residents of Renaissance Faire Village woke up. Everyone was talking about the power outage and damage done to their shops.

  “So someone, probably dressed like a monk, used a funnel to get Joshua drunk. Joshua didn’t just sit still while that was going on,” I tried to get us back on track. “He must’ve been unconscious already. I mean, why go to all that trouble? Whoever the person in the monk’s robe was could’ve just strangled him while he was unconscious.”

  “That’s true,” Chase agreed. “Maybe we should consider finding the hole in the wall Jah found and retrace what may have been the killer’s path.”

  Grigg nodded in agreement, his mouth too full of funnel cake to speak.

  I was about to agree with the idea when Mary came into the eatery, glancing around like she knew I’d be there. Those laser-like dark eyes found me, and she made a beeline for our table.

  “Jessie, there you are! Child, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. You have this bad habit of disappearing when I need you most.”

  “I was hoping you wouldn’t need me so you and Jah could spend some quality time together.”

  “That detective is questioning my son about his father’s death. Seems someone said he found an old funnel they say was used on Joshua. If it’s not me they’re after, it’s a member of my family.”

  Chase and Grigg looked at me. “I didn’t tell anybody.”

  “Never mind how he found out,” Mary said. “I’m expecting a group that wants to learn basket weaving again this morning. I’ll need help with the shop. Are you almost finished here?”

  “I guess so.” I didn’t enlighten her about the new plan to find the killer. I turned to Chase and Grigg as she bustled out of Fabulous Funnels. “I guess you’ll have to go without me. Let me know if you find anything.”

  Chase walked me out of the shop. “You seem kind of out of it after last night. Are you okay?”

  “You mean, did I take Grigg’s story about the dancing girls to heart?”

  “I guess.” He smiled and slid his arms around me. “You know I wouldn’t bother with that stuff, right?”

  “At least not right now.” I nodded and kissed him. “Every Merry Man would beat a path to my door to tell me about it. You know there’s nothing secret here. Remember when Mother Goose’s assistant Carol got pregnant last summer? I knew before Carol’s boyfriend.”

  “You’re right,” he agreed. “News travels fast across the cobblestones. I watched Grigg with the caravan girls. All I did was eat supper with Robin.”

  “Did he give you another toaster oven since the one he coughed up for the contest didn’t work?”

  “You know Robin.” He grinned. “You’ll have to beat him at something else if you want a working model.”

  “I’m sure you’re right.” I hugged him. “I guess I’d better go over to Wicked Weaves. I wonder who told Detective Almond that Jah found the funnel?”

  “It could be anyone present that night. I’m surprised. What happens in the Village usually stays in the Village. I get to hear it, but it’s unusual for someone to call the police.”

  “Don’t you mean the sheriff?” I mocked Grigg.

  “I’ll see you later.” He kissed me quickly. “Unless something big turns up. I’ll come and tell you if that happens.”

  I hummed a little song as I walked across the street to Wicked Weaves. It was possible we were all missing the idea that whoever really killed Joshua could have called the police to throw off the investigation. It seemed unlikely to me that Abraham would sacrifice his adopted son unless he was sure he’d be exonerated.

  Mary was on the back steps finishing a basket. It was tall and thin, almost like something you’d put a wine bottle in. I asked her what it was for, and she looked at it from all sides. “I was thinking about a bottle of milk maybe or a flower holder. What do you think?”

  “I like it.” I sat beside her and showed her the progress I was making on my basket. “I’m not sure what mine is for, either.”

  She looked at it critically and nodded. “You’re doing a good job, Jessie. I think it would be good for a loaf of bread. You could bake one and give it to someone in this basket. Or it could just cool in here.”

  Her words gave a whole new world to my creation. I’d never baked a loaf of bread, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible. “Mary, I hope you know I didn’t say anything to the police about Jah finding that funnel.”

  “But you and your bailiff friend gave them the funnel and the robe Jah found.”

  “That’s true. But we didn’t mention Jah.” I worked on the next coil in my basket, securing the sweetgrass with my stitches. “We keep going around in circles looking for Joshua’s killer, just like making a basket.”

  “Maybe you aren’t meant to find him. The Lord works in ways we don’t understand.”

  “Maybe you could help. Joshua’s death seems to be centered around you.”

  Her eyebrows went up, disappearing into the yellow scarf around her head. “Are you accusing me again?”

  “No. I’m saying that Joshua was your husband. He and Abraham showed up here at about the same time. Now Joshua is dead, and Jah’s here, too. All these years you haven’t seen them. Don’t you think it’s a little strange it should all happen now?”

  She laughed and patted my leg. “You know, child, life is that way. Things go along just dandy for a long time, then all of a sudden, things happen. Life is never the same again. It’s like a hurricane that comes through and destroys so much of what we know and love. We get back up and rebuild, but things are never like they were. It turns quickly when it turns, Jessie. Life isn’t different than the weather or the tides.”

  The front door opened to the shop, and Mary left to tend to the customers who entered. I thought about what she’d said. Maybe she was right, but she was involved with Joshua’s death, even if she hadn’t asked to be. If Joshua hadn’t come there to tell her about Jah, he might still be alive.

  “Morning,” Ham greeted me, coming around the corner of the shop. “It’s a beautiful morning after all that fury last night.”

  “I know. It’s like everything was cleared away so it could be nice today.”

  “What are you making?” He looked at my basket.

  “Mary said she thinks it’s for fresh bread. I’m not sure.”

  “Looks like it could hold bread to me. Are you going to put a handle on it?”

  “Maybe. Right now I’m happy to be able to sew the coils in place. I might just keep doing that.”

  He grinned. “It’s hard starting something new. Mary and I had a hard time getting things set up after we left home. Finally it worked for us, and we were here. Been here ever since. It’s a good life.”

  “I like it here, too,” I agreed with a smile.

  “Is she inside?”

  “Yeah. She’s waiting for the group of basket makers. I guess you’re helping her since Jah is gone for the day.”

  “Looks like. I like egg baskets best. I like the shape of them. You keep practicing. Things will get easier for you, too.”

  I liked Ham. He was like a male version of Mary, only his face wasn’t as harsh, and his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. I could see the faraway look in his gaze as he talked about their home. It must’ve been hard for them. It was a good thing they had each other to fall back on.

  By the time the group of basket weavers arrived, I was on the tenth row of my basket. Not a sign of blood anywhere on the coils. I looped the top quarter of the strand around the tip coil and through the lower one. I finished the sides of the basket with my single stitch accompanied by my bone. Would it have a handle? I’d decided to leave that for tomorrow.

  I watched the group of basket weavers with Mary and Ham behind Wicked Weaves. The day that had started out sunny had turned overcast and a little cool f
or summer weather at the beach. That meant fewer people in the Village and a little rest for the residents. I noticed a few shopkeepers standing on ladders, repairing roof tiles that had blown off in the storm.

  I was enjoying the quiet. The Three Chocolatiers were practicing their swordplay in the road by the Lady Fountain. I called it that because there was a lovely Renaissance lady sitting on the top with water cascading from under her dress. Obviously, the artist was a man. No woman would ever create something like that. I liked it anyway.

  Bo Peep was exercising her sheep, her beribboned crook guiding them through their paces. They were actually quite talented, taking commands to sit and stay. Their wool was beginning to grow back despite the heat of summer. Bo Peep always had them sheared in the spring.