Knot in My Backyard (A Quilting Mystery)

by Mary Marks

  “Like the fact that even though you have a key to this house, you do not own this house. You do not get to determine who comes or goes in this house.”

  Beavers’s eyes flashed. “Levy is—”

  “I’m not through!” I shouted, getting close to losing it completely. “Even though you and I are together, you do not own me. You do not get to order me around. You especially do not get to silence me in front of others and especially in my own home!”

  By now, I stood trembling in the middle of the kitchen. “If you ever do that to me again, Arlo, we’re through. Done!” Then the horror of the morning and stress of the day came crashing in on me and I started sobbing.

  My fury had the effect of calming him. Beavers walked over and wrapped his arms around me. “After everything you went through this morning, I just wanted to be here with you. Then when I saw Levy inside the house . . . he’s an ex-con. We’ve never been able to prove anything, but he operates on the fringes. Now you’re telling me he’s tight with our chief suspect? I guess I just went into protective mode. I’m so sorry, honey.”

  I relaxed into his arms until the emotional storm passed. In truth, I liked feeling protected and always felt safe with Beavers.

  When the kettle whistled, I fixed two cups of tea. We settled on the sofa and I pulled my feet up and wrapped myself in my favorite blue-and-white quilt. I should be grateful someone wanted to look out for me for a change. Lucy was right; I needed to trust Beavers more.

  He sat close to me and we sipped in silence. Then he put down his cup. “So, what was Levy doing here, anyway?”

  I had no reason to hold everything back, so I told him what I could, minus the part about my plan to go to the homeless encampment in the wildlife reserve. “Crusher just wanted to know if we could somehow prove Ed innocent of killing Dax Martin.”

  “What did he have in mind?”

  “He wanted to know if any of the other neighbors might have done it.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “I told him no. But if you want, I’ll tell you what I think.”

  “Go on.”

  My glasses had slipped down my nose and I pushed them back up. Then I leaned closer toward Beavers. “First of all, I’m pretty sure Martin was killed where he lay. The ground was soaked in way too much blood. Am I right?” I shuddered a little at the memory of the mangled jaw and all those ants.

  “Yeah.”

  I put my cup down. “Okay. Second, we know Dax Martin was a bully. He and his coaches frequently went behind the field to harass the people living along the riverbank. They made a sport out of rousting the homeless. Bullies usually roam in packs, like wild dogs stalking a single sheep.”

  “So?”

  “So I’m pretty sure Martin wouldn’t have ventured outside the security of the perimeter fence unless he knew he’d be safe. That means he must have known and trusted his killer. Martin would never have gone out there with Ed Pappas. Martin was soft around the middle and out of shape, despite being a coach. He would’ve been no match for Ed.”

  “Maybe, but Pappas is in serious trouble. We found the murder weapon, a bloody baseball bat, in his yard.”

  “That’s not proof of anything. The killer could have tossed the weapon over his back fence.” I carried our empty cups to the kitchen and refilled them from the still-warm pot of tea. I loaded a plate with almond biscotti and brought everything back to the living room on a lacquered wooden tray painted with tole roses.

  I dunked the end of a biscotti into my tea and told Beavers about the potential scandal Ed discovered involving Beaumont and various government agencies. “I think someone might be framing Ed in order to silence him.”

  “If you’re right about a scandal, Dax Martin was probably right in the middle of it. But why choose him as the victim, especially if he was one of the conspirators?”

  Beavers had a point. It was hard to believe some mysterious cabal wanted to stop Ed Pappas from uncovering a scandal so they committed murder and framed Ed for it. Why would they choose Dax Martin as their sacrificial victim?

  Occam’s razor: the cops would be searching for the simplest motive for the murder and Ed was the perfect suspect.

  “Yeah, I know a conspiracy theory may not make much sense right now, or what the connection is with the murder of Dax Martin, but that doesn’t make Ed’s premise less plausible. Arlo, look at all the recent political scandals that have been exposed in Los Angeles. We live in the most corrupt municipality in the nation, second only to Chicago. Rampart wasn’t so long ago.”

  I referred to the Rampart Street Division of the LAPD, which was responsible in the late 1990s for its own crime wave. More than seventy officers were implicated in a litany of crimes, including drugs, murders, robberies, planting evidence, and perjury. When the story broke wide open, the city was forced to accept a consent decree allowing the US Justice Department the authority to step in for five years and implement serious reforms. Rampart wasn’t the city’s finest hour.

  Beavers bristled. “I know. I helped run down some of that evidence. You’re not implying the LAPD is involved in some sort of new conspiracy, are you?”

  Didn’t Kaplan say he graduated from the Beaumont School?

  “No, of course not. But I am sure Ed is right. Something bigger is going on.”

  Beavers put his arm around my shoulders again as he drank his tea.

  I looked at him. “Is Ed under arrest?”

  “Kaplan’s interviewing him now.”

  “Kaplan, huh? Poor Ed. Arlo, you must have seen the homeless camp right across the river. Maybe they witnessed the killing. Maybe they could prove Ed wasn’t the killer.”

  “We’re way ahead of you. We’re looking for them now. There’s evidence a man and a woman were living in those bushes.”

  Wow! I need to remember that when I meet up with Switch.

  I tried to imagine what living in a thicket would be like in the richest country in the world. Sure, the weather was warm now, but what would those poor people do in two or three months when the weather turned cold and rainy?

  Beavers squeezed my shoulder. “Listen, I know Pappas is a friend of yours and I know he’s helped you in the past, but the thing is, you need to stay out of this. Right now, my captain has given Kaplan lead on this case because of you.”

  “Why?” I knew the answer.

  He leaned down and pulled me closer. “Because everyone knows we’re a thing. You can’t investigate your own thing.”

  He nuzzled my neck and I smiled, content to forget about Kaplan’s snarky remark and everything else.

  The next morning, I woke to the sound of Beavers knocking around dishes in the kitchen. The clock read eight. I’d overslept. Bumper jumped on the bed, purred, and tickled my face with his whiskers, tired of waiting for me.

  “Okay, okay!” I rubbed the itch from my cheeks. “I’m up.” I threw on my baby blue chenille robe and slippers, shuffled toward the kitchen, and found a pot of coffee already made.

  Beavers stood at the counter, whipping up an omelet. His German shepherd, Arthur, jumped up and greeted me with a wagging tail. I skritched him behind his ears, just the way he liked it.

  “When did he get here?”

  Beavers looked at me over his shoulder and smiled. “After you fell asleep last evening, I went home, ate, and brought him back with me. We didn’t want you and Bumper to be alone.”

  I came up behind him, wrapped my arms around his waist, and gave a squeeze. He turned around and I gave him a long, searching kiss; then I put my head on his chest, careful not to wrinkle his clean white shirt.

  I still couldn’t bring myself to say the L-word. Even though we’d been dating for four months, I feared that merely uttering the word would put me at a permanent disadvantage. Thanks to my divorce, I wasn’t ready to go to that scary, vulnerable place.

  Beavers had told me he understood. He’d been through a bad marriage too. He also seemed frustrated with my reluctance to wade deeper into
our relationship. I sometimes worried he’d lose patience and give up on me.

  “You okay?” he mumbled into the top of my head.

  I smiled at him. “Better than okay.”

  He turned back to the stove and poured a mixture of egg, veggies, and cheese into a hot skillet with olive oil. “You’ve switched to egg whites?”

  I was too embarrassed to tell him about joining Weight Watchers. Beavers, who was in his mid-fifties, had a lean, hard body. He ran every day with Arthur. When I chose ice cream, he chose fruit; beef, chicken; butter, olive oil. Bless him, because he never once criticized my extra pounds. In our intimate moments, he called me “beautiful” and “luscious.”

  Bumper walked over to Arthur and rubbed his head against the dog’s foreleg. Arthur lowered his head and the two of them briefly touched noses. The dog, a retired LAPD canine officer, now lived happily with Beavers. Four months ago, when a killer was after me, Arthur was my bodyguard.

  I washed my hands and poured some half-and-half into a cup before I filled it with steaming-hot dark Italian roast. Since the shawarma sandwich and the biscotti were the only things I ate yesterday, I was still on track with Weight Watchers.

  We sat at the table and devoured the steaming omelet and whole wheat toast. I switched on the small television in my kitchen and turned to the morning news, hoping to catch a weather report. The temperatures had hovered in the triple digits for the last week, and I hoped for some serious relief.

  I turned up the volume when the announcer said, “. . . body found yesterday at the Joshua Beaumont School baseball field in Encino. The victim was thirty-year-old Dax Martin, Beaumont’s head baseball coach.” The scene switched to a talking head standing in front of the Beaumont School. “Kip, what is the feeling at the school today?”

  A square-jawed, frowning African-American reporter in a suit and tie spoke into a microphone. “Well, Adam, the students here at Joshua Beaumont are stunned and saddened by their coach’s death.”

  The camera panned over to some students in maroon jackets, with the gold Beaumont crest on the breast pockets, wearing backpacks and talking on cell phones. Some girls were hugging and wiping tears from their eyes.

  The camera panned back to Kip. “As you can see, Adam, some of the students have already set up a memorial here at the entrance of the school.”

  The scene switched to an iron gate stuffed with posters, notes, stuffed animals, baseballs, and novena candles. “This is a sad day for the school, Adam. Back to you.”

  A photo of Dax Martin’s smiling face appeared on the screen. Adam’s voice said, “Martin was a former San Jose State baseball all-star headed for the pros when knee and shoulder injuries cut his career short. His bad luck was good luck for Beaumont. The talented young coach took his players to three championships in the Mission League. Dax Martin was a loving husband and father of three small children, with another one expected in two months.”

  The scene shifted back to the announcer. “The school said they knew of no reason why Martin would have been at the field late on Sunday night, the estimated time of the murder. Police are following a few leads and say they have already located a person of interest.”

  I looked at Beavers. “By ‘person of interest,’ do you mean Ed?”

  “Look, Martha, I can’t control what the media says. Everyone who ever knew Martin is a person of interest in the investigation. What are your plans for today?”

  “Today is Tuesday, so we’re going to Birdie’s house to quilt, like we always do.”

  The paper napkin made a swishing sound over his mustache when he wiped his mouth. He got up and carried his plate to the sink. “I’m leaving Arthur here to watch over things, if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure. Fine. But there’s nothing to worry about.” He looked at me sideways. “Tell that to someone who doesn’t know you.”

  CHAPTER 8

  I arrived at Birdie Watson’s house at ten on the dot. Birdie was Lucy’s across-the-street neighbor in another area of Encino; The three of us had been quilting together for the last fifteen years, ever since I retired early from my administrative job at UCLA.

  During those years, we’d helped each other through family crises and health problems, as well as birthdays, graduations, and joyful events. We were sisters despite our age differences. At fifty-five, I’m the youngest. Lucy’s in her sixties and Birdie’s in her seventies.

  The fragrance of summer roses, lavender, and gardenias hung on the warm morning air and circled around me as I walked through Birdie’s English garden to her front door. When I entered the cool house, the aroma of freshly baked applesauce cake teased me—my favorite. Already the calculator in my head worked out how big a piece I could have and still stay within my daily calorie allotment. The results weren’t promising.

  Birdie gave me a warm hug. “I made your favorite cake today.” (As if she needed to tell me!) She wore her signature denim overalls, with a white T-shirt and Birkenstock sandals. Her pure white braid hung down her back in a long rope, while little wisps fluttered around her face like downy feathers.

  We each claimed our favorite spot in Birdie’s living room. Mine was an overstuffed green chenille easy chair that had arms wide enough to hold my sewing supplies. I settled in, adjusted my glasses, and spread open the Dresden Plate quilt I’d just started stitching. The Dresden Plate pattern is a circle divided into scalloped wedges, each wedge a different fabric. I centered one of the plates featuring pink and yellow prints into a fourteen-inch wooden hoop to hold the fabric taut. This would ensure two things: the bottom layer of the quilt wouldn’t pucker, and my stitches would be small and even.

  I typically worked on more than one project at a time. In addition to selecting materials with Lucy yesterday for the new scrappy Jacob’s Ladder quilt in my sewing room, six other quilt tops waited to be layered with batting and backing and basted together in preparation for quilting. I had already basted the Dresden Plate and recently had begun the long process of sewing the three layers together by hand, one stitch at a time.

  Birdie set a cup of fresh coffee with cream beside me. “I’ll bet we’re the last holdouts in the guild. So few women quilt by hand anymore.” Birdie was right. The majority of quilters in the West San Fernando Valley Quilt Guild used a sewing machine to do the work.

  “They don’t know what they’re missing.” Lucy slowly shook her head and her deep blue earrings swung back and forth. I always looked forward to finding out what theme Lucy would choose for the day. Today she featured blue: navy slacks and sandals, bright cerulean silk blouse, a necklace of lapis and crystal beads, and a pair of large lapis disks dangling from hooks in her ears. I thought blue was her best color; it made her orange hair look more authentic.

  I agreed with my friends. Hand quilting was a long proposition. You must be willing to put in dozens, even hundreds, of hours before finishing—a good thing in my book. The process of stitching by hand provided time to think, to meditate, and just to slow down. The journey was worth it. In the end, you held a blanket textured with the comfort of thousands of thoughtful stitches, a piece of art.

  Birdie returned with a generous thick slice of cake for each of us. I tried to keep from looking at mine. Out of sight, out of mind. Unfortunately, I couldn’t turn off my sense of smell.

  She twirled the end of her long braid. “Now, Martha dear, Lucy just told me about your finding the body of that baseball coach practically in your own backyard. I heard on the news he was a family man, the father of three young children.”

  “Yes. The body looked pretty gruesome. He was savagely beaten. Even though Dax Martin was universally resented and disliked in our neighborhood, he didn’t deserve to die in such a horrible way. I feel sorry for his family.”

  Birdie sat and picked up her sewing. “Lucy said the police suspect your young neighbor.”

  “That’s right, but I think he’s being framed. I can prove it if I can find the homeless people who were camped across from the crime scene. They m
ay have witnessed the murder. Lucy drove me to the police station to give a statement. You’ll never believe what happened after she dropped me off.” I hesitated to tell my friends about Hilda offering to take me to meet a dangerous character like Switch, but I wanted their support.

  “Oh, Martha!” Lucy put down her needle and looked up. “You’ve got to be kidding. You’ve done some harebrained things before, but this is out-and-out lunacy. Please tell me you’re not serious.”

  “Actually, I won’t have to go in alone.” Then I told them about my plan to take Hilda with me and Crusher’s offer to back me up with Ed’s other biker friends.

  Lucy’s voice rose a notch. “This is just getting worse and worse. You’re going to ride with a team of bikers? Really?”

  Birdie shook her head, eyes wide. “Lucy’s right. You have no business going to such a dangerous place. No. Absolutely not, Martha dear.”

  I sat back and sighed. “Of course I’ve thought the same thing, but what else can I do? I’m going to see Hilda this afternoon to get an answer. If she says it’s safe, then she and I will go in. If she says I should take Crusher, then he’ll go in with us. I’ll be safe with him and his guys.”

  Birdie looked horrified. “And what do you think Arlo will say to all of this?”

  I narrowed my eyes. “He doesn’t have to find out, unless you tell him.”

  “We might just be forced to,” Lucy warned.

  My friends were taking sides against me. I reached for the cake.

  At two that afternoon, I packed my quilt, hoop, and sewing kit in the tote bag. In bygone times in France, a sewing kit was called an etui, pronounced ehTWEE. I loved the feeling of that word in my mouth.

  “I’ve got to leave a little early,” I said, standing up.

  Lucy stood and put her hands on her hips. “You’re going to meet Hilda, aren’t you?”

  I didn’t answer.

  She looked at Birdie. “You know, for someone who’s so intelligent, sometimes this gal can be dumb as a sack of hammers.”

  I still didn’t answer.