Vineyard Quilt: Pattern Of Betrayal Part 15

"I don't like it either," Julie added. She'd lived in places where people had to lock their doors at all times, but Straussberg had a different vibe. A small, country town feel. An everyone-knows-everyone kind of place. She hated the fact that it seemed to be changing right before her eyes.

"Of course, back in the day ...," s.h.i.+rley was saying.

Julie nodded politely. Time spent with s.h.i.+rley was entertaining, to be sure, but she wouldn't cla.s.sify it as relaxing. She tried her best to keep track of s.h.i.+rley's colorful storytelling, but her mind kept wandering.

Perhaps whoever ransacked her office wasn't trying to find the journal. What if that person was merely trying to scare her? What if the art thieves who swore their revenge on her had finally caught up with her?

That made more sense than any of her other theories. Though the thought sent her heart sinking to her toes.

With as many tourists as had been in and out of the inn lately, it could have been anyone. Most had been gawkers, not registered guests. And there had been a lot of them. That narrowed the potential vandal down to ... well, almost anyone in town.

Julie's phone buzzed in her pocket. "Excuse me," she said to s.h.i.+rley, checking the screen before answering. She did not recognize the number.

"Julie dear, it's Sadie Davidson."

"Sadie! Good to hear from you. How is Joyce?"

"Well, they have her stabilized, but they're going to keep her overnight to make sure she's OK. Personally, I think she's fine. She's sitting up in the bed, flirting shamelessly with the male nurses. I suspect she'll be right as rain by tomorrow."

Relief flooded through Julie. "I'm so glad to hear that. Have they determined what caused her collapse?"

"It was just as I suspected. Somehow she got ahold of some peanuts. We're lucky it didn't kill her right off."

ELEVEN.

Julie had no more than hung up with Sadie and closed the door behind s.h.i.+rley when she spotted Carrie meandering around near the tearoom.

"I thought you were going to bed," Julie said, bypa.s.sing a normal greeting.

Carrie jumped as if she hadn't been expecting Julie to say anything to her-or as if she hadn't noticed Julie at all. The pet.i.te girl b.u.mped into the wall, nearly knocking a painting onto the floor.

"Sorry," she mumbled, pus.h.i.+ng her gla.s.ses up on her nose and straightening the picture. It was more crooked when she was finished fixing it than it had been before she began.

"What are you doing down here?" Julie asked, her suspicions rising.

Carrie's eyes grew wide. "I thought I forgot something in the tearoom."

"Really? What was it? I'll help you look," Julie said with as much care and concern as she could muster.

"Uh, my handkerchief."

Julie blinked. Did anyone under the age of seventy carry a handkerchief anymore? "Unfortunately, it looks like s.h.i.+rley has already closed up for the night. You'll have to ask her in the morning."

Carrie nodded and pushed at her sleeves. "OK. Good night then." She turned on her heel to leave.

"Is there something you'd like to tell me?" Julie asked.

Carrie paused for a moment and then slowly shook her head. "No." Without another word she crept up the steps as quietly as she'd come.

Julie stood in the foyer and watched her leave, a jillion thoughts zinging through her head. Carrie seemed the least likely of the guests to commit a heinous crime. Julie doubted the pet.i.te blonde even had enough strength to wield the overlarge candlestick that had been used to knock Alice over the head. But her bizarre behavior ... always creeping around ... so jumpy when spoken to. ...

Was Carrie even in the room when Alice was murdered? Julie couldn't remember if Carrie had been there or not. The girl was just so quiet, as if she wanted everyone to forget she existed.

But had she been there?

Julie thought back to the minutes before the power went out and promptly blew out an irritated breath. That was the problem. She simply couldn't remember. Of course, at the time, she hadn't been concerned about real murders. She hadn't been watching everyone with suspicious eyes. Her attention had been focused on making sure the murder part of the mystery went off without a hitch and on gearing up for a weekend of solving a fake murder ... not a real murder.

Julie rolled her shoulders, trying to ease some of the kinks out of her neck and back. On a whim, she started toward the back of the inn, where Hannah's room was located. The power had gone off right before the dessert service. Had Carrie been in the room at the time?

She lightly rapped on Hannah's door.

"It's open," came the soft reply.

Julie opened the door and found Hannah propped up on the bed as if she'd been expecting her friend to drop by.

"You're up late," Julie said.

Hannah shrugged. "Too much excitement, I guess, but I need to turn in soon. Morning comes quickly around here. Did you hear from Sadie?"

Julie nodded. "It was peanuts, but Joyce is going to be fine."

Hannah's eyes widened. "I'll clean out the pantry tomorrow. I don't know how it happened-maybe some type of cross-contamination."

Or purposeful contamination, Julie thought. "I'm sure it was just an unfortunate accident."

"Still." Hannah was clearly distraught over the incident.

Julie suspected Hannah would throw out the remaining ingredients from the evening meal and offer to pay for it herself if need be.

"I need you to think back for a moment," Julie said. "Do you remember seeing Carrie at the dining table Friday night?"

"Of course."

"OK. But was she there when you served the entree?"

"Yes. Well, I'm pretty sure." Hannah frowned as she tried to recall. "I mean, I took her a plate. She had to have been there. You don't think-?"

"I don't know." Julie perched on the edge of Hannah's small bed. "The problem is, I can't remember that specific detail."

"Even if she wasn't at the table, that doesn't mean she killed Alice." Hannah sat up a little taller. "Also, if she hadn't been there, don't you think someone would have mentioned it?"

"You're right." Julie ran her hand through her hair, an unthinking gesture she often did when she was frustrated.

"Although, she does have an amazing ability to go unnoticed," Hannah said.

Julie was going to be so glad when this weekend was over. In less than twenty-four hours, crime solved or not, the police had to at least let the guests leave town. That time couldn't come soon enough.

Julie pushed up from the bed and smiled at her friend. "Get some sleep. I'll see you at breakfast."

Hannah murmured her goodnight as Julie let herself out of the room.

She heard the lock click into place as she started down the hall.

Julie made her way through the kitchen, resisting the urge to grab a snack. True, dinner had been a complete fiasco. She'd eaten only about half of her meal before Joyce collapsed. And after that, her appet.i.te had done a swift disappearing act-until now. But hungry or not, eating this late was not good for the thighs, no matter how tasty that last piece of cinnamon cake looked.

She walked toward the front of the inn for one last check before she headed upstairs.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Gah!" Julie whirled around, hand pressed to her chest. "Carrie!" she gasped. "I thought you went to bed."

Carrie shook her head and stared at the scuffed toes of her ugly brown shoes. "I just needed some time to ..." She glanced off to the side, seeming to look at nothing as she bit her lip. "I need to tell you something."

Julie could hardly miss the ominous tone in Carrie's words. "All right. What is it?"

"Can we talk somewhere private?"

"How about we take a walk?" Julie suggested. She couldn't bear the thought of sitting across from Carrie and watching her shrink under her gaze.

Carrie nodded, and the two of them made their way to the back door in silence.

The night breeze had turned cool, and Carrie pulled her too-big sweater a little tighter around her. Julie wished she'd taken the time to put on something with sleeves. Instead, she rubbed the goose b.u.mps on her arms and led the way to the garden path.

The air was filled with the perfume of sweet violets and hyacinths. Julie inhaled the soothing scents and waited for Carrie to begin, bracing herself for whatever was to come.

Finally, the girl drew in a deep breath and said, "I know where the book is."

Julie stopped dead in her tracks.

Carrie continued to walk on, stumbling a bit as the path grew uneven. She paused when she realized she'd left Julie behind.

Julie forced her feet into motion. "You mean the Civil War journal?"

Carrie nodded.

"You know where it is-right this very moment?"

"Well, I know where it was."

"OK ... that's good news. I think." Julie motioned to a small wooden bench. "Why don't you start at the beginning?"

Carrie took a seat and seemed to mull over her words as if deciding on the best place to start. "Fr-Friday night at dinner, I had to go to the bathroom."

"Was this before or after Alice-?"

"Before." Carrie ducked her head and twisted her hands in her lap. "I had just finished my entree, and I thought I should go before we started dessert. I was pretty sure I could get to the bathroom and back before the 'big moment' in the mystery play."

The big moment that never happened.

"So, I slipped out and went to the restroom that's down the hall from your office. I was was.h.i.+ng my hands when the power went off." She gave a delicate shudder. "It was unnerving to be in such a closed s.p.a.ce with it so dark, so I dried my hands as quickly as possible and stepped out into the hall. I figured the mystery had begun, and I wanted to get back to my seat before the lights came back on. Unfortunately, the hallway was as dark as the bathroom."

Julie nodded encouragingly, though inside she was praying that Carrie didn't confess to the murder right there on the garden bench.

"So, I'm standing there in the hall," Carrie said, "and I see someone coming toward me." She paused, furrowing her brows. "He held a flashlight in one hand and the book in the other."

"He?" Julie asked. "You're saying it was a man?"

"I think so." She wrinkled her nose in uncertainty. "The light flashed in my eyes, and it was hard to see."

Of course. Julie tried not to let her frustration show. But she suspected whoever Carrie saw holding the light and the book was also responsible for the power outage. How else would they have known that a flashlight would be needed?

"All right. So you think it was a man," Julie said. "What about the book?"

"It was definitely the journal you showed us."

"Are you absolutely sure?" Julie asked. "It was dark. You're not even certain if a man or woman was holding it."

"I'm sure." Carrie untwisted her fingers, seeming to grow a little more relaxed as she continued her story. "I think I surprised him as much as he surprised me. But I knew he wasn't supposed to have the book."

"Even though you couldn't see his face?"

"It wasn't his book," Carrie said.

"True enough."

"But when I said as much, he jeered at me."

Jeered? Julie frowned.

"So I took it from him. The lights came back on, and he ran away before I could get a good look at him. I put the book in the game cabinet and went back into the dining room."

"Why did you hide the book in the game cabinet?"

Carrie began to fidget again. "I don't know. I figured the evening was about to start. I could always go back and get it later and return it to you then."

Julie shook her head. "OK. You went back into the dining room. What happened next?"

"That was when Susan started screaming," Carrie said.

"So, the journal is in the game cabinet?" It took every ounce of Julie's willpower not to spring off the bench and go look.