Vineyard Quilt: Pattern Of Betrayal Part 20

"They do play with feet all day. Thankfully, everything was pretty quiet when I left. The guests were in the tearoom, playing cards and quilting. Here's hoping it stays that way." Julie raised her coffee cup and they drank to that.

"Have you heard anything from the police? Do they have any idea who might have wanted Alice dead?"

"No." Julie sighed. "They've talked to each guest at various points throughout the weekend-discreetly, in person, and by phone. But to my knowledge, they have no solid leads."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Daniel paused. "And what about you?"

"What about me?"

He c.o.c.ked a brow. "Don't play coy. I know you've been doing some investigating of your own."

She pursed her lips but didn't deny it.

"Do you have any leads?" he pressed.

"Nothing concrete. Only what Carrie told me she saw the night the lights went out. If only she'd gotten a good look at the person holding the book. I'm certain that's our murderer-one of them, at least. There could be two people working together for all I know."

"I don't like this," Daniel said, the worry evident in his eyes.

"That makes two of us," Julie said. "Nine o'clock tonight can't come soon enough."

He lifted his cup in salute. "To nine."

She raised her mug to clink with his, but before she could complete the action, a movement across the street caught her attention. Sadie.

"So that's where she disappeared to," she muttered to herself, watching her walk down the sidewalk.

"Who?" Daniel started to turn, but Julie ducked down, pulling Daniel sideways and underneath the table with her.

"Shhh," she said.

"You mind telling me what's going on?" he asked, his nose inches from hers.

"Sadie Davidson is over there, across the street." Julie watched as Sadie glanced nervously from one side to the other and then looked behind her as if she were being followed. She carried her big white handbag looped over one arm as she hustled down the sidewalk, neatly darting through the milling tourists. The woman suddenly appeared very spry for her age.

"I thought you said everyone was in the tearoom," Daniel said.

"I did," she hissed in return. "I meant everyone except for Sadie. And Gregory."

"And why are we under the table?" Daniel contorted his head around to peer at the older woman. "And it better be a good reason because this is killing my back."

"Because I don't want her to see me here."

"Why not?" He pulled against her hold. "You do live here after all."

"Because we're going to follow her."

"That's an interesting notion." He pulled harder and broke free of her grasp so he could sit up straight in his seat. They'd garnered more than a few curious looks from the folks around them. "Why are we going to follow her?"

"Because she's acting weird." Julie sat up in her seat.

"So are you."

"I wasn't the one who left my self-proclaimed 'bestie' all alone at the hospital in a strange town after she nearly died." Julie grabbed the menu off the table and held it front of her face with one hand as she gathered her purse. "Are you with me or not, Franklin?"

Daniel sighed, but his eyes sparkled with the light of rekindled adventure. "How could I possibly resist?"

They walked together down the street, doing their best to stay out of Sadie's peripheral vision while not losing sight of her. It helped that the older woman was on the opposite side of the street, but Julie wasn't taking any chances.

"Something weird is going on with her," Julie said. "Why else would she leave Joyce at the hospital?"

"Maybe to enjoy the rest of her vacation."

"Really?" She cast an annoyed glance at Daniel.

"Just a guess," he replied.

"The two women seemed closer than that." Julie glanced across the street again, but Sadie was nowhere to be seen. "We've lost her!"

They stopped and scanned the entire street. As usual, there were a lot of people milling about the town, tourists and locals alike.

"There she is." Daniel pointed just ahead of them.

As Sadie crossed the street and came toward them, Julie grabbed Daniel's s.h.i.+rt and dragged him into the alcove of a nearby store entrance.

Sadie's sweet-sounding voice drifted their way as she hurried past their hiding spot, her phone to her ear. "...missing ... must have a master plan ... now I'm getting worried. ..."

"Did you hear that?" Julie said. "I can't believe she's involved in any of this!"

"Bits and pieces-don't jump to conclusions." Daniel fixed a stern look on her. "She could've been talking about anything. That short conversation doesn't prove her guilt."

"Yeah-and I'm the tooth fairy. Do you think she spotted us?"

"No."

Julie peered around Daniel just in time to see Sadie dart into the hardware store. "Not guilty, huh? What would Sadie possibly need from the hardware store during her vacation?"

Daniel shrugged. "Maybe she's getting a new lock for her suitcase."

"Or buying more tools to put in her handbag so she can pretend to be afraid."

"What?"

Julie explained how everyone had started carrying around some form of makes.h.i.+ft weapon.

"Did you tell the detective about that?" Daniel asked.

"Detective Frost! Oh, gosh," Julie said, fis.h.i.+ng her phone out of her purse. "I completely forgot to tell him that we found the journal."

"How could you forget to tell him something like that?"

Julie put a hand on her hip. "In my defense, there has been a lot going on lately."

"OK, I'll let you have that one."

"It's him!" Julie exclaimed, pointing across the street.

"Him who?"

"That man. I remember who he is now."

"Care to enlighten me?" Daniel asked, his gaze following her outstretched finger.

"Eric Rutherford." Julie watched the man on the sidewalk through narrowed eyes. "He came into the inn the other day at the peak of the chaos. He looked familiar to me then, but I couldn't place him. And I really didn't have time to dwell on it. But I know it's Rutherford, I saw his picture online."

"Back up. Who's Eric Rutherford?" Daniel asked.

Julie looked from Rutherford to the hardware store Sadie had disappeared into and then back to Daniel. "He was Alice Peyton's boss and the book expert I called first."

Daniel frowned. "The one who told you the book was practically worthless."

"The very same," Julie said, unsure of whom to follow-Sadie or Rutherford. Before she could decide, her phone rang. "It's the inn," she said, peering at the screen. "Something must have happened. h.e.l.lo?"

"Julie!" s.h.i.+rley exclaimed through the phone. "You need to come see this. Right now."

"What happened?"

"Just hurry!" s.h.i.+rley disconnected before Julie could press her for details.

Julie looked at Daniel. "There's some kind of emergency at the inn. I have to go back."

"Another one?" Daniel said.

Julie sighed as she watched Rutherford slip away. "My sentiments exactly."

s.h.i.+rley met them outside as they rounded the street corner near the inn.

"Oh, Julie," s.h.i.+rley lamented. "This is terrible, just terrible!"

"Calm down and tell me what's happened."

The redhead pressed her lips together and shook her head. "You have to come see it for yourself."

She pulled on Julie's hand, leading the way up the steps and into the mansion.

"Look." s.h.i.+rley took Julie by the shoulders and turned her toward the far wall of the front sitting area. It was normally a cozy little nook with comfy chairs, good lighting, and a warm ambiance. But not today. Not with the menacing words that were spray-painted across the wall and furniture.

Stunned, Julie read the words aloud. "Alice is dead. I'm coming for it."

The person responsible for the unsightly graffiti obviously hadn't cared about anything other than getting that message across. The thick black letters covered everything in their path. The exclamation point ended on the overstuffed armchair. The paintings on the walls, the window frame ... nothing had been spared.

"Whoa," Daniel said, whistling under his breath.

"How could this happen?" Julie asked.

s.h.i.+rley wrung her hands and looked like she was about to burst into tears. "I really used to love this place, but now ... it's like a never-ending bad dream."

Julie wrapped an arm around s.h.i.+rley and pulled her in close. "It's OK, s.h.i.+rley. This is still a good place. Somehow we've managed to attract the wrong kind of guest this week, that's all."

s.h.i.+rley attempted a shaky smile, but she still appeared dubious.

"Where is everyone?" Julie asked.

"Liam went to work on his book. Carrie said since it wasn't raining any longer, she was going out into the garden. I have no idea about Gregory or Sadie. Susan and Kenneth went to lie down."

Julie furrowed her brows. "Kenneth shouldn't be sleeping with that head injury."

s.h.i.+rley nodded and pulled a crumpled tissue from her pocket to dab at the corners of her eyes. "I promised I would wake him in an hour."

"When did you find this?" Julie pointed at the offensive message.

"Just a little bit ago."

Daniel went to the wall and touched the paint, pulling back his fingers to examine them. "It's dry," he said, showing them his clean hand.

"Have you called the police?" Julie asked.

"Not yet," s.h.i.+rley said. "I thought you should see it first."

After phoning the police, Daniel ducked into Julie's office to look at the Civil War journal and pa.s.s the time while Julie worked at the front desk, waiting for the police. It didn't take long. Julie suspected Detective Frost was on permanent standby, waiting for something else to go wrong at the inn. A sure testimony to this fact was that he arrived before the uniforms did.

"Detective Frost." Julie greeted him from her perch behind the desk as he let himself in the front door.

"Miss Ellis. I'm beginning to think I should rent a room here to save on gas." He turned to inspect the words splattered across the wall and furnis.h.i.+ngs. "When you make someone angry, you sure do it up right."

"All or nothing." She shrugged.

"Any possible witnesses to this one?" The detective took a penlight out of his trouser pocket and shone it toward the crudely painted letters.

"Not that I'm aware of. I was gone when it happened. s.h.i.+rley found it."

"s.h.i.+rley, huh?"

"Yes." Julie didn't like his tone. "Did you find out any more about Alice from her family?"

He gave her a "Nice try" smile and put the tiny light back into his pocket. "No more than I'm sure you found out on the Internet."

Julie pursed her lips. Clearly he had no intention of discussing the case with her. "It would be helpful if someone could at least determine why she lied about her marital status and who bought her trip to Straussberg."