Seams Like Murder (10 page)

“I thought your name was Polly,” the new person said, looking around the yarn department. “I’m Erin Willis. Actually, I’m Erin Willis Allen. You probably don’t remember that your son Peter took me to prom.” I noticed the young woman’s belly, and it came back to me that Kelsey Willis had been interested in having a crochet-themed baby shower. But remember that my son took her to the prom? More like I didn’t know. My older son was big on leaving me out of the loop—then and now. Her parents must have gotten all the photo ops. I just remembered something about having to get him a corsage.

“Nice to see you,” I said with a friendly smile. Now that I had gotten a better look at her, she and Kelsey really did look more like sisters than mother and daughter. Erin had the same sharp features and the same shade of blond hair, which I doubted either of them was born with.

“Molly will tell you all about our events,” my boss said. I noticed that she didn’t leave when she turned Erin over to me.

“I really didn’t have much time to tell your mother what we do for a shower,” I said. I went over to the cabinet below the cubbies of yarn, brought out a container, and set it on the table. Mrs. Shedd made approving noises as I explained that we would teach the guests to crochet and each of them would make a small square in the colors the host chose. “After the event, we’ll join the squares into a baby blanket and give it to you,” I said.

“It certainly would be different than what my girlfriends have done,” Erin said. I smiled and continued explaining our usual procedure for showers, before showing her a sample of the gift bag each guest would receive. “This is just a basic one, with a crochet hook, a small ball of yarn, and a sheet with directions on basic crochet stitches in a paper shopping bag. But we can make the gift bags as elaborate as you want, including more yarn or things like scissors and tape measures.” I brought out samples of paper and canvas project bags, explaining they could be personalized.

“We’ll want everything super deluxe,” she said. She asked about refreshments, and I explained that we used the café. I was trying to play it cool, but inside I was jumping up and down. “Super deluxe” was music to my ears. “What about sort of a tea thing?” she suggested. “You know, scones, finger sandwiches, pretty little pastries.”

“That’s a wonderful idea,” I said. I was going to mention that a “tea thing” usually included tea, but I let it go. Whatever drinks she wanted would be fine.

Mrs. Shedd was all smiles and added her approval to the high tea plan. “My mother wants it to be unique,” Erin said. “Something that everyone else will want to copy.”

“Perfect. Shall we write it up?” I said, taking out an order form.

Erin seemed to hesitate, then turned resolute. “I like the plan. So, yes, write it up.” I saw Mrs. Shedd give me a thumbs-up, although she wilted a little when Erin said her mother would bring in the deposit. It was too easy to back out when you didn’t have any skin in the game.

I made conversation as I filled in the form. “Your father works for Wolf, doesn’t he?” It was really more of a statement than a question. The whole name of the company was Wolf Film Studio, but everybody just called it Wolf. I didn’t know what his exact title was, but I knew he was a high-level executive.

But Erin seemed distracted and ignored the comment in favor of tapping the table with her elaborately decorated nails. They were done in glossy pink stripes, with a pearl embedded in one nail. She noticed me staring at them and seemed almost annoyed. I suppose because my nails were so clearly not manicured.

“It was nice seeing your mother and Pia the other day,” I said. “They seem like they’re joined at the hip.” I went back to my writing, relieved her expression had lightened up.

“She does live almost next door. They’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember. My mom is the one who got Pia through her divorce.”

“I didn’t know Pia was divorced,” I said, trying to keep the conversation going. Actually, I didn’t know much about Pia at all. “Are you friends with her kids?” I’d said “kids” because I didn’t know how many there were, or if they were boys or girls, though by now they were all grown up.

Erin made that face like I’d just asked a totally absurd question. “Her boys are a couple of years younger than me. And they stuck with their father after the divorce.”

Suddenly, the bell on the bookstore door jangled and Adele rushed in. She fairly screeched to a stop when she got to our table.

“You won’t believe what I just heard from Eric,” she announced. As usual, Adele was done up to be noticed. She had taken a spring green boiled wool jacket and covered it with different crocheted flowers, all done in shades of pink. It looked like she was wearing a garden, and while it was a little over the top, it was stunning at the same time. She noticed Erin and held up her hand, wiggling her ring finger so that the small diamond caught the light and shimmered. “Eric’s my fiancé,” she added quickly. “He told me who the victim is.” Adele put her hand to her forehead in a gesture of woe. Then, knowing she had all of our attention, she paused to heighten the suspense before she continued. “It was a woman, and her name is—or maybe I should say was, though I suppose it’s still her name, even if she’s dead.”

By now Mrs. Shedd was getting impatient with Adele. “Just tell us who it is,” my boss said.

Dinah and I traded glances and silently agreed to let Adele have her moment and not let on that we already knew who it was.

But Adele didn’t like being told what to do by anyone, not even our boss, and let out an unhappy sigh. “I was just trying to be accurate in what tense I used. I’ll use the present tense. Her name is Delaney Tanner.”

Mrs. Shedd appeared shocked. “That’s who they found in CeeCee Collins’s guest apartment?” She’d suddenly gone very pale.

She seemed about to say more, but Adele slid in first and
explained. “Delaney used to work here.” Adele turned to me. “It was before your time.” I thought Adele was going to say what a great employee Delaney had been, but Adele being Adele, she instead critiqued the job Delaney had done. “Her job was to help with customers, but it seemed to me she was trying to be too cozy with them. I think she put people on the spot, asking overly personal questions when she was supposed to be suggesting a book they might like.”

Mrs. Shedd seemed uncomfortable. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but now that Adele mentioned it, I was relieved when Delaney said she was leaving. I really don’t like to have to let people go, but I noticed that customers seemed to be avoiding her.”

Erin was standing next to me, listening to it all. “I know that name,” she said in a stunned voice. “I have to tell my mother.” She pulled out her cell phone and stepped away from us for a moment. A minute later, she then rejoined us.

“Her daughter Marcy was in my class.” Erin’s thoughts seemed to drift off, and she started to mutter to herself that they’d lost touch after high school. “She always talked about going to some Ivy League college, but I heard she ended up having to go to Beasley Community College because her father died.”

“Then your mother knew Delaney?”

Erin shrugged. “Not really, just that she was Marcy’s mother.” She started to gather herself up to leave. She shook her head and said, “Poor Marcy. She’s like an orphan now. It makes you want to go home and hug your family.” She looked at the form I’d been filling out and held out her hand. Once I gave her the copy, she left.

Dinah watched her go. I could tell my friend was perturbed at Erin’s condescending tone when she mentioned the community college where Dinah taught. A moment later, Babs
returned with CeeCee. Somehow, by rolling up the jeans and adjusting the hoodie, adding some makeup and combing CeeCee’s hair, she’d made her look almost stylish. Her final touch had been to tie the bandana around CeeCee’s neck.

CeeCee’s appearance may have been more put together, but she was still upset. “Dear, I think I’m going to need some medicinal chocolate.” Babs seemed thrilled at the idea of doing anything for CeeCee and rushed off to the café.

Rhoda had packed up her things. “Nothing personal, but I came here hoping to get some peace and all there’s been is drama.” She began to push away from the table. “And we haven’t even talked about Sheila.” I cringed as Mrs. Shedd’s head shot up, and Rhoda walked away with a disgruntled shake of her head.

“Is there a problem with Sheila?” Mrs. Shedd said, interrupting. “I thought you had everything worked out.”

It had taken some doing, but I’d managed to calm down Mrs. Shedd’s concern about Sheila and keep Adele from repeating that she could always step in. I really did believe that once Sheila actually got through one rehearsal, she would be fine to teach her class. Appearing satisfied that everything was under control, Mrs. Shedd had gone off to help some customers who were hanging by the information booth, and Adele had gone back to the children’s area to prepare for story time.

“You’re such a dear,” CeeCee said to Babs when she returned from the café with two double chocolate cookie bars. CeeCee grabbed them like they were life preservers and took a big bite. “That’s so much better already,” she said between chews. As she finished the first bar and moved on to the second, she looked at Rhoda’s empty chair. “What’s going on with her? She’s never grumbled like that before. She’s always the one who seems to take everything in stride.”

Dinah and I both shrugged. “Next time we get together, we ought to ask her if everything is all right,” I said.

CeeCee popped the last of the chocolate bars in her mouth and got up. “Now I can handle going home.” Babs was out of her chair and next to CeeCee before I could blink.

“If you want, I can drive behind you to make sure you get home okay,” Babs said. “Then just give me a couple of hours and I’ll bring over a pan of brownies.”

“Thank you, dear,” CeeCee said. “I always say chocolate is the best medicine.”

With them gone, the get-together was officially over. Dinah stayed at the table and took out some papers she needed to grade while I cleared everything up from the group. I straightened the yarn bins and, most importantly, put Erin’s shower on our calendar. After a while, Dinah and I decided to go grab some lunch and were headed to the door when Mrs. Shedd stopped me.

“Mr. Royal usually takes care of this, but with him gone I think you, as assistant manager, should handle it.” She held up a zippered pouch of cash and checks. “Could you please deposit this at the Bank of Tarzana?”

I wasn’t sure how to feel as I took the bulging pouch—honored that she trusted me with the money, or nervous to have to walk around with it. Most people used credit cards, but there was still some cash business and a few checks.

“Nobody would think we were carrying a couple thousand in cash, would they?” I said to Dinah as we walked to my car.

Dinah looked us both up and down before laughing. “Only if they were psychic.” Even so, I drove the most direct route and parked right next to the bank. The parking lot was busy, but nobody gave us a second look as we walked to the entrance.

I dealt with another bank for my personal finances, and
I hadn’t been inside the Bank of Tarzana for years. “What ever happened to imposing buildings with arches and columns and gold lettering on the window?” I asked as we went inside. The Bank of Tarzana was shaped like a shoe box. The inside was as bland as the exterior, though I didn’t have much of a chance to notice. We were barely in the door before we were greeted like long-lost relatives by a man in an ill-fitting blue suit. He wanted to know how our day was going, offered us bottled water and cookies, and finally asked the purpose of our visit.

“A deposit,” I said, turning down his offer of drinks and snacks and going right for the line waiting for tellers. Being that it was lunchtime, it was long, and I was glad I had Dinah to keep me company. She immediately started talking about her situation with Commander.

“I wonder what he’d do if I said no.” My friend adjusted her long purple scarf and looked to me for an answer. I didn’t want to say anything, but if he was really set on getting married and she didn’t want to, it was possible he would call everything off between them. Personally, I couldn’t understand that. If you loved somebody enough to want to marry them, wouldn’t you want to stay with them even if you didn’t get married?

“Maybe you should tell him your concerns about getting married,” I said.

My friend shook her head at the thought. “How can I tell him that as much as I like to see him, I’m glad when he goes home? I wish I could be caught up in the fairy-tale idea of happily ever after, but I’m past that illusion.”

“I see your point. It would be hard to tell him any of that.” As the line edged forward, I noticed something strange. There was a wreath made out of laurel leaves with black ribbons hanging in front of one of the teller windows, and
all the tellers were wearing black armbands. The man in the bad suit cruised by the line to assure us all that we’d be helped soon, and I stopped him to ask about it.

“What’s with the wreath and armbands?”

His too-friendly smile faded, and he leaned close. “We’ve had a terrible tragedy. One of our tellers died, and it’s a very strange situation. Nobody knows exactly what happened to her. Personally I thought we should be more low-key about it, but the manager wanted to show that we care for our customers and our employees.”

I had a bad feeling. “Was her name Delaney Tanner?” I asked.

The man seemed surprised. “Then you know her. She was one of our most outstanding tellers. She treated our customers like they were old friends.”

I didn’t say anything, but I was thinking that some of the customers probably
were
Delaney’s old friends.

My turn came, and I stepped up to a teller and unzipped the pouch, taking out the stack of bills, checks and deposit slip.

“Oh, this is for the bookstore,” the teller said, making a surprised face. She pointed down toward a teller window with a separate line. “That’s for our merchant accounts.”

“I’m sorry, this is my first time doing this.” I started to retract the money, but she said she’d take care of the deposit this time.

“Is there anything else I have to do?” I took the blue pouch and began to zip it closed.

“That’s it as long as it’s under $10,000.” She pointed out a cup full of lollipops. “Have some candy while I count it. She loaded part of the cash into a machine, and I took the opportunity to ask her about Delaney. “If you had come here last week you would have been dealing with her,” the teller said. I realized the wreath was hanging near the business
account window. “The manager calls it customer service, but to me, she seemed a little too talkative. But that’s the style of the banks now. We give you water and roll out a red carpet. We have candy and stickers for the kids. How about we just wait on the people in a timely fashion and not make this into a circus?”

“Well said,” Dinah said with a nod of approval. The teller put the rest of the bills into the machine.

“Those are Delaney’s daughters. Poor girls came in to pick up her things,” the teller continued. Dinah and I turned as two young women came out from an office. The counting machine stopped, and the teller completed the deposit and handed me a slip. “You’re good to go. Have a fabulous day.”

The two young women had been talking to someone whom I supposed was the bank manager. They both had the same rust-colored hair as their mother. I watched them for a moment, remembering how they’d looked as third and fourth graders at the school holiday assembly. It seemed strange to see Marcy and Rachel all grown up. Dinah nudged me. “I know one of them. I didn’t put the name together when the young woman arranging for the shower mentioned that one of Delaney’s daughters had gone to Beasley. Marcy Tanner was my student a while ago. I remember her because I didn’t have to remind her to act like a college student. She wrote some really good papers. I don’t remember the exact details, but it seemed like the family went through some kind of trauma.”

“We should offer our condolences,” I said as Dinah and I crossed the bank and caught up with them before they reached the door.

Dinah didn’t need to introduce herself. Marcy Tanner recognized her immediately, though both she and Rachel gave me a blank look until I mentioned my sons’ names.

“We’re so sorry about your mother,” I said. I was at a loss
as to what to say to them next, so I just kept blabbing, and the next thing I knew, I’d invited them to join us for lunch. They both agreed readily, which surprised me. It took Dinah and me a moment to come up with a place to go. Under the circumstances, a loud café didn’t seem like the right setting. “I know just the place,” I said finally.

Los Encinos State Park was one of my favorite locales. It was made up of a natural spring that fed a small lake surrounded by a couple of acres of grounds. There was an old ranch house and some other buildings that had been turned into a sort of museum. Recently, a restaurant on the edge of the place had been redone, and part of it was incorporated in the park. When we regrouped a few minutes later outside the park, I led the way to the outdoor patio that overlooked the water, which was filled with ducks and geese, and we were given a table.

We used to take my boys to the “duck pond,” as we called it, all the time when they were small. I assumed Delaney’s daughters had gone there, too. I thought it might be a soothing spot for them. I didn’t plan to grill them, but if some useful information came up, I wasn’t going to turn it down. I didn’t have to say anything to Dinah, because she knew how I operated.

For a few minutes we just enjoyed the surroundings and placed our orders. I liked breakfast no matter the time of day and picked out an omelet. When the waiter left, there was an awkward moment of quiet while we all sipped our water. I finally broke the silence by saying I hadn’t seen their mother for years. I didn’t mention that I’d actually seen her the day before. That was all it took for both girls to start talking.

“I don’t think anybody appreciated what our mother did,” Marcy said. “Our father died when Rachel and I were in high school. It turned out he’d cashed in whatever life
insurance he had, and we were left with nothing but his debts. My mother had to sell our house, and we moved into an apartment, but she never complained about anything and just did what she had to do. She hadn’t had a real job for years, but she took whatever she could get. We all got jobs.” Marcy looked to me. “You must know how friendly my mother was. She made relationships when she worked at the cleaners, which led her to get a job at a jeweler’s.”

I mentioned that I knew Delaney had worked at Shedd & Royal. “That was really a second job,” Rachel said. “But it led to her becoming a teller at the bank. Our mother worked so hard to keep things going after our father died. She really liked working at the bank, though. She hinted recently that it was going to get even better, like maybe she was going to get a promotion.” Rachel was beginning to tear up. “I just wish I had told her how much I appreciated everything she did.”

I offered her a sympathetic pat as I thought about how my situation had been so different. I was devastated when Charlie died, but he had taken care of everything and left me very comfortable in the financial department. I felt a twinge, thinking just like Rachel that I wished I could say thank you.

The waiter brought the food, and the conversation stopped momentarily. Dinah had stayed silent up until now, but as the waiter left she jumped in.

“It sounds like your mother had things to look forward to,” she said.

“I know why you’re saying that, Mrs. Lyons,” Marcy said. “Our mother was not depressed. She’d come through a hard time, but she was making the most of things. She liked her job at the bank. She was always talking about her customers. I was surprised at all she knew about them, but then she was
smart and really friendly. And, no, neither of us have any idea what she was doing in CeeCee Collins’s guest apartment. I don’t think she even knew CeeCee Collins, though my mother was very discreet. She talked about customers but never named names.”

“We had to go over all of it with some detective,” Rachel said. “It had to have been some kind of accident.” The waiter refilled our water glasses. When he left, Rachel continued. “I know she had some plans that night, but she didn’t tell me what they were. I’ve been racking my brain, trying to remember any little detail. I just remember she seemed happy, not depressed.”

There was something else on my mind, but I wasn’t sure how to say it so they would understand that I wasn’t just being nosy but was trying to help find out what happened. Finally, I just said it. “Was your mother seeing anyone?”

Rachel and Marcy traded looks, and finally Rachel spoke. “We wanted her to meet someone and tried to get her to sign up for online dating, but she wouldn’t do it. She said if she met someone it would have to be the old-fashioned way. I don’t think she was seeing anyone, but if she was, she didn’t tell us.”

The conversation died off after that, and we concentrated on our food. The Tanner sisters finished first and set their napkins on the table. “Thank you so much for this, but we have to go,” Marcy said. “There are details we have to take care of.” She let out a heavy sigh. Dinah and I stood when they got up, and they hugged both of us.

“Thank you again. You have no idea how nice this was. You let us talk. It’s been nothing but questions from the cops or us having to try and tell other people that it’s okay, when it’s anything but.”

Rachel turned to me. “I know your reputation as some
kind of amateur detective. Please let me know if you find out anything about what really happened.”

After they left, Dinah and I spent a few minutes walking on the grounds of the park. We’d bought some feed from a dispenser and were dropping handfuls to the ducks that clamored at our feet. “What did you think of their answer to that last question?” I asked. “Do you think Delaney would have been seeing someone and not told them?”

Dinah took a moment to think. “The best way for me to judge is by what I’ve told my kids about any men in my life.” Dinah was long divorced, and her kids were grown and lived out of state. “They don’t know about Commander,” she said finally. “The way I look at it is, if we get engaged, I’ll tell them.”

“So you’re saying you think that Delaney could have been seeing someone but didn’t tell them.”

“She could have been waiting to see if it was going to go anywhere.” Dinah threw the last of the grain to the ducks.

“But that doesn’t help us figure out what she was doing in CeeCee’s guest apartment. I don’t think CeeCee is lying when she says she doesn’t know.”