Read Spin a Wicked Web Online

Authors: Cricket McRae

Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Mystery & Detective, #Women Sleuths, #Mystery Fiction, #Murder, #Investigation, #Murder - Investigation, #Women Artisans, #Spinning

Spin a Wicked Web (23 page)

BOOK: Spin a Wicked Web
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"So what do you want to do?" I asked.

He narrowed his eyes in thought. "At this point I don't really
see a choice."

I leaned forward.

"I want you to go back. But I'm going with you. We can lie and
cheat if we have to, but I can be pretty charming when the occasion calls for it."

"Even if you do say so yourself," I teased.

"I bet we can finagle a sample of that fiber out of her."

"By `we,' do you mean Robin will be going with us?"

He pressed his lips together. "I think this is one trip just you
and I will take."

Barr had other work to do that day and so did I, so we didn't leave
for La Conner until late afternoon. He drove, and I sat back and
acted like I was watching the scenery flow by. The impending task
of getting a sample of Thea Hawke's fiber from Gabi hung over
my head like the sword of Damocles, making me all tense and jit tery. I just wasn't good at prevarication. At lying and cheating. I'd
brought that up to Barr, but he'd only smiled and told me my job
was to get us into the house, and to identify the fiber for him. He'd
handle Gabi. Robin had gone to talk to the Kaminskis alone, so
they hadn't met Barr yet.

 

I decided I'd just have to trust him.

And then I worried about it some more.

If we failed to get that sample, Gabi could get away with murder. That wasn't acceptable.

If we didn't fail, I would be partly responsible for destroying a
family. The twins, Noah and Evan, would be motherless, or essentially so with Gabi in jail. How much worse it would be for Rocky
to not only lose his treasured sister to murder, but to learn his
wife-his high-school-sweetheart wife-had been the killer. There
would be a trial. The scandal in a small town like La Conner would
be huge. Rocky's business-both of his businesses-would be affected, if not completely ruined.

I hated that Erin's grandmother, my good friend Tootie Hanover, was out of town. She had no idea what was going on, but I
was sure if she did she'd be full of opinions and advice. Advice I
could really use right now.

What would she tell me?

I watched the green fields roll by on the other side of the window
and remembered back to the last time I'd approached her with a
similar question. I'd asked whether murder was ever justified.

Her answer had been an emphatic No.

I knew she was right. And now she'd tell me that I wasn't the one
responsible for decimating Gabi Kaminski's family; Gabi herself was.
Once again I'd found myself in a situation involving justice and murder. Barr and Meghan might joke, rueful as those jokes were, but
maybe the Universe kept dumping me into these situations for a reason. So I'd better grow a backbone and do what I needed to do.

 

Barr turned onto the Kaminski Tulip Farm's drive at my direction, and I watched for Tut, the German Shepherd, to come barreling out at us. But there was no dog, and as we got out of the car
the only sounds of activity around the place were the calls of the
birds at the feeders. I began to wonder whether anyone was home.
Of course, we hadn't called ahead. Perhaps we'd made the trip for
nothing.

So when my knock brought Gabi to the door I felt a bizarre
combination of relief and apprehension that almost made me dizzy.
The intoxicating scent of freshly baked cookies drifting out to the
porch didn't help, either.

Puzzlement furrowed her brow as she pushed open the screen.
"Hi, Sophie Mae! What brings you up here again so soon?" Consternation, then. "Oh, don't tell me you forgot something and had
to come all the way back"

I scrambled for a response, feeling my smile slide around on
my face. "I can't find my watch," I finally said.

Barr shot me a look.

It wasn't exactly a lie. I hadn't been able to find my watch for
months, but instead of getting a new one, I'd simply begun to
use the clock on my cell phone when I needed a timepiece. It
wasn't like I worked for The Man or had a lot of appointments
to keep track of.

"Your watch? What does it look like?"

"It's silver." My voice sounded weak.

 

She gestured us in. "I didn't find it upstairs. We can look again,
though."

"Oh!" I said, startling her. "This is Barr Ambrose. My, uh, boyfriend."

He quirked an eyebrow at that.

"Hi, Barr," Gabi said. "Want some cider? It's ice cold."

"No, thank you," he said.

"Sophie Mae?"

"Um, not right now. Thanks."

Her gaze sharpened. Something's not quite right, it said.

Before she could say anything else about the watch, I asked.
"Where are the boys?"

Now her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Over at the neighbor's
house, for once, instead of Justin being over here. And Rocky had
to run into town for some parts."

"Sophie Mae," Barr said. "Could you show me that fiber you
were talking about?"

My heart just about stopped. That wasn't sneaky at all!

Gabi frowned. "Fiber?"

I swallowed, and looked at Barr. "It's by the spinning wheel."

"Ms. Kaminski? You don't mind if we take a look, do you? See,
I'm a detective with the Cadyville Police Department, and Sophie
Mae was telling me about your, what did you call it? Stash? Anyway, I'm one of the investigators assigned to your sister-in-law's
murder."

Gabi's eyes had widened with each word that came out of his
mouth, and I could feel my own echoing hers. What was he doing?
What had happened to lying and cheating?

He turned to me. "Where?"

 

Wordlessly, I went to the spinning wheel and pointed to the
basket beside it.

"Ms. Kaminski? Would you show us what's in the basket?" Barr
asked.

She looked scared, but didn't move. Silence descended on the
room, and I could hear a clock ticking somewhere. Then she
walked to the basket, picked it up, and dumped the contents on
the sofa.

"Thank you." Barr rewarded her with a wide, easy smile.

Warily, she tried a smile in return. "What's this all about? What
happened to Detective Lane?"

"She's my partner," he said. "I'm just following up on something. So I hear you're quite the expert spinner."

"Oh, I don't know about expert, but I enjoy it."

He picked up a handful of batts. "Where do you get your fiber?"

Understanding dawned, and Gabi turned to me. "Is this about
that hand-painted bamboo you were asking me about?"

"Uh," I said.

Her eyes flashed.

Barr said, "Which one would that be? Is it here?"

I leaned in to look, but Gabi pushed by me. Plunging her hand
into the pile of soft fluff, she pulled out Thea Hawke's blue and
green and pink bamboo. "I don't understand. Is this what you're
here for?"

Barr looked at me, and I nodded my identification. "Yes," he
said. "I do believe it is. May I take a sample of it with me?"

She looked nonplussed. "A sample? What for?"

"May I?"

She shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

 

He teased out a handful, put it in a paper bag and put it in his
shirt pocket. "And where did you say you got this?"

"Ariel gave it to me," she said.

"You told me you got it online," I said.

"I must have been thinking of something else. I don't keep
track of where I get every little batt and roll."

"You seem to remember now."

"When your `boyfriend' started talking about this stuff and
Ariel together, of course I remembered where I got it." Her tone
was defensive.

"She bought it for you." My disbelief leaked through. Thea's
product was expensive, and Ariel was not someone I thought of as
generous.

The sound of the front screen door opening made us all turn
our heads. "What's going on here?" Rocky asked. Tut followed him
inside. The dog froze when he spotted Barr and me, and the fur
along his spine ruffled.

Gabi moved quickly to her husband's side. "Sophie Mae
brought another detective here. Something about the fiber Ariel
gave me. I don't see how it could have anything to do with her
death. It's like they think I stole it or something." She looked pointedly at me. "Ariel gave it to me the last time she was up here. Ask
Rocky."

He put his arm around his wife and nodded. "It's true. It wasn't
the first time my sister brought Gabi presents like that."

Gabi looked triumphant. Barr and I exchanged glances.

"Where were you the night of the twenty-second?" he asked
Gabi.

Her head jerked back. "What? I was here, of course."

 

"All night?"

"Yes!"

Rocky took a step forward. "What the heck is this all about? Of
course my wife was here all night, and so was I. I thought you cops
were supposed to find my sister's killer, not go around harassing
her family."

"Mr. Kaminski-" Barr began. A low growl issued from deep
in the dog's throat.

Rocky held his hand up. "You can just get on out of here now. I
won't put up with this anymore. If you need us, you get yourselves
a piece of paper to make it official, but otherwise you just leave us
alone."

Barr nodded. "I understand. Thank you for your time. Sophie
Mae?" He indicated the door.

I edged carefully by Tut, terrified he'd take a chunk out of my
leg. As I passed by, Gabi said, "I'll be sure and send your watch to
you if I find it."

Rocky glared at me. "You're not welcome here, you hear me?"
Real fury rode his words. I shivered and nodded my understanding.

Barr stayed close behind me, hand on my elbow, and the constant grumbling of the massive dog followed us all the way to the
car.

 
TWENTY-FOUR

"I DON'T THINK WE'RE going to be able to make a case against
Gabi Kaminski," Barr said.

We were almost halfway home. I felt like an idiot, caught in my
stupid lie, and silence had settled over us for several miles. I
jumped when he spoke.

"Does that mean she didn't kill Ariel, or that you can't prove
she did it?" I asked. "Because if she didn't, you made me look like a
real jerk in there."

"Sorry. How was I supposed to know you were going to manufacture a lost watch?"

"But you said we'd lie and cheat!" I protested.

"I said we could if we had to. We didn't have to."

I sniffed.

"Anyway," he continued. "I'm unconvinced she's a murderer.
She was extremely cooperative, and her husband vehemently assured us that she was home all that night." He cracked the window.
"He was pretty angry that we questioned her at all. I can't really blame him." Barr didn't look regretful, though. All just part of the
job for him. I, on the other hand, still felt sick to my stomach.

 

"Great," I said. "And you have yet another alibi provided by a
spouse." I twisted toward him in the seat. "But Gabi told me herself that sometimes she stays up all night spinning and Rocky
never knows. She could have easily left the farmhouse at night
without anyone knowing."

Barr frowned. "How early does Rocky go to bed?"

"When I was there the other night? Around nine, I guess. The
twins, too. He's an early riser, and the twins are only six."

"She might have had time to drive down to Cadyville. It would
be cutting it awfully close, though, to fit in that eight-to-ten
o'clock timeframe."

"But it's possible," I said. "And what about the way she acted
about the bamboo fiber?"

He lifted a shoulder and let it drop. "Ariel gave it to her. Brought
it up the last time she visited. Can't prove her wrong. And she didn't
seem too worried when I took that sample."

"Hmm. I just don't see Ariel dropping the big bucks for that
fancy fiber, just to give it to the sister-in-law who didn't even really like her."

"Maybe she was trying to make nice."

Maybe so. Maybe Gabi had been making headway with Rocky,
trying to convince him to stop lending his sister money, and Ariel
needed to get on her good side.

"Then why was she so upset about us being there?" I grumbled.

BOOK: Spin a Wicked Web
3.44Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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