Pattern of Betrayal (Vineyard Quilt Mysteries Book 2) (25 page)

Julie shut the door behind them and turned to face Liam.

“Don’t look at me,” he said. “I may not leave until next year. This place is very inspiring.”

Julie rolled her eyes.

Liam chuckled and headed up to his room.

Still keyed up, Julie felt like she needed to do something, fix something, find something, investigate something. The
weekend had been nonstop, and her mind and body were still in high gear.

Instead, she channeled her nervous energy and crossed to the registration desk to check on the new guests that were due to arrive later in the day. She had a young couple coming in from Denver and a pair of sisters coming in from Oklahoma. Nice and normal—one would hope.

The bell over the door rang. She looked up to see a man enter. He was small, on the mousey side, and balding with a thick ring of black hair around his head. His glasses were reminiscent of Buddy Holly’s, though somehow not as cool. He carried a briefcase in one hand while the other twisted nervously.

“Can I help you?” Julie asked, straightening as he cautiously approached.

“I certainly hope so.” His voice was surprisingly steady and confident. “I’m Aston Cooper. I’ve come to examine your journal.”

“Oh, my. Yes,” Aston said.

Julie looked to Daniel, who continued to smile with satisfaction. She had called him to join her for the big moment. He deserved it. Also, she was wary of being alone with a stranger and the Civil War book.

Aston delicately turned the page of the journal and ran his magnifying glass down the page, examining every detail. “Yes, yes, yes. Uh-huh.” He continued to mutter to himself as he inspected the next page.

“Well?” Julie prompted.

Aston sat back in his seat and smiled at them both. “You
have yourself a fine treasure here. A fine treasure.”

“And?” Daniel asked. One would think the book actually belonged to him considering how excited he was.

“The time frame is definitely correct. Clemens joined the Civil War in 1861, but he only stayed for two weeks. Their company was away from the war and didn’t get any attention from the commanding officers. This lack of direction was their downfall. The men disbanded and went their separate ways.” Aston opened his tablet and found the file he was looking for. “This is a copy of Samuel Clemens’s signature as both himself and Mark Twain. Now look here.” He opened the book and pointed out all the similarities in the script. The more he talked, the more excited Julie became until she rivaled Daniel in her enthusiasm.

“The fact that this is one of the first rule books from baseball makes it very valuable in and of itself,” Aston continued. “But given that it was used as a journal by someone famous increases its worth exponentially. Add in the fact that there are notes which could be the start of a great American novel, and you have a priceless treasure on your hands.”

“Told you!” Daniel crossed his arms and smiled at Julie, looking more than pleased with himself. “And you
cannot
put that in the school auction.”

Aston’s expression morphed from happy to horrified. “Oh my. No. This treasure belongs in a museum.”

“And I know just the place for it.” Daniel’s eyes sparkled.

Aston ignored Daniel’s comment. “In fact, I’m willing to offer you a great deal of money for it.” He quickly wrote out a check and pushed it across the desk toward Julie.

She didn’t pick it up. Instead she stared at it and all the zeroes. Money like that would keep the Quilt Haus Inn in the black for a long, long time.

“I think you might have misunderstood, Mr. Cooper. The book doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the inn’s owner, and she’s not here right now.”

His face fell, but he recovered fast. “Would you be willing to contact her with my offer?”

“Of course. I’ll try and reach her this afternoon,” she said. “But I can’t make any promises.” If there was one thing about Millie, she was anything but predictable.

Aston stood and handed her a business card. Then he picked up the check and put it away. “You have my number, but just in case, I’m staying at the River Bluff Hotel. Let me know when you hear from her.”

Julie nodded. “I will.”

She walked Aston to the front door, thanking him for his time and for coming all the way to Straussberg.

After he was gone, Daniel really let his excitement show. “Can you believe it?” he asked, jumping up to do a little victory dance.

Julie grinned. What she couldn’t quite believe was how adorable Daniel was when his guard was down completely. “It is pretty amazing.”

Millie called Julie back shortly after the Denver couple checked in. As Julie suspected, the eccentric owner wasn’t interested in money. She was more worried about preserving the heritage and well-being of their small Missouri town. She wanted to keep the journal in Straussberg. She agreed to donate it to Daniel’s new museum on the condition that he always keep it and make it a special exhibit.

“Absolutely,” Daniel said. His museum was dedicated to
the steamboat wreckage he had unearthed the previous year, but he could definitely find room for a priceless treasure like the book. “Let’s see, we’ll need a tighter security system and a special case.” He paced the floor, muttering to himself about making a video with images of the pages so that visitors could see the notes without actually touching the book. It was a good thing he came from money; otherwise, his elaborate project would be dead in the water before it even got started.

Aston took the news fairly well, considering his strong personal interest in the book. But Julie had a feeling he’d be contacting Millie every six months to see if anything had changed.

“Do you realize how many new tourists this will bring to our community?” Daniel asked.

“I hope it brings better people than Gregory Wilson to Straussberg,” Julie answered.

“It’ll mean so much to the town.”

Julie nodded in agreement, although she doubted that half the citizens under the age of thirty would understand its worth. “That’s all well and good,” she said, locking the book inside the safe, where it would remain until Daniel had a place for it. “But there’s still an auction, and I have nothing to donate.”

“I thought you found a couple of books in the cellar.”

“I did, but I’m not sure that’s what I want to donate.”

He crossed his arms across his broad chest and shot her a look that said he knew what was coming next. “I’ve already told you how I feel about you pulling anything else out of that basement. Who knows what can of worms you might open next?”

“I don’t plan on going to the basement.”

“Oh, really? Then why do you have that gleam in your eye?”

She grinned. “Come up to the attic with me and find out.
I thought I might look
there
for a new donation.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “I think you only want me along to kill the spiders.”

“Busted.”

“All right. I’ll go with you on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“Whatever we discover up there, we tell
no one
until it’s out of the mansion and in the school’s possession,” he said. “Certainly no one from the local newspaper.”

“It’s a deal,” Julie said. Then she led the way up the Quilt Haus Inn stairs.

Specifications

Finished Cozy Size: 10½" x 3½" (including binding)

Skill Level: Beginner

Millie’s Coffee Cup Cozy
Placement Diagram 10½" x 3½" (including binding)

From 10 (5") Squares Gradated Light-to-Dark Solids:

Cut 3 (1½") A squares from each fabric.

From Coordinating Dark Solid Fat Quarter:

Cut 2 (2¼" x 21") strips for binding.

1.
Join the A squares in 10 rows of three squares each (Figure 1); press seams in opposite directions from row to row.

Figure 1

2.
Join the rows to complete the top; press.

3.
Layer a 5½" x 12½" backing rectangle, right side down; a 5½" x 12½" batting rectangle; and the cozy top, right side up; baste or pin to hold. Quilt as desired. Trim edges even with the top.

4.
Join binding strips on short ends with a diagonal seam; trim seam to ¼" and press open.

5.
Fold binding strip in half with wrong sides together along length; press.

6.
Sew binding to cozy top, matching raw edges, mitering corners and overlapping ends.

7.
Fold binding to the back side and stitch in place.

8.
Sew a 1" button to the top centered on the left end of the cozy referring to the Placement Diagram.

9.
Make a loop with a 3" length of elastic cord; knot the ends. Hand-stitch the knotted end to the back centered on the right end of the cozy. Add a drop of fabric glue to the knot if desired.

10.
Wrap the cozy around a coffee cup and place the loop over the button to use.

• Use a ¼"-wide seam allowance for all seams and stitch right sides together.

• For more detailed help with quilting techniques, go to QuiltersWorld.com and choose Quilting Basics under Quilt Essentials, or consult a complete quilting guide. Your local library may have several on hand that you can review before purchasing one.