Skein of the Crime (8 page)

“I know, Kelly, I don’t know what possessed her to go there, unless she was drunk or high again.”

“Don’t tell me she was on drugs again.”

“They won’t know until the medical examiner takes a look. They were able to identify Holly from the hospital records of her previous admission last month. She was unresponsive and unable to communicate then, so they fingerprinted her to see if she matched any missing persons. Little did they know, they’d be using those same prints to identify her body a few weeks later.”

“I can’t believe it! It’s bad enough Holly got on drugs again. But then she wandered back to the same trail when that vicious attacker was waiting for his next victim. That’s
horrible
!” Kelly walked to her living room and back as she talked.

“We don’t know if Holly’s death is connected to the assaults or not, Kelly. Police don’t know how she died. Dan’s not saying much yet, which tells me they’re not sure. He did say there was a bump on the back of her head, but no mention of a head injury. He also said she wasn’t sexually assaulted.”

“So, what do you think happened, Burt?”

“I don’t know, Kelly. And I’m not even going to speculate until I hear from Dan after he’s seen the medical examiner’s report.”

“This is awful, simply awful. How’s Mimi doing?”

“Not too good, Kelly. As you know, she lost her son to drugs years ago. And she’d become very close to Holly lately. She’s in the bedroom crying now. It’s hard.”

“I’m so sorry, Burt. Tell Mimi she’s in my thoughts.”

“I will, Kelly. I’m sorry to be telling you this tonight, but you asked me to call.”

“That’s okay, Burt. I’m glad you did.” She paused in front of the patio door, looking out into the darkening sky. Only last month Holly was standing on Kelly’s patio. Stoned out of her mind, but alive.

Suddenly another image came into Kelly’s mind. “Oh, no, Burt . . .” she breathed. “Who’s going to tell Tommy?”

All Kelly heard was a long sigh on the other end of the phone.

“Hey
, good to see you,” Kelly said to Lisa as she entered the knitting room. “I’m glad I decided to take a morning break now.” She plopped her bag on the library table and settled into a chair.

“My therapy schedule keeps getting shifted around,” Lisa said, barely looking up from the fuzzy orange red scarf she was working on her needles.

“Have you seen Mimi today? How’s she doing?” Kelly asked.

“She seems okay. Quiet and subdued, but that’s understandable. It sounds like she’d kind of adopted that girl. So, naturally Mimi’s been grieving.”

Kelly let out a sigh. “And I’m sure all this brings back sad memories of her son’s death, too.”

“Any news on how Holly died?”

“Not yet.”

Kelly pulled Steve’s winter hat from her bag and shifted away from the sad topic. “How’re your psychology classes going this semester?”

“They’re getting harder. In fact, I’m only taking one class this semester because there’s so much reading involved. And we have to write three big papers.” She screwed up her face in displeasure.

“I know what you mean, Lisa. I used to hate writing those papers, too,” Kelly commiserated as her fingers went through the familiar movements. Slip the needle under the stitch, wrap the yarn, slide the stitch.
Slip, wrap, slide
. Over and over. Steve’s hat was halfway done. She’d definitely have it finished soon. In plenty of time for the winter cold.

“And the professor isn’t half as interesting as Dr. Norcross.”

“Well, that’s about par for grad school, Lisa, you know that. You get winners and losers. Some professors can’t teach their way out of a paper bag. They just stand up there and read from their notes. They might as well post everything online and save people the trouble of going to class.”

Lisa snickered. “You’re dead-on, Kelly. I had a deadly one like that last semester. I thought I was going to pull out my hair. The only thing that kept my sanity was Dr. Norcross’s class.”

Lisa’s mentor and advisor. Kelly was about to ask how the class was going when Jennifer sailed into the room.

“Wonderful. Two for the price of one. Now I can visit with both of you on break.” Jennifer sank into a chair beside Kelly and withdrew the burgundy sweater she was now knitting.

“You guys busy this morning?” Kelly asked.

“Not that much, actually. Typical Monday-morning slow.”

“Have either of you seen Megan or talked to her since we got together Friday night?” Lisa glanced up from her orange yarn.

Kelly shook her head. “I haven’t seen her. What about you, Jen?”

“Nope. Which means she hasn’t been in here because she always stops in the café for an Earl Grey to go.”

“That’s kind of unusual, isn’t it? Megan always comes over here to get away from her crazy clients,” Lisa added.

“Boy, I’m glad I don’t work in IT. I’ve had to consult with this new client’s IT guy so I could get all the data I needed for this developer’s project. And I swear, it was like pulling teeth. He’s positively anal.”

Jennifer snickered. “I know the type. They’re usually sitting around the office on the desktop computers doing research and wondering why they don’t have any clients. Clients aren’t on the computer. They’re outside. You’ve gotta go out and get ’em.”

“Speaking of clients, how’s that going?” Kelly asked.

“Not well, to be honest. The buyers who’re looking are still browsing, and even if they were ready to buy, most of them nowadays wouldn’t qualify. Like I said the other night, good jobs, good credit, and savings in the banks used to guarantee a loan. Not anymore.”

“Does that mean I won’t be about to refinance Aunt Helen’s loan on the cottage? It’s been over two years and the penalty clause is no longer in effect. I wanted to lower those payments.”

Jennifer tilted her head to the side. “Actually, you’re a different case, Kelly. You’ll probably be able to get a loan because you’ve got what they call
significant assets
. You own all that land in Wyoming and the gas leases. And you’ve got savings in the bank on top of that. Most people have a job and some savings. Maybe a small retirement account, that’s all. That used to be enough, but not anymore.”

“So, you’re saying I would get the loan, then?” Kelly probed.

“Yeah, I think so. Do you want me to check with some of the lenders we work with? I can get a feel for what their responses would be and get back to you.”

“Thanks, Jen, that would be great.”

Just then a mini-hurricane blew into the shop. Megan charged into the main room with two over-the-shoulder bags. Cheeks flushed, jet-black curls rumpled, Megan looked frazzled.

“Hey, we were just wondering when we’d see you again,” Lisa said, glancing up from her scarf. “No one’s seen you.”

“That’s because I’m moving so fast, I don’t show up on anyone’s radar screen.” Megan dropped both bags to the table and sank into a chair beside Lisa.

“What’s up?” Jennifer asked, shifting her attention from the burgundy yarn.

“What
isn’t
up?” Megan said, before taking a sip from her mug.

“Don’t tell me you’ve started on wedding preparations already?”

Megan fixed Kelly with a look. “You don’t want to know. I called my folks on Saturday to tell them the news, and my mother’s gone completely nuts. She must have called me three times on Saturday and four times on Sunday.” She rolled her eyes.

“That would be a ‘yes’ on the wedding preparations,” Jennifer said with a smile.

“Your mom’s getting excited, I guess,” Lisa said. “That’s understandable.”

“Ohhhh, she’s beyond excited. And she’s beginning to drive me crazy. First, she wanted me to have the wedding back home in Minneapolis, but I told her ‘no way.’ I’ve been living in Colorado for six years, and this is my home now. Marty’s a Colorado guy, and all our friends are here. Well, that just made her cry. She said all the aunts and uncles would want to come, and not everyone could fly out to Colorado. Of course, that made
me
feel awful and selfish, but I absolutely do not want to go back to Minnesota for the wedding. All those relatives can come out here or not come. Marty and I want to have our wedding in Colorado. It took me all day to get her calmed down.”

“Wow, she sounds ‘high-strung,’ as Jayleen would say,” Kelly joked.

“Ohhhh, yeah.” Megan nodded vigorously. “You see, my sister Karen eloped with her boyfriend, so my mom didn’t get to plan a wedding for her. So, she’s really hyper about planning this one. And she must have spent Saturday night on the Web because she called me early Sunday morning with a list of potential Colorado wedding ‘venues,’ as she called it.” Megan closed her eyes and let out a sigh. “Woke us up, too.”

Kelly and her friends laughed softly at Megan’s descriptions. “What’s on her list, Megan? Anything you can live with?” Lisa asked.

“Several, actually, but they’re totally out of our price range. Like the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, for example.”

Jennifer laughed out loud. “The Stanley? It’s gorgeous, but it’s also way expensive and booked over a year in advance, too, from what I’ve heard.”

“Yeah, my mom wasn’t too pleased to hear that.”

“Plus you could have snow up there in Estes. Didn’t you guys say the wedding would be next fall? Then, we can plan on having snow. Anytime from September on, snow is possible in the high country,” Kelly said.

“More like probable,” Lisa added.

“I told her that when she first suggested it, but she didn’t pay attention. Thank goodness the Stanley was already booked for nearly two years out. Whew.”

“What else is on her list?”

“Ohhhh, let’s see, places like the Brown Palace in Denver, the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs . . .”

Kelly had to join in the laughter that rippled around the table now. “Whoa, those places would cost an arm and a leg to rent. Is your family rich or something, Megan?”

“No, my dad’s a college professor, and my mom’s an office manager of a supply store. So I guess this is all just wishful thinking and dreaming on Mom’s part.”

“What’s Marty say to all this?” Jennifer asked.

“Oh, he just ducks out of the room to laugh whenever my mom calls.” Megan pulled a royal blue vest from her knitting bag and picked up her stitches. “I tell you, I had just begun this vest Saturday morning before my mom called, and look how much I’ve finished.” She held up an almost finished vest. “This is how I kept my sanity on the phone with my mom.”

“Wow, maybe that’s why my knitting takes longer,” Kelly mused. “I don’t have any crazed relatives calling to nag me.”

“Where would you and Marty like to have the ceremony?” Lisa asked. “You haven’t said.”

Megan’s fingers picked up speed. “Actually, we’d love an outdoor ceremony if we could guarantee a beautiful fall day. But this is Colorado. There are no guarantees. Weather changes in a heartbeat. But it would be gorgeous to be standing in some little valley surrounded by pine trees with the snow-capped mountains in the distance.”

Kelly could picture that. She understood the call of the mountains. Gorgeous, captivating views. Kelly had been captivated herself. So much so, she’d actually bought mountain property to enjoy the views. Unfortunately, that property had a history of conflict attached to it, and Kelly willingly let it go. Now, she shied away when the mountains started singing their siren song.

She had gotten used to living in town now and was no longer sure she wanted to drive back and forth into the canyon every day and night. Especially on winding, twisting roads. Canyon living was beautiful, but driving could be treacherous, especially in the winter. Kelly had personal experience with that.

“Boy, that does sound pretty.” Lisa looked off into the yarn room. “Maybe there are places in the canyons that you could rent for the ceremony. You know, then we could all come back into town for the reception.”

“I don’t know, that sounds like double the work,” Megan said dubiously.

“You know, Megan, there are places that schedule weddings and receptions near Rocky Mountain National Park,” Jennifer offered. “I was at one several years ago. They had the ceremony down near the creek right by the water. Then the reception was held inside this main building that had a dining hall and outside decks and all that. It was really pretty.”

Megan brightened. “Really? Where is it? What’s it called?”

“Oh, I know which place you’re talking about,” Lisa broke in. “I went to a day meeting there. It’s private, but it’s right outside the entrance to the national park.”

“Guys, that’s still in Estes Park over seventy-five hundred feet up. Bad weather blows in fast there.”

Megan dug in her bag. “Let me write that down anyway, so I can check with the park service.”

Mimi walked into the room then, arms filled with yarns. Her somber gaze swept the table, landing on Megan, and her face lit up. “Megan! I’m so glad you came in. I heard the wonderful news, and I wanted to give you a big hug.” Mimi dumped the yarns onto the table and hurried over to Megan.

They both embraced. “Oh, I’m so excited for you,” Mimi said. “We all need some happy news around here.” She squeezed Megan again. “I bet your family is ecstatic.”

“Crazed is more like it,” Megan said when they separated. “My mom is so excited she may not last a year till the ceremony.”

Mimi laughed. “I’ll bet. Have you two decided on the date yet? You mentioned a year from now.”

“Yeah, we have some savings goals we’re trying to meet first. Plus, it looks like we’ll need all that time just to organize things.”

“Well, I’ll be more than happy to help you organize if you need me. After all, you did such a tremendous job with our wedding.”

“Uh-oh, Megan,” Kelly warned with a grin. “It’s payback time. Remember how you ran Mimi and Burt ragged getting their wedding organized.”

Everyone around the table laughed at that memory. Burt and Mimi were exhausted.