“That’s a really awesome top,” I replied. “It’s going to be so perfect with those pink shorts you have once summer gets here.”
Paisley grinned. “I can’t wait to try a vest. Or a beach bag. Or maybe a skirt. Gracie said she has beginner patterns for all of those.”
“And we’ll make all of them in the next few weeks,” Gracie promised. She glanced at me directly. “I was thinking of setting up a second station so that Paisley and I can work on separate projects at the same time. Do you still have the machine I gave you that you never really used?”
“I’m sure it’s in the attic. I’ll go and look for it.”
Paisley and I had cleaned the attic a while back, and I was certain I’d seen that old machine somewhere. Gracie had really tried to instill in me a love of cooking, sewing, and even gardening, but I’m afraid I only had room in my life for one mistress — music.
Of course, that was then, and this was now. Maybe I should expand my horizons. Not sewing. Never sewing. But maybe cooking or gardening.
It took a good thirty minutes to find the machine, but eventually, I did find it. I carried it downstairs and then helped set it up on an old desk that Gracie had refurbished. The desk had drawers Paisley could use for the patterns and supplies for the project she was working on, and it had a large surface where she could spread out and not have to drape sections of her project in her lap while working on another section.
“I can’t believe I have my own sewing machine,” Paisley beamed.
I had to admit it did my heart good to see her so happy. She’d had a rough time as of late, and I really did want to do whatever it took to bring that smile to her face more often.
“You know, I could use a bag to carry my laptop in. Something simple with a shoulder strap. Maybe made out of denim. If you think that is something you might be able to work into your sewing schedule, I’ll buy the fabric.”
Paisley looked at Gracie. She nodded.
“I think we can do that,” Paisley said proudly.
“You know, I bet something like denim purses and denim computer and book bags would sell at a place like the craft fair I went to this morning. If you try it out and decide it’s something you enjoy making, maybe the two of us could team up. I’d buy the supplies, and you’d make the bags and purses. We could sell them at an event like the one I attended this morning and put the proceeds into a college fund for when you get older.”
She smiled. “I want to go to college. I’m going to be a doctor.”
“I thought you wanted to be a lawyer,” Gracie said.
“Or a musician,” I added.
She shook her head. “No, a doctor. A cancer doctor. I want to find a cure, so no one else’s mom has to die.”
Chapter 14
Cass called just as I was getting ready to take Paisley home. He’d had a really long day, and hadn’t gotten around to eating anything so hoped I’d be able to join him. I’d eaten earlier with Gracie, Tom, and Paisley, but I told him if he wanted to come over, I’d heat up a plate of Gracie’s leftover pot roast with potatoes and carrots. He’d responded by saying that he was on his way.
I knew that Cass liked extra gravy, so I heated that separately. By the time he arrived, I had the meat, potatoes, veggies, gravy, and biscuits ready to serve. I knew Cass enjoyed a beer with his meal, but he looked so exhausted, and since he still needed to drive home, I gave him a glass of iced tea instead.
“So how’d your conversation with Lissa go?” I asked after he’d had a chance to eat a portion of his meal.
“It was interesting.” He swirled a piece of potato in his gravy and popped it in his mouth.
“Interesting?”
He nodded as he broke a biscuit in two and slathered it in butter. “It took some doing, but she eventually admitted to having shot both Dale and Frank. She also admitted to having set both fires.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Lissa told me that she’d had a tough life to date, and after moving to Foxtail Lake, she’d begun seeing Dale as a patient. At the time, he’d been dating the woman she’d told us about who’d been obsessed with him.”
“So, she did know her name.”
He nodded. “She knew the names of all the patients she told us about. I’m not sure why she acted like she didn’t, but I don’t suppose that matters now. What does matter is that shortly after she met Dale, he dumped the other patient and began coming onto her. Lissa shared that the reason she’d made an appointment with him in the first place was because of her insecurities over men after suffering a bad breakup with a man she considered to be the love of her life before she moved to Foxtail Lake.”
“Wow, that’s rough. I can’t believe someone who is an experienced therapist would take advantage of his position that way.”
“I guess it takes all kinds. Anyway, Lissa told me that she’d been trying to find someone to have a meaningful relationship with for years, and was devastated and even considered suicide, until her brother, Mark, convinced her to move to Foxtail Lake and make a new start. She said she tried hard to get back in the game after her breakup and even applied to Ms. Cupid, but as you suspected, Ms. Cupid never contacted her about a match. So when she met Dale, she was primed. He made his move, and she fell completely and obsessively in love.”
“And then?” I asked.
“And then after they had dated for a while, a new woman came into his life. I’ve spoken to this new woman, and she is gorgeous. I mean, supermodel gorgeous.”
Okay, now I was jealous. “And.”
“And apparently, according to Lissa, Dale dumped her even though he had no chance with this other woman. After Dale broke things off between them, she really became obsessed, calling him multiple times a day, finding reasons to increase the number of sessions she was paying for, and even sitting outside his home watching him as he went about his day. At some point, she realized he was never going to be hers, so she decided that if she couldn’t have him, she didn’t want to live and once again began thinking about suicide. She said she eventually realized that if anyone was going to die, it should be him, so she shot him and then set his house on fire.”
“So why invite me to have a front-row seat at his house fire? I mean, she was the one who set the time and place for us to meet.”
“I don’t know. She didn’t say, but you mentioned that she might have used you to create some sort of an alibi.”
“And Dale’s car? Is she the one who left it at the ski resort?” That part made no sense to me.
“I asked her about the car, and she said she wasn’t the one who moved it. She might be lying, but I don’t know why she’d lie about that after confessing to killing two men. At this point, I still don’t know how it got there or why it was left there. I may never know, but I’m not sure it’s important. It could be that Dale went skiing and parked in the lot, but left the car behind at the end of the day for some reason.”
“What reason?”
Cass shrugged. “Maybe it wouldn’t start, or maybe he’d had a lot to drink, so he got a ride and intended to go back for it. There are a number of reasons he might have parked his car in the lot and left it there. I suppose it’s also possible that someone stole it or borrowed it and left it in the lot. As I said, we may never know.”
“Okay, so back to the murders. I guess I understand why Lissa killed Dale, but why did she kill Frank White?”
He took a sip of his iced tea and then held up the glass, indicating he’d like a refill. I got up to refill the glass while he finished off his roast. Once he was done, he continued. “That’s the part I find interesting. She said she really didn’t have a reason and that it just happened. I asked additional questions, but all she really did was offer a few vague answers, which made no sense. Even though this woman admitted to killing two men, and, in fact, had a motive to kill one of the two, by the time the interview came to an end, I was pretty much of the mind that she was lying.”