“But what if he isn’t really dead?” Rhoda said. I considered bringing up what I’d overheard the SEC lawyer say about believing that Bradley was really dead, but mentioning it would no doubt bring up questions about why I was investigating since I hadn’t invested any money. Questions that might lead to Mrs. Shedd and I’d promised to not tell anyone she’d been in Bradley’s club.
Elise pondered the thought for a moment.
“It happens,” Dinah said. “There was a guy who tried to fake his own death by bailing out of the plane he was flying. He figured the plane would crash and everyone would think he died in the crash.”
“So?” Rhoda said. “What happened?”
“He got caught. Somehow they figured out the plane was flying empty.”
Adele came up to the table. She was back in street clothes, but she hadn’t been able to get off all the makeup.
Rhoda handed Adele a shopping bag. “Here’s the afghan. Thanks for letting me look at it. You’re right, though, somebody doesn’t know about symmetry. I mean, if you’re going to put on tassels, you either just have one on one corner for accent or you put one on each corner. And if you’re going to scatter flowers on it, they ought to be balanced. You don’t crowd flowers on one square and then have none in the next. ”
Adele peeked inside the bag. “That’s exactly what I told William. Don’t give it to me. Give it to Pink. It belongs to her neighbor.”
“I think it’s lovely,” I said, pulling part of the blanket out to examine it. The green background was such a nice contrast to the different-colored flowers scattered over it.
“Whatever, Pink. I did what you asked and wrote down the directions for how to make one of the squares and how to do surface crochet.” She handed me a sheet of paper.
At my puzzled look, she pointed to the flowers. “That’s how they were done. With surface crochet, you anchor your yarn on the top and do chain stitches into the top. Once you finish the chain stitches, it’s just crochet as usual.”
I took the blanket all the way out of the bag and passed it around the table. Across the table, Rhoda shrugged. “One guy’s opinion of lovely is someone else’s of mishmash.” I explained that when I hadn’t been able to decipher the pattern, I’d passed it on to Adele to look at. It wasn’t the squares that had given me a problem. They were just single crochet, but I couldn’t figure out how the varied colored flowers had been crocheted on top of the background. After everyone admired it, I folded it up and brought it over to CeeCee. “Emily doesn’t want it back. She said to give it to a charity sale. Isn’t Hearts and Barks having some kind of holiday bazaar?”
“Yes, dear. I’m sure they’d be glad to add the afghan to the auction.” CeeCee repacked it in the paper bag and put it under the table.
“Finished,” Elise said, holding up the black-and-white scarf. The scarlet tassel flopped back and forth as she waved it.
“So what’s that about?” Rhoda said, catching the end as it swung over her head.
“It’s a vampire scarf,” I said, remembering what Joshua Royal had said. I asked Elise if she could write down the directions and if I could borrow it to put in the front with the Anthony accessory display.
She was breathless. “You want to put my scarf on display and call it an Anthony scarf?” She hugged it to herself as if she was hugging the handsome vampire in person. “Of course, you can use it. I’d be honored. I’ll type up the directions and bring them to you.”
“A vampire scarf? What does that mean?” Rhoda said, examining it.
Elise seemed to have forgotten all about her money troubles and explained the significance of the colors and pointed out the fang-shaped stitches. Elise swung the tassel that hung from a corner. “You must know what the scarlet is for.”
Rhoda rolled her eyes. “The foofie vampire barely even drinks blood.”
The conversation never went back to Bradley and I never got a chance to bring up the question I’d had before. Why would someone who was planning to kill himself take his parking ticket with him?
CHAPTER 13
WHEN THE GROUP BROKE UP, SHEILA STAYED AT the table, her hook flying through three strands of the mohairlike yarn. She looked up for a moment and seemed surprised that only Dinah and I were still there. She leaned back in her chair and dropped the hook on the table. She closed her eyes and began massaging her temples.
“I promised Nicholas I’d finish his order by today.” She sounded close to tears and the way her shoulders were hunched, I knew she was on the verge of an anxiety attack. It didn’t help that both Dinah and I said Nicholas would understand if she was one short.
“I know. That’s what makes it worse. He’s so nice, I don’t want to let him down.”
She checked her watch and said she didn’t have to be back at the gym for her receptionist job until late in the afternoon. She picked up the hook and muttered something about if she pushed herself maybe she could finish.
I stopped her hands. “Dinah and I will go with you to Luxe and explain the delay to Nicholas. Then you’re coming to get food with us. I bet you haven’t been eating.”
Sheila tried to argue, but when I pressed her, she admitted that maybe she had missed a few meals.
A hunk of downtown Tarzana was in the process of being rebuilt. The old Brown center had been demolished with the movie theaters and odd little stores and was being replaced by something called the Village Walk; I kept telling myself change was good. Along with reminding myself it was going to happen whether I liked it or not, anyway.
The bookstore, Le Grande Fromage and Luxe were in the old section of interesting low buildings. Nicholas had done wonders with the storefront when he created Luxe. He’d added a large fountain on one wall that spread good ions around the store. The mixture of soap by the slice, a selection of unisex colognes and the exotic spices in the food section gave the store a wonderful signature scent. The merchandise was equally enticing. It was an eclectic mixture of things, and the only thing they had in common was they all seemed to have style. Nicholas said he sold only what he particularly liked.
We set off a bell when we came in and he walked through a door from the back. He was as appealing as his store. He seemed to give off good ions like the fountain. Though just for a moment I wondered if he was really as he seemed. He was almost too nice, too concerned, too compassionate. It made me wonder if it was all a front and that big back area he kept so private was really full of dead bodies.
“Don’t worry about the other blanket,” he said, once I’d explained that Sheila was upset about being short one. He took the ones she’d completed and insisted on paying her even for the one she was short. While they conducted business, Dinah and I browsed the store.
We were admiring a hand-painted pasta bowl on a table when I looked out the front window. We were directly across from Tarzana Jewelers. Emily Perkins had just parked her SUV in front of it and was walking toward the store. I nudged Dinah. “It seems like a strange time to go jewelry shopping.”
Nicholas saw us peering out the window. “Anything interesting?” he said, standing next to us.
I pointed out Emily as she went in the store.
He watched for a moment before saying anything. “I don’t want this to sound like I’m gossiping. I’m only telling you because you’re her neighbor, but she came in here earlier. She wanted to return some things she bought last week.” He pointed out a silver hairbrush and comb set and a basket with bathroom accessories sitting on the table that served as a checkout.