Knitty Gritty Murder by Peggy Ehrhart

Author:Peggy Ehrhart [Ehrhart, Peggy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781496733917
Published: 2021-03-30T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Pamela collected four dessert plates from the cupboard and set them on the high counter. She circled back around the counter to take four dessert forks from Bettina’s silverware drawer. She would deliver plates and forks and then return for the cake. It would be presented whole, in all its strawberry bedecked glory, and candles would be added and lit. Penny would blow the candles out and Pamela would slice and serve the cake.

She carried the plates and forks to the pine table and set them down for a minute so she could slide the glass door back. As soon as a narrow gap opened between the door and the doorframe, the conversation on the patio became audible.

The first words Pamela heard were “Brian Delano, photography professor at Wendelstaff College.” Curiously, they were uttered not by Bettina but by Penny.

Pamela slid the door back farther. Head-to-head, Bettina and Penny were unaware of their eavesdropper, but Pamela could see now that the object in Penny’s hands was her daughter’s smartphone.

“Yes,” Penny went on. “This is him, all right—and there’s a picture.” She handed the smartphone to Bettina.

“Cute!” Bettina exclaimed. “Your mother didn’t tell me that part.”

Pamela seized the plates and forks, stepped through the doorway, and reached the table in three long steps. Making no effort at stealth, she dodged around Bettina’s chair and set the plates and forks down with a thump and a jangle.

Penny looked up with an expression that reminded Pamela of a much younger Penny caught reading in bed long after lights were supposed to be out.

“I was just looking something up for Bettina,” Penny said. “She asked me if I thought Aaron might know anything about . . . about this professor she’d heard you mention. Aaron majored in political science, but Wendelstaff isn’t very big . . . and . . . Aaron is interested in art . . . and . . .” Penny’s voice faltered to a stop. With a quick swipe of a finger, she returned the smartphone’s screen to darkness.

“Bettina.” Pamela’s voice was severe. “You promised you’d never mention Brian Delano again.”

“Mention him to you.” The doubt in Bettina’s eyes suggested that she recognized this hairsplitting would not be well received.

“So it’s okay to . . . to . . . I can’t even think of the right word.” Pamela knew she was frowning in a fearsome manner but she didn’t care. “It’s okay to enlist Penny in your meddling schemes to . . . to”—Pamela’s voice rose in a howl—“get me married!”

Wilfred had been contentedly cleaning his barbecue grill by scraping the burnt-on grease into the still-glowing coals. Now he snapped to attention and focused his gaze on the patio. He hadn’t heard the whole exchange, but it was quite possible he understood what had led to Pamela’s outburst—because Bettina’s concern with Pamela’s single state had been an ongoing theme.

He carefully fitted the grill back into place and then strolled calmly across the grass. Penny was staring straight ahead but Bettina’s head had sagged forward.

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