A Murder of Taste: A Queen Bees Quilt Mystery by Sally Goldenbaum

Author:Sally Goldenbaum
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 2940012817136
Publisher: Kansas City Star Books
Published: 2004-05-09T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

Sometimes information came from odd places and arrived when you were least expecting it, Kate discovered. It was a chance encounter with her elderly neighbor two days later that sent her rushing off to Po’s early Monday morning.

Danny Halloran and his wife Ella had lived next door to the Simpson’s since long before Kate was born. They had been old since Kate could remember, but nothing about them ever seemed to change much, not the shuffle of old Danny’s walk, not the pudgy, ornery face of Ella, with her thin gray hair pulled back into a knot at the base of her wide neck. They’d lived in their house, Danny used to tell her, when all the land around was prairie, and you could see nearly all the way to Kansas City. Though Kate had learned early to only believe half of what Danny said, she loved his tales.

Danny was a well-liked eccentric among the neighborhood kids, always wanting to know what they were doing and what was up in their world. Ella was not so friendly, her plump face pulled into a perpetual frown. But she had a good soul underneath, Kate’s mother repeatedly told her, ever fearful that Ella’s cranky disposition would make her the object of kids’ neighborhood pranks.

“So what’s up, Katie girl?” Danny asked as they met at the end of their driveways to pick up the Monday morning paper. “Anything new about that Frenchman’s wife?”

“Nope, Danny, no news.” Kate picked up Danny’s paper and handed it to him, then picked up her own. She had just jumped out of the shower and her thick, damp hair curled loosely around her cheeks. “But who knows, maybe there’ll be some tidbits in today’s paper.”

“I heard about the quilt that she had hanging on her wall, Esther Wood’s quilt. Ella heard it on the morning news today.”

Kate hid her surprise. How did that make the news so soon, she wondered? But probably the police had checked it out, took pictures, maybe, of Picasso’s house. “Yeah, go figure.”

“She was Ella’s friend, you know.”

“Esther Woods was Ella’s friend?” Kate stopped in her tracks and stared at Danny.

“Well, maybe not friend. Ella’s not big on friends, don’t you know, but Esther Woods used to make clothes for her a while back. That was when Ella got out more, you know, and before the Woods lady died.”

“So Ella went to her home?”

“Yep, now and again. I drove her over myself. Small little place, not far from the railroad tracks.”

“Did Ella know Esther’s husband?”

“Saw him once or twice, I think. Anyone who ever set foot in a Crestwood tavern knew Al Woods—he hit ‘em all. Awful man. Even my Ella thought it a crime for Esther to stay with him, and she used to tell her as much. But she had no place to go and needed a roof over her and the child’s head.”

“The Woods had a child?” Kate helped Danny up the steps to his house. It was getting more

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