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“Are you all right?” chorused Beatrice, Meadow, and Starr.
“Fine! Absolutely peachy!” spat Ivy. She carefully got up and moved cautiously away after slamming the door shut behind her.
Starr sighed. “I’m afraid everyone is going to be feeling that way soon.”
Meadow said, “Maybe she’ll have a nice little nap in her cabin and wake up feeling happier.”
Meadow, Beatrice reflected, could sometimes be just as optimistic as Wyatt could.
Starr said, “She might. Or she might wake up angrier.” She paused. “I do understand why she might be upset. This weekend never should have happened. I put too much faith in the forecasters. Out of an abundance of caution, I should simply have closed the retreat.”
“Was that even your decision to make? Or was it the owner’s?” asked Beatrice.
Starr considered this and looked a little more upbeat. “Good point. Technically, I do make all the day-to-day decisions for the retreat, but I know the owner’s feelings about cancellations. She prefers that the conference center stays open. If we’re paying staff, she wants money to be coming in. If I’d consulted her about it, I’m sure she would have said to keep the place open.”
“How did the meeting go? How did everyone take the news?” asked Beatrice.
“Well, no one was actually delighted about it, of course. And everyone seemed horrified about Aspen. But what everyone seemed most concerned about was the fact that there was no way to really communicate with anyone outside of the retreat. Everyone pulled out their phones to check, of course, and no one got a signal.”
Beatrice said, “Probably we should all put our phones on our chargers to make sure they’re fully charged. Just in case.”
“In case of what?” asked Meadow. For a creative person, she didn’t appear as if she wanted to imagine the worst-case scenario.
“In case we lose power,” said Starr grimly.
“There’s no backup generator?” asked Beatrice.
Starr shook her head. “Ordinarily, we have no use for it. Honestly, this is the first time I’ve seen bad weather to this extent.”
The door to the lodge opened again. This time there was a sturdy, outdoorsy-looking woman with graying hair, wearing clothes with lots of elastic that looked rather comfy to Beatrice’s mind. She wore a pair of bright red rain boots. She waved a hand in greeting, then pulled up a chair next to them in front of the fire.
The woman introduced herself as Cora, then turned to Starr. “You dropped quite a bombshell in there. Everybody is still talking about it.”
“Sorry,” said Starr. “Was Aspen a friend of yours?”
Cora gave a short, humorless laugh. “No. I’m not sure Aspen really had any friends. She didn’t treat people very well.”
“What was she like?” asked Beatrice, still trying to get a picture of Aspen.
“Oh, she was one of those people who always seemed to have lots of drama swirling around her. Either she manufactured the drama, or it just happened naturally around her.”
Meadow made a face. “That sounds awful. Your guild had a lot to deal with.”
Cora nodded. “I don’t much care for drama. I liked the way the Sew and Sews were before Aspen joined us. We felt really comfortable with each other. We had a great feeling of camaraderie and were always lending each other a hand. Plus, we just did fun things together. We played games, had swaps, and laughed a lot. It was the kind of guild that liked hanging out with each other even when we weren’t quilting. We’d have movie nights or would go out for pizza together. We were also really supportive of each other’s art.”
“And that changed with Aspen?” asked Beatrice.
“That’s right. I mean, at first we were excited about having her join the group. She was young and seemed like a cool person to be around. We figured she might have a lot of ideas and would infuse the guild with new energy.” Cora gave that short laugh again.
“And you were disabused of that notion?” asked Beatrice.
“Well, it took a few months. Then we realized Aspen was pulling us all down. She was critical of our quilts, which led to a completely different vibe in the group that hadn’t been there before. She also second-guessed everything. We had some charitable events that were pretty much set in stone and Aspen would pick those apart. It was like nothing was easy around her. I noticed a lot of the ladies were getting their feelings hurt, too. We have a couple who were insecure about their quilting, and Aspen didn’t help.”
Beatrice said, “I understood Aspen might have also created issues between the quilters on a more personal level, too.”
Cora raised her eyebrows. “Oh, you’ve heard about Aspen and Ivy’s husband, already. Yes, that was pretty disturbing. Especially to Ivy. That stunt had a lot of women in the guild angry with Aspen. Aspen was young, pretty, smart, and talented. She could have easily gotten any single man in town by just crooking her finger. So why go after a married man? And a man married to someone in your quilt guild, at that?”
Meadow nodded, totally absorbed in the soap opera that was unfolding. “Because of the drama. That’s what you said, right, Cora? She liked creating drama.”
“That she did. She’s probably delighted about all the drama she’s caused here at the retreat, dead or not,” said Cora tartly. “Anyway, it all really upset Ivy, and we tend to protect Ivy. She’s sort of delicate. She’s one of those people who doesn’t react well to stress at all. She has migraines, blood pressure issues, and aches and pains almost like she has the flu.”
Beatrice was rather surprised to hear this. Ivy hadn’t seemed delicate at all to her. In fact, Ivy had been something of a pill.
Cora continued, “But Aspen’s behavior didn’t just affect Ivy. It made Olive angry, too. Her brother was married to Aspen and Aspen continued cheating on him.” Her voice grew hushed. “He ended up ending his own life.”
“Terrible,” said Meadow, her eyes sad.
“It was. And Olive kept saying that Aspen was never satisfied with what she had. That she always needed to have more. More people loving her, more money, more drama.” Cora shrugged. “Just more.”
Starr, who’d been sitting quietly and listening, said, “Did you hear any noises last night? See anything?”
Cora shook her head. “No. I slept like the dead last night. I’m ordinarily a pretty light sleeper, and I guess the trip over here tired me out more than I expected. I woke up and discovered a real winter wonderland outside. Couldn’t believe it. I almost felt like someone had slipped me a sleeping pill.”
Starr said, “I know what you generally thought about Aspen. But did you have anything personally against her?”
“Nope. I stayed out of her way as much as possible to keep it that way. Besides, she really didn’t have a way to get at me. Aspen probably figured I’d be hard to mess with—I don’t really care much what people think.”
Meadow looked sad. “I keep thinking how awful it is that your guild was functioning so well until Aspen created all those issues. Do you think things will go back to the way they were before now? In the Sew and Sews?”
Cora considered this. “I’d like to think they could. Like I said, we had such a great group. But Aspen caused so many fractures in so many friendships that it seems almost impossible.”
Meadow said, “That makes me sad. Maybe, now that Aspen’s gone, you should just double-down and focus on all the ways the Sew and Sews connected before she joined. What brought you all together? Was it an old group or a new one?”
“An old one. Some of our moms actually founded the guild back in the day. Quilting was a family thing for most of us—handed down from older generations. But we also had a lot in common . . . we were friends with some of the same people, had a lot of the same experiences growing up, were from the same town, even if we weren’t all the same age. Some of us worked during the week and some of us didn’t. We made allowances for everybody’s schedule.” Cora shrugged, looking wistful. “It was nice when it all started. We weren’t trying to make art. We were just enjoying each other’s company and quilting.”
“And then Aspen joined,” said Starr with a quirk of her eyebrows.
“Yes. And she was very good at quilting, to be fair. I suspected that she might have intentionally ramped up her quilting ability before she joined the guild. Just to make sure she was the best and could show us all up.”
There was a shriek outside and a frantic scrabbling at the door leading into the lodge. The women stood up, looking fearfully at the door. It finally opened with a jerk, revealing Ivy standing there again. Her eyes were huge, and she gasped, “There’s a bear out there.”
Starr frowned. “Is there?”
Ivy nodded, scrambling away from the door as if the bear might casually open it and join them all by the fire.
Meadow and Beatrice looked at each other. Beatrice said slowly, “The bears should be hibernating now. Or, if it’s been too warm for them to do a full-fledged hibernation, they should still be pretty close to their den.”
Meadow nodded. “We live in the mountains all year. We’ve kind of gotten used to their patterns.”
Ivy screeched, “I know what I saw!”
Starr cautiously opened the door and peered out. Then she started to chuckle. “Well, I see a couple of deer, looking for food in the snow. Is that what you saw?”
Beatrice wasn’t completely sure how Ivy might have mistaken deer for a bear.
Ivy looked cranky. “Okay, I guess I saw them out of the corner of my eye and panicked. But can you see why I would have panicked? This whole day has gone completely wrong in every way. No cell service, a huge ice storm, and a dead body. What else could possibly go wrong?”
Meadow winced. “I wouldn’t ask that question if I were you.”
The door opened again, and the woman Nicole had introduced as her sister, Maggie, walked in. “Is there room for me?” she asked.
Beatrice was glad to see that she didn’t seem to be angry anymore about being awakened. If she recognized Beatrice from earlier, she didn’t mention it. Instead, she introduced herself to the group. She was wearing a tremendous fur coat and matching fur hat. The extra sleep seemed to have done wonders for her mood.
“Want some coffee?” asked Meadow, nodding to the cup Maggie held.
She shook her head. “Hot chocolate. Coffee makes me too hyper. And hyperactivity isn’t exactly great in this closed environment.” She glanced over at Starr. “Think you can do something about opening up the fitness center?”
Starr frowned. “The fitness center isn’t usually part of the quilting retreat experience.”
Maggie snorted. “Being stranded in an ice storm isn’t usually part of the quilting retreat experience.”
“I’ll go open it now,” said Starr, looking irritated.
“Oh good!” said Ivy. “I wanted to practice some of my yoga stretches to relieve stress. Do you have yoga mats at the fitness center?”
Starr gave a curt nod and she and Ivy set off.
Maggie took one of the chairs they’d vacated and took a big sip of the hot chocolate. “Glad to see a fire going. I can’t seem to get warmed up, even though I have my heaviest winter clothes on.”
She did seem to have piled on at least two sweaters and what looked like a couple of pairs of pants. But Beatrice also noticed she still took a great deal of care with her appearance. She was wearing carefully applied makeup and her hair was just so. The coat she was wearing looked like an expensive fur . . . and not a fake one.
“I just can’t believe this is happening,” said Maggie with a sigh. “This was supposed to be a fun, creative getaway for us all. But the muck of the outside world managed to find us here. It’s discouraging.”
Meadow nodded sympathetically. “You were at Starr’s meeting?”
“Yeah. I thought it was just going to be an advertisement for upcoming retreats for the conference center. I had no idea what she would say. And, judging from the rest of the room, no one else did, either.”
But someone had. Someone had known precisely what the meeting would be about and what had happened to Aspen. She shivered.
Meadow said, “Beatrice is going to help find out what happened, since the police can’t get here for a while.”
Maggie raised her eyebrows and looked Beatrice up and down as if finding it difficult to picture her in some sort of investigator role. “Is that so?”
Meadow nodded and said with pride, “Beatrice has solved lots of cases before the police do. She has a knack for it.”
Beatrice flushed and gave a tight smile. If she’d had any thoughts about flying under the radar, Meadow had certainly made that impossible.
Maggie seemed taken aback for a moment before swiftly smiling. “Then you’ll want to know what I was doing when poor Aspen perished.”
“Do you have an alibi?” asked Meadow, getting into the spirit of the questioning.
This all served to remind Beatrice once again why she disliked having Meadow acting as sidekick.
Maggie drawled, “As it happens, I do. My sister and I were both sleeping the whole night. We’d have woken if the other got up, murdered someone, and came back to bed. The door to our cabin is creaky.”
Meadow said, “But you said you slept so soundly!”
Now Maggie gave her an annoyed look. “I did. But there are certain sounds that are bound to wake me up. Like someone stealthily walking out of a cabin. Or my sister getting up in the middle of the night. And vice-versa. Nicole and I are very much the same.”
Meadow said wistfully, “I always thought it would be wonderful to have a sister. I didn’t grow up with any siblings at all. You and your sister sound like you’re very close.”
Maggie relaxed a little. “We are. Nicole and I have always gotten along really well. We have a lot in common.”
“Who’s the older sister?” asked Meadow.
Now Maggie frowned again as if the question were rather insulting. “Nicole, of course.”
Meadow quickly said, “Oh, of course.” She seemed to realize Maggie thought she’d stuck her foot in her mouth.
“What did you think about Aspen being part of the guild?” asked Beatrice. She was thinking about Cora, and how Cora had blamed Aspen for fracturing the guild.
Maggie shrugged. “I can’t worry about things I have no control over. You understand that, surely. And, in some ways, Nicole and I thought Aspen would serve as a breath of fresh air in the group. The guild had fallen into a routine. We didn’t try new things anymore. It was comfortable, but it could be stuffy. When Aspen joined, she came with all sorts of ideas for new types of quilts, shows we could attend, and service projects we could work on.”
“Aspen was interested in service projects?” asked Beatrice.
Maggie allowed herself a grin. “She wasn’t a complete ogre.”
“But she was difficult to get along with?” asked Beatrice.
“Was she? I don’t think Nicole and I really thought so. I mean, Aspen could be a little prickly from time to time, but who isn’t? We all have our bad days.”
“That’s very magnanimous of you,” said Beatrice. “Did you have a good relationship with Aspen?”
Maggie gave a little laugh, although there was a flash of displeasure on her face. “I stayed out of her way most of the time. She’d take these little jabs at me from time to time. She’d always tease me about being on my phone too much, for instance. That was just Aspen’s idea of a joke. She always had the impression that I was attached to my phone. That I spent way too much time on it.” She gave that little laugh again. “Truth be told, I do feel like I’m going through withdrawal right now. I didn’t realize just how addicted I am to the thing. It’s tough not having any internet or phone connection.”
Beatrice thought it was odd that Aspen would call Maggie out on her phone time. She was sure she’d seen Aspen on her phone quite a few times yesterday. Taking selfies of herself, texting, and just looking at it whenever she felt bored. Which seemed to be a lot.
“Who do you think did this, Maggie?” asked Meadow anxiously. “Who killed Aspen?”
Maggie gave her a startled look. “Surely you’re not thinking a quilter could be behind this?”
Meadow flushed guiltily. Usually Meadow was very reluctant to believe quilters could be involved in skullduggery of any sort. Perhaps she’d started realizing quilters were just like everyone else.
Maggie continued, “Maybe it’s this Starr. The director. She knows this place inside and out. She could easily have walked over, murdered Aspen, and then gone back to her house until later on. Nobody knows anything about her, after all.”
“Why would she do something like that, though?” asked Beatrice. “She didn’t know Aspen.”
Maggie shot her an annoyed look. “Well, maybe she did. Maybe she’d known Aspen from another time. She recognized her, understood she posed some sort of risk to her, then eliminated her.”
“Wow,” said Meadow. She took a few moments to take this in. “And here I was thinking how great she was to walk over in the winter storm to help us out. But she could be the one behind all this.”
Beatrice said, “We have absolutely no evidence pointing to the fact that Starr knew Aspen, much less murdered her. It seems a lot more likely that someone in the Sew and Sews guild became upset with Aspen.”
“Ivy, for instance,” said Meadow, nodding. “That sounded like a mess.”
Maggie made a face. “Yes, that was a problem in the group, for sure. Aspen could have had a relationship with pretty much any man she wanted to. It wasn’t very sporting of her to choose to have one with poor Ivy’s husband. I don’t even think she was all that interested in him—it was just the thrill of the chase that made her do it. She seemed to be bored with him almost immediately and started looking around for her next conquest.”
There was a crack of thunder outside and Meadow squealed.
“What was that?” she cried. “Gunshots?”
“Thunder,” said Beatrice grimly. “I suspect we’re getting thunder snow.”
Maggie sighed. “The forecast was totally botched. I hate it when the forecasters seem so sure and then they’re completely wrong.” She pulled her cell phone out again and glared at the device. “I’m going to try again.”
“Remember, the more you use it, the more you’re wearing the battery down. You need to put it on the charger after this,” said Beatrice.
Meadow was already punching in the phone number. Her eyes grew big. “It’s ringing! It’s ringing!”