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The other women stared at her.
“Ramsay? Oh, Ramsay, it’s me. No, we’re fine. Yes, Beatrice and the rest of our quilters are all safe so spread the news.” Meadow frowned. “Ramsay? Ramsay?” She lowered the phone. “We got disconnected.”
“Did he hear the part where you said we were all safe?” asked Beatrice intently.
“We’re not all safe,” said Maggie, sounding annoyed.
Meadow ignored her. “Yes, I’m sure he heard that. The phone made a clicking sound right after I said we were safe. He’ll spread the word about that, I know.” She tried phoning again, this time with no luck. “So frustrating, though. I didn’t even have a chance to tell him about the murder here.”
“Maybe that’s just as well,” said Beatrice. “They’re ninety minutes away from here and it would be dangerous for Ramsay or anyone else to attempt to reach us on those roads. Besides, the local police have been informed. I’m sure they’ll get here as soon as they’re safely able to do so.”
Maggie tried her own phone again before putting it back down with a sour expression. “Nothing.”
Beatrice said, “I’m going to practice what I preach and put my phone on the charger in the cabin.”
Meadow stood up. “I’ll do the same.”
Maggie grunted. “Mine’s still fine. Plus, it’s freezing in that cabin. Clearly those windows don’t provide any insulation whatsoever. I’ll stay here by the fire.”
On the way to the cabin, Meadow and Beatrice passed the dining hall. They saw Savannah and Georgia stepping out cautiously onto the wintry mix covering the ground. The women spotted them and raised their hands in greeting. Unfortunately, the gesture nearly toppled Savannah, who was often rather awkward. Georgia grabbed hold of her sister to steady her and almost fell down, too.
“Be careful!” called out Meadow.
“Are you heading back to the cabin?” asked Georgia.
“We’ve got to charge our phones,” said Beatrice.
Georgia said, “Good idea. We’ll do the same. Then, do you want to join up? I want to talk over what’s going on. But I kind of want to do it in private, you know?”
Beatrice said, “Why don’t you come over to Piper’s and my cabin? It’s cabin two. We have a decent-sized sitting area in between our two rooms.”
And so, just five minutes later, the women were all sitting in cabin two. Piper was there, as well, and pulled up another chair from inside her bedroom to join them. Beatrice pulled out extra blankets from the closets and handed them out to everyone. She then peered at the tiny kitchenette. “Anyone want hot tea?”
Everyone did. Piper helped Beatrice warm up cups of water and put tea bags in them. Then they settled into the sitting area where the women were quietly chatting.
Georgia gave them a wan smile. “Thanks. Wow, I almost feel like we’re really having a retreat right now. Everything else has overwhelmed that fact. I’m so glad we’re all here together.”
“Me too,” said Piper.
Beatrice asked, “Did you all make it over to the dining hall for Starr’s meeting?”
Georgia and Savannah nodded.
Piper said, “Even though I overslept, I was able to make it over there. I woke up when I heard Starr’s announcement over the intercom.” She looked at Beatrice. “When I woke up, you weren’t around.”
Beatrice winced. “I’m sorry. I sneaked out this morning because I didn’t want to wake you up. I figured since you were always being awakened in the middle of the night with a baby, it would be good to have at least one morning where you could actually sleep in.”
“Thanks,” said Piper wanly. “But why do I have the feeling you had an adventure while I was asleep?”
Savannah frowned ferociously. “Beatrice, you weren’t the one who discovered that body, were you?”
Beatrice sighed. “I promise that I had no idea I was doing anything even remotely dangerous. It was the first night in a new location, which means I usually don’t sleep very well. Like I said, I was trying to be quiet and just slip out for a while until I became sleepy again. I thought I might do a little quilting or read my book for a few minutes. The ground was already something of a mess, so I picked my way across it carefully to the conference center. Just thinking I’d kill some time.”
“And instead you found a body,” said Piper.
Beatrice nodded. “Pretty much right off the bat. Of course, I recognized Aspen.” She glanced around the group of women. “Did any of you make any observations about Aspen? Or about how she interacted with any of the other Sew and Sews?”
Piper, who still looked disgruntled that her mother had been traipsing around finding bodies, shook her head. “I don’t think I noticed anything that you didn’t, Mama. I was with you most of the time. I realized Aspen’s other guild members did look tense when she was around. And Aspen seemed like she picked at them.”
Savannah looked grim. “I sat in the lodge for a while last night and played a chess game on my phone. I was off in a chair on the side of the room, but I could still hear all sorts of things.”
“Like what?” asked Meadow, eyes wide.
Savannah pressed her lips together into a thin line. “Squabbling. They were all fussing at each other, plain and simple.”
Meadow pressed some more. “But what type of squabbling? Who was fussing at who?”
Savannah considered this. “Well, of course, I was playing my chess game. I do tend to get pretty absorbed when I do. One must really pay attention if one is going to beat a computer.”
Beatrice hid a smile. Savannah was the type of person who got absorbed in any activity she was doing. She was the perfect candidate to play chess on her phone. The structure of the game, the many rules and limited moves, would appeal to an order-loving person like Savannah.
“I suppose the impression I got,” said Savannah slowly, “was that Aspen was causing mischief.”
Beatrice now smiled broadly. “That’s exactly the word one of the Sew and Sews used to describe Aspen’s activities. Mischief.”
Savannah looked pleased at this, puffing up a bit. “Was it? Yes. That’s precisely what Aspen was doing. She was pushing people’s buttons. Making snide comments and waiting for the reactions. I got the impression she was really enjoying the reactions she was causing.”
Georgia frowned. “I didn’t spend much time around her at all. I’m getting the feeling she wasn’t a nice person, though.”
“That’s what I’m gathering,” said Beatrice. “Of course, it doesn’t mean that she deserved what happened to her. But it could explain why it happened. Why someone got upset enough with Aspen to . . . do what they did.”
Piper sighed. “I’m so sorry you had to see that, Mama. What an awful shock. You were just there to do some quilting and relax.”
“It’s okay. It might have been better that I saw it than someone who was close to Aspen. Although Olive did come by soon after I found Aspen.”
Georgia asked, “How are the Sew and Sews taking it?”
“They’ve been very solemn over her death, of course. No one is celebrating, naturally. But it also seems that no one is particularly heartbroken about Aspen. They all tend to think she reaped what she sowed.”
Savannah muttered. “She was definitely sowing last night. I wish now that I’d paid more attention to what was being said. I just got general impressions, and I don’t even know the names of the women. Plus, like I mentioned, I was absorbed in my game.”
Meadow asked, “Could you describe some of the quilters who were there?”
Savannah’s brow crinkled in concentration. “Well, there was a middle-aged woman there. Pretty. But she looked exhausted.”
“That sounds like Ivy,” said Beatrice. “Could you hear what Aspen was saying to her?”
“It was mostly what Ivy was saying to Aspen,” said Savannah. “She was basically telling her off for being a terrible person. I didn’t really pay attention to why she thought that.” She frowned again, trying to remember. “There was also a woman there who made me feel sort of underdressed. She was wearing a fur coat, and I don’t think it was fake fur.” Savannah, an animal lover, looked even more displeased than she already did.
Beatrice nodded. “That’s probably Maggie.”
“She was being very sharp with Aspen. But that’s probably because Aspen kept carping at her about something.” Savannah shrugged. “I didn’t pay too much attention why, because it didn’t seem important at the time. It just seemed like they were all picking at each other. It made me glad to be a Village Quilter.”
Meadow said, “Exactly. That’s exactly right. We never carry on like that in our group.”
“But we don’t have an Aspen in our group,” said Georgia slowly. “Somebody who seemed to like a lot of drama.”
“Speaking of people in our group, where’s Posy?” asked Beatrice. “Has anyone seen her this morning?” She felt a rising worry that something could have happened to the sweet quilter.
Meadow raised her hand as if she were in school. “I have. She ate breakfast, then felt chilly and decided to put on heavier clothes. I’m sure we’ll see her again soon.”
Beatrice said, “Oh, we forgot to tell them something important, Meadow. That you were able to get through to Ramsay.”
The other women perked up at this. Georgia said, “Did you? What did he say? Is help coming?”
Meadow looked sad. “It wasn’t that long of a conversation. But what Beatrice is referring to is that I told him to let everybody know we were all okay. I know he heard that part. But I wasn’t able to tell him what had happened here or anything. I guess we’ll just have to wait until the roads are safe enough for the police to get over here.”
Georgia smiled. “I feel so relieved, though. I hated the thought of Tony worrying about me and not being able to get in touch with me.”
Meadow said, “I’m worried about worrying. I feel like now that quilting has mostly been taken off the table, we’re all going to sit around, twiddle our thumbs, and be anxious about getting rescued. We should brainstorm what we can do today.”
The women walked back to the lodge, chatting about ideas for things to do. When they arrived in the lodge, Savannah brightened.
“Games,” said Savannah simply. “That’s what we should do. There’s a stack of them on the shelves.” She pointed to a shelving unit in the corner of the room where, sure enough, there were plenty of board games and packs of cards.
“Good going,” said Meadow. “That’s a start.”
Georgia said with a crooked smile, “I guess we could raid the cookie sheets from the kitchen and go sledding. That ice out there will make it really slick.”
Meadow made a face. “Unfortunately, that’s only a good suggestion for the younger quilters in the group. One of which I am decidedly not.” She mulled on the issue for a moment. “All walks have been taken off the table, too, which is a pity. I’ve gotten addicted to my daily walk.”
“Considering we could barely make it from point A to point B out there, I think walking for exercise is totally impossible,” said Beatrice wryly. “But Maggie did get Starr to open up the fitness center for her and Ivy. Maybe we can go check it out later and come up with our own exercise routines.”
Savannah said, “Mm. Or we could play games.”
Beatrice smiled at her. “Or we could play games.”
Meadow said, “Remember, we wanted to establish relationships with the Sew and Sews. We could see if any of them want to join us in a game.”
No one looked quite as enthusiastic as Meadow did.
“Isn’t one of them a killer?” asked Georgia in a small voice. “They all seem really nice, but somebody killed Aspen. And it sure wasn’t a Village Quilter. There’s no reason Starr would do it, either.”
Beatrice said, “True. I don’t think the problem extends to playing games with them, though. I’d say that we probably need to travel in groups, however, and make sure everyone knows where we are.” She paused. “With that in mind, I’m going to check in on Posy and make sure she’s doing all right.”
Meadow leaped up to join her. “We’ll track her down, Beatrice.”
“Let’s try her cabin first.”
On the way to Posy’s cabin, they saw Olive walking back in the direction of the lodge. Meadow bubbled out a greeting, but Olive seemed to look right through her.
“Did she just totally ignoring me?” asked Meadow, frowning.
“I think she was distracted. We all have a lot on our minds.”
To their relief, Posy answered her knock on the door right away. “Hi there, you two,” she said with a smile. “Come inside! It’s freezing out there.” Posy shivered. “Or below freezing.”
Meadow gave her a tight hug. “Glad to see you’re fine. I’m going to head back to the lodge and play a game with the others. We’ll visit later, okay?” And Meadow bounded off.
Beatrice watched until Meadow got safely back to the lodge. Then she stepped into the cabin. “We were just coming by to check on you and make sure everything was okay. Nobody had laid eyes on you for a little while. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be a big deal, but with everything going on right now with the storm, and with Aspen, of course, I wanted to see you.”
Posy said, “I’m sorry! That hadn’t even crossed my mind. Should we all be staying in groups?”
“That’s what we were talking about earlier. We think that might be safer for lots of reasons.”
Posy nodded solemnly. “I understand you were the one to find Aspen. What a horrible thing. She was such a pretty girl.”
Trust Posy to find something positive to say about Aspen. “She was, yes. I’m sure there’s no reason for alarm, but we thought sticking in groups was probably for the best.”
“I’ll go back to the lodge with you, then, if that’s where everybody is.”
Posy proceeded to bundle herself up with a huge coat that she seemed to disappear into, a fluffy hat that looked handmade, and a pair of thick gloves. Thus prepared, they stepped outside.
Beatrice noticed that the weather had worsened in the few minutes she was inside speaking with Posy. There was more ice coming down, and gales of wind blew it right into their faces.
“Mercy!” said Posy. “I feel like I should have a ski mask on.”
Beatrice nodded grimly. She didn’t want to worry Posy, but she had the terrible feeling that the electrical grid wasn’t going to be able to handle much more ice. She was surprised they hadn’t lost power already.
The two women hurried into the lodge. Posy gave a relieved sigh at the relative warmth of the room, hastily taking off the heavy coat.
The others were playing a board game and looked up as the door opened.
There was a chorus of greetings for Posy.
Posy blushed a little. “Sorry to worry everybody. I was just dithering around in the cabin.”
“Why don’t you two join us for a game?” said Georgia. “We could use more players.”
Beatrice demurred. “If it’s all right, I’ll just cheer you all on.”
Meadow nodded and said to the others, “Beatrice is going to help us figure out who’s at the bottom of all this. Especially since the police can’t get over here.”
Beatrice wasn’t sure if Meadow’s outsized confidence in her sleuthing abilities made her feel confident or insecure. She decided a change of subject was in order. “What are you playing?” asked Beatrice.
“Monopoly,” said Savannah, her gaze eagerly returning to the board game. “I’m the banker.”
“As you should be,” said Beatrice, “considering you’re a CPA.”
“I’ve just dispersed the money to everyone and put the chance cards and the community chest cards out. So we’re about to start.”
Olive opened the door to the lodge and peered inside as if looking for someone.
“Come play with us!” said Meadow in a jolly voice.
Olive frowned. “I’m not sure it’s entirely appropriate to be playing children’s games when someone has just lost her life.”
Meadow’s face fell. “I’m sorry.”
“We didn’t mean any disrespect,” said Piper quickly. “We were just trying to pass the time and keep our minds off the tragedy.”
Meadow nodded in agreement. “It’s such a terrible thing. We’re just trying to make the best of a bad situation.”
Olive shrugged a little as if she’d already forgotten what they’d been talking about.
“Were you looking for someone in particular?” asked Beatrice.
Olive looked at her sharply. “What makes you think that?”
Beatrice lifted an eyebrow. “It appeared you were searching for someone when you looked inside the lodge.”
Olive shook her head impatiently. “I just have a headache. I’m not myself.”
“Maybe you should get a little caffeine,” suggested Meadow. “I always have a headache when I don’t have the right amount of caffeine.”
Olive said wryly, “I won’t sleep at all tonight if I have any caffeine after eleven in the morning.”
“Really?” asked Savannah, staring at her. Savannah was something of an addict when it came to caffeine. Beatrice remembered she’d been drinking Diet Cokes constantly before she’d weaned herself off on coffee and cut back a bit. The effect of caffeine on Savannah had served to make her more agitated and nervous—which didn’t work well with Savannah’s personality.
“What about trying decaf?” suggested Posy. “It will still have a tiny bit of caffeine in it and might help your headache.”
Olive paused. “Actually, that might help. Thanks.”
Meadow said, “I noticed the lodge has a little coffee station out this door and down the hall. It’s a small room right before the restrooms.”
Olive set out to make her decaf and the rest of the group started the game. It was very much a starting and stopping process because Sew and Sews kept entering the lodge and being enthusiastically encouraged to play by Meadow. By the end, there were eight women playing Monopoly. Beatrice hadn’t even realized that many players could do so. Even more quilters had come in and out—visiting, but not playing, before heading back out the door of the lodge. Miss Sissy had joined the game and seemed to have a tremendous amount of money. Beatrice was about to be extremely impressed until she saw the old woman surreptitiously stealing from the bank.
Beatrice moved her chair away from the fireplace and along the side of the room so that she could read and not be in the maelstrom of the game. And it was indeed a maelstrom—Meadow was playing entirely too energetically and endangering the various houses and hotels on the gameboard. The other women were getting caught up in the game too and it had become quite lively with wealthy landowners and players who kept finding themselves in Monopoly jail. Miss Sissy broke all the rules by refusing to go to jail and continuing to rob the bank.
However, it was also a bit too lively for Beatrice to be able to pay attention to her book. She went back to her cabin to get headphones and her phone charger. She figured she could listen to music on her phone as long as the device was plugged in. She put on some soothing jazz music, put her earbuds in, and picked back up with the story. Lucy, the golden retriever, came over for a snuggle, and Beatrice made room next to her on the padded bench she was sitting on. Patting Lucy was soothing and helped Beatrice let go of some of the stress she’d been feeling. And Lucy enjoyed it too, grinning up at her with her eyes half-closed.
At one point, Olive headed for the door. She gave Beatrice a small wave.
“Headache still bad?” asked Beatrice sympathetically after she pulled her earbuds out. She supposed, at least, that Olive’s scowl was due to the headache. She certainly looked unhappy.
Olive said, “I’m going to lie down for a while. The decaf didn’t seem to help much.”
She left and Beatrice continued with her book and with petting Lucy. The Monopoly game went on and on, as Monopoly games do. Beatrice ended up finishing the novel, and the game was still in progress.
Meadow apparently decided that everyone needed to take a break. “How about if we pause for a few moments and everyone share something about themselves or their family?”
Beatrice had the feeling that she knew where this was heading.
“It’ll be like show-and-tell,” said Meadow with a smile. “I’ll start.”
Beatrice raised an eyebrow, waiting for Meadow to pull her phone out. She had a feeling she knew the subject of Meadow’s show-and-tell.
Meadow continued, “I wanted to share that I love our quilting guild. And I especially love it when I can bring my grandbaby along. He livens everything up.”
Piper said in a rueful voice, “That’s one way of putting it. He can also be a little distracting.”
“In the very best of ways,” insisted Meadow. “He charms everybody. Even Miss Sissy can’t get enough of him.”
Miss Sissy glared at Meadow, clearly remembering that Meadow didn’t let the old woman have as much one-on-one time with Will as she’d prefer.
“Since he can’t be here in person, I’ve got a few pictures and videos on my phone to share,” said Meadow.
Beatrice groaned, and she and Piper shared a look. Beatrice called from the side of the room, “Meadow, no one is going to be as interested in our grandchild as you and I are. As charming and beautiful as he is.”
“He’s perfect,” said Meadow complacently. “And it will only take a few minutes.”
As Meadow regaled the group with cute pictures and videos of Will imperfectly singing the alphabet song, Beatrice said to Piper, “Did you bring any extra books with you? I’ve just finished the one I brought. It probably wasn’t the best choice for this trip, considering it was a murder mystery.” Beatrice made a face.
“No, I think that’s probably not the best pick for right now. I did bring extra books because I knew I was going to finish the one I’d brought with me. And I just did, before falling asleep last night.”
“Perfect. What’s the name of it?” asked Beatrice.
“The Thirteenth Tale. Have you read it?”
Beatrice shook her head. “It doesn’t involve murder, does it?”
“It’s spooky, but no murders. It’s more of a gothic story. It does feature a fire.”
Beatrice said, “I’ll borrow it from you, if that’s okay. I was thinking it might be good for me to try to wind down a little with a book in between talking with everyone about what happened last night.”
“Good idea,” said Piper. “This is a really stressful situation.”
“For everybody.”
“Yes, but especially for you.” She lowered her voice, although there was no way anyone could hear her over the sound of Meadow, loudly singing Will’s praises. “You’re the one who’s basically having to quiz a bunch of strangers on whether they murdered a friend of theirs.”
Beatrice looked grim. “That is stressful, when you put it that way.”
“I just want to make sure you take care of yourself, that’s all.”
Beatrice gave her a quick smile. “I’ll be fine.”
“Want me to go grab the book for you?” asked Piper.
“No thanks. I’d like to get a little fresh air. It’s starting to feel a bit stuffy in here.” She gave the golden retriever one last rub and stood up, stretching as she did.
A few moments later, Beatrice set foot carefully outside. The ice had accumulated, making walking very tricky. She felt her feet slide out from under her more than once, but was able to stay upright.
She nearly toppled over, however, when she heard a shriek from inside one of the cabins.