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At first, Beatrice was certain she wasn’t going to be able to sleep a wink, especially with Miss Sissy’s snoring practically raising the rafters in the lodge. But then her absolute exhaustion caught up with her and she drifted into a deep sleep.
She awoke with a start the next morning. Miss Sissy was staring grumpily at her. Beatrice gave her a questioning look, and the old woman made a motion to indicate eating. Beatrice raised herself onto her elbows and looked around the room. Everyone appeared to be still sacked out. Meadow was snoring gently.
Beatrice nodded at Miss Sissy and got up as quietly as she could. This wasn’t an easy task with the room being as chilly as it was and the fact that she’d slept on the floor. Her joints felt stiff, and she told herself that once she got into the dining hall, she’d do some stretching. There certainly wasn’t enough space in the lodge to stretch.
As Beatrice put her heavy coat on, she noticed wryly that Miss Sissy seemed just as spry as ever. She wasn’t sure exactly how old she was. Twenty years older than Beatrice? More? She’d like to know her secret.
Miss Sissy rapidly piled a weathered-looking winter gear on and headed for the door. When they opened it, snow blew in as well as a frigid gust of air. She saw a couple of women wake briefly and lifted a hand in apology. Then she and Miss Sissy headed outside. Or, rather, directly into the snowdrift that had formed outside the lodge door.
Miss Sissy said, “Bah!” and kicked at the snow.
“At least it’s not ice,” offered Beatrice. She looked at the sky. “And maybe it’s slowing down. Come on, let’s get something to eat.”
She was rather surprised the old woman hadn’t set out on her own to get food. Maybe Miss Sissy could read her thoughts because she snarled, “Buddy system.” It was true. Besides, if Miss Sissy wasn’t monitored, it was entirely possible that she would wipe out much of the food supply.
It was the first time Beatrice had really taken a look inside the retreat kitchen. There was a large, well-stocked pantry, which relieved Beatrice, although Starr had definitely insisted that there was plenty of food. Still, it was nice to see it for herself. There were also a couple of industrial-sized refrigerators, which Beatrice presumed were empty since Starr had said she was going to put everything in coolers and out in the cold to keep the food from going bad during the power outage.
“Let’s see,” said Beatrice, peering at the contents of the pantry. “There’s some cereal here. How about dry cereal?”
Miss Sissy stared at her in disbelief. “Had that for supper!”
“Well, it doesn’t feel as if we have a lot of options here, considering we don’t have any power.”
“Eggs. Eggs are easy.”
Beatrice felt as if her patience might be petering out. “Eggs are easy when you have power. Eggs are hard when you don’t.”
“Oatmeal.”
Beatrice said, “Oatmeal requires hot water. Hot water requires power.”
“Boil it on the grill.”
Beatrice shook her head. “Not with the way the wind is blowing snow and ice everywhere. Plus, I’m not the world’s most experienced griller. I’d just end up using up the charcoal and not delivering hot water. No, I’m not doing anything with the grill.”
The old woman was looking belligerent now, and Beatrice sighed. “Let’s see what else is available.”
They poked around the large pantry, with Miss Sissy growling at the dry goods from time to time.
“Yogurt!” Miss Sissy finally demanded.
Beatrice could tell it was something of a concession. It wasn’t dry cereal, but it wasn’t eggs or oatmeal either.
“Okay. I have the feeling a place like this would probably have had yogurt as an offering. But Starr put all the contents of the fridges outside to keep them from going bad. I’m guessing the coolers might be covered with snow.”
Miss Sissy held up her hands, which were encased in what appeared to be handmade gloves.
“You’ll dig them out? Okay. I definitely admire your determination. Let’s see if we can find them.”
It was strangely disorienting outdoors. The pure whiteness of everything in the early morning light was not only eerie, but it also made it hard to know exactly where you were. “Let’s stay close to each other,” urged Beatrice.
Miss Sissy gave her a baleful look before glancing quickly around her, eyes narrowed as she searched for anything that might resemble coolers. She seized on one likely snow-covered shape and started digging. She hissed when she saw it was only a tree stump.
“What about this?” asked Beatrice, gesturing to another snowy apparition. She helped Miss Sissy dig and soon they uncovered a red-topped cooler. Miss Sissy yanked the top off and looked hungrily inside. Then she gave a scornful snort.
Beatrice peered in. “Nothing really edible here, is there? Unless you were desperate.”
Miss Sissy’s glare seemed to indicate that it would be a while before she stooped to consume butter, mustard, and other condiments.
The old woman looked fiercely around, undeterred by the snow flying into her eyes, until her gaze settled on another lump in the snow. She started burrowing right away and Beatrice helped her.
This time, they uncovered something a bit better. There were cheeses in there and milk. Apparently satisfied, at least for right then, Miss Sissy grabbed them and started hurrying back to the dining hall, likely to allow the cereal to be reunited with the milk. Beatrice was just glad they were heading inside the building. She felt as if she were turning into an ice cube.
Miss Sissy headed back for the kitchen and put her bounty down on a prep table. Beatrice said, “Hey, that milk is probably frozen. You might want to give it some time.”
The old woman glared at her. But she soon discovered the truth in Beatrice’s words. The milk was basically a milk popsicle. The cheeses were very hard, too. Miss Sissy gave a frustrated snort.
“You felt that wind. Even if we can light the grill, it’s going to get extinguished. I know you’re hungry. We’ll just have to wait.” Beatrice paused. “Also, it might be a good idea to pace yourself, in terms of eating. We don’t want any bad feelings from the other women. There’s probably a limited amount of ‘tasty’ food.”
Miss Sissy clearly wasn’t too fond of that idea. She sat herself down on a stool and watched the cheese and milk as if her scowl alone might melt it.
A few minutes later the doors to the dining hall opened up and Starr and Nicole appeared. Starr spotted them and looked relieved. “Oh good. I thought one or two guests might be missing when I woke up.”
“Everything okay?” asked Nicole.
Beatrice nodded. “Miss Sissy woke up hungry, and we thought we’d forage for food.”
“There’s plenty of dry cereal,” said Starr.
Miss Sissy made a face. “Blechh.”
Nicole blinked at her and Beatrice hid a smile.
“We’re just waiting for some of our finds to defrost a little,” said Beatrice.
Starr bobbed her head briskly. “Fine. Nicole and I were going to find ourselves something to eat before we headed off to my house.”
“Are you sure that’s still a good idea?” asked Beatrice. “The weather has taken another turn, as I’m sure you noticed on your way here from the lodge. The wind is pretty fierce. Plus, the snow is on top of a layer of ice. How far are you talking about walking?”
Starr made a dismissive gesture. “It’s just something like half a mile.” She pulled out a large container of cereal and two bowls.
Miss Sissy growled at this. Nicole stared at her again.
Beatrice said, “That would be a piece of cake under ordinary circumstances. But it sure isn’t now. That snow is going to take a long while to wade through. And I feel half-frozen, although Miss Sissy and I weren’t even out there very long.”
Nicole said, “Regardless, we’re going to give it a shot. Maybe we can even get a cell phone signal at Starr’s house. Right now, we’re all like sitting ducks. And I, for one, don’t like feeling that way. I want to do something.”
Starr shoved a bowl of cornflakes and a spoon at her. “That’s what we’ll do. Just as soon as we eat something.”
Nicole sighed. “I guess it’s too much to ask to get a coffee.”
Beatrice said, “I’m missing it, too. But I just don’t think the grills are going to operate in these conditions. Even to boil a pot of water.”
The door to the dining hall opened, and Posy peered inside. Her anxious expression relaxed as soon as she spotted the other women. “Oh, thank heavens. I woke up and had this horrible idea that maybe Miss Sissy had gone missing and the rest of you were out looking for her.”
Miss Sissy looked intrigued by this idea.
Starr shook her head. “No. Believe me, I’d wake everybody up if anyone disappeared. We’d figure out a way to look.” She glanced over at Nicole, who had eaten most of her cereal. “We should probably head out in a minute. The weather might even deteriorate.”
“From this? This is pretty bad.” Now Nicole looked a little uncertain.
“Are you sure you’re going to be able to find your way?” asked Posy. “The snow is blanketing everything so much. I think I’d get really disoriented.”
“It should be fine. I’ve walked the path a hundred times or more. Even if the landscape looks different, I should be good to make it home by pure muscle memory.”
Several minutes later, Starr and Nicole bundled back up and headed out into the swirling snow.
Posy said uneasily, “I’m worried about them. Maybe I should have gone with them.”
Miss Sissy made a scoffing sound. Beatrice said, “I’m with Miss Sissy. Those two were eager to take on the challenge. It doesn’t mean anyone else needs to be endangered.”
Miss Sissy picked up one of the cheeses and banged it with frustration onto the table. Beatrice and Posy looked ruefully at each other and opened the container of cornflakes.
Beatrice said, “Since we’re alone now, except for Miss Sissy, do you think you could talk about yesterday? I’m going to try to speak with a few Village Quilters this morning before I tackle another interview with any of the Sew and Sews.”
Posy nodded, swallowing down a spoonful of dry cereal with some difficulty. “Sure. I’ve been thinking about it over and over. Maybe it will help me to tell you about it.”
Beatrice gave her a hopeful look. “Does that mean you might know something?”
Posy shook her head sadly. “I wish I did. But unless I’m missing something, I don’t believe I do.”
Posy recounted her previous day. She was pretty much on the outskirts of the Sew and Sews instead of interacting with them. She said Meadow had been more sociable and that Beatrice should make sure to ask Meadow her impressions of the women.
Beatrice sighed. “I already have. Meadow, of course, thought they were great. They’re quilters, after all.”
Posy gave a fond smile. “That sounds like Meadow. Anyway, that’s pretty much my day. I don’t think I have a lot to offer. Aspen seemed like a handful. And Olive, to me, looked desperately unhappy. Aside from that, those were my only real recollections.”
Miss Sissy looked decidedly unimpressed with Posy’s offerings.
Posy turned to the old woman. “What did you think of everyone?”
Miss Sissy made a growling noise.
Beatrice wondered if she needed a warmup question first. “How about their quilting? Did you see any of the projects they were working on?”
Miss Sissy looked a bit more receptive to this question. “Pretty good stuff,” she muttered.
Posy nodded. “I thought the same thing. They looked like they were the kind of guild that liked pushing each other to do better and try new things.”
Beatrice grinned at her. “It’s a lovely thought, but I think we’re all sort of stuck in our routines, aren’t we? I can’t imagine convincing Savannah to switch over from geometric prints.”
“Yes, but when she got Meadow’s crazy quilt when we did a swap, she did a great job with it. I just don’t think she’d be happy doing that on a regular basis.”
Beatrice said, “Right. Or, for that matter, if we tried to force Meadow into making geometric patterns. She’d get bored so fast, it would end up as a UFO in no time.”
UFOs were unfinished objects in the quilting world. Beatrice had collected quite a few of them herself.
Miss Sissy, apparently now more in a mood to talk, despite the fact that her unsatiated appetite was making her grouchy, muttered, “Cranky.”
“You’re cranky?” asked Posy.
Miss Sissy scowled at her. “No!”
Beatrice thought the old woman protested too much.
“Who’s cranky?” asked Posy.
“The dead woman.”
“Which dead woman?” asked Beatrice.
Miss Sissy stared at them both as if they were stupid. “The second one!”
Beatrice said, “Hmm. I felt the same thing. Not that she was cranky, but that she seemed really distracted and removed. Neither of you happened to see her speaking with someone one-on-one, did you?”
They both considered this and shook their heads.
Beatrice sighed. “Okay. Well, it was worth a try.”
The door to the dining hall opened once again, and Ivy stumbled in, snow in her hair and even stuck to her eyelashes.
Unfortunately, she seemed about as grouchy as Miss Sissy was. Beatrice was sure the lack of hot food would put the hungry quilters in a much poorer mood than they otherwise would have been.
“Where is everybody?” Ivy asked as she came in. “Shouldn’t Nicole be in here? And Starr?”
“They’ve set off for Starr’s house,” said Posy, still looking worried.
Ivy made a face. “In this weather? Better them than me. I don’t know what they’re really going to accomplish except getting frostbite.”
Frostbite didn’t look as if it were going to be an issue for Ivy. She’d brought most of her bedding with her and it was wrapped around her like a toga. As well, she was in a thick coat, gloves, and hat.
Beatrice said slowly, “I’ve just finished speaking with Posy and Miss Sissy. Could I speak with you, too, Ivy? Since you’re here, anyway?”