1 Forget Me Knot by Mary Marks Read Free Book Online Page B

such a compulsive neat freak? What was the driving need behind all of this organization?
    I opened the top drawer of a built-in dresser and found neat little piles of scanty underwear. I lifted out a lacy black thong no larger than the palm of my hand.
    Maybe if I lost about fifty pounds .
    Well, well. What had we here? Next to the underwear was a half-empty box of condoms. So Claire had a boyfriend. Did they have a fight? Did he kill her?
    I replaced the tiny piece of black lace and the box of condoms and came out of the closet feeling a lot fatter than when I went in.
    At the back of the bedroom was a door leading to an office. A polished walnut desk sat under a large window facing the backyard. A laptop and a telephone sat on the uncluttered desk. No mess here. No surprise.
    I sat and opened the top desk drawer. A red and white Altoid tin rattled when I picked it up. A faint peppermint smell lingered inside along with unmarked keys of various sizes.
    I took the tin full of keys back to the sewing room and unlocked the cupboard on the third try. Inside were only three quilts. I unfolded the first one.
    This quilt was a brilliantly designed appliqué about four feet square. Mother’s Asleep featured a naked woman with her arms over her head. She floated with her eyes closed on white clouds discretely covering her private parts. French knots made of gray thread covered the clouds like thousands of silver seeds. Clear teardrop-shaped beads dripped from the bottom of the clouds.
    I felt for a note inside the quilt. Nothing. Claire’s message must be in the design itself. Silver seeds. Water. Clouds. All of those elements suggested rainmaking, but what did that have to do with the title, Mother’s Asleep?
    I took out my cell phone and punched in Siobhan’s number. The maid put me through to the familiar soft voice.
    “Yes?”
    “Siobhan, this is Martha. I’m at Claire’s and have found three of her quilts. Four if you count the one in the living room. Is that all of them?”
    “I’m sure there are more. She kept a record somewhere of all the quilts she made. Maybe you could look for it.”
    “I think you’re right about the messages in the quilts, but it’s going to take a while to figure out what they are. Do I have your permission to take them home where I can study them more at length?”
    “Yes. Just give me a list of the ones you’ve taken. And, Martha, I’m afraid whoever stole Claire’s quilt might try to come after the others.”
    “Why?”
    “Well, they’re valuable, you know. So let’s keep their location secret for now. It’s safer that way.”
    I snapped the cell phone shut and looked outside. It was past six and the sun was going down. Siobhan warned me the thief might strike again. If so, I didn’t want to be alone in Claire’s house after dark.
    I locked the empty quilt cabinet and put the Altoid box of keys in my shoulder bag. If someone was going to come after Claire’s quilts, I wasn’t going to make this easy. If he figured out Claire locked her quilts in the cabinet, he’d have to look for the key just like I did. He wouldn’t find it, so he’d be forced to jimmy open the door. Not only would he not find the quilts there, he might actually leave fingerprints for the police.
    I smiled at my cleverness. I’d never played chess, but if I had, I thought it would feel exactly like this.
    When I opened the door to the linen closet, the fragrance of lavender and gardenias floated out in a pleasant cloud. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then I pulled out a couple of crisp pillowcases and put the quilts into them. I locked the front door and put the bundles in the trunk of my car.
    On the drive home I remembered the cat. I decided to leave him there for now. He had plenty of food and water and a clean litter box. Anyway, I’d be back soon to look for a record of Claire’s quilts.

C HAPTER 9
    I lived in a midcentury house on a street lined with towering liquidambar trees