2 Knot What It Seams by Elizabeth Craig Read Free Book Online

she’d mentioned competitiveness. If anyone appeared competitive, it was Karen. Jo just acted like a know-it-all. “How do you place at shows where Jo judges?”
    Karen sighed. “I never win when Jo is judging. She always makes sure I lose. She’ll come up with all kinds of reasons why she didn’t like them—bad composition, poor execution. I also think she talks to other judges, too, and influences them against me.”
    “Most likely trying to help you improve,” murmured Meadow again. This time Karen ignored her.
    Beatrice noticed Opal Woosley walking over to the refreshment table. “Opal isn’t wild about Jo, either, is she? I’m surprised to see her here when she knows Jo is going to be here, too. I’d think she’d want to avoid meeting up with her.”
    “Opal wouldn’t miss any opportunity to make a dig at Jo. She lives for these moments. Besides, she has a quilt here in the show—it’s not a contender for a ribbon, but it’s a nice quilt. I’m sure she’s been practicing what she’s going to say to Jo today . . . probably for hours.” Karen glanced over at the disheveled Opal, who was spilling punch on the top of her blouse and muttering to herself.
    The Looney Tunes ring tone on Meadow’s phone went off, loudly. Meadow frowned. “That’s the ring for Ramsay. Why would hebe calling me? He knows I’m at a show.”
    “If you answer it,” said Beatrice through gritted teeth as Looney Tunes merrily played on and on, “then maybe you’ll find out.”
    Meadow raised the phone to her ear. “Ramsay? I’m sort of busy at this show. Can I call you back . . . what? What!” She listened intently for a moment, her mouth rather comically agape. “Oh. Ohhh. Okay. Yes.”
    “Something wrong, Meadow? It wasn’t bad news, was it?” asked Karen.
    A loud peal of thunder made them all jump.
    “Yes,” said Meadow slowly. “Yes, actually, it was bad news. Jo is dead. She drove her car right off the side of the mountain.”

Chapter 4
    For the next thirty minutes, the quilters clumped together to exclaim over the tragedy and the horrible weather that had surely been responsible.
    “Jo always did drive perilously fast,” said Opal. She clearly couldn’t bring herself to fake any sorrow at Jo’s passing, and her elfish face held some barely repressed glee.
    Meadow’s face was set in grim lines. “We should cancel the show. It’s terrible of us to continue on as if nothing has happened. Besides, we lost one of our judges.”
    Karen quickly spoke up. “Meadow, I think that’s a bad idea. We already rented the facility, after all. We’ve already transported the quilts and spent a long time working to display them. The refreshments and the quilters and the public are already here.”
    Meadow gave a hesitating nod, but still looked unconvinced.
    “Besides, wouldn’t Jo have wanted us to go ahead with the show?”
    Karen was pushing it.
    Suddenly, Opal’s eyes opened up wide. She gaped blankly across the room as if she was seeing something that no one else saw. Her mouth dropped open.
    Meadow’s did, too, as she watched Opal. “She’s having a vision!” she hissed at Beatrice.
    Opal’s mouth snapped shut again. “It wasn’t an accident,” said Opal in a wavering voice. “Jo Paxton was murdered.”
    “Murdered!” the women chorused.
    Karen shook her head. “Opal, it looks to me like Jo was driving too fast for conditions.”
    “Why shouldn’t she have been murdered? It was probably someone’s good deed for the day. The month!” Opal Woosley’s face was now irrepressibly elated.
    Beatrice shook her head impatiently. “Maybe no one liked her, but that doesn’t mean that someone murdered her. It’s pouring down buckets of rain out there and Jo is driving on narrow, curving mountain roads. It sounds like the perfect setup for an accident.”
    Opal’s eyes were huge. “It was no accident. I saw it—clear as day.” She saw Beatrice peering closely at her and explained, “I have