Knot in My Backyard (A Quilting Mystery) Read Free Page A

“Wait a minute. What about the Freedom of Information Act? Can’t you compel them under the law?”
    “I’ve tried, but apparently the US Attorney’s Office has better things to do than force the army to comply with my requests. I’ve been stonewalled at every turn.”
    I still wasn’t sure how this tied in with Martin’s murder. Was he involved in some kind of backroom deal to get the city or the engineer corps to cut corners with permits in order to get the stadium built? “Ed, do you really think this has anything to do with Dax Martin’s murder?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe Martin was involved in kickbacks or bribery? He sure pissed someone off.”
    Had Ed shoved a stick into a hornet’s nest? “Have you told anyone else about this?”
    “I’ve been trying to get one of those TV muckrakers to investigate, but nobody will touch it. I made the mistake of meeting with our local city councilman to show him what I found out. I figured he could compel the Army Corps of Engineers to release the information. Only later did I find out his wife sits on the Beaumont Board of Trustees. Now they know I’m digging.”
    I took hold of his hand. “Listen, I’m certain the police will be questioning you soon, given your history with Martin. Do you have an attorney?”
    Ed nodded, face sober. “One of the guys I hang out with.”
    We stood. “Please be careful. If there’s anything I can do to help, just ask.” I gave him a motherly kiss on the cheek.
    As we left, Ed said, “Thanks for the heads-up.” Then he closed the door behind us.
    At the same time, Arlo Beavers got out of his car in front of Ed’s house and walked toward us, scowling.
    I held my hand out to stop him from going to the front door. “He didn’t do it.”
    Beavers’s dark eyes crackled under his frown. “So you knew Pappas and the victim had history and didn’t tell me?”
    “I was going to tell you, but I wanted to talk to him first.”
    Beavers clenched his teeth and spoke deliberately. “Stay out of this homicide, Martha.”
    “Ed Pappas is the real victim here.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “His home has been ruined by the Joshua Beaumont School. Sure he’s angry, but Dax Martin’s murder genuinely surprised him. Right, Lucy?” I turned to my friend for support.
    Lucy held up her hands, took a step backward, and then shrugged as if to say, I’ve no opinion and don’t put me in the middle.
    I gave her the stink eye and turned back to Beavers. “You’ll see when you question him. He’s a decent, young guy.”
    “Sometimes decent people do indecent things. Now go home, and I mean what I say.” He put his finger on my shoulder and thrust his face toward mine. “Stay. Out. Of. This.”
    We walked back toward my house. Lucy took a deep breath. “I’m getting one of my bad feelings.” My friend was convinced she could sense disaster before it happened. She claimed to have extrasensory perception . I called it “intuition.”
    I wasn’t thinking about Lucy’s ESP, however. I still stung from Beavers’s comments. “He has no right to tell me what to do. And thanks for not standing up for me back there.”
    Lucy just shook her head. “Arlo Beavers isn’t your enemy. Why can’t you just relax and trust him to do his job?”
    Lucy was right. After my cheating psychiatrist husband left me and my daughter, Quincy, a couple of decades ago, I could never let myself get too close to any man. Even one, like Beavers, who seemed to really like me. Still, you never knew when someone might just up and leave.

CHAPTER 4
    As Lucy and I neared my yard, the coroner’s van drove in the direction of the Joshua Beaumont field. By the time we got to my front door, Beavers drove past and followed the van around the corner.
    Lucy looked at me. “That was fast. He couldn’t have been at your neighbor’s house for more than two minutes.”
    “Yeah. I guess he must have been called back to the crime scene.”
    I still felt a little queasy