Free A Killer Stitch by Maggie Sefton Page A

“What’s up, Jen? You sound upset.”
    â€œWell, you would be, too, if you’d just been interviewed by the police.”
    â€œWhat? Just now?” Kelly quickly set her mug on the desk.
    â€œYes, Lieutenant Peterson came to the café this morning and asked to speak with me. I’ve gotta admit, that spooked the living hell out of me, Kelly.”
    Concerned, Kelly hunched over the little phone. “I can imagine. It would scare me, too. What did Peterson ask about? Derek and Diane and…and all that?”
    â€œOhhhh, yeah.” Jennifer exhaled a long, audible sigh. “Believe me, Kelly, Peterson knows all about Diane and Derek and her going up to Derek’s place that night. He said he’d talked to all the regulars at the bar, and they gave him an earful.” She snorted. “Of course they told him all about Diane and Derek’s ‘tempestuous relationship,’ as he called it. Their fights, their breakups, their reconciliations. And he heard lots about Diane’s partying and drinking habits.”
    â€œSo he wanted to hear your version, is that it?” Kelly probed.
    â€œYes, and he wanted to know more about Diane herself, since everyone had told him I was her closest friend.” Jennifer paused for a second. “So I told Peterson about the two of them. Why they fought so much, the crappy way Derek treated Diane, swearing he loved her, then dumping her whenever a new girl came along, then jerking her back, over and over, and Diane sinking lower and lower each time.” She exhaled a long sigh.
    Kelly waited for her to continue, and when she didn’t, Kelly interjected quietly, “You had to tell the truth, Jen. Peterson already knew it. He was simply looking for confirmation from someone he knew to be trustworthy. You.”
    â€œMe?” Jennnifer sounded startled.
    â€œYes, you,” Kelly repeated. “Peterson met you last summer, Jennifer, and he knew you to be a credible, reliable witness and observer. That’s worth more to a detective than the gossip of barflies.”
    Jennifer’s chuckle sounded over the line. “Did you learn that from Burt?”
    â€œYeah, it’s part of my junior detective training.”
    Jennifer sighed. “You know, Peterson said something to me after the interview that was kind of funny. He smiled and asked if he could give me some ‘fatherly advice.’”
    â€œYou’re kidding.”
    â€œNope, honest. So I said, sure. I mean, what else would you say to a cop, right? Then he looks me right in the eye and tells me he thinks I’m much too smart a girl to be hanging out with that bar crowd. His advice was to ‘cut them loose before they drag you down.’”
    Kelly caught her breath. Way to go, Lieutenant Peterson! She’d been wanting to say that to Jennifer for months. “Sounds like good advice to me, Jen. Peterson’s got a good eye. Besides, everyone can use fatherly advice.”
    Jennifer laughed softly. “Are you kidding? What with Burt in the shop and Curt Stackhouse watching over us, we’ve got fatherly advice coming out the ying-yang.”

    â€œSo, you knew about Mimi and Burt?” Kelly asked, leaning closer to Lisa as they sat knitting beside the library table.
    Lisa glanced at the various knitters who flanked them, chattering away as they knitted, then spoke in a low voice. “Yeah, Greg and I spotted them at a restaurant one night. They were sitting in a corner booth in the back, gazing at each other in the candlelight.” She grinned as her fingers worked their magic in the red and green wool. “It was so romantic. And cute.”
    Kelly noticed another pair of mittens were nearing completion. Ahhhh, to be able to knit that fast and still be good, she thought enviously. “Wow, I hadn’t noticed a thing. I wonder how long they’ve been dating,” she said, working another row of gray and white