Murder on a Starry Night: A Queen Bees Quilt Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page A

Leah said. “I’m going just for him. He’s such a nice guy, and he’s been trying for eons to get something published. There’s so much pressure on faculty now that Canterbury is a university that we’re all overjoyed when someone makes it to print.”
    “Well, good for Professor Fellers. I took his introduction to astronomy class a couple years ago and it was great,” Kate said. “He’s a terrific teacher.”
    “It’s nice the college gives credit where it’s due,” Po said. “My Sam would approve—and he’d be happy about Jed. He’s been at the college a long time, so this is a good thing for him.”
    “You’re right, Po. Sam would like this—both the recognition for the faculty and the excuse for a party,” Kate said, speaking fondly of her godfather.
    Po agreed. “Sam loved a good excuse for a party.”
    “And no matter what the party’s for, it’ll get our minds off Adele Harrington for a while,” Kate said.
    “Who seems to show up everywhere,” Leah nodded toward a family-run booth across the crowded aisle. Loaves of fresh homemade povitica from Kansas City’s Strawberry Hill filled the table. Adele Harrington was leaning in toward the young woman behind the table. The salesperson fidgeted, moving from one foot to another and casting sideways looks at her mother as if pleading for help. Finally Adele shook her finger in the girl’s face, set the loaf of povitica back down and abruptly turned and walked away. The young woman looked after her with tears in her eyes.
    “Another fallen bird in Adele’s path,” Po murmured. “What is it with this lady?”
    Po wove her way across the aisle and picked up the loaf of cream-cheese bread. Adele’s fingerprints were visible on the wrapping where she had pinched the rich coffee cake. She smiled at the young girl. “This looks delicious. I’d like this loaf please.”
    “I’ll get you a fresh one. The lady squeezed this one, I’m afraid.”
    “That’s all right. It will taste just as good, don’t you think?”
    The young girl smiled gratefully at Po and fumbled in the large pocket of her apron for change. “She is going to buy our poviticas for her inn,” she said. “But I think we will earn every penny of it.”
    “Yes, my dear,” Po replied. “I suspect you will.”
    Adele Harrington, from two stalls up, turned suddenly and looked over the heads of several young mothers pushing strollers. “Po Paltrow,” she called out over the market din.
    “I expect you should come today, too. And you shouldn’t buy damaged goods. It’s not responsible.”
    Adele turned and walked on down the row of stands, her head held high and her eyes looking out toward the river, as if planning her next step. Po watched her disappear along the river walk, wondering with some sadness what was going on inside Adele Harrington. And a sixth sense that her mother often warned her about, told her she might be better off not knowing. Sometimes, there’s safety in ignorance.
    Po gathered up her cloth sacks, heavy now with fall’s bountiful produce and hurried after Kate and Leah.

CHAPTER 4
    The Harrington mansion was noisy with activity when Po met Susan and Kate at the end of the driveway an hour later. The long drive that lead up to the three-story stone house was lined with trucks, and men in overalls and jeans carried pails and heavy tool boxes back and forth.
    “Adele doesn’t waste any time,” Kate said, dodging a ladder swinging from a short, no-nonsense man’s shoulder.
    “The place is certainly getting a top-notch manicure,” Po said.
    “It’s pure Gatsby,” Kate mused. “All I need is a martini.” Tall pines lined the perimeters and enormous oak trees shaded the yard, their gnarled branches angling out in all directions. The tips of maple trees were beginning to turn red, heralding the heart of fall. And everywhere, there were freshly tilled patches of earth where brilliant mums bloomed.
    “You don’t get a sense of this place from the