Read Online Scraps of Evidence: Quilts of Love Series by Barbara Cameron - Free Book Online

couldn’t help thinking as she carried the books to a planning table and stuck her head into the classroom. When her aunt looked in her direction, Tess tapped a finger on her watch. Her aunt glanced up at the clock, nodded, and dismissed the class.
    The students began gathering their quilts and supplies into their tote bags and carryalls and filed out of the room. Tess caught her aunt’s eye again and when she did, she tapped her finger on the third finger of her left hand. Her aunt’s hand flew to her mouth, and she turned to her student who was chatting with her.
    “I’m so sorry! I forgot Gordon was coming by. Would you mind having Tess help you with those directions?”
    The woman shook her head and handed them to Tess. “Not at all. How’ve you been? Missed seeing you in the Wednesday evening class. Guess you must have been busy with the murder.”
    Tess nodded as she studied the directions.
    “You got to catch this guy,” she went on. “Why, we were talking about it at my breakfast club this morning. Gladys sleeps with a gun under her pillow.”
    Alarmed, Tess forgot all about the directions. “Gladys Petersen?”
    “Why, yes.”
    Tess had pulled her over several months ago when she ran a stop sign. Gladys had claimed she didn’t see the sign and from the way she was squinting, Tess had sent her for a vision test at the driver’s license office. Her blood ran cold at the thought of Gladys shooting someone she couldn’t see.
    “Maybe I should go over and talk to her.”
    Then she thought about it. She’d look up the number and call first.
    “Lynn, we can’t guarantee anything, but so far the man has gone after—” She hesitated, then plunged on, “His victims have been younger women.”
    “But you don’t know he won’t decide to start going after women of my age.”
    “Serial killers tend to focus on younger women.” Tess tried for a reassuring tone. “I’ll be happy to talk to your breakfast club next week if you think it’ll help. The best thing everyone can do is stay calm and just take the usual precautions—make sure they lock their doors and windows. Too often people make it easy for the bad guys by failing to do simple things like that.”
    “I’ll ask the ladies if they’d like you to speak to them.”
    “Fine.”
    They put their heads together over the directions, and Tess did what she could to explain them to Lynn. Tess returned to the table where she’d left the quilt books and spread them out.
    “Planning your next quilt?” Claudia asked.
    She nodded and pointed to a photo of a quilt with a nautical theme. “I think I want to make one with a lighthouse in the center and scenes from the area around the border.”
    “Sounds lovely. Have you picked any fabrics yet?”
    Tess shook her head. “Want to help?”
    Claudia grinned. “Just try to stop me from making suggestions.”
    They roamed the several rooms filled with fabric, pulling out bolts, discussing and accepting and rejecting, until Tess’s arms were piled high with bolts she carried to the cutting table.
    Aunt Kathy returned from lunch and looked over the fabrics as Tess sat at the planning table. “Nice choices. Any particular reason for choosing a lighthouse?”
    “Not just any lighthouse,” Claudia pointed out. “Our lighthouse.”
    A customer walked into the shop, and she went to greet her.
    Tess shrugged. “I don’t know. I just want to do it.”
    “It’s not going to be easy working on this case,” Kathy said quietly. She perched on a stool next to Tess, watching her as she cut the lengths she needed for the quilt.
    “No. But years ago Gordon made sure I understood what I was getting into.”
    When she looked up from the fabrics, she saw that her aunt’s eyes were worried. “What’s wrong?”
    She took a deep breath, then let it out. “The job changes you, that’s all.”
    Tess laid a hand over her aunt’s. “What’s wrong?”
    “I just don’t want you to become cynical about people. Not