Murders on Elderberry Road: A Queen Bees Quilt Mystery by Sally Goldenbaum Page B

“They were a history book in the making.”
    Po nodded. Her mother collected them, too, then passed them down to Po. She looked over at the diagram. “How will we divide this up?” she asked.
    “The quilt will be five blocks square, with several blocks reserved for a special center star, so we’ll each have to make at least two. Then the fastest among us can do the remaining ones. We’ll set the center star on point and give it its own frame. It will be special, a focal point. If you look at this diagram you can see that it becomes a star within a star, and will take up five blocks. Maybe Susan and I can work on the center while the rest of you do the border stars.”
    “Will all our stars be the same?” Phoebe asked. Phoebe loved experimenting, no matter what the outcome.
    “You can make it as special as you want by changing the center of your star. For example, the middle could be a checkerboard pattern, a diamond, or plain. A small pinwheel would work, too. Live dangerously, Pheebs.”
    “I have some fabric we can start with,” Susan said. “Leah and I picked out these three fabrics for the common colors, based on the color scheme we all agreed on last month. We’ll each use these three in our stars in some way. Then everyone can pick coordinating fabrics and work those into their own design.” She picked up a purple cotton print. “This will be the common background for all the stars. What do you think?”
    “This will be beautiful, Leah,” Kate said. “Even with me working on it!”
    Selma had gone to the front of the store to wait on a customer. “Frankly, I can’t imagine a better time to do this, nor a better person to do it for,” Kate said.
    The others joined in, excited to get started and eager to honor Selma and Parker’s Dry Goods’ fiftieth anniversary in this way.
    Susan passed out copies of the pattern and piled the table with bolts of fabric in deep shades of blue and purple, pale-yellow prints, blue-black stripes, and lavender and gold. Maggie fingered a deep purple fabric with stripes of black and yellow swirling through it. “It will be a magnificent quilt,” she pronounced, and the anniversary project began.
    “What’s the latest news, Selma?” Kate asked as Selma came back into the room. She reached for a mat and rotary cutter.
    Selma rolled her sewing table up to the edge of the work-table and flicked the on switch. The gentle hum of the machine filled the room. “Well, the police have stopped hanging out in my store, which is a good thing. It’s not exactly a welcoming, come-hither sight for my customers, what with P.J. in his crisp blue uniform standing guard at the front door.”
    “P.J. Flanigan?” Kate asked.
    “The one and only,” Maggie said, and winked at Kate.
    “I went to high school with him,” Kate explained to the others. “I thought P.J. went into law.”
    “He did,” Phoebe spoke up. “He was in law school with Jimmy. Everyone knew P.J. He’s one tall piece of man candy!” Her laughter spun up to the skylight.
    “Well, I won’t argue with that,” Kate grinned mischievously.
    “P.J Flanigan is a great guy,” Po said. “His parents are dear friends of mine. After law school, P.J. switched to police work, following in his father’s footsteps. I suspect he’ll go back to law some day.” She looked over at Kate. “And if I remember correctly, Kate Margaret Simpson, high school wasn’t the only place you went with P.J.”
    Kate snorted. “A lifetime ago, Po. But P.J. and I had a lot of fun, I must admit.”
    “He brings his two Aussies to me. And you can tell a master by his dogs, you know,” Maggie said. “Kanga and Mocha are the sweetest girls in town.”
    Po grinned and said, “Kate, you know your mother and I used to place bets on the comings and goings of P.J. Flanigan — when you two would break up and when you’d make-up. We’d sit on my back porch sipping very dry martinis, always with a thin slice of apple floating on top,