A Midsummer Night's Scream

three skeins—two light and one medium colors.
    Jane leaped in and asked, “What would it look like if you used the darkest instead of the medium?“
    This was enough to cut off any more personal questions from Elizabeth. Jane thought it was about time Elizabeth’s snoopiness was squelched.
    The conversations shifted back to color and pattern choices, with Martha as busy as a hen advising various students. It drifted off into recipes for a bit, then to having pillows made of their work when it was done or having them mounted in acid-free paper and double glass, front and back.
    An hour later, packing-up commenced. Ms. Bunting was spending the afternoon with her grandchildren to give them their toys. Elizabeth asked Jane, Shelley, and Ms. Bunting where they had found the wonderful jewelry bags in which they kept their floss, scissors, and needles. Shelley explained about the department store and that they were meant for jewelry.
    Jane and Shelley were going home, Shelley intending to get ahead of Jane in the needlepoint ranks.
    Jane planned to work on her second book. Elizabeth, not surprisingly, was headed to a Junior League planning committee.
    Tazz was on her way to her warehouse to find the right size costumes.
    Sam had to pick up his truck from the garage where he had left it to have the tires rotated while he was in class. He asked Martha if she had a paper bag without the needlepoint shop logo he could put his things in. He didn’t want the mechanics to see what he had along.
    When Jane returned home, she decided she had to monitor her time. She’d have to put in two hours on her book for each hour of working on her needlepoint. Over a ham sandwich and Fritos, she made notes of what Letitia would be doing next. Then she’d do at least half a chapter and still have time to do a bit of needlepoint before dressing to go out with Mel at five to his favorite steakhouse restaurant. Detective Mel VanDyne and Jane had been friends and lovers for a long time.
    But shortly after noon, Mel called. “I’m going to have to stand you up. I’ve got a murder victim at a theater.“
    Jane asked warily, “What theater?“
    “Why does it matter?“
    “It just does.“
    “It’s that one that belongs to the college drama department.“
    “Who’s dead?“
    “Jane, I don’t even know that yet. I’m still five blocks away. You might want to let Shelley know. Isn’t that the building her husband donated to the college?“
    When he hung up, she immediately rang Shelley. “You’re going to have to cancel the caterers this minute. I just heard from Mel that someone’s been murdered at the theater.“
    “Who?“
    “Even Mel doesn’t know yet.“
    “I’m hanging up and calling the caterer right now. Thanks for letting me know.“
    Jane’s afternoon was shot. She couldn’t keep her mind on her book or her needlepoint and sat down to watch the Home and Garden channel to clear her head of this news. She couldn’t, however, help speculating about the identity of the victim. Her best guess was Professor Imry. He’d made enemies of almost everyone involved.
    He’d mildly insulted Shelley, and he’d irritated both John and Gloria Bunting with his silly insistence on calling actors by their script names at all times. He’d come out on the wrong side of a tiff with Denny Roth about grammar. But who would kill him for getting his grammar wrong? That wasn’t even close to being a motive for something so horrible.
    And what if it wasn’t Imry? Who else could it be? And how was Mel certain it was murder when he hadn’t even reached the scene yet? Maybe someone had just had a terrible accident. A fall. A stroke. A heart attack.
    She turned the television off, suddenly horrified that it might be Gloria Bunting who was the victim. It would break Jane’s heart if it was. She would also be sad if it was Tazz.
    The phone rang again. This time it was Shelley. “I caught the caterers before they’d started the preparations, so all I’ve lost is my deposit. This is clearly going to close the theater for at least a day ,maybe longer. Do you think I should warn the next one in line?“
    “I would if I were you.“
    “Have you heard back from Mel? Who was murdered? Was it really murder or was it an accident?“
    “I don’t know anything else. But I’ve also wondered as well.“
    “Couldn’t you call Mel on his cell phone and ask?“
    “That would be worth more than my life is. He’d be furious. Call your other