Murder on a Starry Night: A Queen Bees Quilt Mystery by Sally Goldenbaum Page B

well.
    “Ollie spent lots of time in the library when he wasn’t in classes. Sometimes new students poked fun at him—he was so much older than they were—but before long they’d stop because so many of us knew him and liked him and once you talked to him, you saw the kindness in him. Professors let him sit in on classes, and he knew everyone. Jed Fellers, especially, took Ollie under his wing. But you probably know that. Jed was a mentor to Ollie, and then they became good friends.” Halley paused and took a drink of coffee, her voice strained with emotion. For a moment, she and Po sat in silence, the memories of Ollie Harrington filling the space between them.
    Halley wrapped her long narrow fingers around her coffee cup and went on. “Sometimes Jed and Ollie let me sit with them and listen when they’d talk about astrology, and a couple of times the three of us went down to the Powell observatory in Louisburg for their Starbright Saturday night programs. Ollie didn’t go out much, but he loved going down there with the professor. Jed would explain to us what we were seeing, and then we’d go somewhere for coffee and talk about it all. Ollie would get so excited. He learned so much from Jed, and Jed would just sit there and beam at his prize student, so proud as Ollie waxed eloquently about all those things—the Pleiades cluster, the Andromeda galaxy, things I’d never heard about before.”
    “I didn’t know about that part of Ollie’s life, Halley. It makes me happy to know he had such special times with good friends.”
    Halley wiped the moisture from her eyes with the back of her hand. “Ollie loved those times, and he loved it at Canterbury,” she said. “He used to tell me that Canterbury was his surrogate family And when I met his sister, I understood why he said that.”
    “You aren’t fond of Adele,” Po said.
    “I don’t know her that well,” Halley answered, a slight trace of defensiveness in her voice.
    “But you’ve talked, that I know.”
    “That was foolish of me. Sometimes I get involved where I don’t belong, I guess. But I cared so much for him. Ollie even convinced me to take a class in astronomy last semester.”
    “From Jed?”
    Halley blushed slightly. “Well, Ollie told me he was the best. And he was right.”
    “It’s good Ollie’s friends have each other now. That helps. I know when my Sam died, my friends at Canterbury were so important.”
    “Jed was mostly Ollie’s friend. But since Ollie’s death, he lets me talk about him, and we share lots of good memories. I can tell him how sad I feel and he understands. I told him how much it would mean to have something of Ollie’s. And he encouraged me to let Adele know, so I did.”
    “Was it his telescope you wanted?” The telescope was clearly valuable, and Po could understand that Adele might be suspicious of someone she didn’t know wanting to take it. That might explain Adele’s anger toward Halley.
    “Oh, no, not that. Telescopes you can
buy
, Po. I wanted to get some of Ollie’s writings, some of his thoughts that he put in written form. Some books.” She looked out the window, as if deciding how much to say to Po. When she turned back, her words were deliberate and careful. “Ollie talked sometimes about me sharing his home someday.” Halley paused for a long time. When she spoke again, her voice was profoundly sad. “And then he was murdered. And no one seems to be doing much about it.”
    “The police are doing everything they can, Halley.”
    “Then why is Adele Harrington still building a bed and breakfast? Why is she still occupying that house, acting like everything’s fine?”
    “Do you think Adele had something to do with Ollie’s death?” Po asked. A young waitress appeared and refilled their cups, then disappeared across the room.
    “It’s the only way she could get her hands on that property. I know Ollie wasn’t going to will it to her. Adele never liked Crestwood—Ollie told me