Scandal by Patsy Brookshire Page B

at the Quilt Studio
    I called Len and told him we were on for dinner Wednesday evening, early if he didn't mind.
My plan was to have leisurely time to watch the sun go down while we ate, et cetera. He was
quite agreeable, teasing again about the wine, "Are you sure you want sparkling cider?"
    I went shopping, found a couple of nice steaks, had the cookbook out, reconsidered making
a sponge cake from scratch, and was checking my linen closet when my cell rang.
    What happened next made me think that Willamina has some similarities to Mayberry,
both being small towns with bare-boned law enforcement systems.
    I expected the call to be Len with more of his joshing, but Magda wailed into my ear, "Oh,
Annie! It's awful! Please, can you come?"
    "What? Magda, what's the matter?"
    "Tommy! He's been here all the time. Come, please!" Her voice escalated in volume, causing
my cell to vibrate. She sounded desperate.
    I held it from my ear. "Tommy? Come where?"
    "To my place. To the studio. Oh, God. The bear. We thought he was here to scarf up
apples."
    She gasped. I heard another woman say, "Take a breath, ma'am."
    Which I heard Magda do, while I went through a mental checklist. I'd need gas. I'd not
unpacked from the Cannon Beach trip. Just throw the bag in the car, get gas, and go. Why not ask
Sausage Roll Lena for help, I wondered.
    As if she was listening to me think Magda said, "They took Lena to the hospital. She was
having trouble breathing. One of the deputies said something about jail." This last bit came out
again in the wail.
    "Jail? Lena? Why would Lena go to jail?" While I was asking questions, I was dragging my
bag from where I'd plunked it down when I came home. I put my cell on speaker phone while I took
out the dirties, replaced them with clean underwear, socks and a couple t-shirts.
    Magda kept talking while I moved around the room. "Lena. Me. I don't know. And Tommy's
here. Uggghh!" This last sounded as if she had dropped the phone and was retching.
    A man came on the line. "Ma'am, if you're a friend of hers you should come right away. We
need help here. The body in the backyard has got to be taken care of. The dead bear, too."
    Oh, my.
    "I'll be there as soon as I can." For a millisecond I thought to get Roger, but then I
remembered and damned him for not being here. I told the man--a cop?--to tell Magda I'd be there
as soon as I could, and hung up.
    Sam. I sat down on the bed and called him. He answered within a couple rings. Irrationally I
thanked Roger for helping me. Who knows?
    "Sam, Magda needs you." I gave him a quick rundown on what I knew--not much--and what
I planned to do. "When I get there I'll call you on my cell and you can talk to her. By then I'll know
what's going on."
    "Damn! I wish I had a car!"
    I reminded him that he doesn't have a license anymore.
    "So?"
    I have to laugh. "Okay, Sam. I'll call you in a couple hours, maybe sooner."
    "Thanks for letting me know. I'll wait a few minutes and call her myself. I want to know
what's happened."
    About to hang up I added, "Thanks, Sam." And felt another tiny pang for thanking him while
resenting Roger for dying early. I get so tired of these conflicting feelings.
    "Think nothing of it."
    The trip seemed to take forever, but really took only about two hours. I spent the time
re-running our conversation, trying to come up with a reasonable scenario to explain Magda's
frantic call.
    When I arrived I had to park alongside the road because the driveway was full of police
cars, one that had Sheriff marked on the side. An ambulance was close in to the side
yard.
    Magda burst out of the house, followed by a policewoman with her arms out, like she had
been restraining her and Magda had broken free. Her hair was sticking up all over, her eyes were
wide and wild.
    I was barely out of the car when she threw her arms around me.
    "A-a-a-nnie, Tommy's here, been here all the time. In the backyard. Bear found him. They
think I killed him. Please help me!" Her shriek scaled