The Long Stitch Good Night: An Embroidery Mystery Read Online Free

announce to everyonewithin the sound of her voice that her husband had been arrested.
    “Excuse me?” the officer asked. “You’ll have to speak up.”
    “Blake MacKenzie,” Sadie repeated a little more loudly.
    The officer typed what I assumed was Blake’s name into the computer. In a moment she instructed, “Wait here. I’ll have someone take you back.” She pressed an intercom button and called for Deputy Flaherty.
    Within just a couple minutes, a red-haired policeman of average height and build arrived. “Mrs. MacKenzie?”
    “That’s me,” Sadie said.
    “Right this way,” he said.
    “Is it okay if my friend comes too?” she asked.
    “Sure.”
    We followed him down a corridor that led to the cells. Prior to going through the door, Deputy Flaherty waved a metal detecting wand over us to further ensure neither of us was carrying a weapon.
    “You may talk with your husband for about five minutes,” he told Sadie. “There is to be no physical contact, and I’ll remain with youwhile you speak with him.” He pressed a button and the door opened automatically.
    The nearly deafening din coming from inside the cellblock reminded me of stepping into a dog kennel at an animal shelter. And the similarities didn’t end there. As I looked into the eyes of those behind the locked cage doors, I felt compassion for some and fear of others.
    And, of course, my heart broke for Blake. Now wearing a standard-issue orange inmate jumpsuit, he sat on a cot in a cell by himself looking hungover and sad. His usually gleaming hair was limp and sweaty. His face brightened a little when he saw Sadie. He stood and hurried over to the bars. “I’m so sorry.”
    “It’s okay,” she said. “Let’s just get you home.”
    Blake looked ruefully at Deputy Flaherty and then back at Sadie. “That’s not gonna happen, babe. At least, not until Monday.”
    “What?” Sadie stepped toward the officer until she was nearly nose to nose with him. “I can pay his bail right now. Why can’t he leave?”
    “Bail hasn’t been set,” Deputy Flaherty said patiently. “And it won’t be set until the judge presides over the arraignment Monday morning.”
    “Isn’t there something you can do?” she demanded. “Someone you can call? I don’t know what charges you have him on, but I’m certain this must be a mistake. My husband is a good man.”
    The officer spread his hands. “I’m sorry. In cases as serious as this, the accused must appear before the judge for the arraignment and bond hearing before there is even a possibility of his being released.”
    Sadie went back to stand before Blake. “When you called, you said there had been some trouble at the bar. I thought you’d been in a fight or something. What do the police think you’ve done?”
    Blake sighed. “Graham Stott is dead.”
    She gasped. “Graham? How? What happened?”
    “He was shot,” Blake said.
    Shot? At the bar? What on earth had happened after we’d left? Was Todd okay?
    “B-but who? Why?” Sadie’s eyes filled with tears.
    Blake simply shook his head.
    “The police think you had something to do with it?” she asked.
    He nodded.
    The automatic door swung open, and anotheruniformed officer—this one short, heavy, and bald—escorted Todd into the cellblock.
    “Todd?” I asked, relieved to see that he did appear to be all right. Like Sadie, I was desperately trying to get a handle on what was going on.
    He managed a weak smile. I noticed his hands were cuffed.
    The officer instructed us to step back while he placed Todd in the cell with Blake. After shutting the door, he had Todd put his hands through the bars so he could remove the cuffs.
    Sadie spun around to face Deputy Flaherty. “Will somebody please tell me what’s going on here?”
    “Mr. MacKenzie and Mr. Calloway have been charged with the murder of Graham Stott,” he said.
    Sadie, her face drained of color, turned back to Blake. “What…what happened?”
    “We don’t know,”