Sample Sunday: Excerpt: STITCHED IN CRIME by Emmie Caldwell aka Mary Ellen Hughes

Please welcome Emmie Caldwell, aka Mary Ellen Hughes, to the blog today.

 

Excerpt: STITCHED IN CRIME by Emmie Caldwell aka Mary Ellen Hughes

 

Cory Littlefield has taken a booth at the Crandalsburg Craft Fair next to Lia Geiger.  While Lia offers beautiful handmade knits, Cory makes wonderfully creative crochet art, though her anxiety problem makes dealing with the public a challenge. Though sympathetic, Lia can’t know what Cory’s problem stems from—nor the malevolence it will eventually lead to.

 

It was the dream again. Cori could only watch as Jessica walked away. She wanted to call out, "No! Stay here!" But she couldn't. She could only follow. As she did every time.

Jessica had always been her favorite babysitter. She made her laugh and played games with her. And she read to her better than anyone. She'd do funny voices and make up things that Cori knew weren't really in the story. They made the story so much better!

But Jessica didn't come to babysit anymore. She told Cori she was getting too busy. She was in college, now, and she had a boyfriend. Was that where she was going? To see her boyfriend? That was why Cori followed. She was curious.

At first, Jessica caught her following and told her to go home. "You can't come with me, Cori," she said, her hands sternly on her hips.

"Why not!"

"Because you can't. Now go back!"

But Cori didn't want to go back. She started to cry.

Jessica hesitated, and Cori thought she might relent and let her come with her, until Jessica said, "I'll come see you another time."

"When?" Cori asked.

Jessica looked impatient, but she said. "Tomorrow. Okay?"

Cori sniffed hard. "Promise."

"I promise. Now, go home."

Cori turned around, but after a few steps she stopped and looked back. She saw Jessica walking again, and she hid behind a tree until Jessica got far ahead. Then Cori followed.

She wasn't supposed to go there, she knew that. There were lots of trees that made it dark and places where you could fall down real far. Her mother told Cori not to ever go there unless she or someone big was with her. But Jessica was a big person, wasn't she? She didn't know Cori was there, but that didn't matter, did it? It only meant she wouldn't tell Cori's mom, but that made it even better.

It was a long walk, a lot of it was uphill, and Cori got tired. She had to sit down. Jessica kept walking, but she wasn't going very fast and there was the path to stay on. Cori could catch up. When she felt better, Cori ran up the path but stopped when she heard voices. She hid behind a clump of bushes and crouched way down. She recognized Jessica's voice, but she didn't know the other one. Jessica was talking the most, so Cori listened to her. She liked listening to Jessica, and after a while Cori decided to come out. Maybe Jessica would tell her a story—like the ones she used to read aloud to Cori. Jessica would be so surprised to see her, but she wouldn't mind. It would be such a good joke!

The sun blinded Cori when she came out from her hiding place, shining right into her eyes. She put her hands up to shade them, but it didn't help. She was standing still and blinking from the sun when she heard Jessica scream.

"Jessica!" Cori cried, and she ran blindly toward the scream—until she saw the big, dark figure. It wasn't Jessica. It was the other voice. It started to come toward her, and Cori screamed, and screamed, and screamed.

Until she woke up. 

Emmie Caldwell ©2021

Emmie Caldwell is the author of the Craft Fair Knitters Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime, which begins with A WICKED YARN. As Mary Ellen Hughes, she’s written four cozy mystery series, the most recent being the Keepsake Cove Mysteries. Find out more at http://emmiecaldwell.com/ and http://maryellenhughes.com/