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the sound of the doorbell. Angus beat us to the door to greet the pizza delivery guy. I took the pizza while Ted paid the bill.
    I put the pizza on the kitchen table, and then I put Angus outside.
    “We’ll save you some,” I promised.
    Then I washed my hands and got us plates and napkins.
    Ted came up behind me, wrapped his arms around my waist, and kissed my neck.
    “If you keep doing that, our pizza is going to get awfully cold before we eat it,” I warned.
    “I don’t mind,” he said. “But I know you have to get back to the Stitch soon.”
    “Did talking about the case help you any?”
    “Yeah . . . some.”
    I knew he was lying, but I didn’t call him on it.
    “So how was your day?” he asked.
    I put pizza on the plates, got us two bottles of water from the fridge, and we sat down to eat. While we ate, I filled him in on the episode with Clara and her bunny, Clover.
    “She seems to be even more off her gourd than Nellie is,” he said. “Did she think you came to her shop in stealth mode to steal her rabbit and give it to Angus?”
    I giggled. “Apparently so. And, oddly, now I feel like doing just that! When Clara came after it, the poor thing tried to hide between Angus’s paws!”
    He laughed and then tried—and failed—to give me a serious look. “Darling, should we consider getting the boy a pet of his own?”
    “No! It’s all I can do to keep up with him!”
    We both laughed.
    “And, besides, who gets their dog a pet?” I asked.
    “Who knows? Stranger things have happened, I guess.” Ted shook his head. “But there’s no fear of Angus being lonely.”
    “No, there’s not. I’m leaving him home tonight, though. That blackwork class has a lot of students, and I think it’s best not to bring him.”
    “Mind if I stay with him?” Ted asked. “We can watch the baseball game until you get back.”
    “That sounds wonderful,” I said. “Two handsome guys waiting for me when I get home? Score!”
    *   *   *
    I knew I was leaving Angus in good hands as I drove back to the Seven-Year Stitch. He would have been fine had I left him home alone, but he was happy to be spending time with Ted. Before I left, Ted told me that he and Angus were planning on watching the Mariners play the Angels.
    Interest in the Ren Faire had brought a lot of new students in for the blackwork class. That was really good, but it was hard to get to know everyone and to keep the class running smoothly when there were twenty-five students on the roster. My classes were typically ten and under. I probably should have set a cap on the number who could attend, but I didn’t have the heart to turn anyone away. As it was, the sofas, the chairs, the ottomans, and the floor were filled with stitchers.
    I unlocked the door and barely had time to restock the minifridge with bottled water before the students began arriving. Some of the regulars were present, of course—Vera, Julie, Amber, and Christine—as well as many people I’d never seen before I posted the class announcement at the library and the museum.
    Once everyone was settled in, I handed out an artichoke border pattern.
    “Artichokes were a recurring theme in Renaissance embroidery,” I explained.
    “Why?” teenaged Amber piped up. “I
hate
artichokes.”
    I smiled. “You remind me of an old joke.
It might choke Artie, but it ain’t gonna choke me!
”
    Amber laughed. “It’s not gonna choke me, either. It
is
a pretty pattern, though.”
    “Since this pattern has both linear and diagonal elements, we’ll break it down into runs to make sure it’s clean, neat, and reversible,” I said. “Be sure and keep your tension on the cloth even.”
    Rather than sitting and working on my own projects, I kept moving throughout the group during the blackwork class so I could offer my help wherever it was needed.
    Suddenly, we were all startled by the sound of sirens blaring down the street. We looked out to see police cars and fire trucks roaring