A Quilt in Time (A Harriet Turman/Loose Threads Mystery) Read online

  Harriet was sorting pictures from her boarding school days several hours later when she heard someone tapping on her studio door. Reliving her school days through photographs was not the joyful experience it might have been if she’d had a more normal childhood.

  Lauren stood on the porch. She held up two white paper coffee cups with the distinctive Steaming Cup logo stamped on the side. Harriet got up and opened the door, and Lauren handed her one of the cups as she entered.

  “Mochas are us,” she said and set her cup down while she slipped out of her jacket. She looked at the pictures spread out on the table. “Are you scrapbooking?”

  “No, that would be depressing. ‘Here’s little Harriet having birthday cake with the headmistress and the dorm mother.’ No, thanks. These are pictures of scenery from when I was in boarding school. Aiden’s niece and nephew are doing a family genealogy project. They were talking about their grandmother being from Bordeaux, and I told them that I went boarding school there, and I took a photography class and would be happy to give them copies of the photos I have of the city if they wanted. They did, so here I am sorting.”

  Lauren slid a wheeled chair over to the table and sat down.

  “How very generous of you.”

  “It seemed like the right thing to do. I mean, they have to live with Michelle as their mother.”

  Lauren sipped her mocha.

  “Well, meanwhile, I’ve been tapping my fingers to the bone on my laptop, trying to come up with something we haven’t considered yet.”

  “I’m going to drop the pictures off at the vet clinic this afternoon, and then I’ll go try to reach Joshua and see if he is willing or able to tell me anything else about Seth. There has to be something we’re missing.”

  “I get the same feeling,” Lauren said. “But I’ve searched everyone involved. I can’t find anything that helps.”

  “Morse came by today to get her quilt.”

  “That was quick.”

  “She was willing to keep it simple. Anyway, she dug up some information about Howard’s first two wives. Whether he killed them or not, he certainly benefited from their deaths.”

  “Are you sure you should be going to see Joshua? I hate to sound like Morse, but maybe it’s time to sit this one out.”

  “I take it you’re not free this afternoon?”

  “That would be correct. I have to meet with a client and try to figure out where the bug is in their new system. If I find it, I have to devise a workaround. They’re a new client, so I need to try to impress them. Can you possibly wait until tomorrow?”

  “I suppose I could. I don’t think Joshua is dangerous. He seems more like a victim in this whole thing. He lost his mother, and if Morse’s info is correct, Howard stole his inheritance. He also told me he’s worried about Howard arranging an accident for him.”

  “Isn’t that when a person is most dangerous?” Lauren asked her. “When they have nothing to lose.”

  “I suppose.”

  Harriet spent another thirty minutes sorting pictures then before loading the ones she thought Lanie and Etienne might be interested in into a photo box, took Scooter out. When she was finished, she picked up the receiver to her land line and dialed her aunt’s number.

  “Hey, Aunt Beth,” she said. “Are you free this afternoon?”

  “No, honey. Mavis and Connie and I are spending the rest of the afternoon sorting donations for the church rummage sale. What do you need? Maybe I can arrange a substitute.”

  “That’s not necessary. I want to talk to Joshua, and Lauren isn’t free. She said she’s available tomorrow; I can wait until then.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t want you going off by yourself. If what Hannah’s telling you is true, he could be real dangerous.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m going to go by the vet clinic to drop some pictures off for Aiden’s niece and nephew while I pick up some more of Scooter’s prescription dog food.”

  “If you change your mind, just give me a call.”

  “Okay, thanks. Talk to you later.”

  Harriet scooped up the pictures she wasn’t taking with her and dropped them back into their original box.

  “You behave while I’m gone,” she told Scooter and Fred. She stroked Fred’s head as he sat on the corner of the kitchen counter. “Don’t think I don’t know you’re the one that’s pushing paper products from the back of the toilet so Scooter can tear them apart. If you don’t stop, you’re going to have to be in time-out when I’m not here.”

  With her pets thoroughly admonished, she took her coat and purse from the kitchen closet and headed for the garage.

  “Is Aiden available?” Harriet asked at the reception desk of the vet clinic.

  “Let me check.” She disappeared into a hallway that led to the examination rooms. “He’ll be out in a few minutes,” she said when she returned a few minutes later.

  Harriet sat down on a bench between a plump red-faced man with a bulldog sitting at his feet and a teenager with a stiff six-inch Mohawk holding a box with a lilac point Siamese kitten in it. She was talking to the teen when Hannah came into the waiting room from the parking lot.

  “Hi, Hannah.”

  “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  “I have to pick up some of the prescription food Aiden wants my dog to eat. And…” She glanced at the photo box sitting on the bench between herself and the guy with the cat. “…I’m bringing some pictures for Aiden’s niece and nephew for a school genealogy project.”

  “I hated it when we did family trees in school. It’s embarrassing how many times my dad’s been married.”

  “Three can’t be that unusual.”

  “It’s four, and get real. This is Foggy Point. Nobody gets divorced here.”

  Harriet wanted to grill her about the fourth wife—or more likely, a new contender for first wife—but the waiting room didn’t seem like the place. She mentally added the question to her list for Joshua.

  “Hannah, could you tell Joshua I’d like to talk to him again? I have a few more questions for him.”

  “What could he possibly tell you? He spends most of his time fooling around with plants in that horrible shed he lives in. Besides, I told you before, he’s one sick puppy.”

  “I’ll be careful, and I won’t go alone,” Harriet assured her.

  “Harriet,” Aiden called from the open door of exam room one.

  Hannah turned when Harriet stood up.

  “I better get to work,” she said and opened the door next to the reception window.

  “What about Joshua?”

  “I’ll give him the message. I can’t promise anything. Like I’ve been trying to tell you—he’s weird.”

  “I hope I’m not interrupting your schedule too much,” Harriet said as she followed Aiden through the exam room and into the back hallway that linked all the exam rooms with the surgical suites, the kennel areas and the back of the reception space.

  He put his arm over her shoulder and led her to the lunchroom.

  “I’ve always got time for you.” When the room proved to be empty, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a quick kiss. “Would you like anything to eat or drink?” He opened a white refrigerator and took a can of cola from the door.

  “Do you have diet?”

  He took a second can and set both of them on the table.

  “Let me get a wipe before you drink that.” He pulled a sanitizing wipe from a dispenser on the counter and wiped both cans before handing the diet to her. “I don’t want you carrying any germs home to Scooter. He’s still not strong enough to fight off an illness if he were to catch something. You should wash your hands when you get home before you touch either of your animals, too.”

  “Thank you, Doctor Jalbert,” Harriet said and smiled.

  “You know, cobbler’s kids go shoeless and all that. Our pets aren’t going to suffer the same fate.” He reached for the box of photos she had set on the table. “Are these the pictures for Lanie and
Etienne? Are there any pictures of little Harriet?” he asked with that crooked grin of his.

  “Are you kidding? Besides, I took the pictures, so I’m not in any of them.”

  He lifted several from the top.

  “These are really good. How old were you when you took them?”

  “I don’t know. Eleven or twelve, I guess.”

  Harriet’s phone rang. From the tone, she knew it wasn’t one of her friends.

  “Hello?”

  Hannah came into the lunchroom carrying a white paper sack. Aiden held his finger to his lips as she crossed to the refrigerator and opened the door.

  “Jo? Slow down and say that again…What do you mean, she remembered everything? The accident, too?…I’ll be right over…Okay, you’re right…Yeah, I’m free after dinner…Okay, see you then…Got it, patio door.”

  Hannah shut the door to the refrigerator, looked at Harriet and Aiden then ducked her head, pink spots on her cheeks.

  “Sorry,” she said and left the lunch room.

  Harriet turned to Aiden.

  “That was Jo from the senior center. Her friend Janice—the one in the wheelchair—she’s the one who was an investigative reporter back when Howard’s second wife died. She was in a car accident, and Howard was driving. She’s never been able to remember what happened.

  “She found a drug that’s used for another disease but is showing promise in restoring lost memories. She got her hands on some and has been taking it. Until now, it was only making a minor difference, but Jo says today Janice remembered everything.

  “She wouldn’t tell me the details—she’s afraid the place is bugged. She was out on her patio just now, but she said they have video cameras on the outside and someone would come to check up on her if she stayed outside long enough to be noticed. I’ll go by after dinner and see what she has to say.”

  Aiden pulled her back into his arms.

  “Are you sure she’s playing with a full deck? If the place is bugged during the day, doesn’t it stand to reason it’s also bugged at night? Besides, could she possibly know anything that could help prove who killed Seth?”

  “She said she and Mickey have some strategy for avoiding the cameras, but they have to wait until the evening staff come on. I guess there are fewer of them and they tend to be less vigilant. As for what Janice could possibly say—unfortunately, all she can do is add to the pile of evidence against Howard.”

  “Then don’t go. I mean, if it can’t help prove what happened to Seth, but it could be a threat to Howard, you could get caught in the crossfire.”

  “If I don’t go, Jo might do something that puts that group of seniors in danger.”

  Aiden brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen into her eyes.

  “If Jo was a CIA agent, she can take care of herself. And the one in the wheelchair has been living under Howard’s control for years, if what you said is true. If he was going to harm her, he’d have done it years ago.”

  Harriet looked into his face and saw the worry lines etched into his forehead. She sighed.

  “Tell you what. I’ll call Detective Morse. If she wants to go talk to them, then I’m out of it. If she doesn’t, I’ll ask her if she cares if I go. If I do go, I’ll talk to my aunt or Mavis and see if they want to go.”

  “I guess that’s all I can ask. Do you think the whole memory-drug thing is for real?”

  “Seems to be. Lauren looked it up on her computer when we had coffee earlier, and she found an article about it.”

  “Wow, that could be a game changer for plenty of folks if it’s real.”

  Harriet glanced over his shoulder at the box of pictures.

  “Those are all copies, so tell the kids they can use whatever they want.”

  “Thanks for helping them. You could probably tell, they don’t get much attention from either of their parents.”

  “No problem,” Harriet said. “I better get my dog food and get moving, I’ve got stitching to do.”

  “Want me to bring take-out Chinese by later?”

  “Assuming it’s not an attempt to keep me from going to the senior center, yes, I’d like that.” She smiled at him then picked up her purse and left.

  Chapter 26

  Harriet went back home and put her next customer quilt on the long-arm machine, but she was too restless to start stitching on it. Her phone rang, and she hurried to answer it, but it was only Lauren.

  “I can only talk a minute. My client is out on a smoke break,” she said. “Did you talk to Joshua?”

  “No, but I did hear something interesting from Jo.” She gave Lauren an abbreviated version of her talk with the older woman. “I promised Aiden I’d tell Detective Morse about it. I left her a message but haven’t heard back. I asked Hannah to have Joshua call me, but I haven’t heard anything from him, either.”

  “You must be going nuts waiting for something to happen.”

  “Indeed, I am. I’m afraid to stitch on my client’s quilt I’m so distracted. I guess I’ll make a few more grandmother’s flower garden blocks for the women’s shelter quilt.”

  “Here comes my client. Let me know if anything happens.”

  Harriet’s phone rang three more times before Joshua called. Aiden and Aunt Beth called to make sure she wasn’t talking to Joshua or Jo by herself, and Lauren checked to see if she’d left on either mission.

  “Fred, you keep an eye on Scooter while I’m in the bathroom,” Harriet told the cat as she filled her upstairs bathtub with warm water infused with lavender-scented bubble bath. “If I can’t get any stitching done, at least I can be relaxed when Aiden gets here.”

  She picked him up and set him down in the hallway, closing the door as she came back into the bathroom. She set a thick Ken Follett historical novel on her tub shelf beside her cup of herb tea. She’d just shrugged her jeans past her hips when the phone rang.

  “Really?” she said to no one. She pulled her pants back up and made a run for the phone. It quit ringing just as she picked up the receiver. “Arghhh!”

  She turned to go back to the bathroom, Fred on her heels, when the phone started ringing again.

  “Hello,” she said before the receiver was even up to her ear.

  “Harriet,” said a whispery voice.

  “Joshua? Is that you? Your voice sounds odd. Are you okay?”

  She heard a sharp intake of breath.

  “Joshua?”

  “I’m here. I’m a little under the weather, that’s all. I must have picked up a bug somewhere.”

  “I was hoping to talk to you, but if you aren’t well, it can wait.”

  “No, today would be…fine. I sound worse…than I am.”

  Harriet heard a muffled gurgling cough, as if he’d turned away from the phone.

  “Now’s good…can you come…now?”

  “Are you sure? You really sound terrible. Can I call someone to help you?”

  Joshua made a gasping noise. Harriet realized it was an attempt to laugh. “Who would that be?” he spat out finally. “I told you…there’s no one.”

  “Can I bring you anything?” Harriet asked.

  Joshua grunted. “Sure.” He coughed again. “Bring something to drink.”

  “What would you like? Juice, soda, mineral water?”

  “Harriet…please…come now…I’m at the garden shed.”

  “Sure. See you in a few minutes.”

  Harriet stroked Fred’s head.

  “That was weird.” She picked up the phone again and dialed Lauren’s cell number. She listened to it ring and then go to voicemail.

  “Lauren. Joshua called and can see me today. In fact, he was pretty insistent that it be now.”

  She tried Detective Morse’s cell phone with the same result. She didn’t leave a message, since she’d left one earlier.

  Fred jumped to the arm of the upholstered chair she was sitting on in her TV room. She thought for a moment then dialed Aunt Beth’s cell phone. Her aunt had been planning a long day p
reparing for the rummage sale. Beth’s phone went to voicemail immediately. Harriet repeated the same message she’d left Lauren, explaining that she was taking advantage of the opportunity to talk to Joshua.

  “Besides, he sounds sick. I’m taking him some Seven-Up and crackers. It’ll be my good deed for the day,” she said and pressed the end call button.

  “Well, Fred, I tried—you’re my witness. You watch your brother. Show him how to be a good pet.” She rubbed his ears, went back to the bathroom and drained the tub.

  From her house, it would have been quicker to go over Miller Hill and drop down to the residential neighborhood Sarah’s parents lived in. Instead, she drove through downtown Foggy Point, stopping at Swan’s market to get Joshua’s soda and crackers before driving on past the dock area and the rocky beach then turning inland. The Pratt property was one of the older homes in the development. It was located at the far side, where the homes backed up on a forested green space.

  Twenty minutes after Joshua called, Harriet was easing her car down the gravel driveway, past the main house to a wide parking area. An older Honda sedan with at least three colors of peeling paint sat next to a late-model BMW. She got out and looked around. There were several outbuildings, but only one looked like it could be lived in. It had a cement porch, and the windows had curtains and screens. There was a pot of flowers sitting to the left of the door. This had to be Joshua’s “shed.”

  She picked up the paper bag with Joshua’s supplies and went to the door. She raised her hand to knock, but the door swung open before her knuckles reached the wood.

  “Run, Harriet,” came a strangled voice from inside.

  She whirled, but before she could take a step, someone grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her inside, pushing her onto a sagging purple couch beside Joshua. She looked around wildly. The room was the size of a single-car garage. She was in the sitting/sleeping area. The couch, with a bookcase on one end and a table and lamp on the other, filled this end of the room. An oval kitchen table with mismatched chairs occupied the other end, and to the side of the table, an unpainted door led to what was probably the bathroom. Kitchen counters with a small sink and-two burner stove lined the back wall.