A Quilt in Time (A Harriet Turman/Loose Threads Mystery) Page 8

  She’d stayed up past midnight machine stitching the intricate pattern her customer had specified, so she’d turned her alarm off before going to bed.

  “Hey,” a male voice said.

  “James?” she said with a yawn when she realized she was talking to the chef of the restaurant at Smugglers Cove.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m in a bit of a bind. Is there any chance you could help me with something today? I know it’s short notice, but it’s sort of an emergency. It’s going to take a few hours, too.”

  “Perhaps you could tell me what ‘it’ is?”

  “It’s my dog Cyrano.”

  “Shouldn’t you be talking to Aiden if there’s something wrong with your dog?”

  “Cyrano’s fine. I mean he will be after he wins his race.”

  “His race? What sort of dog is he?”

  “He’s a wiener dog. He has a qualifying race for nationals this afternoon on Bainbridge Island. My sister was supposed to be our support team, but my niece woke up with a hundred-and-two-degree fever. She’ll be fine, but Sis can’t leave her with the babysitter she’d arranged for, and her husband has to work.”

  Harriet did a quick calculation in her head. After her previous evening’s stitch-a-thon, she could take the whole day off and she’d still be ahead of where she’d planned to be by the beginning of the week.

  “I’d love to come,” she said. “Wait, before I agree—what do I have to do?”

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you. They won’t let him compete unless he has two humans on his team. It’s easy. One person—that’s you—holds him at the starting line, keeping him pointed toward the finish line. The second person—me—waits at the finish, waving Cyrano’s favorite toy and a dog treat and screaming his name, looking like a total fool and trying to get him to cross the finish line before the rest of the dogs.”

  “Sounds like I’ve got the easy job.”

  “I wouldn’t ask, but like I said, this particular race is a qualifier for the national race. There are a few more qualifiers between this one and the finals, but this is the first step.”

  “Does he want to be a race-dog?” Harriet asked.

  “It’s his passion,” James said in a serious voice then laughed.

  “When do I need to be ready?”

  “Can I pick you up in a half-hour?”

  “Yikes!”

  “Is that too soon?”

  “No,” Harriet said and jumped out of bed.

  “Good, we’ll pick you up at your place in thirty minutes.”

  “Wait,” she said with a giggle. “What do I wear?”

  “I’ll have a team T-shirt for you.”

  “Perfect, I’ll see you in thirty.”

  Fred began weaving through her legs the minute she stood up.

  “Watch out, Mama’s in a hurry this morning.” She ran downstairs, grabbed Fred’s and Scooter’s cans of food and scooped globs for each into their respective dishes before running back upstairs. She returned fifteen minutes later, showered and dressed in jeans and a white tank top.

  “Come on, Scooter, you need to get busy outside.” She dialed Aunt Beth on her cell phone, holding his leash in her free hand and wriggling into a green fleece jacket at the same time.

  “Aren’t two men enough for you?” Aunt Beth asked after she agreed to stop by to take Scooter out in the afternoon.

  “This isn’t like that.” Harriet tugged on Scooter’s leash, pulling him away from a blackberry bramble that threatened to swallow him whole. “James is in a bind, and he certainly was helpful when Aiden stood me up that time.”

  “That was different. You were stranded at his restaurant, so he couldn’t help it. It was his job.”

  “He didn’t need to sit with me. He could have stayed in the kitchen and let the wait staff deal with me.”

  “My point exactly. He’s interested in you.”

  “No, he’s not. Believe me. He is well aware I have a very complicated love life.”

  “Whatever you say, honey. I’m guessing you would have mentioned it if you’d heard from Sarah.”

  “Unfortunately, no, I haven’t heard from Sarah or anyone else. I’m worried about her. Anyone who could put her in the hospital like Seth did could go a step further if he was mad enough.”

  “Let’s not go there yet. We need to concentrate on finding Sarah before Seth does. By the way, Mavis and I had been working on our dog quilts for the shelter, but since the pet room isn’t done yet, we were afraid they might not be enough to get you into the shelter right away.

  “So, we put them aside and worked on the bathroom curtains last night. We got three sets done. We thought that might be enough for you and Lauren to take and hang. You can install curtain rods, right?”

  “Yes, I can install curtain rods. I’m sure Lauren can, too. I’ll call Georgia Hecht first thing in the morning and see if she’ll go for it, assuming Lauren’s available.”

  “I’ll call her while you’re gone dallying with the chef and make sure she is.”

  Harriet sighed but heard the crunch of gravel at the bottom of her driveway before she could muster a protest.

  “I’ve got to go. James is here.” With that, she pushed the off button and slid the phone into her jeans pocket.

  James parked his brown BMW SUV and got out.

  “Thank you so much for doing this.”

  “No problem. Let me get this little guy inside and grab my purse, and I’ll be ready.”

  “Here.” He handed her a red T-shirt emblazoned with the wiener dog race logo. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to let Cyrano out for a quick break while you lock up.” He picked up a bag from the seat of his car and held it up. “I made us chocolate croissants for the drive, and I have a thermos of coffee. I hope you haven’t had breakfast yet.”

  “I haven’t, and for a chocolate croissant, I’ll follow you anywhere.”

  The sun was peeking out from behind the clouds and reflecting off the raindrops that had fallen earlier that morning, causing the grass and the tree branches to shimmer. During the drive, Harriet had learned James had lived an ordinary life up to this point.

  Based on the success he’d enjoyed in every sport in which he’d chosen to participate his childhood, his parents had expected him to accept one of the several sport scholarships he was offered at the end of his high school years. They were mildly surprised when he chose to work his way through culinary school and then accepted an apprenticeship with a New York chef before returning a little over a year earlier to open his own restaurant.

  She attempted to convey the whiplash she’d grown up with, shuttling between a series of mostly European boarding schools and the cozy warmth of her aunt and uncle’s home in Foggy Point, with the occasional command appearance for a photo op wherever her famous-scientist parents were plying their trade at the moment. An hour and a half was nowhere near long enough for that story.

  “Wow, this is more hoopla than I expected for wiener dog races,” she said as James navigated the car to a parking lot next to the soccer fields.

  “That’s because the races are just a part of the Wagfest. The local animal welfare organization puts on this event to raise money for its various programs.”

  He parked and got Cyrano out of his travel crate.

  “We need to take our star here to the veterinary check station before we can pick up his race packet.” He snapped the harness into place and set the chocolate brown-and-tan dachshund down on the grass to attend to his business. Picking him up again, he led the way to a path that wound through the park.

  “I don’t believe this,” Harriet said as they came to a clearing.

  The veterinary check station was in front of them, and standing behind it, examining a black-and-tan dachshund, was a familiar tall, dark-haired figure with unusually light blue eyes.

  James sighed, his shoulders sagging.

  “Is this going to be a problem?”

  Harriet stiffened and strode toward the
table.

  “Not in the slightest.”

  Aiden finished checking the dog then copied some numbers onto a form and handed it back to the woman who accompanied the entrant.

  “I have to say, I’m surprised to see you here,” he said.

  “I could say the same,” Harriet replied in a tight voice.

  “Not really. I am a veterinarian, and you know I volunteer for dog welfare events all over the Puget Sound area.”

  Hannah Pratt walked up to the trio and handed Aiden a printout of names and numbers.

  “Here’s the list you wanted,” she said. She looked at Harriet. “Am I interrupting something?”

  Harriet looked her over for some sign she was something other than a wide-eyed schoolgirl in awe of her mentor, the good doctor Jalbert, but she didn’t see any.

  “Have you met Sarah’s sister Hannah?” Aiden asked. “She’s taking classes at the community college and is going to do an internship with me for the next six weeks.”

  Hannah beamed at him as if he’d just presented her with the tiara and cape at the Miss America pageant.

  “I’m so excited for this opportunity.” She smiled her megawatt smile again.

  “Have you seen your sister?” Harriet asked.

  Hannah’s eyes narrowed, and the sunshine left her face.

  “She’s not my sister. My dad is married to her mother, but we’re not related in any way.”

  “Okay. Do you know where your dad’s wife’s daughter is?” Harriet shot back.

  Hannah took Cyrano from James, the sunny smile back in place.

  “I have no idea where she is, but that’s not unusual. Sarah doesn’t have time for her family.”

  Aiden took Cyrano with one hand and handed the dog’s paperwork to Hannah with the other.

  “Let’s see how this little fella is,” he said and pressed his stethoscope against the dog’s chest.

  “I take it you know the blonde,” James muttered to Harriet as they watched Aiden perform Cyrano’s pre-race physical.

  “Her stepsister’s in my quilt group. She’s currently missing in action, after having been beaten within an inch of her life by her fiancé, who coincidentally is the bimbo’s half-brother.”

  “Yikes! Can I do anything to help?”

  “Thanks, but I can’t think of anything.” Harriet explained what she and the Threads had done and were planning to do. “If you can come up with something else for us to do, let me know.”

  “All done,” Aiden said, interrupting their conversation. He handed Cyrano back to James. “He seems healthy. Make sure he drinks water before and after each heat he runs.” He handed Cyrano’s signed entrance papers to Harriet, brushing her hand with his as he did. “Good luck.”

  She blushed. “Thanks,” she said and turned away to follow James and Cyrano back to the main trail and on to the field where the race course had been set up.

  James stopped and greeted friends and customers along the path as they made their way to the field. Where Aiden had the terrible beauty of a brewing storm, James was a perfect summer day. Everyone smiled as he left them, some of his sunshine lingering with them after he moved on.

  “There’s going to be a police K-Nine demonstration and then the All-Breed Canine Search and Rescue group is going to do a demo.” James snapped Cyrano’s leash onto his harness and set him down. “The wiener dog races start after that.”

  “Should we be doing anything for the star athlete?” Harriet asked with a grin.

  “All he needs to do is put his colored shirt on, and he’s ready. If you wouldn’t mind holding him for a minute, I’ll go back to the car and get a waterproof blanket for us to sit on and his water dish and bottled water.”

  Harriet took Cyrano’s leash and watched James jog back down the path and out of sight.

  “I have to say, I was surprised to see you here,” Aiden said from behind her. She turned and saw that he was alone.

  “So you said.”

  “I didn’t know you were seeing—what’s his name—James?”

  “I’m not seeing him, unless you consider eating in his restaurant seeing him. His sister’s child got sick at the last minute, so he asked if I could sub for her. As it turned out, I could.”

  “You can tell a lot about a person from his pet,” Aiden said cryptically.

  “And?”

  “Okay, he has good taste in dogs and obviously takes very good care of this little fellow.” He reached down and scratched Cyrano’s ears.

  “What’s the deal with Sarah’s not-sister?”

  Aiden smiled his lopsided grin.

  “Would you claim Sarah if you could help it?”

  Harriet couldn’t argue when he smiled at her like that. She smiled in return.

  “No, I guess not. I feel bad that she got hurt, but she’s still the most annoying person I’ve ever met.”

  “I read a statistic that narcissism is on the rise in the current generation compared to our parents. They blamed it on parents who gave participation trophies to their kids every time they turned around.”

  “After meeting Sarah’s parents at the open house, it’s hard for me to believe they overdid it on her self-esteem.”

  “They aren’t your average family, that’s for sure.”

  Harriet sighed. “I just wish I knew Sarah was safe. Even she doesn’t deserve what that guy did to her.”

  “That’s actually why I came to find you. Is there anything I can do to help find her?”

  “Lauren and I are going to see if we can go to the women’s shelter tomorrow to install some of the curtains Aunt Beth and Mavis made. That’ll give us an excuse to look around and see if she’s there.”

  “Let me know if you have any trouble getting in. I can take you if the curtain scam doesn’t work.”

  Harriet laughed. “We really do have curtains to put up.”

  Aiden put his hand on her arm and squeezed gently.

  “I have no doubt.” He smiled at her. “I’ve got to get back to work. And I won’t embarrass you with a PDA.”

  Harriet raised her left eyebrow.

  “Public display of affection,” he translated with a laugh as he turned and went up the path to the activity area.

  “Wow, he really does like to run, doesn’t he?”

  Cyrano was licking James’s face and wagging his tail for all he was worth as James tried to wipe the mud off the dog’s belly. Harriet reached out, and Cyrano lunged into her arms, licking her face as he came.

  “I told you it was his passion. I know you didn’t believe me, but it is.” James smiled as he finished cleaning the dog’s paws. “And he’s good at it.”

  “I guess so. He won all his heats and the finals by a wide margin.”

  “If all the dogs were as focused on the finish line as he is, it might be a different story.” James looked up at the now-cloudy sky. “We should get going before the rain starts.”

  Harriet set the dog down to pick up the picnic blanket and dog dish while James gathered Cyrano’s racing shirt, towel and toys. They let him lead them back down the trail to the parking lot.

  Cyrano started barking as soon as they reached the paved edge of the car park.

  “Hush,” James said, but that just seemed to make the dog redouble his hysterics. “I don’t know what his problem is.”

  He picked the dog up and held him close to his chest, muffling the noise slightly.

  “Oh, no!” Harriet pointed as they approached the car. Someone had smashed the driver’s-side window.

  “Darn it.” James picked Cyrano up to prevent the dog from stepping in broken glass.

  “Something wrong?” Aiden asked. He was in the next row up, loading his supplies into the back of his vintage Bronco.

  “Someone broke into James’s car,” Harriet called back. “They broke the window.”

  Aiden joined them in examining the damage. Hannah followed him.

  “The CD player and GPS are gone,” James reported.

  “Do y
ou have a car alarm?” Hannah asked.

  “I do. I’m guessing whoever did this timed it for the height of the dog races. With all the crowd noise, no one would notice a car alarm going off.”

  “Look.” Hannah pointed several cars away to another broken window.

  “Can we do anything for you?” Aiden offered. “I can wait until help comes, or we could give you a ride back to Foggy Point, if you want.”

  Hannah looked at Aiden, her eyes wide.

  “Do you need to be back?” he asked her.

  “I have to work at the senior center tonight. I suppose I could call if we need to stay,” she added with obvious reluctance. “I’m sure they can find someone to cover for me if they have to.”

  “Thanks, but that won’t be necessary. I’m sure my car’s drivable. I can tape plastic over the window.” James looked at Harriet. “Do you want to go with them?”

  She glanced at Aiden, who waggled his eyebrows up and down, then turned back to James.

  “I’ll stay and keep you company while you call the police and the insurance company.”

  “Do you want me to walk Scooter when I get back?” Aiden offered.

  “Thanks, but I already have Aunt Beth on Scoot-duty. I’ll just give her a call and let her know I’ve been delayed.”

  “Okay, if we can’t do anything for you, we’re going to get Hannah back so she can go to work.” Aiden put his hand on Hannah’s back and guided her to his car.

  Harriet watched until they were in the car and driving out of the lot. By the time she looked back at James, he had Cyrano in his travel crate in the back seat and was talking on his cell phone. He smiled when he noticed her.

  “The adventure continues,” he said. “Lucky for you I never go any-where without food.” He opened the cargo door and brought out a cooler. “I have sandwich stuff and some drinks.”

  The food turned out to be a lifesaver; the police took their time investigating the crime scene. It turned out that seven cars had been broken into. If it had only been James’s car, they could have filled out a report and been done with it, but because of the scope of the damage, the local police were out in force.

  “I’m going to call my aunt again.” Harriet said two hours later and pulled out her phone.