A Quilt in Time (A Harriet Turman/Loose Threads Mystery) (13 page)

“Her tour consisted of a brief introduction and then ‘look at stuff when we go by and ask if you have any questions,’” DeAnn said. “She was a walking blonde joke.”

“We didn’t get an opportunity to ask her about Sarah. She was so completely ignoring our group it would have drawn too much attention if we’d tried,” Robin added.

“Beth and I had the same thing happen,” Mavis said. “Daddy Pratt was so busy sucking up to his investors we were invisible.”

Carla got up and went to the buffet table. She came back carrying a tray laden with cups of coffee and tea and a plate of cookies. Rod arrived as she was unloading her treats.

“The mystery deepens,” he said and took a cup of coffee. “The aides are suspicious of the drugs that are being dispensed at this place. Given the pay here, many of them work off-shift jobs at other care places in neighboring areas. They say the labels on the drug-dispensing bottles are sometimes written in foreign languages and other times missing altogether. And the drugs don’t look the same.

“They did allow that sometimes that’s the case with generic drugs, and when they asked Seth that’s what he told them.

“I didn’t see any sign of Sarah and none of the aides I talked to had any knowledge of whether she was here or gone or had just changed rooms.”

“That could be why Sarah doesn’t appear to be taking her pain meds. Good work,” Harriet said. “Anyone have anything else?”

Aunt Beth pulled her rain bonnet out and gave it a shake before putting it on.

“All we can do is wait for Sarah to surface. Mavis and I will go home and work on our quilts for the shelter. The sooner we finish one, the sooner one of us will have an excuse to check to see if Sarah’s there.”

“We can finish them by Sunday,” Mavis said. “I’d be surprised if we can arrange to deliver them before Monday or Tuesday, though.”

Robin pulled her coat on and stood up as well.

“Beth’s right. If we come on too strong, the family is likely to close ranks, and we won’t get any information from them about Sarah.”

“I’ll run background checks on all the family members and dig around more on the Internet,” Lauren offered.

Harriet sighed. “Thanks for the effort, everyone.” She picked up a small cookie and popped it into her mouth. Aunt Beth glared at her, but she ignored her aunt and led the way out to the parking lot. Harriet’s weight was a long-running point of contention between the two women. “I’ll be at my machine stitching. Call me if anything comes up.”

The Threads returned to their cars and drove home. Harriet’s group was subdued, speaking only when it was time to say good-bye.

Harriet changed into her running outfit when she returned from the open house.

“You are not allowed to go running,” she explained to Scooter. “And don’t get any ideas about those little front packs people carry their therapy pets in. You are not getting one, and I am not wearing one, especially when I’m running.”

Scooter gave a little yip and went to his fleece bed in the corner of the kitchen, where he circled three times, plopped down and shut his eyes.

Harriet ran a zigzag pattern up and down the hill below her house. She mentally reviewed everything they’d heard and seen at the senior care home, but nothing new had revealed itself by the time she went back into her house through the studio door.

She looked at the quilt loaded on her machine. Fred meowed from the kitchen.

“Be right there.”

She woke the next morning to the sound of the phone ringing. She grabbed the cordless receiver from her nightstand and cleared her throat before pushing the on-button. The display read eight am.

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.