A Quilt in Time (A Harriet Turman/Loose Threads Mystery) (38 page)

Harriet turned to Mavis when they were both back in her car.

“I’m not sure how much that helped us. It confirms Howard as an abuser, but we still don’t know if he killed Jill.”

Mavis sagged in her seat.

“She stopped short of saying some of the injuries were too fresh to be from her first husband. And Howard still has an alibi.”

“Let’s go stitch with the rest of the Threads and run it past the group. Maybe they’ll see something we don’t.”

“I was hoping we could stop by Sleepy Valley Quilt Company while we’re this close,” Mavis suggested.

Harriet started the car and drove out of the hospital lot.

“We’ve got plenty of time, and I’ve wanted to look at their wool. I heard they have a good selection.”

“I’d like to check that out, too.”

With the exception of Jenny, all the Loose Threads were present and accounted for two hours later in the big classroom at the back of Pins and Needles quilt shop. In addition, Jo and Violet from the senior center were seated at the table between Connie and DeAnn. A platter of lemon bars sat in front of Violet.

“I hope it’s okay that I brought food to your meeting.”

Lauren slid the snack to the center of the table.

“Food is always welcome,” she told Violet.

Harriet pulled out a ZipLok bag of precut squares of fabric and a plastic hexagon template then dug in her bag for a pencil. Beth reached into her own bag, pulled one out and handed it to her.

“I brought the flip chart. Should we go ahead and talk before we start stitching?”

Lauren got up and headed to the kitchen.

“Works for me, as long as we get to eat our snacks while we talk. Anyone need anything to drink?”

There were enough requests that Harriet got up to help her.

“Did you guys learn anything interesting from the coroner?” Lauren asked.

Harriet pulled cups from a hanging rack and set them in a line on the counter.

“Not really. She says it looks like Jill was a battered woman to the point that suicide could be a credible possibility. In any case, there wasn’t enough evidence to determine whether she was killed or killed herself.”

Lauren poured coffee into some of the cups while Harriet poured hot water into others.

“Howard has an alibi, in any case,” Lauren said.

“Yeah, that’s what Mavis was saying.” She pulled a tray from the cupboard under the sink and set the cups on it. “Let’s go see what the group has to say.”

“Jo and Violet have something to report,” Connie said as each one took the beverage of her choice from the tray.

Harriet reached back and set it on a table that sat against the wall behind the large main table.

“What have you got, Jo?”

“In my working life, I’ve had some experience in memory retrieval. Some people consider it to be hypnosis, but it’s more just helping the person relax and guiding them to search their memories. Janice agreed to all this. In fact, it was her idea.

“She also did something risky. She’s been combing the Internet for new research into memory recovery. The Chinese have done some promising research that involves a drug currently being used to treat Huntington’s disease. You can imagine where this is going. She found a resident who was being given the drug and talked them into ‘sharing’ some of their medication. She took the medicine for a few days, and then I did my thing.”

“Did it work?” DeAnn asked.

“I got her relaxed, and then we started talking about her life as a reporter. We got to her arrival in Foggy Point, and her memory still isn’t perfect. She did remember having an affair with Howard, but she’s pretty sure she was doing it to get information from him. That may be wishful thinking, but it’s hard to tell. It seems like he’s made a career out of charming vulnerable women.

“I don’t think she remembers anything about the day of her accident. Memory is a funny thing. If you revisit a real memory or lack of memory enough times, it can change into whatever you want it to be.”

“That could be huge, if she’s right,” Harriet said. “We know he was driving the car. If Howard was on to her, and he was driving the car…”

Aunt Beth took a sip of her coffee.

“Then she could be in danger living at Howard’s center.”

Robin cleared her throat.

“She’s been living in Howard’s ‘house’ for a long time. The only danger will be if he finds out she’s trying to retrieve her memory.”

“We made sure Howard wasn’t in the building when we did our session,” Jo assured them. “And believe you me, they sell us residents very short.”

Harriet stood up, went to Beth’s chair and pulled the flip chart from between hers and Mavis’s chairs. She unfolded the stand and set it up on the table. Beth pulled a bag of markers from her quilting bag and handed them to her.

She flipped to the last page they’d written on. She added the new information under the heading “Janice’s accident” then turned to the group.

“We’re adding more and more information to support the idea that Howard is an awful husband who may have killed or attempted to kill more than one wife. He may or may not be doing something shady with the medications at the senior center. But, the fact remains, Howard has an airtight alibi for the night of the shooting and our car bombings.”

Carla scooted her chair closer to the table then coughed into her hand.

“None of this gives us any reason to believe Howard would have to kill Seth.”

“That’s the more important point,” Harriet acknowledged. “Aiden said Hannah is upset because Howard wants her to go to pharmacy school, now that Seth is gone.”

“That makes it seem like Howard didn’t want Seth dead,” Mavis said.

Harriet set the marker back on the table and went to her seat, then picked up her pencil and started drawing hexagons on her fabric again.

“After talking to Sarah this last time, it sounds like Seth was marrying her to gain control of the senior center. Sarah inherits the place from her grandmother. Her mother has control until Sarah turns thirty-five, and then it’s all up to Sarah whether she keeps it, sells it, or hires someone else to manage it.”

“Diós mio,” Connie said. “Sarah turns thirty-five this year.”

“This changes everything,” Robin said.

Harriet set her pencil down.

“What if Sarah was the real target?”

Robin looked thoughtful.

“That would only matter if Sarah’s mom and/or Howard were set up to inherit. If they weren’t, they were better off with her alive and under their control.”

“Can we find that out?” Harriet asked.

Lauren set the cup of coffee she’d been holding down on the table.

“As far as I know, there’s no requirement that a will be filed with any public entity before the person dies. She could just have it notarized or not and keep it with her personal papers.”

“Her lawyer probably has it, but you’re right, it could be handwritten,” Robin said. “She’d want someone outside the family to know about it if she’s not leaving everything to them. Otherwise, they could simply destroy the will and essentially do whatever they want.”

“So, we have no way of knowing what she’s done,” DeAnn said.

Jo reached for a lemon bar.

“Can’t you just ask her?”

The Loose Threads glanced around the table at each other.

“What?” Jo asked.

“You have met Sarah, right?” Lauren asked her.

Harriet started tracing hexagons again.

“What Lauren means is Sarah rarely gives us a straight answer to anything.”

Robin got up and made a note on the flip chart about Sarah being the actual owner of the senior center. She turned back to the group seated around the table.

“So, where do we go from here?”

Mavis pulled two sandwich bags containing precut diamond shapes from her bag and set it on the table in front of her then dug in her bag for her needle and scissors.

“I can’t think of anything,” she said.

Harriet sat back in her chair and rubbed her hand over her chin.

“What are you thinking?” Lauren asked her.

“Jo’s right. We need to talk to Sarah again and see who inherits if she dies. I’d like to have a chat with Joshua again, too. Sarah said she let him sleep at her place when Seth wasn’t there. That implies they were close, or what passes for close in that family. His sociopathic tendencies notwithstanding, he’s always seemed more normal than the rest of the crew.”

She thought for a moment. “It seems like his goal is to survive Howard and get away from him. He has nothing to gain from Seth being dead or Sarah inheriting or not inheriting. I’d also like to know what, if anything, Howard gained when Joshua’s mother died, and if he knows anything else that might shed light on who Seth’s enemies might be.”

“I don’t know.” Lauren paused while she reached for a lemon bar. “He hates Howard and thinks Howard killed his mother. If Howard stole his inheritance on top of that, maybe he killed Seth to punish him.”

“That assumes Howard cared enough about Seth for it to hurt him,” Harriet said. “Although I guess he did invest in making him his own personal drug expert.”

Robin pulled a yellow legal tablet from her bag and made a note.

“If Sarah doesn’t have a will or she hasn’t filed it anywhere but her home office, I’m going to encourage her to write one, get it notarized, and also to hire an estate attorney to help her select an executor for her estate who isn’t a relative. Once she’s done that, she can let the family know, which should protect her from any thoughts her family may have about eliminating her.”

Aunt Beth closed up the flip chart and put it back under the table.

“We’re just going in circles. Everyone has a reason to hate Howard and wish him dead. Howard seems to be an abusive lout, but he has an airtight alibi. Have I missed anything?”

Everyone shook her head.

“I suggest we leave it be for a while and work on our quilting,” Beth said. “Maybe if we stop thinking about it so hard for a while something will come to us.”

Harriet looked at Jo and Violet.

“Do you two have anything else to add to the discussion?”

The two senior center residents shook their heads again.