Disappearing Nine Patch (A Harriet Truman/Loose Threads Mystery Book 9) (9 page)

“These are incredible. The hand stitching is so uniform.”

Harriet joined her for a closer look.

“Would you believe I stab stitch?” a woman said from a doorway that led to the back of the house. “I’m Janet.”

She held her hand out to Harriet, who took it. Janet’s handshake was firm but not painfully so. She nodded to Lauren, who was standing a few paces behind Harriet.

“You’re Beth Carlson’s niece, yes?” Harriet nodded, and Janet looked past her to Lauren. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think we’ve met.”

“I’m Lauren Sawyer. Harriet’s friend.”

Harriet gestured to the quilt display box and then the wall.

“These are beautiful. I’m surprised we haven’t seen your quilts in any of the local shows.”

Leo came back from the kitchen carrying a tray with frosty glasses of lemonade.

“That would be because of me.”

“Now, Leo.” Janet smiled as he turned to look at her. “I was there, too.”

He handed her a glass of lemonade then offered glasses to Harriet and Lauren.

“Sit down, make yourselves comfortable.” He moved a couple of throw pillows off the sofa, clearing more space. He and Janet sat in matching overstuffed chairs opposite the sofa.

“I might as well tell you my story. It will make things easier to understand.”

Harriet caught herself before she leaned forward. She took a deep breath and tried to relax.

“It all started in nineteen-sixty-seven. ‘The Summer of Love,’ as it was called. I was eighteen and on my own for the first time. I lived in San Francisco and worked for the parks department, picking up garbage. I was to start college in the fall.”

Janet picked up the story.

“And I was fourteen going on thirty, a booster child in a family of over-achievers born ten years after my youngest brother. My parents lived in Redwood City and worked in what would become the high-tech industry.”

“My parents were Marin County liberals,” Leo interjected.

Janet continued.

“My parents thought I was going to the library to study when I was really going down to Haight-Ashbury, telling people I was eighteen and calling myself Sunshine. I followed some people to Golden Gate Park. Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company—they were all there playing music. Lots of people were high on drugs.

“A small group of people were taking their clothes off. They started trying to rip clothes off of the people standing around them, and I was in their line of sight. I was wild, for a fourteen-year-old, but I wasn’t ready for that.”

Leo set his glass down.

“I saw that Janet was scared, so I stepped in and put my arm around her like she was my old lady. They backed off, and we walked away from the gathering.”

Janet’s eyes twinkled.

“He was my knight in shining armor. We talked until dark and made plans to meet again the following day.”

“I still thought she was my age. We talked, but she carefully omitted any reference to age or school or anything that would give it away.”

“Because my brothers were so much older,” Janet continued, “I could talk like I was older than fourteen. They took me to movies that weren’t suitable, and I read books I found in their rooms. I thought I was hot stuff.”

“It was love at first sight for me,” Leo said and gazed at his wife with affection.

“We saw each other as often as I could sneak away,” Janet said. “Besides the library, I was supposed to be volunteering at the free clinic, and I had a girlfriend who would swear I was at her house. Leo rented a room in a commune house, and well, with all that freedom and lack of supervision, one thing led to another, and several months into our relationship we found ourselves in a family way.”

Harriet could see where this was going.

“So, your parents charged Leo with statutory rape?”

“And everything else they could come up with,” Leo said. “We were told we could never see each other again. Her parents didn’t want anything to do with our baby, but fortunately, my parents, bless their liberal hearts, went to court and were awarded custody of our son.”

Janet clapped her hands softly together.

“It was a stroke of genius, really. The courts allowed me visitation rights, which, of course, Leo’s parents happily agreed to. Leo was always the one who brought Bradley to our meetings after he got out of jail.”

“That must have been awful,” Lauren said, speaking for the first time.

“It wasn’t so bad. They let me serve in the county lockup, and I was out by the time our baby was born. They had vocational training, so I became a firefighter, and Janet’s parents sent her back to school. She graduated with honors from San Francisco State with a teaching degree. We did okay.”

“As soon as I was old enough, Leo and I got married. We moved first to Port Ludlow and then Foggy Point when Avanell hired him. We had three more boys, and everything was great until that business with Amber Price.”

Leo shook his head.

“Some reporter found out I’d turned her in to the police, and when he dug into my background, he found the statutory rape conviction, and that’s all he needed.”

“I’m sure you’ve probably heard the rest,” Janet said softly. “We moved out of Foggy Point, and then, when the boys were all away from home, we went to teach English in Thailand. A whole group of soon-to-be retired teachers were going, so we had friends, and it worked out.

“We’ve been living quietly under the radar for the last few years—which is why you won’t see my quilts on display anywhere around here.”

“Now, we’re sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Leo ended their tale.

“Thank you for sharing the truth with us,” Harriet said. “I can’t imagine how hard it’s been for you.”

Lauren sipped her lemonade and set her glass down on the coffee table.

“Just for the record, Beth told us you had been wronged, and that was enough for us.” She looked at Harriet, waiting for her to continue.

“What we came here to ask you is if you think Amber and Molly could have been victims of a traffic accident. When we heard that Amber wandered, we wondered if it was possible that someone hit the girls with a car, killing Amber and knocking Molly out. Maybe whoever hit them panicked and buried Amber in the woods, and when they realized Molly was still alive left her in the park where someone would find her.”

Janet and Leo looked at each other for a few moments. Leo rubbed his chin.

“I suppose it could have happened like that,” he said thoughtfully.

“The timing would have had to be perfect,” Janet added. “Traffic wasn’t like it is today, but there was a pretty steady flow. That’s why we finally called the police after we found Amber for the umpteenth time, wandering unsupervised. I won’t say it couldn’t have happened like that, though.”

Harriet chewed her lip.

“The problem is, how do we prove it?”

“I supposed that’s always the problem in this sort of situation,” Janet said.

They all picked up their glasses at the same time and laughed.

“What kind of quilting do
you
do?” Janet asked.

Lauren got out her tablet and called up pictures of her latest quilt and, with a little looking, found one of Harriet’s, too. Leo went outside to work in the garden, and the women talked about quilting through another glass of lemonade.

Harriet adjusted the mirrors of her aunt’s small car for the umpteenth time while Lauren put on her seatbelt.

“I don’t know how she sees anything in this little death trap.”

Lauren chuckled.

“That’s because you drive a tank. Smaller cars have smaller windshields and smaller mirrors. Besides, your aunt has a rear camera on order. They made them standard this year, but her car just missed it.”

“How do you know that when I don’t?”

“She asked me about it at coffee when you were busy working. She didn’t want to bother you. You’ll be happy to know this car has a five-star crash rating, too. And before you ask, I looked that up for her before she bought the car.”

“Good, I guess.”

Harriet backed out of the Tabors’ driveway and headed back toward the coffee shop.

“I’m going to swing by the police department and see if Morse is in. Do you want to come with?”

“Let’s get my car first, since it’s on the way. I’ll meet you there.”

“Would either of you like coffee or anything?” Morse asked when they were seated in a small interview room at the Foggy Point Police Department.

Harriet couldn’t help but notice that the walls were heavily insulated with black soundproofing that had large chunks missing. The industrial Formica-topped table was scarred, and included a heavy metal loop she assumed was for attaching the manacles of feistier interviewees. The table was also bolted to the floor.

Lauren looked around at their surroundings but kept her mouth shut.

“I don’t know about Lauren, but none for me. We just drank a bunch of lemonade with Leo and Janet Tabor.”

Detective Morse leaned back in her chair, took a deep breath, and blew it slowly out.

“I’m afraid to ask what you were doing there.”

Lauren sat back in her chair and looked to Harriet.

“It was your idea, you can explain it.”

“Aunt Beth and I were talking this morning,” Harriet began. “She told me that Avanell Jalbert had told her Leo was falsely accused and in the process mentioned that Amber Price wandered the neighborhood a lot, including making it all the way to Stephens Street. Leo even took her here once in the hopes the police would call children’s services or something.

“Anyway, we wondered if the police at the time considered the possibility that the girls were hit by a car, with Amber being killed and Molly knocked unconscious. Maybe the driver panicked and buried Amber then left Molly where she’d be found.”

Morse furrowed her brow and pressed her lips together.

“I don’t remember seeing that in the file. I’ll look again. Short of an eyewitness, I’m not sure how you’d prove it. Traffic cameras weren’t generally in use back then, and I’m guessing Foggy Point wasn’t on the forefront of that political hot potato in any case. I guess we could check and see if there was a car lot or any other business that might have had security cameras.

“Even so, the chance of them having tape—and it would be tape that long ago—is almost nil. The only hope would be if they saw something, didn’t want to be involved, but saved it for reasons unknown. I wouldn’t hold my breath on this one.” She flipped a page in her small spiral notebook and wrote something. “I will check it out, though. We haven’t got anything else at this point.”

“Molly keeps asking Lauren and me to help her. We were hoping there might be a simple explanation. Not that someone killing and burying Amber is simple, but an accident would be better than…I don’t know, I guess it’s all awful.”

“Molly’s been down here several times, too. Unless we come up with a previously unknown witness or find Amber’s body, I’m afraid she’s going to be disappointed.”

Harriet stood up.

“Thanks for listening to us. I know you’re doing everything you can.”

Morse and Lauren got up as well.

“Listen, if you have any other ideas, feel free to share,” Morse told them. “Like I said, we’re getting nowhere. I’m working with a retired detective who was on the force back then, but he said after they cleared Leo Tabor, they didn’t come up with anything. If there’d been forensic evidence, we could apply new tests that have been developed since then, but we’ve got nothing.”

“If Amber’s mother didn’t watch her closely, I suppose anything could have happened,” Harriet mused.

“Unfortunately, being an overworked single mother who didn’t watch her child as well as her neighbors would have liked is not a crime in this town. Apart from Leo bringing Amber to the station and calling a few times, Sandra Price was never investigated for child neglect. She had her hands full, and people were pretty sympathetic.”

“We better be on our way,” Lauren said. “We have quilts to make, and presumably, you have criminals to catch.”

Morse chuckled.

“Let me know when you’re ready to start binding the quilts. I’m pretty fast.” She looked at Lauren. “And before you say something snarky, I’m
good
and fast.”

Lauren held her hands up.

“Hey, I didn’t say anything. As long as you’re the one with the gun, I’m not saying anything about your binding skill.”

Harriet laughed at that.

“Come on, I need to finish my chores so I can give my aunt her car back.”