The Quilt Before the Storm (28 page)

He held his head in his hands then raked his fingers through his silky black hair.

“Go ahead,” he said finally.

“I know I shouldn’t be sticking my nose in your business, and I’m sorry for that. I just want to say that before I begin. I asked my aunt and Mavis about your mother and her past.”

Aiden stood up, and she could see he was about to argue. She held her hand up to silence him.

“Let me finish before you react,” she repeated quietly. “I asked my aunt and Mavis what had happened in your mother’s past that your sister could be using to try to manipulate you. They told me that she had killed a girl in France.”

Aiden’s face reddened, but he kept quiet.

“She killed a girl in an
accident
—a tragic, unavoidable accident. The young woman was trying to escape an abusive boyfriend and ran into the street in front of her. There was nothing she could have done. The visibility was poor, and the girl darted out.

“There were witnesses who supported your mother’s innocence, but that didn’t stop the family from dragging your mom through the French equivalent of a civil trial. It was
officially
declared a terrible, tragic accident.

“Your mother was devastated. Your parents decided to move to America to start over. They had you, and life went on. Your mom never forgot what had happened. That’s why she spent so much money and effort working with women’s charities.”

Harriet paused for a moment to let him absorb what she’d said.

“Carla told me your sister was working on some sort of cut-and-paste craft project in the nursery a few days ago. I’m wondering if she faked some kind of proof to convince you your mother was a
murderer—but she wasn’t. Your uncle Bertie is a murder
er—there’s no denying that fact—but your mother was
not
a killer. She was the victim of a tragic accident, just as surely as the girl who died was.”

Aiden sat in silence for a few minutes then left the room.

“I thought that went well,” Harriet said to the little dog in her lap. “He didn’t yell or grab my arm or cry, even. Well, okay, I didn’t really expect that last, but you never know. He’s going to go think about things, and when he’s calmed down, he’ll realize his sister is crazy and he shouldn’t listen to a word she says.”

She held Scooter for the rest of her allotted time, which was up when a vet tech she didn’t know came to tell her the generator was about to go off again. She handed him the little dog after assuring Scooter he’d be coming home soon.

A familiar semi was parked in her driveway when she pulled into her garage, and she watched Kate and Owen approach in her rearview mirror.

“I hope you don’t mind us coming to visit,” Kate said.

“We won’t be long,” Owen added.

“Come on in,” Harriet said.

“I’d rather talk out here,” Kate said. “It looked like there were other people home, and what I have to say is for your ears only.”

“We don’t want to run into Richard Reigert’s wife or daughter. If I’m not mistaken, that’s their car in your driveway,” Owen explained.

“I have to say I noticed some animosity between you and Richard the other day.”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

The door to the kitchen opened, and Lauren leaned out.

“Anyone want to come in for coffee?” she asked.

Harriet, Owen and Kate all glared at her.

“Sorry I asked,” she said and shut the door again.

“Look, we have enough problems to last a lifetime,” Owen said. “We don’t need any more, and it seems like Foggy Point has more than its share right now. We heard the electricity is about to be turned back on.”

“And they expect to get one lane of the highway open within the week,” Kate said.

“We’re going to leave as soon as we can get out,” Owen continued.

“That makes sense,” Harriet said.

“Look,” Kate told her, “when we talked at the church, I didn’t tell you the whole story, and I feel like I need to come clean before we leave town.”

“If you know something that relates to either of the murders, shouldn’t you be telling Detective Morse?”

“You have to promise you won’t tell
anyone
until we’re out of town,” Kate pleaded.

“Neither of us killed Duane or Richard,” Owen asserted. “But we do
know
Richard.”

“Richard Reigert was the man who convinced us to invest our money in the Ponzi scheme.” Kate said.

“You definitely need to tell the detective.”

“If we do that, she’ll take us in for questioning. She may even hold us for a few days, insuring that we’ll miss our next load, and then we’ll have to get our lawyer involved, which will cost us even more of the money we no longer have,” Kate argued. “Please.”

“We just want someone to know that Richard has a lot of enemies besides us and to point the police in the right direction,” Owen said.

“I’m really not comfortable with this,” Harriet admitted.

“But you won’t tell anyone until we’re out of town, will you?” Kate’s tone was pleading.

“I can’t make any promises.”

“I guess we’ll just have to trust you to do the right thing.” Owen took his wife’s hand and led her back to the truck.

Harriet reached into her car to get her purse and noticed Ronald had left his coat when they’d dropped him at the church shelter. She picked it up and brought it into the house, laying it over the back of a kitchen chair.

“So, what was that all about?” Lauren asked.

“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”

“Try me.”

Harriet was trying to decide how much, if any, of what Kate and Owen had told her to share when the kitchen lights blazed to life and the clocks on the stove, microwave, and electric coffeemaker all began blinking.

“Oh, Thank you God,” Lauren said.

Harriet could hear the television blaring upstairs and the clock radio in her room beeping rhythmically.

“Help me reset stuff,” she said to Lauren.

“I’ll start at the top.” Lauren headed for the stairs.

Harriet flipped light switches and set the clocks in the kitchen before moving to the dining and living rooms. The dishwasher started filling with water. She reached over and twisted the dial to the off position.

“I gave an open invitation to everyone who helped clean things up at the quilt store to come for dinner two hours after the power came back on,” she called.

“Have fun with that,” Lauren called back.

“Oh, come on, roomie. You’re not going to bail on me now, are you?”

“I’ve got to go check out my place. I think I turned everything off, but I want to make sure the heat comes back on.”

“What if I go with you, and we stop by Jorge’s to talk to Aunt Beth and Mavis about dinner then go to the store if we need to.”

Lauren rolled her eyes as she came back downstairs.

“Okay, fine, but you owe me.” She picked up Carter and tucked him into her sweatshirt.

Mavis, Aunt Beth and Jorge were sitting at one of the tables in Tico’s Tacos when Lauren and Harriet came arrived.

“How did
your
clean-up project go?” Harriet asked.

“Jorge’s fresh produce was pretty ugly, but otherwise, his refrigerators weren’t too bad,” Aunt Beth reported. “We’re fortunate, I guess, that our storms come during the coldest part of the year.”

“It was about forty-five degrees in here until the power came on,” Mavis said. “The refrigerators have to be about the same.”

“So, how do we all feel about a party?” Harriet asked.

“Oh, honey,” Aunt Beth said. “I’m ready to take Curly and go back to my little house.”

“Too late,” Lauren said.

“What do you mean?”

“Harriet invited everyone over to her house for dinner two hours after the power came back on, which by my calculations was twenty minutes ago.” She smirked at Harriet.

“Everyone who?” Mavis asked.

“Just Joyce and Brandy and Ronald,” Harriet said.

“And Tom and Pat and Lisa,” Lauren added. “And I assume Detective Morse, since she’s got to come back to get her stuff anyway.”

“Well, if you’re going to do that then we should call Robin and Connie and Carla to see if they want to come over, too.”

“What do you want to cook?” Jorge asked.

“I’ve got some frozen chicken breasts I’m sure need to be used,” Mavis offered.

“Me, too,” Aunt Beth said. “We hit the same sale last week at the supermarket.”

“I’ve got plenty of potatoes,” Jorge said. “We could do mashed potatoes and gravy and fried chicken.”

“I’ve got green beans in my freezer,” Harriet said.

“And we can make some baking powder biscuits,” Mavis said thoughtfully. “I think I’ve got some canned cherries at my place, too. We could throw together a couple of pies.”

“We better get moving if we’re going to do all that in an hour and a half,” Lauren advised.

“We can call the others from here,” Jorge said. “I tried my cell phone, but they aren’t working yet. I suppose they’ll have to reset circuits or something.”

“Lauren and I are going to her house, and then we can go by the homeless camp to pick up Joyce and Brandy,” Harriet said. “We won’t be able to get Ronald, because we’re in Lauren’s car.”

“We can go pick him up,” Jorge volunteered.

Joyce was waiting in the common area at the camp. She had her arm looped through Brandy’s, and the younger woman was struggling to get free.

“Let me go,” she said, still sounding inebriated. “I need Duane’s money. We need to buy some brandy.”

“Duane didn’t have any money, and we are certainly not going to buy you any brandy in any case,” Joyce said.

“Come on,” Harriet said and went to her other side, putting her arm through Brandy’s and hauling her to her feet. We’ve got hot food, bright lights and a fully functioning furnace. And if you two want, you’re welcome to use the showers at my place.”

“Do you have bubble bath?” Brandy asked as Joyce turned her around and pushed her toward the parking lot. Brandy dragged her feet.

“Yes, I have bubble bath,” Harriet said.

Brandy straightened her jacket and pulled her arms free.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll go anywhere for a bubble bath.”

Jorge arrived with Mavis, Aunt Beth and Ronald just as Harriet pulled into the garage with her guests.

“Come on,” she said to Brandy. “I’ll show you where the bathtub is.” She led her up the stairs and opened the door to the bathroom. “Let me get you some towels. If you want, I can run your clothes through the washer and dryer while you soak.”

Brandy gave her the first genuine smile she’d seen on the girl.

“Let me get you a bathrobe,” Harriet offered.

She opened the bathroom closet and pulled out a white velour robe with the name of an expensive hotel embroidered on the chest. “Here’s the shampoo and bubble bath, and there’s a hair dryer under the sink.”

Brandy stared at the robe, almost as if she were afraid to touch it.

“Here, take it, it won’t bite.”

“I’ve seen people on TV wearing these kinds of robes, but I didn’t think they were real.”

“What can I say, I’ve traveled a lot. Set your clothes outside the door, and I’ll pick them up in a few minutes and put them in the wash.”

She went into her room and waited until Brandy had slid her bundle out into the hall and she heard the splash of water filling the tub.

Jane Morse had joined the group while Harriet was upstairs.

“I came to pick up my overnight things.”

“You have to stay for dinner,” Harriet said. “We’re having a power’s-back celebration.”

Morse scanned the room, her eyes resting briefly on Joyce and then Ronald and Pat and Lisa in turn.

“Sure, I’d love to,” she said.

“I called Carla,” Aunt Beth told them. “She and Wendy will be over as soon as she lays out the dinner she prepared for Michelle and Aiden. She said they weren’t home.”

“Aiden’s probably at the clinic, but it’s hard to imagine where Michelle went,” Harriet said.

“I heard there was a party going on,” Tom said as he entered the crowded kitchen.

“You came to the right place,” Jorge told him. “Now I’m going to put you to work. There are some folding chairs along the wall in the garage. Can you bring them into the dining room?”