Crazy as a Quilt (A Harriet Turman/Loose Threads Mystery Book 8) (17 page)

“Does Marine have any other family?” Jessica asked.

“Funny you should ask.” Lauren tapped the screen. “She has no full siblings, but she has at least four halves.”

“Have you found where they live?” Connie asked.

“Her elder brother is currently incarcerated on federal drug charges. Her next brother has an arrest record but is not jailed at this time. I don’t know where he is, but his arrests were all in this area, so chances are he’s around. The third is a half-sister. She is currently a student on scholarship at University of Washington.” Lauren chuckled. “You guys are going to love this. Marine’s youngest sibling is
really
a young sibling.” She looked briefly at the ceiling, her lips moving silently. “She is currently eight years old.”

“Do they share the same father?” Aunt Beth asked.

“No. Marine doesn’t have a father listed on her birth certificate. Her mom was fifteen when she had Marine, so she was probably thirty-six when she had this last one.”

“So, we can eliminate the one in jail,” Harriet said.

“Unless he has friends on the outside,” Mavis said.

“Okay,” Harriet continued, “the older of the two brothers would have to have help from someone on the outside. And we can eliminate the eight-year-old. The sister in college is probably less likely, so that leaves us Mom and the second half-sib.”

Lauren drained the last chocolate from her mug.

“I have some other resources I can tap tomorrow. Unless they’re in witness protection, I should be able to locate both of them.”

“Do we know if Marine had a boyfriend or even a john?” Aunt Beth asked.

“Good point,” Harriet said. She looked at Lauren. “Did you check to see if Marine has a record?”

“No, but I can do that.” She tapped in a note.

Jessica swirled the chocolate sludge in the bottom of her cup.

“I should have thought of that. Female addicts often turn to prostitution to pay for their drugs.”

Aunt Beth crumpled her napkin and picked up her mug.

“We probably aren’t going to be able to come up with answers tonight, and we have class early in the morning.”

“Beth’s right,” Connie agreed and stood up, followed by the rest of the group.

“We’ll see you at the church in the morning,” Harriet said to Lauren and Jessica. “Thanks for all the information.”

“No problem,” Lauren said, and they went to their respective cars and headed for home.

Chapter 18

Blue skies greeted the quilters as they made their way up to the church entrance from the lower parking lot. Sharon had refused Harriet’s offer to drop her by the door, since it wasn’t raining. Lauren and Jessica were approaching from the left as Mavis climbed out of Aunt Beth’s silver Beetle, parked in the row ahead of them.

Harriet had to look twice before she could be sure the woman with Lauren was, in fact, her roommate.

“Jessica? Is that you?”

She wore a dark-blue A-line skirt that stopped several inches south of her knees. A white blouse with a Peter Pan collar was topped by a cardigan sweater in the same shade of blue as her skirt. Her hair was now a mousy brown.

Jessica twirled around.

“You like? This is my ‘I’m going to church’ outfit—or really, going to the church charity office outfit. Of course, we all know God doesn’t care what we wear, but I’ve found that most people are more willing to open their purse strings for a good cause if the ex-nun asking for donations looks more
nun
than
ex
. It seemed appropriate for knocking on doors in Foggy Point.”

“What happened to your hair?” Aunt Beth asked when they had joined her and Mavis.

Jessica twirled a lock of her now longer hair.

“It’s a wig.”

Mavis circled her.

“It really looks natural.”

“It’s the color mine used to be. The trick with wigs is to stick to hair colors that match your skin tone. That, and be willing to spend a little money. Not millions, but you can’t buy it from a discount store.”

“Good to know,” Lauren said as she turned and led the way to the church.

The Loose Threads gathered around the breakfast buffet in the basement reception room a few minutes later. Chocolate croissants were stacked next to cinnamon rolls and blueberry mini-muffins. Slices of coffee cake were arranged next to a bowl of cut melon and berries. A large pitcher of orange juice sat next to carafes of coffee and tea.

Lauren bit into a croissant, and warm chocolate oozed out onto her fingers. She groaned as she licked the escaped filling.

“Boy, they’re upping the ante foodwise.”

Glynnis Miller joined them.

“We thought we should provide a little extra comfort food, given the announcement we’re going to be making.”

Aunt Beth showed her a flowered metal can with a hinged lid.

“We’re going to take up a collection for her family to pay for funeral expenses.”

“Oh, good. The Small Stitches were talking about doing something similar. I’ll include that in the announcement each teacher will read to their morning class. Can we put the can in the program office? We have someone in there all the time in case students have problems with anything.”

“Sounds good,” Mavis said.

Sharon poured herself a cup of coffee and stirred a package of artificial sweetener into it.

“I’m going to go to my classroom so I can work a little more on my practice embroidery piece.”

“See you in a few minutes,” Harriet said.

Mavis and Aunt Beth went with Glynnis to the office, and Robin went with Carla to the restroom, leaving Lauren and Harriet standing by the food with Jessica.

“It’s a good thing we’ve only got two days left,” Harriet said. “I’m going to have to go on a celery-and-water diet to make up for all the calories we’ve been consuming.”

Lauren picked up a mini-muffin.

“You and me both.”

“Speaking of the event ending,” Jessica said, “this may not be the best time to mention it, but I may not get another opportunity to see you without your roommate.”

“That sounds ominous,” Harriet said.

“It may be nothing. In case it
is
something, you should know.”

Harriet looked at Lauren, who shrugged. So, she didn’t know whatever it was, either.

“When you were all having your meeting, I went upstairs for a while to check on Sharon. I didn’t find her in the TV room because, as it turned out, she was in the bathroom. I didn’t know that at first, so I started opening doors, and the first one I tried was obviously her bedroom. I know I shouldn’t have snooped, but I admit I’m nosey.”

Harriet realized she was hunching her shoulders up around her ears and forced herself to relax.

“What did you find?”

“There was this photo album lying on her open suitcase. Of course I had to look. I thought maybe it was pictures of her past glory as a model.”

“Spit it out, girl,” Lauren prompted.

“It was pictures of her with Harriet’s husband.”

Harriet relaxed. “That’s because Sharon and her husband Rick and a couple of other friends grew up with Steve in Oakland. They went to the same schools and remained friends till Steve died.”

“Uh, okay. I’m sure they were all friends, but these looked like they were friends with benefits.” Jessica reached over and put her hand on Harriet’s arm. “I’m not trying to be mean, but did you know that Sharon and your husband had been that close in the past?”

Harriet shook her head.

“I think it’s a little strange this woman brings a book with dozens of pictures of her younger self in compromising positions with your husband. Clearly, it was before your marriage. I’m not saying there was an affair or anything. I’m just wondering why she has a book like that in your house all these years later.”

“That is pretty weird,” Lauren said.

Harriet shook her head slowly.

“I don’t know what to say. I have no idea what to think.”

“I thought you should know,” Jessica said. “I mean, think about it. Someone framed your boyfriend. Maybe someone who thinks you took their boyfriend could be a candidate.”

“Steve wasn’t seeing anyone when we started dating. He made a point of telling me that. I’m going to have think about whether that’s even possible.” Harriet ran her hand through her hair. “It’s all crazy.”

“I’m not trying to trash your husband, but you know how people are in relationships. It might have been over for him, but not for her. As long as he wasn’t with someone, she might have had illusions they weren’t really broken up. That ended when you came on the scene.”

“That was years ago, though,” Harriet protested. “Why wait until now?”

“Who knows? I’m not saying she did anything for sure. I’m just saying it’s weird, and you guys can’t seem to think of anyone else who’d want to set your boyfriend up.”

“She’s got a point,” Lauren said. “We can at least tell the Threads about it next time we meet.”

“I still want to see where Marine’s mom and half-brother were during the critical time period. I think they’re a better bet than my roommate,” Harriet said.

“Just watch yourself around Sharon,” Jessica told her. “We better get to class.”

“Want me to drive you to the jail during lunch?” Lauren asked Harriet.

Harriet headed for the stairs up to the classrooms.

“Sure. I’ll meet you out front as soon as they let us out.”

Harriet and Lauren weren’t the only people meeting in the church foyer when the morning session was over. Connie was waiting by the door for Jesssica; Beth and Mavis had set up a table and put their money box, along with a sign saying the donations were for the funeral expenses of their recently deceased classmate. Several quilters dropped bills into the box on their way through.

“Have you checked with the jail to see what their visiting hours are?” Lauren asked Harriet.

“No.”

“I think they can receive visitors on Saturday. Not that we care, but the rest of the alphabet gets their visits on Sunday.”

Harriet felt frustration wash over her. She knew seeing Aiden in person wouldn’t change anything, but somehow it would make her feel better.

“Great. There goes that plan.”

“The jail site says they encourage phone calls between inmates and their family, friends and attorneys. And according to this, all cell blocks have phones.”

“Give me the number.”

“Let’s go to that alcove over there. No sense broadcasting we’re calling the jail.”

Harriet dialed, left a message; and a few minutes later, her phone rang and Aiden was on the line.

“Are you okay,” she asked. “I mean, of course you’re not
okay
okay. But can I do anything for you? Do you need anything?”

“Slow down. I’m fine. I mean, considering everything. My lawyer is working on getting me out of here, and I did emergency surgery on a dog for one of the guards, and he’s grateful and seems to have influence with the rest of them. As long as they’ve got room, I have private accommodations.”

“Has your lawyer been able to find out what they have that caused them to arrest you?”

“It doesn’t make sense. They said they searched her cell phone records, and my number shows up a bunch of times.
Her
calling
me
. I swear I haven’t talked to her, by phone or otherwise, since she’s been here. They found hair and saliva on her body. They are consistent with mine, but even if they get priority testing, it will still take days to get DNA results. I don’t get it.”

“I do. Someone is setting you up. And I hope your jailers are listening to this call. You did not kill Marine, and the sooner they realize that, the sooner they can get on with finding whoever is setting you up.”

“I know I have to trust the police to find out who’s behind this, but it’s really hard to keep thinking positive sitting in here.”

“Who would want to frame you for this? Assuming someone is trying, that is. Lauren is tracking down Marine’s less savory family members to see if one of them had a reason to want her dead. Connie and Lauren’s roommate are trying to find your homeless guy, or failing that, someone who saw you looking for him.”

“So, the Loose Threads are on the case? I feel better already.” He tried to laugh, but it came out more like a gasp. “I gotta go.”

“Call me when you can,” Harriet said and tapped her phone off.

Lauren had discreetly stepped away while Harriet was talking but returned when she dropped her phone into her purse.

“I called in an order for us at the Sandwich Board while you were talking to Aiden. I’d like to stop in the quilt store while we’re near by and see if Marjorie has any of those pre-embroidered motifs we’re supposed to use in our embellishments.”

“They have some for sale at the supply table here.”

“Have you looked at them? We’re supposed to use at least one owl image, and the ones they have look like cartoons. After I’ve spent all this time doing perfect little herringbone stitches, I’m at least going to try to get a more realistic-looking owl.”

“I have to admit, I’m not thrilled with my lime-green option. Do you want to drive, or shall I?”

“I’ll drive, and you can tell me what the jailbird had to say.”