The Quilt Before the Storm (21 page)

“Same with Brandy,” Harriet said. “She was out of sight, and I could definitely picture
her
chunking a rock into someone’s head.”

“And crazy people have that superhuman strength thing going on, too.” Lauren observed.

“That what?” Harriet said.

“You know. You always read stories about crazy people summoning superhuman strength and breaking out of the loony bin.”

“In the grocery store gossip rags, maybe,” Harriet said. “I don’t think that happens in real life.”

“Still, I think she could have done it.” Lauren said as she readjusted Carter’s position, the little dog having returned to her lap.

“I agree. Not the strength part. I just agree she could have done it.”

“She gets extra points for being in the same vicinity, too,” Aunt Beth said. “Owen was working on his truck, but did any one of us actually see him?”

“The restroom blocked our view of the truck,” Harriet told her.

“Same for us,” Beth said. “We were behind the building, so we couldn’t see anything.”

“He would have had to go through the woods to get back there without any of us or Joyce seeing him.” Lauren observed.

“But again, there’s no reason he couldn’t have done it. We don’t know how many trails cut through the woods in that park. I’m willing to bet there’s more than one.”

“We don’t know enough about these people to figure anything out,” Aunt Beth decided.

“I made some chocolate chip cookies,” Mavis said. “Would anyone care for some dessert?”

The phone rang, and Harriet went into the living room to answer it.

“Hello?” She listened while Carla spoke. “Wow. Did they expand on that?” She twisted the coiled cord around her finger. “Good work. See what else you can find out.”

She then related the events at the homeless camp.

“I’m glad I wasn’t there with Wendy,” Carla said, “even if that did mean we were here all day with the witch. Aiden went to the clinic, so he wasn’t here to rein her in. It was a nightmare, but nothing compared to finding a dead guy.”

“I’m going to try to come to the clinic and see Scooter tomorrow,” Harriet said. “Maybe I’ll have a chance to see him and find out what’s really going on.”

“Good luck with that,” Carla said. “Uh-oh, gotta go, she’s calling for me again.”

Lauren was standing in front of the fireplace when Harriet hung up.

“So?” she demanded.

“Let’s go back with the others—Aunt Beth and Mavis and Connie need to hear this. That was Carla,” Harriet said when they’d rejoined the others.

Mavis slid a cookie on a napkin in front of her.

“She had a bombshell to report. She said she was listening to Aiden and Michelle while they were eating breakfast this morning. He said he believed she was just trying to scam him into giving her more money, which their mom had explicitly said not to do, and unless she could produce evidence, he didn’t believe anything she said.

“Carla said she heard rustling noises and then what sounded like the turning of pages. At any rate, they were silent for a few minutes. Then Michelle said ‘Read right here,’ and then she heard Aiden suck in his breath. Then he said, ‘So, it’s true. Our mother was a murderer.’

“She thinks he stormed out at that point. She heard the door slam, and then Michelle mumbled something, but Carla couldn’t make it out.”

“Wow,” said Lauren. “That’s a bombshell, all right.”

Harriet picked up her cookie and took a bite. For once, her aunt didn’t make a comment. Beth and Mavis were looking at each other.

“Clearly, there’s a story here,” Lauren observed.

“I suppose we’re going to have to tell them,” Mavis said to Beth.

“Tell us what?” Harriet asked, looking first at one then the other.

“Many years ago…” Aunt Beth began.

“…While they still lived in France…” Mavis added.

“…Aiden’s mother was involved in a car accident,” Beth continued. “It was dark and raining…”

“…The visibility was nonexistent…” Mavis said.

“…And a girl ran out into the street. She was running away from her controlling boyfriend and darted out in front of Avanell without warning.”

“The police didn’t cite her or anything,” Mavis noted.

“The girl suffered a fatal head injury but was not taken off life support for a long, agonizing month.”

“Diós mio,” Connie said. “I never knew.”

“Avanell was trying to put it behind her. That’s why they moved to America—to try to get a fresh start. But she was haunted by it,” Aunt Beth said.

Mavis took up the story.

“It didn’t help that the family sued Avanell in the French equivalent to our civil court. They were in total denial that their daughter was in an abusive relationship. The suit was found to be without merit, but they appealed and dragged things out for years—long after Avanell came here. She kept having to go back and relive it.”

“That’s horrible,” Harriet said.

“She felt terrible, even though there was nothing she could have done,” Beth said. “There were witnesses who testified at her various proceedings that she couldn’t have done anything. I think they were really the only thing that got her through it. That and Aiden—she had him after they came here, and with a new baby, she couldn’t dwell on things too much.”

“It’s also why she was always giving money to charities that provide services to troubled girls,” Mavis added.

“That’s a sad story, but what does that have to do with Aiden?” Lauren asked.

“Come on,” Harriet said. “You can imagine what Michelle is doing with this. She’s probably telling him that with both his mother and his uncle being killers, he’s doomed. That’s why she’s suggesting he go back to Africa. She’s probably telling him he needs to go to keep us all safe from him.”

“And since he’s not going to be here, why does he need a house or money,” Mavis finished the scenario for her.

“She’s a real piece of work, that girl,” Jorge said. “Her parents took her to counselors, you know. It just didn’t seem to help.”

“Poor Aiden,” Harriet said. “I’ve got to go see him tomorrow.”

“You better wear your armor,” Jorge said. “The boy is stubborn. If he believes what
la diabla
said, he will be hard to reason with.”

“Carla said she seemed to be showing him something,” Harriet reminded them.

“I wonder what it was.” Lauren said.

“She said something about Michelle doing a craft project in the nursery the other day,” Harriet remembered. “I’ll bet she phonied up something. She worked in the nursery because she knew Aiden had given use of the room over to Carla, so he wasn’t likely to happen on her creating the fake.”

“What a witch,” Lauren said.

“Always has been difficult,” Mavis concurred.

“We better get back to our house,” Rod announced. “We need to turn the generator on again to run the freezer and the water heater. What are the plans for tomorrow?”

“I’m going to the clinic to see Scooter and to try to talk some sense into Aiden,” Harriet said. “Then I’d like to go to back to the homeless camp and look around. There has to be something we’re missing.”

“Jorge and I told Reverend Hafer we would come manage lunch at the shelter to give him and his wife a break,” Beth said.

“Many people are willing to work for their food, but unfortunately, most don’t have experience in a commercial-sized kitchen,” Jorge added.

“Let us know if we can do anything to help,” Connie said.

“There is one thing,” Lauren said. “We haven’t heard from Sarah. She’s at her boyfriend’s place on Miller Hill.”

“By herself?” Rod asked.

“We tried to talk her out of it,” Lauren explained, “but the jerk has her brainwashed.”

“Do you have an address?” Connie asked, pulling a small notepad from her purse. Lauren scratched the address on it.

“I searched this out on the internet, but I think it’s current.”

“We’ll see what we can do,” Rod said.

The phone rang again while everyone was saying goodbye to Rod and Connie.

“Hello,” Harriet said.

“I know I said I’d call tomorrow,” Detective Morse told her, “but we have a plan of sorts in place, and I wanted to let you know and ask you a favor.”

“Sure, what do you need?”

“I’m coming in by Coast Guard helicopter tomorrow along with another detective and some emergency medical personnel. They’ll be landing us at the grade school. My apartment is on the downtown side of the bridge, so I won’t be able to get home or get a car. Could you give me a ride to the shelter at the church?”

“Of course, but why don’t you come stay at my house? We’re having a sort of ongoing pajama party. My aunt and Mavis and Lauren are here, along with Jorge.”

“It sounds like you have a full house already,” Morse said.

“We still have room. I’ve got several of those blow-up beds, and I have a whole attic that no one is staying in. It may not be the Ritz, but with a down sleeping bag and the airbed I think it will be as comfortable as any of us are without power. And we have a gas water heat and a gas stovetop.”

“How could I refuse an offer like that?” Morse asked. “Their target landing time is noon, but it could be plus or minus an hour. Come at your convenience—I won’t be going anywhere.”

“We’ll be there at eleven, just in case.”

“I did get the fire department to pick up your bodies.”

“Hey, they aren’t my bodies,” Harriet protested.

“I know, but you reported them, and we have to call them something. In any case, they’re chilling in the fire station garage. It’s the coolest protected place they could access. We’ve managed to get hold of a few more officers since we talked, too. And the guys downtown requested permission to take a kayak from the mercantile and use it to paddle out.”

“Have you been able to reach Darcy?” Harriet asked.

“Yes, she checked in just before I called you. She’ll be heading up to the homeless camp tomorrow to see what, if anything, she can come up with. We don’t expect to find much useful forensic material at either site after all this time, but we have to try.”

“I’m glad you’re coming back,” Harriet said.

“See you tomorrow,” Morse said and hung up.

Harriet turned to her roommates, all of whom were currently standing in front of the fireplace, rears to the heat. They’d probably come into the room more for warmth than a pressing need to hear who had called, but she told them what Detective Morse had said without prompting.

“Well, I’m glad she’s coming back,” Aunt Beth announced.

“Me, too,” Harriet agreed.

“Since when?” Lauren said.

“Since we aren’t police officers, and it’s their job, not ours, to figure out who killed Duane and Richard—two men we barely knew, I might add.”

“Did Morse brainwash you?” Lauren asked.

“Since when did you become the gung-ho private eye?”

“Are you trying to tell me you’re not the least little bit curious about who killed those two men, practically right under our noses?”

“Of course I’m curious,” Harriet said. “I just don’t think it’s our place to interfere in a police investigation.”

“I’m glad you’ve come to your senses,” Aunt Beth said then turned to look Lauren squarely in the face. “You would do well to learn from Harriet.”

Harriet raised her eyebrows and grinned at Lauren from behind her aunt’s back. Lauren narrowed her eyes, but kept her mouth shut.

“Anyone interested in a friendly game of cards?” Jorge asked.

Everyone was, and he offered to take all the dogs out before they started.

Weak light oozed through the kitchen window when Harriet came downstairs the next morning. Day three with no power had begun, and the whole slumber party/campout bit was starting to be not so much fun.

“I want my power back now,” she complained to Aunt Beth and Mavis, who were sitting side-by-side at the kitchen bar. “I’m not out of clean clothes yet, but my dirties are stacking up, and I don’t want to find out how the pioneers dried their laundry in the winter.”

“You don’t want to know what the pioneers did,” Mavis agreed.

“You want some tea?” Aunt Beth asked. She had already filled the thermal carafe with water and set out clean mugs and a basket of assorted teabags.

“Sure,” Harriet agreed. “Were those waffles?” she asked, pointing at the crumbs on the mostly empty plates in front of the two older women.

“You should know,” Mavis said. “I found them in your freezer in the garage. I was looking for dinner meat to start thawing, and I found a package of frozen waffles. We heated them in the iron skillet and put the remains in the freezer compartment.”

“You want some?” Aunt Beth asked.

Harriet did, and a few minutes later she sat down to hot tea and waffles with warm maple syrup.

“Yum,” she said when she’d finished eating. “That really hit the spot.”

“Well, we thought you’d need fortification if you’re going to go see Aiden,” Beth said.

“Where’s everyone else?” Harriet asked.

“Lauren is up in the attic sweeping, and then she’s going to set up the air-bed,” Mavis said. “Jorge’s outside with the dogs.”

“He said he would drive you to the animal hospital when you’re ready,” Aunt Beth added. “He said there are a couple of places where the water is over the road.”

“You ready to head out?” Jorge asked a few minutes later when he returned with the dogs. “Let me get these girls settled, and I’ll be ready.” He stooped to unhook the leashes.

Harriet got her coat from the kitchen closet and put her waterproof boots on.

“Wish me luck,” she said to Beth and Mavis as she followed him out the door.

“Go easy on the boy,” Jorge recommended when they were in the truck. “If you go at him with both guns blazing, all he’ll do is argue, no matter how right you are.”

“How can I make him see that Michelle is trying to use him?”

“The best thing is to try to get him away from her, somehow. He knows how she is. The only reason she’s having success at all is because the storm is keeping him from talking to anyone else.”

“But this started before the storm. She was here, and he was listening.”

“He would have come around if he’d had the chance to talk to you and me and your aunt.”