Arlene Sachitano - Quilter's Knot

"You need to get cracking. I can't stay hidden forever. Someone wanted the old bat dead. You're supposed to be the big crime solver-figure it out."

"Wait a minute! I never claimed to be able to solve crimes."

"You figured out who killed Avanell, and if you can do it for her, you can do it for me. Besides-"

"I know,” Harriet cut her off. “I owe you."

Lauren gave her a smug smile. “Yes, you do, so get to work. Now, I've got to go get some clothes and get out of here before someone wakes up and sees me."

She jumped up and swept out of the room. Harriet flopped back on her bed and put her hands on her forehead.

"What am I going to do?” she asked the ceiling.

No answers were forthcoming, so she got up, pulled her gray sweatshirt on over her jeans and green T-shirt, grabbed her wallet and went downstairs.

The kitchenette was dark, and she didn't want to turn on the lights and chance waking one of the early risers, so she went on out to the porch. She never tired of the forest that surrounded the Tree House. The smell of damp earth and pine needles was calming. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She was about to sit on the porch swing when she heard a rustle in the bushes.

Harriet quietly stepped down the stairs and around the side of the Tree House toward the restroom building. She could hear voices coming from the trail, and quickly slid behind a large rhododendron.

"That was a really foolish move,” a low voice whispered.

"I had to do something, didn't I?” Both people were whispering, and she couldn't identify either one.

"You need to decide whose team you're on, and if it's not mine, we have a problem. And you know how I feel about problems."

Harriet wiggled around, but the foliage was too thick for her to see anything. She felt her bush move as someone pushed past it and went on down the trail. She held her breath and a few seconds later, heard footsteps crunching the gravel on the trail going in the opposite direction. She waited what she estimated to be five minutes then crept back to the porch.

Aiden arrived just as she started to sit on the swing for a second time.

"Did you see anyone on the path or in the parking lot?” she asked.

"No, should I have?"

She quickly recounted the conversation she'd overheard.

"Oooh, so it's a conspiracy,” he said and pulled her into his arms. “I've missed you.” He wrapped his arms around her, pressing her against his chest.

"You have a funny way of showing it,” she complained, but slid her arms around his waist.

"Hey, I defended your honor, what more do you want?"

"You mean when you clocked some poor guy in the jaw just because he touched me?"

"Some poor guy who might have killed his own mother."

"Well, there is that,” She looked up into his white-blue eyes, barely suppressing a laugh.

Aiden's face grew serious. “I should have hit him harder. If he did kill his mother, he's probably the one who ran me off the road and tried to burn you and Carla alive."

"That's a big if,” Harriet said and let go of him. “Come on, you promised coffee, and it's cold out here."

He leaned in and kissed her lightly, sending shivers all the way to her toes, then turned and led the way up the path to the parking area. She sighed and followed. No matter how she fought it, he did make her heart go pitty-pat.

"Guess who was in my room when I got back from my shower,” she said when they were both buckled into their seats in the nondescript rental car.

"Don't even say Tom Bainbridge."

"Lauren,” she replied.

"Isn't she staying in the Tree House?” Aiden pulled out of the parking lot and headed for Angel Harbor.

"She was until she went on the lam."

He turned and looked at her.

"Hey, watch the road. One accident this week is enough,” she said.

"Are you serious? Lauren is hiding from the police?"

"They're looking for her, and she didn't come home last night. She said she stayed at her brother's, but she won't be there anymore. And before you say anything, yes, I told her she was being foolish and she should turn herself in. She said innocent people go to jail all the time. I have to admit I couldn't argue with that."

"This is getting crazy,” he said as he pulled into a parking space in front of a cedar-sided building overlooking the harbor.

"You know what's really crazy?” Harriet said when they had both ordered their drinks, switching to cocoa at the last minute, and were settled on a worn purple sofa that faced a window overlooking the water. “What's crazy is that I've been spending a lot of time with Carla this week."

"If you think that's crazy you need to get out more,” Aiden said with a smile.

Harriet gave him a playful punch on his shoulder. “If you would let me finish."

"Please, continue."

"Carla's been working at the quilt store for a couple of months now, and attending the single mothers quilt group for longer than that, but somehow, none of us picked up the fact that she's living with her baby in a borrowed van."

"How can that be? Foggy Point has a homeless shelter-my mom donated a lot of money to it. And I'm pretty sure there's a women's shelter, too."

"She told me herself, so I'm sure it's true. She's not battered, so she probably doesn't qualify for the women's shelter, and frankly, if I were faced with taking a baby to the homeless shelter, I'd probably choose a car myself. She said she takes the baby to a free daycare program. She begged me not to say anything, but I can't stop thinking of her and that baby parked on the street at night."

"That's really harsh."

"I've been toying with the idea of asking her to move into Aunt Beth's place with me. It's certainly big enough."

He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him.

"Has anyone ever told you, you have a really good heart?"

Harriet leaned her head against him. It felt good. “I just feel so bad for her. When we were in the basement of that workshop, she was telling me how her mother used to lock her in closets to keep the mom's boyfriend from hurting her. And she was just so matter-of-fact about it, like it was the most normal thing in the world. And I could hear in her voice that she really believed her mom was protecting her. It wasn't in her reality that her mom had anything to do with the abuser being there in the first place."

"Did you bring home birds that fell out of nests when you were a little girl?” he asked.

"Yeah, right,” she said. “I brought home a stray kitten one time, and the head mistress took it from me and made me scrub my hands with a brush."

"That's terrible.” He gave her a squeeze.

"It is what it is, and compared to Carla, I had no problems at all."

The waitress brought two mugs of steaming hot cocoa topped with generous dollops of whipped cream and set them on the scarred wooden table in front of the sofa.

"Thanks,” Harriet told her with a smile.

"Can we forget all these other people and talk about us?” Aiden asked.

She picked up her cup and sipped.

"I'll take that as a yes,” he said. “I'd like to propose that we start over when we get back to Foggy Point."

She started to protest, but he pressed a finger to her lips.

"Let me finish before some other disaster interferes. A couple of weeks ago, I said I wanted to take you out, and then I no-showed. I know that was bad form, but we really were slammed with that contaminated pet food crisis. Then, when we got here, Cammi was fooling with my phone and erased your message. Maybe on purpose, maybe not, but in any case I never got it. Hitting Tom, I still stand by. He's a jerk."

He paused, and Harriet seized her chance.

"I agreed to go out to dinner. We're both adults, you don't owe me anything. You got busy. It happens."