A Quilt in Time (A Harriet Turman/Loose Threads Mystery) (11 page)

Mavis took her turkey sandwich from Harriet.

“You have to wonder how that blue frog on her arm is going to look when she’s my age.” She tipped her head toward the woman behind the counter.

“I’d think twice before I put any image on the part of my arm that’s destined to become a flap,” Harriet said.

Lauren’s Rueben sandwich was halfway to her mouth, but she stopped to laugh before taking a bite.

“Young folks never think it’s going to happen to them,” Mavis said. “But I can guarantee—no matter how fat or thin you are, when you hit menopause, your arms are going to flap.”

Lauren set her sandwich down on her plate, still laughing.

“Thanks for sharing that little pearl of wisdom.”

“Hey, what sort of friend would I be if I didn’t help you prepare for your future? Who knows, you might have gotten an ill-placed tattoo if I hadn’t warned you.” Mavis smiled at her.

“Yeah, like that was going to happen.”

“On a totally other subject,” Harriet interrupted, “do you want to go look at fabric with us when we’re done here?”

Lauren swallowed her bite.

“I need to. I’m still struggling with my idea for a bed quilt for the shelter. I know I could just do something pretty, but I’d really like to do something inspiring.”

“I’ve been grappling with the same thing,” Harriet said. “I assumed there were symbols associated with hope or healing that are universal, but I guess not.”

“You were worried about that for the pet quilts?” Lauren asked.

“Hey,” Mavis said. “We get that the pets don’t care, but there’s an owner associated with each of those pets, and she might be inspired by our quilts.”

“Whatever.”

“I signed up for a bed quilt,” Harriet said. “If I ever finish the customer quilt I’m working on, I’m going to try to do one or two pet beds, too.”

“Aren’t you just the overachiever,” Lauren said. “Now I’m going to look like a slacker if I just do my bed quilt.”

“Stop it, you two,” Mavis scolded.

Harriet stood when they were finished eating.

“Everyone done?”

Mavis and Lauren nodded, and she picked up the baskets and took them to the bussing station, dumping the papers into the garbage and stacking the plates on the table. When everyone was ready, they headed down the block for Pins and Needles.

“Honey? You ready to go?” Aunt Beth called from the base of the stairs.

“Just a minute,” Harriet called back.

Scooter ran down the stairs at the sound of Beth’s voice. Like the other Loose Threads, she carried a small bag of dog treats in her purse to use as part of the ongoing socialization process of the formerly hoarded dogs several of them had adopted. Scooter was learning fast. Any time he heard a Loose Thread voice, he came running in hope of a treat.

Harriet descended the stairs a moment later, buttoning the three lowest buttons on her cardigan.

“Since we’re all going to be there today for the open house, Robin went to sit with Sarah this morning,” Aunt Beth reported.

“I was hoping she’d be in the shelter by now.”

“I don’t know if you saw her yesterday, but she had to go and have some of that hardware that’s sticking out of her arm adjusted. She was in rough shape. I’d have thought her pain meds would have knocked her out, but they didn’t seem to.”

“They must have some provision for injured residents at the shelter. I’m guessing it’s not unusual.”

“Probably, but still, it’s not all bad that she’s in a skilled nursing facility.”

“Lauren’s meeting us here. We figured parking might be at a premium.” She led the way through her studio to intercept her friend, who had just pulled into the driveway.

“Okay,” Harriet said when everyone was in the car and had their seatbelts on. “Let’s check in with Sarah and then each take a different family member, see if we can learn anything.”

“Do we know they’re all going to be there?” Aunt Beth asked.

“I’m assuming they are,” Harriet answered. “I thought Sarah said they all work there.”

“We know some of them do, but I’m not sure they all do,” Lauren said. “I’m with Harriet, though. I figure they’ll all be present. Opening a memory care wing is a big deal, at least according to all their advertising.

“I did some work on their software the other day, and I saw their VIP RSVP list. They’ve got some heavy hitters coming—hospital executives, politicians, and even a couple of B-list actors.”

“Wow, maybe we should have dressed up,” Harriet said.

“We’re fine. It’s a senior care center, not a four-star restaurant,” Aunt Beth assured her.

“Yeah, besides, this is Foggy Point,” Lauren added.

Carla, DeAnn and Robin were standing beside Robin’s minivan when Harriet pulled into the senior center parking lot.

“Any sign of Mavis or Connie?” she asked them.

Robin rose onto her toes to look past her to the street.

“They’re pulling in now. We were talking in the car on our way over about what our strategy should be.”

“We were, too,” Harriet told them. “We were thinking we should each try to find and observe different members of Sarah’s family.”

“Sounds like great minds think alike,” Robin said. “We were thinking the same thing. We figured we could take turns staying with Sarah, too. She seemed sort of restless when I was with her this morning.”

Carla twirled a strand of hair in her fingers.

“Has anyone else noticed how uncomfortable Sarah seems to be?” Her face turned red as she spoke.

“I did think she was in a lot more pain than she should have been when she got back from the hospital the other day,” Aunt Beth reported. “I mean, if her boyfriend is a pharmacist, you’d think he’d be all over it.”

“I think she’s afraid to take her medicine,” Carla told them. “I’m usually there when they bring her lunch tray, and there’s a cup of pills on it. She takes them and immediately goes to the bathroom—every time. And then she doesn’t get sleepy or anything. Her arm seems to hurt all the time, too.”

“Very good observation, Grasshopper,” Lauren said. “I also thought she seemed to be in more pain than someone in an institution should be.”

“Why does she always call me Grasshopper?” Carla whispered to Harriet.

“It’s an obscure TV reference. Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad. I’ll tell you about it later,” Harriet whispered back.

“Maybe we’re making more headway with Sarah than we thought,” DeAnn observed. “Sounds like she’s suspicious of what her fiancé might give her.”

“If Connie’s right about Rod’s aunt, it’s with good reason,” Harriet said.

Connie’s husband Rod parked their car three spots over, and their trio joined the group.

“What did we miss?” Connie asked, and Harriet filled them in on what had been discussed. Robin suggested Harriet and Lauren start with a visit to Sarah, to be followed by Mavis and Beth and then herself and DeAnn.

Aunt Beth pulled her plastic rain hat from her purse and put it carefully over her hair.

“Let’s go in before the rain decides to get serious,” she said.

The first thing Harriet noticed when she and Lauren came through the front doors of the Foggy Point Senior Center was Aiden, standing at the reception desk deep in conversation with the young blond woman who had taken Sarah’s place. The second thing was that all the chairs and side tables on both sides of the large entrance area had been replaced with rows of folding chairs facing a podium. Bouquets of silver and blue helium-filled balloons were tethered to large Chinese ceramic vases on either side of the podium, creating a stage-like space.

A tall man in a navy blue suit guided the Loose Threads to a row of chairs at the back of the audience area. Aunt Beth and Mavis removed their rain bonnets, shaking them out before folding them and stowing them in coat pockets then settling on chairs.

“I didn’t realize there was going to be a formal presentation,” Mavis said in a quiet voice.

“Me, either,” Connie said. “Sarah’s mother said they were planning a welcome program, but she didn’t mention anything like this.”

Harriet nodded toward the front rows of chairs. Silver ribbons with bows on each end were draped across the first two.

“I guess the VIPs will be sitting there.”

Lauren looked where Harriet indicated then back at their own location.

“I guess we know where we rank.”

“I think we already knew,” Harriet said with a chuckle.

The center was an X-shaped building with a large square in the middle. The legs of the X were the resident rooms, with the reception area, offices and dining rooms located in the center square. The leg to the right and rear of the reception area was the one that had been remodeled to create the memory care unit.

When all but the two front rows were filled, a single file of people came from the direction of the new wing and were guided by the usher to the two empty rows.

“That group is definitely overdressed for Foggy Point,” Lauren whispered to Harriet, covering her mouth with her hand.

A blond man stood and went to the podium, introducing himself as Howard Pratt. He proceeded to introduce the luminaries who were financial contributors to the new wing. The reality TV star had a mother who would be moving into the facility, but the presence of the aged leading man was never explained.

Lauren leaned across Harriet to talk to Connie.

“Are all these people going to speak?”

“I don’t know,” Connie answered. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

The speeches began, and after the mayor and the Foggy Point PUD rep had spoken, Harriet turned to Lauren.

“I’m going to go to the restroom in the left-hand hallway. Give me a five-minute lead and then follow.”

“Okay,” Lauren agreed without looking at her.

Six minutes later, Harriet and Lauren had escaped and were on their way to Sarah’s room.

Interior halls connected the outer ends of the legs of the X-shaped building, and Harriet led Lauren from the independent living hall restroom where they’d met to the skilled nursing area at the end of the adjoining corridor.

“Wow, I didn’t know this hallway existed,” Lauren said. “I’ve always come in through the reception area.”

“I think they keep the doors closed most of the time, but I saw a nurse go this way when I was leaving Sarah’s room one time, so I followed her.”