Make Quilts Not War

chapter 27



Harriet and Lauren left the kitchen and went into the living room where the rest of the Loose Threads had gathered. Detective Morse joined them a minute later after instructing the remaining police officers as to their final tasks and reports.

“I’m glad you’re all here,” she told them.

“That’s a first,” Lauren said.

“With everything that’s going on, I think you deserve to know something.”

“And what would that be?” Robin asked, assuming her lawyer demeanor.

“You know those men who assaulted you and Jenny Logan?”

“Hard to forget,” Robin said.

“They made bail rather quickly.”

“How quickly?”

“They didn’t even spend one night in jail. In other words, they have friends with deep pockets, the kind of pockets that can get a judge out of bed in the middle of the night to process them.”

“Do you know who paid the bail money?” Harriet asked.

“We don’t,” Morse said. “The check was written on a corporate account for what’s probably a shell company. We don’t have the manpower to look any deeper, out of curiosity. These guys were arrested for simple assault.”

“So, what are you telling us?” Harriet asked. “Are Robin and Jenny in danger?”

“You tell me. None of you seem to know why they attacked you in the first place. Those two ex-cons weren’t sharing, and you-all are equally silent, so I don’t know what to tell you about how much danger any of you are in. All I know is they attacked you once, and they got out real quick. If I were you-all, I’d keep my doors locked and not go anywhere alone or where there aren’t a lot of other people.”

“That’s sort of vague,” Lauren said. “But, hey, thanks. We weren’t going to figure that one out.”

Morse whirled on her.

“Do you have any idea how frustrating it is trying to work with you ladies?” she said, her face flushing. “We’ve had two murders, and you’re once again in the middle of it, and once again, you have information you’re unwilling to share. How am I supposed to keep you safe?”

Harriet started to speak.

“Don’t even start with that ‘we can take care of ourselves’ routine.” She looked at Harriet. “You’ve been lucky so far. You could have been killed several times this last year.”

Aunt Beth cleared her throat.

“I can see how you would feel we’ve been less than forthcoming, but this time, we truly don’t know what’s going on.”

Detective Morse took a deep breath and ran her hands through her short blond hair.

“I’m surprised Jenny Logan isn’t with you here,” she said. “Do any of you know where she is?”

The quilters looked at each other.

“With the excitement over Wendy, I didn’t notice she wasn’t here,” Mavis said, giving voice to what Harriet and the others were thinking.

“Who saw her last?” Harriet asked.

The women looked at each other, and one-by-one, each indicated they hadn’t seen her. Harriet pulled her phone out and dialed Jenny’s number.

“Her phone went straight to voicemail,” she reported. She and Lauren shared a look.

“Here’s a perfect example,” Detective Morse said.

“We were just asking ourselves last night if Jenny had a previous relationship with the ex-cons,” Lauren said.

“Diós mio,” Connie said. “Jenny would never consort with those two…thugs.”

DeAnn said she couldn’t believe it, either.

“You might think differently if you knew what we know,” Harriet said.

“Way to spill it,” Lauren said.

“Spill what?” Morse asked. She looked at Harriet then Lauren then Harriet again. “If you think I won’t arrest you for obstruction, you better think again.”

“This is Jenny’s story to tell, and we haven’t been able to ask her about what we found,” Harriet said. “There may be a perfectly reasonable explanation that has nothing to do with anything that’s happening in Foggy Point this week.”

“Let’s let me be the judge,” Morse said.

“Harriet, if you know anything about what’s going on, you tell her right now,” Aunt Beth ordered. Harriet suspected the real reason her aunt was so adamant was that she was upset Harriet hadn’t told her first, but there hadn’t been time.

“Last night, after everyone else left my house, Lauren and I realized Jenny’s quilt was in Lauren’s car. Jenny’s been acting so weird about her quilt…”

“Define weird,” Morse said.

“She stepped past Pamela Gilbert’s body to check on her quilt,” Lauren said. “And she checked on her quilt while other people poured water on Harriet’s flaming arm.”

“Okay, that’s weird. Continue,” Morse said. “You got the quilt out of the car, I presume.”

“So, we spread the quilt out and started examining the burned part and..—”

“For crying out loud,” Lauren blurted. “We found a bunch of money.”

“Define bunch,” the detective asked.

“We didn’t take it out and count it,” Harriet said. “We didn’t think we should destroy Jenny’s quilt until we’d talked to her.”

“It looks like the whole quilt is involved, and it’s several layers thick. My best guess would be fifty thousand per layer, if all the layers go all the way to the edges,” Lauren said.

“I guess we know why the bank robbers were after Jenny,” Morse said. “You thought she was going to be able to explain away several hundred thousand dollars? Really?”

“Things aren’t always what they seem,” Harriet shot back.

“Let me hear it,” Morse said. “What else are you not telling me?”

“We’re not real sure after that,” Mavis said. “Jenny told us she’d grown up in a commune, and that her brother had been kicked out for dealing drugs. Then she told us some of his friends had broken into a Selective Service office.”

“After that, when we tried to get her to tell us more, she said her brother was involved in a bank robbery,” DeAnn said.

“Then it was both,” Connie added.

“We’re pretty sure some of that is true, but we all agreed she wasn’t telling us the whole truth,” Harriet said.

Carla came in with Wendy, ending the discussion.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she said. “Terry is loading our bags and Wendy’s teddy bear and blankie,” she said.

Connie stood up.

“Time for me to go, then,” she said. “Let us know if you find Jenny.”