Free A Quilt in Time (A Harriet Turman/Loose Threads Mystery) by Arlene Sachitano Page A

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