A Quilt in Time (A Harriet Turman/Loose Threads Mystery) Read Online Free PDF

looking from one end of the table to the other.
    “Thank you, I think we’re good,” Harriet said.
    Conversation ground to a halt as the women focused on their meals. Eventually, Connie put her fork down and leaned back from the table.
    “I can’t eat another bite,” she said.
    “Me, either,” Harriet concurred. “Let’s talk about where we are with Sarah. Mavis and Aunt Beth are going to go see her about taking her cat and will try to get her talking about her own situation, maybe suggesting she needs to make a change. Is that correct?”
    Mavis and Beth nodded.
    “I will check and see if the empty room at the shelter is, indeed, available, and whether, at first glance, they think Sarah qualifies. I’ll tell Robin, and she’ll go see Sarah and ask if she would like her to provide any legal services to help her get away from her abuser. She’ll also talk to Sarah about going into the shelter.”
    “I’m taking the bibs we’re making to the seniors at the end of this week,” Connie said. “When I called Sarah’s mother to arrange a time, she invited all of us to the open house. If we haven’t gotten through to her individually by then, maybe we can talk to her as a group.”
    “Sounds like a plan,” Lauren said.
    Carla cleared her throat then coughed.
    “If Jorge has seen Sarah’s boyfriend, maybe he can tell us something about him.” She swiped at a lock of hair that had fallen over her eyes.
    “Oh, honey, that’s a great idea,” Mavis said.
    “I’ll be right in,” Jorge’s disembodied voice said over the intercom.
    “It creeps me out when he does that,” Lauren said. “He knows we forget he has that thing.” She pointed at the speaker mounted near the ceiling.
    “I heard that,” Jorge said as he came into the room. “Just remember where your favorite guacamole comes from, missy.” He tried to sound mean but burst out laughing at the end. He pulled out a chair and sat down near the middle of the table, then leaned forward before speaking in a quiet voice.
    “I have learned some information about the señorita’s boyfriend, and it is very troubling.”
    The women waited to hear what came next.
    “She is dating her brother.”
    “What?” said Lauren loudly.
    “Shhh,” warned Jorge, pointing at the intercom speaker again. “Not her brother brother. They share no blood, but his father is married to her mother, and they lived under the same roof for a time.”
    “That complicates things,” Harriet whispered.
    “No joke,” Lauren whispered back.
    “We still need to try to reach her,” Connie said. “Even if there’s every probability that she’ll refuse our help and tell us to mind our own business. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to that girl and we could have prevented it.”
    Mavis put her coat on and picked up her purse.
    “We’ll just have to make sure it doesn’t come to that.”
    “We’ll let you know how it went when we have the cat settled at Mavis’s,” Aunt Beth said as she hurried to gather her own coat and purse and follow her friend out the door.

Chapter 4
     
    “Oh, thank you, honey.” Aunt Beth took the cup of tea Harriet offered to her as she sat on the sofa in Harriet’s upstairs TV room.
    “So, how did it go?” Lauren asked from her perch in the overstuffed chair.
    Harriet reclaimed her seat at the opposite end of the sofa, setting her appliqué project back in her lap and picking up her own teacup. She picked up the TV remote and muted the sound.
    “Okay,” she said. “I’m settled. So, how did it go?”
    Aunt Beth frowned. “It was a total bust.”
    “Did you at least get the cat?” Lauren asked.
    “We did get the cat, but that was about all. Sarah wouldn’t talk about her boyfriend, her bruises, what really happened to Rachel, or anything else.”
    “I guess that’s no real surprise,” Harriet said. “If she’d really wanted our help, she would still be coming to quilting. Or she could have called one of