'Come on,” Aiden said and took Harriet's hand. He led her to the main staircase and down to the second floor to a blue-walled room.
Show-quality quilts were stacked on the bed, folded on the dresser and draped over a small green upholstered chair and its matching ottoman. They varied in size from queen-size to lap quilts. Several still had their winning ribbons attached. Harriet picked up the corner of a large appliqued one. Purple Celtic knots made from narrow bias- cut fabric twined around a golden-yellow border fabric. The center medallion pattern resembled a Persian rug. The rich green, purple, red and blue fabrics Avanell had appliqued on the gold background appeared to be hand-dyed. Small perfectly round circles of fabric had been placed in various geometric shapes. Harriet preferred piecing to applique in her own work, but knew her preference had more to do with her lack of applique skill than anything else. It took a lot of patience to make the necessary tiny invisible stitches, and patience wasn't a trait she possessed in great quantity.
She flipped the corner of the quilt back to expose the next one in the stack. Red, yellow and green tobacco roses were stitched onto cream background blocks. The applique blocks were set on point and alternated with ecru-colored blocks. Harriet recognized the style from a book her aunt had on Civil War quilts. A paper tag was attached to the corner of the quilt with a small strip of plastic that had been punched through the fabric. Two hundred-fifty dollars, the tag read.
'This is a travesty,” Harriet said.
'What?” Aiden crossed the room to stand behind her. She could feel the heat of his body through the thickness of her sweatshirt. She had to remind herself to think about the quilt.
'This quilt is priced ridiculously low.” She flipped through the rest of the stack, turning the tags and looking at each in turn. “You couldn't buy the fabric for most of these for the prices they've put on them. I'll bet you anything the estate sale manager knows that, too. She probably has a shill or two who will show up first thing tomorrow to snap these up. Then she'll take them out of the area and resell them at their true value for a tidy profit.'
'You're sure about the values?'
'Oh, please. I'm in the business. Believe me-these prices won't even cover what Aunt Beth charged to machine stitch them.'
'Really.” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the three-digit information code. “Nathan Bohne, please.” He paused then hung up and dialed again. He must have been gotten an assistant, judging by his rather firm insistence that he needed to speak to Mr. Bohne now and he would hold while she interrupted him. After another pause for the man to come on the line, he proceeded to explain the basic situation.
He inquired about Avanell's will, and she saw his jaw tighten as he listened silently-the man's voice was loud enough she could hear it. She couldn't make out everything that was being said, but she did grasp that he said the sale should be stopped and that he would call Michelle and inform her to cease immediately.
Aiden snapped his phone shut. “That was weird.'
'What did he say?'
'It's more what he didn't say. He said to stop the sale. He said that he is the executor of Mom's estate. Besides the executor, she apparently made a change to her will a few months ago as well. He wants me to come down to his office now-and Michelle, too. He said he'd been planning to call a meeting next week to read the will, but since Michelle was so intent on taking action, he would move it up and talk to us individually if that's what it took.'
'Did he give any hint as to what the changes to the will were?'
'No, he didn't. Knowing my mom, she could have decided to give her house or money or even everything she had to her scholarship fund. She was determined that every child who wanted to attend college and had worked hard in high school should have a scholarship. She donated money herself, but she also was a master at getting donations from both individuals and business people. You can bet that anybody who ever made it big in any venue after leaving Foggy Point heard from my mother.'
'She was an amazing woman,” Harriet said.
'You want to ride along to the attorney's office? We can take one of the cars from the garage so we don't have to walk back to the cottage first.'
Harriet felt like she had enough on her plate without involving herself in the drama that was unfolding in Aiden's family, but she was curious at the same time. She wanted to know who would benefit from the new will and who would have benefited before the change, and-most important-who knew about the change.
The Vitamin Factory seemed to be in financial trouble, and if Michelle were to be believed, more than one family member had personal money troubles. It would explain a lot if the will left the money to the people who might benefit most. It wouldn't explain the damage to Lauren's quilt or the attacks on her, but then, it wasn't at all obvious those events were related in any meaningful way to Avanell's death, anyway.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Aiden backed a black Lincoln Navigator out of the garage and leaned across the passenger seat to open the door for her. She got in, buckled her seatbelt and ran her hand over the warm leather seat.
'This is a beautiful car,” she said, wonder apparent in her voice.
'Yeah, Mom did love her cars. I think she has four, all of them top end. It was her one indulgence when the company took off.'
Randy jumped into the passenger side foot well, and Harriet closed the door. The dog lay down and propped her head on Harriet's foot as Aiden guided the SUV down the long curved driveway and headed toward downtown Foggy Point.
They drove in silence for a few moments.
'I wish I knew more about the business,” Aiden said. “Mom never talked about it when I was home. All she ever wanted to talk about was her latest scheme to get money for her scholarship fund.'
'Are your sister or brother involved in the business?'
'I don't think so. I mean, Mom used to talk about the business belonging to all of us, and of us being on the board of directors, but I'm not sure she actually did anything formal. Marcel and Michelle didn't want to live in Foggy Point, and I did, but I also knew I wanted to be a vet from the time I was a little boy, so there was never any plan for me to join the business.'
'It's too bad you were away the last few years. It's hard to imagine what went wrong-seems like vitamins are more popular than ever. How could they suddenly be losing money?'
'I have no clue, but maybe Mr. Bohne can shed some light on it.'
The law offices of Bohne, Bohne and Bohne were at the opposite end of Main Street from the veterinary clinic. The patriarch of the Bohne clan had purchased the grand Queen Anne-style Victorian in the early fifties. The house had been carefully restored in the “Pink Lady” style of its youth and converted into a suite of offices he had then populated with his sons and grandsons. Harriet had been there one time with Aunt Beth while she was in middle school. She remembered a waiting room filled with what her young self considered to be hideously uncomfortable furniture. In later years, she realized they were probably priceless antiques. She hoped they were still in use so she could validate this conclusion.
'A penny for your thoughts?” Aiden asked.
She turned her face toward the window so he wouldn't see the blush that crept up her neck and spread onto her cheeks.
'I was just thinking about possible changes your mother might have made to her will,” she lied. She wasn't about to admit that while he was worrying about the future of his mother's estate, she'd been daydreaming about really nice antiques.
'Well, you won't have to wonder much longer,” he said, and put the car into park in the graveled area that took the place of the side yard. “We're here.'
He instructed Randy to stay and came around to Harriet's door to help her out. She hadn't had a man hold her car door since her senior prom. Now it had happened twice in a week. Steve's funeral didn't count-those people were paid to open her door.
Michelle turned Avanell's Mercedes into the parking area and got out almost before she turned it off.
