Bertrand spluttered but couldn't come up with a response. His gun hand started to shake.
'It's over, Uncle Bertie. Whatever it is that's going on here. You can't kill everybody.'
Aiden moved surely toward his uncle and grabbed the gun. The two men struggled for a moment, but three years of hard living in Africa had toughened Aiden in ways his uncle couldn't compete with. He pulled the gun away and quickly dumped the bullets out onto the ground.
Bertie started to cry. “You don't understand. They will kill me. They said if I didn't get the diamonds back they would kill me. I'm a dead man.'
'Don't worry, Uncle Bertie. You're going to be in protective custody,” Aiden said.
'If you don't get the death penalty,” Harriet added. “I'm going to call the police.'
After the police arrived and collected Bertrand, Harriet took an ambulance ride to the Jefferson County Hospital for the third time that week. This time Misty was her roommate for the drive. It turned out the bullet had streaked across the flat of her shoulder blade without penetrating anything important. She had a painful groove, but was eventually able to leave after promising to return to the clinic the next day to have her bandage changed.
The doctors decided that, all things considered, Misty needed to stay until she was properly hydrated, fed and stabilized on her medication. After a week and a half on the lam, she was ready to sleep on clean sheets and eat three squares a day, even if it was in a hospital.
Mavis had arrived while the doctor was dressing Harriet's wound and refused to stay in the waiting room.
'Oh, honey, does it hurt?” she asked. “Are you okay? I mean, obviously, you're not okay, but can I do anything?'
'You can get me out of here before they decide to try and keep me.'
'This is my fault. I never should have left you alone.'
'As soon as you sign the paperwork, and I write your prescriptions, you can get out of here,” the doctor said as he came back into the emergency cubicle. He was holding an x-ray up to the ceiling light. “Looks like no bones were broken. We didn't think there were, but we have to check. Don't forget to come in to the clinic tomorrow so they can clean your wound. One of your prescriptions is for a fairly strong antibiotic, but you still need to keep it clean.'
'I will do whatever you say as long as I can go home.'
Mavis tried to talk Harriet into staying at the cottage one more night.
'I really appreciate everything you've done for me, but I need to be in my own bed in my own bedroom.'
In the end, the only way Mavis would agree is if Harriet let her come along.
'I know Bertie is in custody and the danger is over, but I don't think you should be alone after all you've been through. Beth would kill me if I just sent you home on your own.'
'Could we pick up something to eat on the way?” Harriet asked. “I'm starving.'
Mavis's face turned pink. “I think we need to go to Beth's first and see what we have there.'
'I can tell you what's there. A bunch of rotting vegetables and some canned goods.'
A nurse wheeled Harriet to the door. Mavis had parked in the emergency lot, and after a brief negotiation, the nurse agreed to push her all the way to the car.
'It makes no sense for me to have to go around the block while you sit outside in the cold, just so I can pull the car up to that other doorway.'
'So,” Harriet said after she was settled in the front seat. “Exactly why is it that we don't need to pick up some food?'
'Well, it's entirely possible that the Loose Threads have taken care of that.'
'How could they possibly know I'd be coming home today?” Her shoulder twinged as she turned toward Mavis.
'I called Jenny to ask her to call people and tell them their quilt delivery would be delayed. She offered to go to my house and pick them up and make the deliveries herself. Well, as you can imagine, I had to tell her something. I couldn't let her go to my house and find the police.'
'Keep talking.'
'Jenny figured you could use some comfort food. She said she could make some macaroni and cheese. She offered to call Robin and see if she had a pie she could bring by. Robin is our group pie maker,” Mavis said this last as an aside, as if it explained why Robin would have a pie baked and waiting to be delivered on a moment's notice. “I'm sure Robin called DeAnn, because they do everything together.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Things just sort of took off from there.'
Harriet unlocked the studio door and was immediately greeted by Fred.
'How did you get here?” she asked.
Aiden came in from the kitchen.
'I brought him here after I finished giving the police my statement,” he said. “I hope it's okay-I brought Randy, too.'
'Don't make her stand out here,” Mavis told him. “Let the girl sit down.'
She ushered Harriet into the kitchen. Jenny, Robin and DeAnn sat around the kitchen table. Sarah stood by the sink, taking the lid off a casserole dish. Mavis pulled out a chair and guided Harriet into it. Robin got up, filled a bowl with macaroni and cheese and sat it in front of her.
'Eat,” she said. “Then we want to hear everything.'
'Don't start yet,” Marjory said as she came through the door from the studio. “Have all of you met Carla?” she asked and indicated the young woman who had followed her into the room. “She works for me at the shop.'
Carla's face turned a shade of red that bordered on purple.
'I'm not sure I know any more than most of you have already heard,” Harriet protested.
'Well, I don't know anything, so why don't you start at the beginning?” Marjory said.
'You all know about the break-in here,” she started.
'Did she mention the part where she clubbed me in the head?” Aiden asked.
Six pairs of eyes glared at him.
'Sorry,” he said.
'It turns out that someone was looking for Avanell's quilt. And by the way, the attack on Lauren's was a case of mistaken identity. Avanell had sewn her binding on in her office. She had bound and backed her quilt in the same red fabric Lauren used.
'What the thief didn't know is that Avanell's quilt had a slight misadventure when Aiden was delivering it to me. He had to take it to the dry cleaners. When the break-in happened, it was gone. It was at the show when the thief tried again, but the organizers had taken it off display because of Avanell's death. Lauren's quilt was in the spot where Avanell's had been. The show organizers hadn't switched the name cards yet, and the thief thought he knew what the quilt looked like.
'His third attempt was when I came home to repair Lauren's quilt. Again the thief had the two confused. Since I now know he was looking for diamonds Avanell had hidden in one of the sections of her quilt, the shredding of Lauren's makes more sense.” She stopped to take a bite of macaroni.
'Avanell hid diamonds in her quilt?” Jenny asked.
'Where did Avanell get diamonds?” DeAnn wondered.
'Why on earth would she think a quilt was a good place to hide diamonds?'
'Give the girl a chance to speak,” Mavis scolded.
'I only discovered the diamonds this morning. I was looking at the show quilts, and when I picked hers up I felt a bumpy spot. I thought it was gravel from the misadventure it had been through. I opened the seam and found a small handful of diamonds.
'I have no idea why Avanell hid the diamonds there, but Bertrand showed up and demanded I hand them over.'
'I think I can help out with that,” Aiden put in. “Once the police took my uncle into custody, he started talking. They suggested he call a lawyer, but he insisted on telling them everything.
'Apparently, the reason money has been so tight at the Vitamin Factory these last couple of years is that Uncle Bertie had developed a bit of a gambling problem. He borrowed from some shady characters who saw an
