'Does Dr. Jalbert have the baby now?'
'No, as I said, to my knowledge, he never met Neelie.'
'Did he tell you that?” Detective Sanders was holding a small notebook in one hand and a mechanical pencil in the other, but he wasn't writing anything.
'Yes, he told me he'd never met her, and I believe him.'
'When you spoke to Miss Obote, what did you talk about?'
'She asked several of us if we knew Aiden. She grabbed my phone from me when she overheard me talking to him. Another time, she looked ill, so I asked her if she was diabetic, and she didn't answer, but she did drink the juice I gave her, and it did seem to perk her up. Stop me if you already know any of this.'
'Whoa, slow down. Back up to the part where Dr. Jalbert talked to Miss Obote on your cell phone.'
'He didn't talk to her. She grabbed my phone and babbled into it, but in the process, she dropped it and it was broken.'
'So, you two struggled over possession of your phone?'
'I wouldn't call it a struggle. I was talking on my phone, and someone grabbed it from me from behind. Of course I made a grab to get it back. It fell and broke.'
'So, you were angry at Miss Obote?” Sanders persisted.
'No, I wasn't angry. I was confused. I didn't know why this virtual stranger would grab and break my phone.'
'Let's go back to Miss Obote's diabetes. You say you talked to her about it?'
'I asked her if she was diabetic. She seemed a little shaky when she came to Dr. Jalbert's house. I asked her, and she didn't answer, so I got her a glass of orange juice and she drank it.'
'Then you concluded Miss Obote was diabetic.'
'You could say that. She drank the juice, and after a little while she seemed better, so, yes, I concluded she was a diabetic.'
Detective Sanders continued in this manner for another thirty minutes, asking a few new questions but always circling back to whether Aiden knew Neelie and knew about baby Kissa. He finally seemed satisfied and suggested they join his partner and Aunt Beth in the kitchen.
Harriet led the way, and when they entered the kitchen, Aunt Beth and Detective Morse were drinking tea and laughing like old friends.
'Oh, honey, I was just telling Jane here about that nine-patch quilt you made. The one with the panel pieces you cut apart. Is that somewhere handy?'
'Sure,” she said. “It's upstairs. Shall I go get it?” she asked and looked at Detective Morse.
'If it isn't too much trouble, I'd love to see it.'
Detective Sanders rolled his eyes at the ceiling but didn't say anything.
Harriet went upstairs and came back with a green quilt draped over her arm. She unfolded the large wall hanging and held it up. She had taken a fabric panel with a variety of wildlife images printed on it and cut it apart, rearranging the images and then surrounding them with nine-patch blocks in coordinating and contrasting colors.
'You're right,” Detective Morse said, “that would be the perfect thing to do with my fairy panel. Thanks for showing it to me,” she added.
Harriet wondered if this was some quilting variation of good cop/bad cop. It was clear which one she'd just met.
'We generally meet on Tuesdays,” Aunt Beth said. “Think about coming if you get a chance.'
Chapter 19
'You invited her to the Loose Threads meeting?” Harriet asked when the detectives were back in their sedan and preparing to leave. “What were you thinking?'
'I was thinking here is a lady who likes to quilt and doesn't belong to a group. Besides, it can't hurt to have a detective where we can keep an eye on her.'
'It could backfire big time.'
'She seems like a good person.'
'Yeah, well, he seemed like a total jerk bent on connecting Aiden to Neelie and her death.'
'Honey, you know he's just doing his job. Someone has to ask the hard questions, and you know better than anyone they have to question everyone.'
'So, what did she ask you?'
'Probably the same thing he asked you. She wanted to know if I knew anything about Neelie, and if I knew anything about her health. Of course I told her no.'
'You didn't mention our suspicions about her being diabetic?'
Aunt Beth picked up the detective's used cup and carried it to the sink.
'I didn't mention it because it was your theory, based on your observations. Besides, I didn't want to give them anything to work with.'
'Well, that ship has sailed,” Harriet said. “I spilled all about Neelie appearing diabetic, and I tried not to tell him about the baby, but I wasn't prepared to lie about it, and he pushed.'
Aunt Beth was silent for a moment. “I better warn Connie,” she said and picked up the kitchen phone. She spoke quietly for a few minutes then hung up. “We're going to keep the baby moving while the detectives are doing their interviews. She's too little to speak, and we don't want them thinking about calling Children's Services.'
'We should at least try to find out whose baby she is,” Harriet pointed out. “I need to call Aiden. He needs to know what to expect from the detectives.'
She made the phone call, apologizing for waking him up, and gave him the short version of her interview. He reported he'd put in a call to Africa but reiterated he didn't expect a reply anytime soon.
'Aiden's calming down,” Harriet reported to her aunt. “Having the rest of the clinic help with the rescue dogs is reducing his stress level. I can hear it in his voice.'
'Speaking of stressful things, what are we going to do about our auction quilts?” Aunt Beth asked.
'To tell the truth, I haven't given a thought to any of the quilts but my own, and I've barely thought about it.'
'Have you had any breakthroughs with yours?'
'It's showing promise, I think my idea is going to work, but I need to find the right fabric combos. I think with tumbling blocks, the texture needs to match. Of course you have to have three intensities of color, but I think the prints need to be the same scale or feel or something. That's the part I'm struggling with right now.'
'I'm afraid to say what I'm doing out loud, for fear it'll show up on the Small Stitches design wall before I even show it to anyone.'
'Do you really think they're stealing our ideas?'
Aunt Beth looked over the top of her reading glasses.
'Of course they're copying our work. I talked to Glynnis at church. She didn't admit it, but she said Frieda was determined the raffle quilt was going to come from the Small Stitches this year.'
She went to her canvas bag and pulled out a quilt block. She held it up for Harriet's approval.
'Very clever,” Harriet said.
Before she could continue, Beth cut her off.
'Don't say its name,” she cautioned. “Your studio may be bugged.'
Harriet laughed. “I know we ate lunch at Tico's yesterday, but do you feel like going back today?'
'You know I'm always up for a meal there, but what are you up to?'
'I was thinking about what Jorge told us yesterday. He said Neelie was talking to a black man he didn't recognize. We don't get that many new people in Foggy Point, especially this time of year. Don't you think it's a bit of a coincidence that he showed up at the same time Neelie did? I'm wondering if they're partners in the baby scam. Maybe it's his baby. I want to ask Jorge a few more questions.'
'When this business is settled, and we finish our raffle quilts, we're going to take a week and just eat salad and
