Quilt By Association

'Okay, listen. I met Neelie when she came to Foggy Point with a baby she claimed belonged to a friend of mine.'

'I told you, she don't have-'

'I heard you,” Harriet cut her off. “Now, you listen to me. She came here with a baby and said it belonged to her dead sister in Africa. She said the sister asked her to deliver it to my friend.'

'She don't have no sister. Not a real one, anyway. She has a couple cousins in Africa. When she would get a few dollars extra, sometimes she sent it to her cousin for some water project or something.'

'I'm trying to find out what happened to her and Rodney. I might be the only one. The local police certainly don't care. Anything you can tell me might help. Let's start with who else she knows in Foggy Point.'

'She was living in a foster home there, and she aged out. Let's see, I think she said that woman was Mary Ann Martin or Martins or something like that. She used to say how weird it was that a witch like that had the initials MAM. Kinda like mom, only she said the woman was the least motherly person she ever met. The only reason she stayed till she was eighteen was to try to protect the littler foster kids that lived there.'

Mavis scribbled the name on a piece of paper she pulled from her quilting bag.

'I don't suppose you have a phone number for Ms. Martin,” Harriet asked.

'No, I don't have no number. Why would I? The girl had a cell phone. She kept her own numbers.'

'Do you know what Neelie's name was before she took her African name?” Harriet didn't have positive proof Neelie Obote wasn't her original name, but it seemed like a good possibility.

'Oh, yeah, I do know that. She was Nancy Lou Freeman. We always laughed about it. My birth name was Nellie Jean Smith-quite the stage names.'

'You're an actress?'

Jasmine snorted. “Yeah, we're actresses, alright. In our dreams. Now we use our actin’ skills to get by.'

Harriet paused and looked at Mavis to see if she had any questions. Mavis shrugged.

'I gotta go,” Jasmine said. “Someone's here.'

Harriet rang off after promising to call Jasmine if she found out anything about what had happened to Neelie.

She and Mavis sat speechless for a moment.

'Wow,” said Mavis at last.

'Wow is an understatement,” Harriet agreed. “So Nancy Ann-slash-Neelie really was a local girl? And none of the Loose Threads recognized her?'

'Sounds like she left when she was eighteen, and that it was probably eight or ten years ago. She could have been in school with one of my two younger boys, but I didn't really know a lot of the girls’ mothers. I wouldn't have known her unless she'd been in an activity with one of the boys, and she wasn't. I had my hands full with them and work and all.'

'I can email the Threads with her real name and see if it rings a bell with anyone, but we need to talk to her last foster mother. She should be able to tell us something about her.'

'I know what you're thinking, and your aunt will kill me.'

'Will kill you, as in, after we get back?” Harriet said as she set the computer on the sofa and struggled to her feet.

'This is against my better judgment, but I can't see how we could get in trouble if we stick to just talking.'

A quick scan of the Foggy Point phone book revealed that Mary Ann and Robert Martin lived in a neighborhood at the base of Miller Hill. The Martin house was a tidy bungalow at the end of a wooded cul-de-sac. The yard to the right side of the house was surrounded by cyclone fencing that enclosed several play structures on a base of cedar bark dust.

Mavis guided her car onto the gravel parking pad in front of the house then helped Harriet get out and on her crutches and organized.

The front walk was lined with purple, yellow and white winter-flowering pansies. A large ceramic pot with ornamental kale sat on the front porch. Harriet balanced on one crutch and rapped on the door with the other one.

'Hello,” the trim forty-year-old woman who answered said. “May I help you?” Her gaze went to Harriet's cast and then back up to her face again.

Harriet introduced herself and Mavis.

'We were hoping you could answer a few questions about a young woman who died recently.'

'I'd like to help you, but I don't know anyone who died recently.'

'Her name is Neelie Obote,” Mavis said.

'I think I read about that in the paper,” Mary Ann said. “But I still don't understand why you're asking me. I don't, or didn't, know anyone named Neelie.'

'We think you knew her by another name,” Harriet said and wobbled a little as she took the weight off her sprained ankle.

Mary Ann looked at her then stepped back and held the door open.

'Would you like to come in?'

Harriet looked at Mavis. Mavis gave a slight nod, and they followed Mary Ann into a comfortable living room. The two women sat on the edge of a blue upholstered sofa, and Mary Ann sat on one of two coordinating side chairs.

When everyone was settled, she said, “Now, who is this Neelie, and how could I possibly help?'

'We think her real name was Nancy Lou Freeman,” Harriet said.

The color drained from Mary Ann's face.

'Nancy is dead?” she said in a whisper. “How? Why?'

'That's what we were hoping you could help us with,” Harriet said.

'We were hoping we could tell you what we know, and then you could maybe fill in some blanks,” Mavis added.

Harriet explained the sequence of events, starting with Neelie/Nancy showing up at the quilt store with a baby and ending with her dead in the bushes outside Aiden's house.

Mary covered her mouth with her hand.

'This is a lot to take in,” she said. “A baby? Nancy had a baby?'

'We're pretty sure it wasn't her baby,” Harriet said.

'We don't know where the baby came from,” Mavis told her. “We verified it wasn't her sister's baby, and that her sister, who in fact was actually her cousin, we think, isn't dead.'

'She doesn't have a sister,” Mary said. “At least, she didn't when she lived here.'

'We were hoping you could tell us about when she lived here,” Harriet said.

'I don't mean to be rude, but you're not police, right?'

'No, we're not,” Harriet admitted. “It's complicated, but someone attacked me a few nights ago, and we think it's related to what happened to Neelie. Her…friend Rodney was also murdered, and someone attacked me, and well, they threw his body on me, and frankly, that's left me wanting a few answers the police aren't giving me.'

'Wow,” Mary said. She sat back in her chair. “I'm not sure what I can tell you that would be helpful. Nancy lived here for two years. She came to us when she was sixteen. She'd been in the foster care system most of her life.

'When a child reaches that age and is still in the foster care system, the chance of them being adopted is pretty slim. We try to help them prepare for life on their own. When we have older teenagers, we help them get signed up for college or trade school programs and teach them how to manage their money and cook and do their own laundry-you know, basic life skills.'

'And you did that with Neelie?” Mavis asked.

'I'm not sure you could say that. She was a special case. She already knew how to take care of a household, except for the money management part. She had been involved in a bad situation when she was younger. I don't know the details, because her records from that time have been sealed, and due to a plea bargain arrangement, no one is allowed to talk about it.