in Uganda, I haven't been around until two months ago. That's hardly enough time to create any enemies. And Cammi's young. She's going to community college. I can't imagine she'd have made someone mad enough to try to kill her.
'Then I got to thinking about Harriet, and how she's in the middle of the trouble at the school, and it made me wonder.'
'What?” Harriet asked.
'Did you keep wearing that purple hat I gave you?'
Harriet felt warmth creeping up her neck. “Yes, I did. I kept it on after you gave it to me.'
'And then you left it in the truck when I gave you a ride to the copy store.'
'Yeah, so?'
'The sun broke through the clouds when Cammi and I were coming back toward town, and she put your hat on.'
'Oh, my gosh.” Harriet slumped in her seat. “You think someone thought it was me?'
'I don't know. I'm just saying there seems to be all kinds of trouble at the folk art school, and the only connection I have to that place is you.'
'So it's my fault Cammi got hurt?” Harriet asked, anger and hurt mixing in her voice.
'Now, honey,” Mavis protested. “I'm sure Aiden didn't mean it that way.'
Aiden looked at Harriet. “It's no one's fault but the person in the Explorer. I'm just saying maybe the driver thought they were eliminating someone who was digging around in things they didn't want dug in.'
'Hmmm,” said Mavis. “It makes a certain amount of sense.'
'I just wish I knew what we were missing,” Harriet complained.
'I heard there was a fire at one of the outbuildings,” Robin said.
Harriet explained about the discovery of Selestina's workroom and the obvious copying being done there. She ended with their narrow escape from the basement root cellar, Tom's report that the fire was limited to a garbage can, and her supposition the can contained the evidence that had been hanging on the design wall.
'That suggests it was a quilter who did the deed,” Aiden said. “I hate to defend Bainbridge, but if he was burning the place for insurance or to conceal evidence, wouldn't he be more likely to burn it to the ground?'
'Good point,” Harriet agreed. “And a quilter wouldn't want to see those expensive sewing machines ruined.'
'If it was a quilter,” Connie said, “that gets us back to the idea of someone killing Selestina because she was copying their work.” She shook her head. “It still doesn't seem like enough.'
The waitress arrived with their burgers. Aiden and Carla had opted for bacon, and Harriet glanced longingly at the crispy strips of fat that crisscrossed their cheese-dredged patties. In a moment of guilt, she'd ordered a broiled chickenburger with lettuce and tomato after Robin got a veggie-burger. Connie had gone for the jack cheese-and- roasted pepper burger, while Mavis had chosen the basic version with cheddar cheese. The burgers came with heaping plates of Yukon Gold French fried potatoes and a tray of icy sodas.
Aiden finished his burger while Harriet was just picking up the second half of hers. He wiped his hands with his paper napkin and dropped the rumpled remains on his empty plate.
'I know better than to try to tell a determined group of quilters what to do, but I have to say it. Go home. If you hurry, you could still make the last ferry of the night. Let someone else figure out what's going on.'
'But, mijo, that would leave Lauren on her own. She's been questioned by the police,” Connie protested.
'So? You guys don't even like Lauren.'
Carla looked from Mavis to Harriet and then to Robin, waiting to see who would refute the statement.
Finally, Mavis spoke. “Lauren doesn't make things easy for herself. And she does seem to take issue with Harriet. But that being said, she's part of our group, and the Loose Threads don't abandon a member who's in trouble.'
'So, don't abandon her. Can't you support her from the safety of Foggy Point?'
'I don't think we're going to figure this out if we aren't at the folk art school,” Harriet said. “I feel like there's something right in front of us, but we're not seeing it.'
'Well, be careful. And don't break into anyone else's office.” He slid out from his end position in the booth and stood up. He pulled several bills from his wallet and tossed them on the table. “I've gotta go check on some patients. Can I come by for a cookie later?” he asked Harriet.
Mavis looked at the others. No one changed expression, so she assured him he was welcome as long as he didn't come too late.
'Tell me again how the schedule works tomorrow,” Carla said when he was gone.
'In the morning, the teachers will each give a lecture on some aspect of embellishment,” Robin said. “Ray Louise is demonstrating dry needle felting. And I think Patience will teach a session on fabric painting with oil sticks. Marla Stevens is going to talk about dyeing thread to match your fabric. There are a few more, but those are the ones I'm interested in. Two sessions will be going on at the same time. We have a complete list back at the Tree House, by the phone.'
'After lunch, the teachers will have stations set up in the classroom so you can try the techniques,” Mavis added.
'It's kind of nice to have a break from sitting in front of a sewing machine all day,” Robin said.
Harriet wished she'd spent a little more time with her machine. Her half-rectangle quilt top was barely started. She was going to have to do some late-night stitching if she wanted to have something for the show-and-tell on the final day of school.
There was a fresh bouquet of wildflowers on the table in the entryway when they arrived back at the Tree House. A clear plastic garbage bag full of clean towels sat on the floor.
'I've got to work on my quilt,” Harriet said.
'Me, too,” Carla chimed in. Harriet felt a small stab of guilt for keeping her from class today.
Harriet had chosen a pale-blue fabric to build her quilt around. She was trying to decide whether to use a pale pink with irregular, multicolored dots on it or a tone-on-tone medium pink that would move the quilt in a brighter direction. If she used the bright pink she would probably add white to the mix. If she went with the pale pink then an off-white or yellow would work better. The trouble was, she liked the lighter pink
Carla laid her fabrics out on the opposite end of the dining table; she was using a coordinated floral print series and emphasizing the star shape created by the half-rectangles. Harriet's layout would emphasize the curved look of the space between the star images.
Harriet decided she would have to make a sample block with each color combination. She was about to start cutting the two alternatives when the phone rang. Connie answered, and after a brief conversation, she hung up and turned to the group.
'That was Nancy from the front office. She asked if we could empty our wastebaskets into a garbage bag and put it on the front porch for pick-up in the morning.'
Mavis and Robin started setting their hand stitching aside.
'Don't get up,” Harriet said. “I could use a break. If no one minds me going in their room, I'll gather everyone's garbage.'
No one objected, and she took a bag from under the sink and started up the stairs. The work wasn't difficult, as most people had no more than a couple of tissues and a few scraps of fabric in their wastebaskets.
She hadn't seen Lauren downstairs, so she tapped on her door a few times but received no response. She tried the knob, and when it turned easily, she went in without another thought.
The room was dark, but the light from the hall gave enough illumination for her to find the wastebasket and bring it out to her waiting garbage bag. It felt heavy, but a crumpled paper towel obscured whatever was in it.
Harriet gingerly picked up the corner of the paper towel between her thumb and fore finger. The bottom of the container was filled with what looked like a large pile of cooked spinach. She dropped the paper towel and pulled Lauren's door shut, taking the waste container with her downstairs.
'Look what I found in Lauren's room.” She lifted the paper towel aside and tilted the basket so Mavis, Connie
