'Is that a building up ahead?” Carla whispered.
Harriet stopped and stepped off the path, pushing the undergrowth aside.
'Looks like some sort of outbuilding,” she said.
Unlike Selestina's workshop, this building was clearly of more recent construction. It was at least two stories tall, with dark cedar siding and a moss-free composite roof. It had a white overhead door on the side Harriet could see.
'What's he doing?” Carla asked.
Les had his back to them, so Harriet took the opportunity to move closer. Carla followed.
He rose up onto his toes and looked through the small glass panes on the overhead door. He knocked once, and rattled the door handle. When he got no response, he went around the side of the building. Harriet mirrored his move, maintaining her distance. Les was standing at a white door rattling the doorknob.
'Lauren, come on, open the door.” He glanced left and right. “Quit messing around.” He pounded on the door, gently at first then harder when he got no response. “Lauren!” he called once again, a whine creeping into his voice. “Don't do this to me.'
He turned his back to the door and leaned on it, sliding to the ground, his head in his hands, the take-out box falling to the ground beside him. He sat that way for several minutes then got up and started walking, this time taking another path. Harriet and Carla followed, creeping along the path, listening for his footsteps to be sure he was still moving.
He stopped at a smaller building that looked like the bathroom building behind the dining cabin. There were doors on two sides, presumably to accommodate both men's and women's restrooms. He went into each in turn, calling Lauren's name.
'Where are you?” he cried out when he was outside again.
'Let's go back to the Tree House,” Harriet whispered, and quietly stepped onto the path, going in the opposite direction from Les.
'Does this mean what I think it means?” Carla asked when they were out of earshot.
'If you're thinking Les doesn't know where Lauren is, you're right.'
'Where could she go?” Carla asked. “She doesn't have a car or anything.'
'We can't assume she doesn't have a car until we find out if Les has or had a car. What I don't get is why she would leave the place her brother had her stashed without telling him. She'll have a much more difficult time without his help.'
'Maybe someone else is helping her,” Carla suggested.
'Who would help her, though? Her charming personality doesn't attract many admirers. No, I think it's something else. Something spooked her.'
'What are we going to do now?'
'Let's go back and put in an appearance at our lecture. If we hurry, we can slip back in and maybe no one will know we were gone. At lunchtime, I'd like to go check out Les's apartment.'
'I thought she said she wasn't going to be there,” Carla said, hurrying to keep up.
'She said she wasn't going to be there, but that doesn't mean she won't be.'
Chapter Twenty-six
Ray Louise Hanson finished her lecture and encouraged everyone to come back to her classroom after lunch, when she would have a sample of each of the threads she'd discussed for them to try.
'Oh, and before I let you go,” she said, and picked up a piece of paper from the lectern. “It is our custom at the Angel Harbor Folk Art School, and I know at many of your own quilt groups, also, to make a quilt for any member who loses a loved one. This case is special, since it was our founder who died. We are going to make two quilts. One will go to our business manager, Selestina's son Tom, in remembrance of his mother. The second one will be hung in the entry to the fiber arts building and will be a memorial to our founder, Selestina Bainbridge.
'If you would like to make a block for either or both, we will have instruction sheets and pieces of background fabric for you to use available on a table in the entrance hall.'
Robin was waiting in the hall when class got out. She was holding three packets of fabric, each with paper folded around it.
'I picked up the fabric and instructions for the memorial quilts,” she said, and handed a set to Harriet and another to Carla. “I figured you'd want to do them. I got the background fabric for both of them.'
'Thanks,” said Carla. “What kind of blocks are we supposed to make?'
'For Tom's quilt, the theme is motherhood. Any way you want to express it. The one to be hung in the entrance is to represent what you've learned here at the school.'
Carla looked doubtful.
'Don't worry,” Harriet said, “We'll help you figure it out.'
'Are you going to another lecture?” Robin asked.
'No, I can't concentrate, I try to listen, but I find my mind wandering to Lauren.'
'I'm having the same problem.'
'Me, too,” Carla said. “I got a real bad feeling about Lauren.'
'Has something happened since I talked to you earlier?” Robin asked.
Carla looked at Harriet.
'We ducked out of our lecture and followed Lauren's brother when he left the dining cabin after breakfast cleanup,” Harriet said.
'And?'
'It looked like he was carrying a box of food. He went to some kind of garage structure on the other side of the photography building. We were sure he was leading us to Lauren's hideout.'
'He was,” Carla interrupted. “She just wasn't there.'
'It was pretty clear she had been hiding there,” Harriet agreed. “He beat on the doors and called to her.'
'This just keeps getting better and better. If her brother didn't expect her to have moved, we have to ask ourselves if she moved on her own, or if someone moved her,” Robin said. “I don't like this. If we can't find her pretty soon, we may need to get the police involved. From what you're telling me, she may be in real trouble.'
'Let's go back to the Tree House,” Harriet suggested. “We need to tell the rest of the group and get everyone looking for her.'
Mavis and Connie were in the kitchenette when Harriet, Carla and Robin got back. Connie was arranging molasses cookies on a green ceramic tray. Mavis was cutting apples into quarters and removing the cores.
'Guess you ladies couldn't sit through another lecture, either, huh?” she said.
'We decided to come back and get started on our blocks,” Connie added. “After a little snack.'
She pushed the platter of cookies toward Carla, who politely took one.
'By the way,” Mavis said, “we found a note taped to the door when we got back. Beth sent a fax to you at the UPS Store, and someone from the school picked it up for you. It's in the front office.” She fished the note out the pocket of her plaid shirt and handed it to Harriet.
'Thanks. I guess I'll go see what Aunt Beth's got for us.'
Carla put her cookie down.
'You don't have to come. I'm just going to the office, and there are people going back and forth on all the paths.'
'I think it'll be okay,” Mavis agreed. “Harriet's right. You have your cookie, and when Harriet's back we'll see what Beth's dug up.'
Connie poured a glass of milk and handed it to Carla-Harriet wondered if she noticed how the two of them worked at adding nutritious foods to her diet. She had to admit, Carla's skin was clearer for their efforts. If they knew she lived in a car they'd both have strokes, right there on the floor.
