apparently. “But Carla has to move.” She turned away from Harriet and grabbed for Carla. The young woman refused to move from Aiden's side.
Carla was stronger than she looked. Bebe had to turn her back to Harriet and use both hands to push Carla away from Aiden. The minute she turned, Harriet grabbed the end of the top hose stacked by her feet. The end with the industrial-size oscillating sprinkler still attached. In a blur, she swung the hose once around her head and let centrifugal force carry the heavy sprinkler into the back of Bebe's head.
Bebe crumpled to her knees, and Terry suddenly came alive, delivering a scissor kick to her body and twisting his body over hers, pinning her to the floor. Aiden kicked the gun away and added his weight to Terry's on the woman's back. Terry rolled off and turned a ghastly shade of green.
'Find something sharp to cut our ties with,” Aiden said, but Harriet was already rummaging around on Max's tool bench. She found a pair of wire cutters and made quick work of the plastic straps on Aiden's and Carla's wrists. Carla then snipped Terry's.
'He's unconscious again,” she said in a worried voice.
'Lauren went for help. Our phones didn't get reception, so she was going to Miller Hill and then driving toward town if needed. I told her to send the police.'
'How did you know we were in here?” Aiden asked. He found some garden twine on the workbench and tied Bebe's hands behind her back.
'We didn't. Lauren has a friend who has access to real-time satellite imagery. She searched Foggy Point for Carla's missing car. We figured if we found the car, we'd have a starting point for our search.” She gently bumped her good arm into his shoulder. “We weren't even sure you were missing, actually. You said you had to work in the morning, and when you didn't show up for the funeral I thought you'd had an emergency. Until I saw your Bronco in the picture Lauren had of Carla's car.'
'Well, for once I'm glad you were snoopy and took a risk. Our friend here was about to blow us up.'
'So I gathered. What I don't get is why.'
'I'm not too clear on that myself,” Aiden said. He tied Bebe's feet together just as she roused slightly.
'I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Terry,” Carla said. “He's been in and out of consciousness since I've been here. I think Bebe hit him hard on his head.'
'I should have killed him when I had him down,” Bebe said in a groggy voice. “His corpse would have burned just as well.'
'So, why didn't you?” Harriet asked. Carla turned to her with a look of horror.
'Inquiring minds want to know,” Harriet added.
'If you insist,” Bebe said, and struggled to sit up. “I couldn't burn the shed until we'd shipped our last order. And I was afraid, with this weather, he'd start to smell.'
'And you weren't worried someone would find his live body?” Harriet asked.
' Carlton gave the grounds crew a couple of furlough days so no one would have a reason to come into the shed. If he'd started smelling and the wind blew the wrong way, someone might have investigated.'
'You really thought this out, didn't you?'
Bebe looked at Harriet for a long minute. “I had to improvise, okay? The plan was, we make our last shipment, close the operation down, and then Carlton and I leave this dump forever.'
'So when Terry started snooping around and causing trouble, why didn't you cut your losses and run?'
'Does it really matter?” Bebe asked.
'I'd like to know.'
'Me, too,” Carla said and looked away, her face turning pink.
'They aren't the kind of customers you disappoint, okay?'
'So what is this mystery product you've been shipping?” Aiden asked.
'I think I'd like to invoke my right to remain silent.'
'We aren't the police,” Harriet said.
'We are,” said Officer Nguyen as he opened the door. “Would anyone like to tell me what's going on here?'
At first, no one spoke. Then everyone spoke at once. Aunt Beth arrived with Lauren and Connie. More police arrived, and eventually Carlton came with a skinny blond officer and her chunky, red-faced partner. Harriet recognized them from the break-in that had occurred in her studio the first week she'd been back in Foggy Point, more than six months ago.
'We found him boarding a plane bound for the Caymen Islands,” the blonde said.
'Detective Black asked us to find him and bring him here, since he owns the place,” the chunky officer said. He looked over at Bebe. “And because he's married to her.'
'You were leaving without me?” Bebe screeched, her composure slipping for just a moment. “Never mind, don't answer that. Don't say anything.” She glared at him to reinforce her command.
Officer Nguyen called an ambulance for Terry, and Carla rode with him to the hospital. Aunt Beth insisted Harriet go to the hospital and get her arm checked out, and at that point her shoulder hurt enough that she agreed.
Chapter 28
Terry refused to stay in the hospital overnight, and as soon as he'd absorbed a couple of bags of IV fluids, he checked himself out. The doctors had insisted on examining Carla, too, and she was given her own fluids. Harriet went home after a sturdier brace was applied to her shoulder and Dr. Pattee had lectured her on the concept of keeping her collarbone out of harm's way until it had healed.
Aunt Beth and Connie had decided everyone should meet at Harriet's, since she had a patio large enough to accommodate the Loose Threads and friends, plus her house was still clean from the previous gathering of the Willis clan.
Harriet was once again amazed at the ability of the Loose Threads to conjure up large quantities of delicious food on short notice. There were two fruit salads, a macaroni salad with hard salami, red peppers and cubes of Swiss cheese with Italian dressing and Jenny's secret recipe baked beans. Harry Willis was at the gas grill cooking hamburgers and hot dogs. Jorge arrived just behind Terry with a large bowl of guacamole balanced on one arm and several large bags of chips in the other.
'Looks like I'm at the right place,” he said, and set the bowl in the middle of the food-laden picnic table then went into the kitchen to find a platter for the chips.
Ben Willis came out carrying two armloads of folding chairs. “What did I miss?” he asked.
'Nothing yet,” Harriet said. “Now that Terry's here, let's make sure no one is in the house. And see that everyone's got something to drink.'
'Yes, ma'am,” Ben said and saluted Harriet.
Aiden was leaning back in a padded lounge with Harriet perched upright beside his legs. The Loose Threads and the youngest Willis boys pulled their chairs into a circle. Aunt Beth insisted Terry also sit in a lounge with his feet up. Mavis pressed a tall, icy glass of water into his hand.
'Drink,” she ordered.
Jorge sat at the picnic table, slightly out of the circle but close enough to not miss anything.
'So, talk,” Harriet said to Terry.
'I'm sure you're all anxious to know what happened today, and what's been going on for the last two weeks- really. Before I get into that, I just want to thank everyone involved in rescuing me and apologize for any lies or deceptions I've perpetrated on you.'
'I hope you're not expecting us to give you blanket forgiveness without hearing the whole story,” Lauren said.
Harriet couldn't argue with her sentiment.
Terry put both hands up in front of him in a gesture of surrender. “Fair enough,” he said. “As you all probably guessed already, my father did not work at Foggy Point Fire Protection nor am I doing a genealogy study of any
