Lauren tried to shake her off but didn't have the strength to mount much opposition.
"We're going through the dining room and the living room and then outside.” She looked at Lauren's pale, tear-streaked face. “Are you ready?"
"Of course I'm not ready,” Lauren mumbled but she shuffled forward.
It seemed like an eternity until they reached the door. Lauren had to rest every few steps while Harriet looked behind and ahead of them, listening carefully for any sign they had been discovered.
"When we get outside, we're going to move immediately to the nearest cover. We're not going to stop."
"Whatever you say, Rambo."
Lauren agreeing without a fight worried Harriet more than the bump on her friend's head. She looked at Lauren's face. Her eyes had a dull look she hadn't noticed before. She was no doctor, but anyone could see Lauren was not doing well. She needed medical attention, and she needed it now.
"Let's go."
A narrow porch ran the width of the house. Harriet half-carried Lauren outside and eased the door shut behind them. She took a deep breath and could smell the salty tang of sea air. They definitely weren't on school grounds.
She couldn't think about that right now. She had to focus on Lauren. The four porch steps were a challenge, but Lauren staggered down them and kept moving until they had crossed a small, neat yard and forced their way into a laurel hedge. Lauren collapsed to the ground.
"You can leave me here while you go for help,” she moaned.
"Sorry, we don't know whose house this is, but whoever lives here was, at the very least, willing to let us be tied up in their attic. And more than likely, it belongs to the person who put us there. So, get up, we have to keep moving."
If looks could kill, Harriet would have been a goner, but Lauren pulled herself upright again.
The laurel hedge ran along a gravel driveway and soon gave way to dark forest. Lauren was stumbling badly on the rough forest floor. She wasn't going to make it if they stayed in the woods. Harriet didn't like the idea of walking out in the open, but there was no choice. She pulled Lauren onto the driveway and started again.
They had gone no more than a hundred yards when Harriet heard the unmistakable sound of tires on gravel. Someone was coming. She helped Lauren back off the road and propped her against a tree. As the car came into sight, Harriet recognized the boxy shape of a Ford Explorer. And it was black.
She stepped into the road and waved her arms. The car lights blinded her.
"Help!” she cried. “Can you help me?"
The car stopped, and a small form got out.
"Harriet? Is that you?"
"Oh, Patience, thank heaven, it's you. Someone tied me up in an attic, and Lauren was up there, too, and she's badly injured."
"How dreadful,” Patience said. “We've all been looking for you. Here, get in the car.” She pulled the door to the back seat open.
"Wait, I've got to get Lauren."
"She's with you?"
"Yes, she's behind that tree.” She pointed. “And she's not in very good shape. Whoever kidnapped her hit her on the head, and it looks pretty bad."
"You get in the car, and I'll go fetch her."
Harriet climbed into the warm car and slumped against the seat. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Aiden again. This time, he picked up on the first ring.
"Thank heaven, you're there,” Harriet said. “Lauren and I were trapped in an attic, but it's okay now, Patience just found us. Hang on.” At that moment, Patience opened the car door opposite Harriet and pushed Lauren in. Harriet put the phone down and helped get her onto the seat. She reached across Lauren, stretched the seatbelt into position and clicked the buckle. Then she belted herself.
"I think we should take Lauren directly to the hospital,” she said.
"The house here is much closer. We can take her inside and then call nine-one-one.” Patience got into the car and guided it back to the house.
"No, Patience, it's not safe. This is the house where we were being held hostage."
"Someone must have broken in, then,” Patience said. “No one lives in this house, and we're miles from anywhere. This is the closest place to call an ambulance from."
It didn't seem like the best plan to Harriet, but Patience knew Angel Harbor better than she did. Lauren definitely needed to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. All the moving around was taking its toll.
Patience held her on one side and Harriet the other as they wrestled her back up the porch steps and into the house. She flopped down onto the sofa when they let go of her.
"Who's house is this?” Harriet asked. She picked Lauren's feet up off the floor and lifted them onto the sofa. She took a throw pillow from the chair opposite the sofa and gently slid it under Lauren's head.
"It used to be my parents',” Patience replied. “I told Tom I would look for you and Lauren in the woods around here since I had to drive over here to water the house plants anyway.” She walked back toward the entrance and opened an interior door set into the wall. A coat closet, Harriet presumed. “My mother died right after Christmas, you see. I've been getting the house ready to sell."
"Where's the phone?” Harriet asked. “We need to call for the ambulance."
"I had it disconnected after the funeral,” Patience said in a conversational tone. “Mother had a lot of hospital bills, so there wasn't any money left for extras.” She turned around. “And it won't be necessary, anyway,” she said.
It took a moment for Harriet to register the shotgun.
"You?” Harriet asked. “You were the one who tied us up in the attic?"
Patience made a slight bow.
"Why?"
"Because you couldn't keep your nose out of other people's business."
"Did you seriously think you could kidnap Lauren and hold her hostage, and that no one would come looking for her?"
"And that one…” Patience waved the barrels of her gun toward Lauren and went on speaking as if Harriet hadn't said anything. “She couldn't keep her mouth shut. She was constantly blabbing about her amazing design and how someone had copied it. Hah! If she only knew. I only got half as much for her design as I did for Jan Hayes's tone-on-tone kaleidoscope."
"Why did you need to take anyone's design? You're an accomplished artist. Couldn't you just sell your own work?"
"Couldn't you just sell your own work,” she repeated in a nasal sing-song voice. “Do you really think I'm so stupid I didn't think of that? No one wants my traditional calico pieced quilts. They want modern art quilts. But more important, to continue to teach you have to have fresh work."
"But surely that doesn't apply to you. You're a partner in the business. Aren't you?"
"I am. Or I would be if your friend here hadn't stolen Selestina's new will."
"My God.” Harriet sank down onto the sofa beside Lauren as the enormity of what Patience was saying sank in. “You killed Selestina? She was your friend."
"Exactly-she was my friend. And as her friend, I've spared her the indignity she would have most certainly suffered."
"So, she did have dementia,” Harriet said with satisfaction.
"Yes, she did. My old friend was gone. Oh, she could still fool the students, but my old friend was gone."
"If you were so close, why hadn't she made you a partner before this?"
"She was my friend, but to her I was always an employee. One she shared her hopes and dreams with, one she shared a good bottle of wine with over an expensive dinner-Dutch treat, of course; but at the end of the day, I was an employee."
"If she rewrote her will making you a partner, why did you need to kill her? Tom was going to make a foster care home in the meadow."
"Don't be so dense, Harriet,” Lauren mumbled from the sofa without opening her eyes. “Selestina wasn't ever going to make Patience a partner. Les overheard them talking. Patience tried to talk her into it, but Selestina wasn't the kind of person who would acknowledge the work of others. She may have had dementia, but it hadn't made her any nicer. She laughed at Patience."