"That's not true!” Patience cried.
"If there was a new will, it was forged. Or maybe she tricked Selestina into signing it. But Les says the old bat would have never shared the school with anyone."
"Why didn't you just go somewhere else?” Harriet asked. She slowly eased a second pillow from the chair and held it as if she were going to use it to adjust Lauren's position.
"Are you really that naive?” Patience snapped. “No one wants my work. The schools don't want quilting teachers; they want art teachers who quilt. Besides, I spent the best years of my life building up this school. You met Selestina. Do you think people would have kept coming back if I hadn't been smoothing ruffled feathers and quietly giving students discount coupons if they'd come back again.
"And she was no businesswoman. I redid the catalog every year after she'd okayed it for print. All those years, and once she thought it had gone to print, she never even checked it again."
She was consumed by her righteous anger. Harriet kept her eyes on her but inched slowly to the end of the couch. She just needed Patience to talk for another minute and she'd be clear of the coffee table.
"She was nothing without me,” Patience continued, pacing in a small rectangle along the corridor between the dining room and the front door. The shotgun was held loosely in her arms. “It was me who recruited the top teachers, me who called quilt guilds across the country."
It was now or never. When Patience once again turned toward the dining room, Harriet threw the pillow toward the table. As she'd hoped, Patience raised the gun and shot at it. As she did, Harriet dove forward, rolling into her shins. The gun went flying, and Patience hit the floor hard on her back.
Harriet planted a knee in her chest and pressed down, making sure she couldn't catch the breath that had been knocked out of her.
"Here,” Lauren said, startling her. She held a thin cord in her hand. Harriet took it and tied Patience's hands behind her.
Lauren sank to the floor. Harriet wouldn't have believed she could have gotten off the couch. She had not only done so but had pulled the lace from her tennis shoe.
"You'll not get away with this,” Patience growled. “It will be my word against yours. I'll tell them you came in here and attacked me when I accused you of copying my work."
Harriet looked around the room. Heavy velvet drapes from an earlier era were held back from the front window by a decorative gold tieback cord. She left Patience for a moment and retrieved a cord, letting the drape fall over the window. When she had secured the woman hand and foot, she patted her down, retrieving the car keys.
"Where are you going?” Lauren cried when she saw Harriet move toward the front door.
Harriet paused.
"I was calling Aiden when Patience put you in the car. I put my phone down to help and never picked it up again. Hopefully, it's still there."
She quickly found her phone and returned to the house. She called Aiden but was immediately transferred to his voicemail, which probably meant he had no reception. She tried the Tree House number but got no answer there, either.
"You'll never get away with this,” Patience said.
"Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you.” Harriet laughed. She dialed nine-one-one. She asked the operator to please notify Detective Ruiz and send an ambulance for Lauren.
Chapter Thirty
Mavis and the rest of the Loose Threads were gathered in the great room of the Tree House when Officer Weber drove Harriet back to the school. He insisted on walking her to the door over her objections, but in reality, she leaned on him more than a little as they walked the path from the parking lot to the porch.
Detective Ruiz had asked her to be available for questioning then after taking a good look at her said, he could come by the Tree House after he was done processing Patience.
"Oh, honey,” Mavis said, “come in and tell us what happened."
"Dios mio,” Connie said. “Sit down.” She motioned to Sarah to move over and make a place for Harriet on the sofa. “Go get a wet wash cloth,” she ordered.
Sarah rolled her eyes and sighed but didn't get up. Carla jumped up from her perch on the stone hearth.
"I'll get it."
Connie glared at Sarah and went back to adjusting the pillows behind Harriet and putting her feet up on the coffee table.
"Oh, your poor ankles,” she said as Harriet's pant leg rode up and everyone could see the angry gash the bindings had made.
Carla returned with the washcloth, and Connie swabbed Harriet's face and hands. Mavis handed her a mug of peppermint tea with honey in it.
"Enough,” she finally said, but did take the proffered chocolate chip cookie.
"Start with your search of the buildings with Aiden,” Mavis prompted.
Harriet had just started when Aiden and Tom arrived. They had been searching for her and Lauren, and had just gotten word the women had been found.
"I didn't know who had taken me until Lauren and I had escaped,” she concluded after describing her kidnapping from the restroom and escape from the attic. “Has anyone heard how Lauren's doing?” she asked, suddenly aware she'd been so wrapped up in her own rescue she'd forgotten to worry about Lauren.
"I called the hospital a few minutes ago,” Robin reported. “She's conscious, but they're running tests. The nurse said she's dehydrated and had lost some blood from her head wounds, so she'll probably be in the hospital a few days. They also suspect she has a concussion."
"I don't get it,” Sarah said. “Why on earth would that little mouse kidnap Lauren and Harriet? Didn't she tell us she's a partner in the school? It seems a little counterproductive to kidnap students. Who'd want to come back after that?"
"She wasn't a partner,” Tom said, a little louder than was necessary. “I'm sorry, but that witch spread a pack of lies about me and my mother. My mom did have dementia, Patience wasn't a partner and I'm not a botanist.” He looked at Harriet when he said the last bit.
"But why did she target Lauren?” Robin asked.
"I think I can answer that,” Detective Ruiz said. No one had noticed him come in. “What do I need to do to get a drink around here?"
"We've got tea,” Mavis said and got up to get a cup.
"Here, sit down,” Connie said and offered him the twig rocker. Mavis brought him tea and a small plate of cookies.
"Thank you.” He nodded at Mavis. He sipped his tea and closed his eyes briefly. “My mother always made us tea when we were sick,” he said with an embarrassed smile.
Aiden crossed the room and wedged himself in between Sarah and Harriet on the sofa. Tom sat on the floor in front of the river-rock fireplace.
"Lauren was targeted by Patience for two reasons,” Detective Ruiz began. “First, it seems that with, to quote Patience, ‘that meddling Harriet Truman's help,’ Lauren had figured out that her work had been copied and the copy was being sold in Europe. It seems that Patience had been copying and selling student work for years, and no one was the wiser.
"But the main reason she went after Lauren is that Patience had drawn up a new will for Selestina and had tricked her into signing it. After she set the poisoning in motion-that is, she laid out the poisoned thimble and waited for Selestina to use it-she put the new will in a file of employee benefits documents and left it on top of the victim's desk where it could be easily found. The files disappeared, and Patience came to believe that Lauren had them."
"She did,” Harriet said. “She just didn't know what she had. Her brother took the files off Selestina's desk. He was in her office and heard someone coming so he just took the whole pile. He and Lauren were searching for evidence of the quilt copying. When Lauren became a suspect, they shredded the files, not realizing they had shredded the fake will."