Chapter 24
Two days later, Robin called with the news everyone had been waiting for. The highway out of Foggy Point was open again-only one lane, and there were frequent delays to allow the dump trucks that were hauling the tons of soil and rock to get through, but open.
With weekends and power outages, Marjory’s seventy-two-hour hold had turned into one hundred and twenty-eight hours, not including the two extra days she spent in a motel because of the slide, but at long last she was coming home. Aunt Beth called the Loose Threads to convey the message she had secured Marjory’s permission to bring the fabric down from the attic. All the Threads who were in town agreed to meet at nine o’clock to start working.
“It’ll take Robin two hours to get there, and then two hours back plus a little if they stop for coffee,” Aunt Beth said as she and Harriet got out of her silver Beetle. “We should be able to get a real good start before she gets back.”
“Hey,” Carla said when they came through the shop door. Wendy was perched on her hip.
“Rod will be here in a few minutes,” Connie said. Rod was the official grandfather to every small child he knew, and Wendy was not immune to his charm. “He plans on wheeling her around to look at storm damage downtown. You did bring the stroller, didn’t you?”
“Oh, yes,” Carla said. “Wendy’s looking forward to it.”
“Did you ever have a chance to check on Sarah?” Harriet asked Connie.
“We went to the house where she’s staying, but she only cracked the door open. I couldn’t see her very well, and she insisted she was fine, but she didn’t sound fine.”
“I wonder what that means.”
“I’m not sure what else to do. I asked her if she needed anything, but she said no.” Connie was clearly worried.
Harriet couldn’t think of anything short of an all-out intervention, and she wasn’t ready to suggest that option.
The rest of the group arrived and divided up the tasks involved in reversing the process they’d done a few short days before.
“Harriet and I will take the stairs,” Lauren said.
“I can do the cart again,” Carla said.
Aunt Beth, Mavis and Connie set the fabric back on the shelves, neatly tucking the raw edges under before sliding the bolts side-by-side into the metal uprights that kept them from tipping over.
“Have you talked to Aiden since the Ronald takedown?” Lauren asked Harriet.
“No, but then, I didn’t expect to.”
“Really?”
“Okay, so maybe I thought he’d call, but he didn’t.”
“Carla!” Lauren yelled down the stairs when she saw the cart through the opening in the attic floor. “Have you heard any more conversations between Aiden and his sister?”
“She took off the other night. She was gone when I got back from the power’s-on party.”
“Wow,” Harriet said. “Did you hear anything before that?”
“They had a fight, but all I heard was Aiden saying he didn’t know who to trust anymore. She started using language that wasn’t appropriate for Wendy’s little ears, so I had to turn the intercom down, and by the time I got Wendy doing something in the other room and came back, their fight was over, or they had moved out of range.”
“He’ll settle down once he’s had a few days without her,” Aunt Beth said from down below. She’d come up beside Carla. “If I know that boy, he’ll do his own research. He’ll find out the truth. He’s an emotional one at first-that’s what makes him such a good veterinarian-but he’s also very analytical. He won’t do anything without checking his facts, and then Michelle will be out on her ear.”
“I hope so,” Harriet said.
“Why don’t you gals come on down for a break? Mavis went down the street to pick up doughnuts.” She looked at her watch. “Marjory should be getting here pretty soon, anyway.”
“How’s it looking down there?” Lauren asked.
“Come see for yourself. There’s still work to be done, but it’s taking shape.”
The Threads assembled in the larger classroom, each with their favorite hot beverage in front of them.
“Can anyone join this party?” Jane Morse said as she came into the room. “I ran into Mavis at the bakery, and she invited me to stop by for doughnuts. The shop’s looking better.”
“Marjory’s lucky the water stayed in the basement,” Connie said.
“She’s lucky to have a group of friends like you.”
Mavis came in with the doughnuts, which cut off all thought of conversation while everyone made their selections and took their first sugary bites.
Finally, Morse sat back in her chair.
“I hate to admit this, but given our extreme conditions and our unusual situation, I couldn’t have taken Ronald into custody without your help. Thank you.”
“That was all Harriet and Lauren,” Connie said.
“I know, but as usual, you all played a role along the way.”
“Cut to the chase,” Lauren prompted. “We’ve got more fabric to put away.”
Morse smiled. “I was going to give you a lecture on how you shouldn’t involve yourselves in police business, but I suppose it won’t do any good, and in any case, as I said, you did play a role, so I suppose you deserve to know what happened.”
“Ronald is the campground killer, right,” Lauren said.
“It does appear that way. Of course, he needs to be tried by a jury of his peers,” Morse reminded her.
“The question is why,” Mavis said.
“You know part of it,” Morse continued. “Pat Reigert told you her husband Richard was in trouble, headed for jail.”
“She said something about trying to buy back time,” Harriet said.
“He was one of three men involved in a Ponzi scheme. Ronald was one partner, and Duane was the third.”
“Duane?” Aunt Beth sounded shocked. “He seemed like such a nice man.”
“In the end, he was the only one with a shred of conscience. He wanted out, and the other two said no. They, of course, were living on the money people were investing in good faith, all the while mailing their victims monthly statements showing amazing gains.”
“Don’t those investors ever stop and wonder why their fund is doing so much better than everyone else’s?” Harriet asked.
“There are two kinds of people who fall for Ponzi schemes-the very greedy and the very naive.” Morse said.
“So, how did Duane end up in a homeless camp?” Harriet asked.
“All evidence points to the fact that Duane wanted out and he was trying to give back as much money as he could. That list on his phone was the people he was sending money to. It’s going to take months to sort out all the details, but we think he tricked the tricksters.”
“He was stealing their money?” Harriet clarified.
“That’s what it looks like. We think he slowly bled Richard and Ronald’s accounts down during his set-up phase, creating false bank statements for them-they all had accounts that appeared to be growing as a result of their investment skills. When things got to the point where checks were going to start bouncing, he cleaned out their accounts and got out of Dodge.”
“That’s bold.” Mavis said.
“Moving to a homeless camp was an inspired move,” Morse said. “He was there for months before Ronald caught up to him. Ronald and Richard had hired a private eye and eventually found him.
“We think Ronald had set up an offshore rainy-day fund Duane couldn’t access. Ronald summoned Richard with tales of Duane having money they could take back. It appears Ronald’s plan was to get rid of his two partners and leave the country. He got stuck here, and then he realized it was possible Duane might still have some of the money, so he tried to get the information out of Brandy. You know the rest.”