Read Online Disappearing Nine Patch (A Harriet Truman/Loose Threads Mystery Book 9) by Arlene Sachitano - Free Book Online Page A

evidence to support what he’d told her, but again, it was all confidential.”
    “That’s all very mysterious.”
    “I know she felt strongly enough about it that she told me she gave him a good severance check and a glowing recommendation when she couldn’t talk him into to staying.”
    Harriet tilted her chair back.
    “Well, heck. He was my only line of inquiry so far.”
    Beth pursed her lips.
    “Don’t get all riled up. He might still be a source of information if you handle it just right.”
    “I’ll be the soul of discretion.” The front chair legs thumped as she leaned forward. “Tell me more.”
    “One of the reasons the police questioned him in the first place is because he’d taken Amber to the station before. He lived one street over on the corner where the neighborhood street crossed a much busier Stephens Street. Apparently, Amber was always wandering around, and he’d brought her back to her house more than once.
    “Finally, one day he drove her to the police station and told them maybe they could convince her mother to keep her home before she got run over.”
    “Do you think this could be as simple as she got run over, and someone panicked and hid the body? I mean, we know the girls were playing together. Maybe they were both hit, Amber was killed, and Molly was unconscious. Whoever did it could have buried Amber and left Molly near the homeless camp where she would be sure to be found.”
    Beth toyed with the edge of her napkin.
    “I suppose anything’s possible. Without anyone finding Amber’s body in all these years, though, I’m not sure how you’d prove it. Beyond that, I don’t know how you’d figure out who did it. It’s been something like twenty years.”
    Harriet rested her chin in her hand and stared out the window.
    “I assume Molly was in the hospital after they found her. Did she have a head injury?”
    Aunt Beth looked up at the ceiling as she thought. Finally, she shook her head.
    “I just don’t remember. It’s been so long. I would have thought DeAnn would say something if her sister’d had any permanent damage from a head injury.”
    “I think I’ll check with Detective Morse and see if they considered the accident possibility.”
    “If that girl got hit in the head, it might explain a lot.”
    Harriet took her plate and cup to the sink and rinsed them off.
    “We better get moving. You’ve got clothes sorting, and I’ve got chores, and we need a new tire before we can do either one.”

 

Chapter 9
    “What are you doing here at this time of day?” Harriet asked Lauren as she sat down opposite her at the computer table in the Steaming Cup.
    “I’m trying to work.”
    Harriet picked up her frappuccino.
    “I can move.”
    “Sit down. It’s not you. I’m done doing anything productive anyway. For reasons unknown, the boat sales people below my apartment are working on a motor in the parking lot. They have a repair shop out on Miller Hill so why they’re working in the parking lot today I’ll never know. It involves a lot of motor revving, which makes it impossible for me to work. I put my earphones on, but I could feel the vibration, and I swear I could hear it a little bit, too.”
    “Hopefully, it’ll only be for today.”
    “They better be done when I get home. Enough about me, what are you doing out and about?”
    “Catching up on everything I put off while I was doing those quilts. My car’s in the shop, my dining room drapes are at the cleaners, I picked up Scooter’s prescription dog food, took my cans to the recycling depot…need I go on?”
    “Sounds awful.”
    “It felt good to get some things done. I started the day at my aunt’s. I’ve got her car while my brakes are being fixed. Anyway, she told me a little more about Leo Tabor.”
    “The pedophile who was run out of town on a rail?”
    “Yeah, only Aunt Beth says that Avanell told her things were not as they seemed. She didn’t tell her what, but she was on Leo’s side.