Harriet asked the blond for the phone from her sweatshirt pocket—she was covered with a blanket and strapped down and hadn't put it back on after her field exam.
Aiden came striding up before the paramedic could comply.
"What happened here?” he demanded.
"This wo—lady...called us, and we found her by the bushes over there,” the paramedic stammered and stopped pushing the gurney.
"How bad,"
"Sprained ankle and a bruise over her kidney. She needs x-rays and probably an MRI.” The blond man's cheeks turned pink.
"Did you get the prescription cat food I told you about?” It became clear why patient confidentiality had just sailed out the window.
"Not yet, but I will as soon as I get paid,” the paramedic said in a rush.
"Good man,” Aiden said. “I think you'll find she'll stop pulling her hair out after she's been on the new food for a couple of weeks."
"I am here, you know,” Harriet said.
"I'm too mad at you right now to risk speaking to you,” Aiden informed her.
"It makes one wonder why you bothered to come."
"I heard the call on our police scanner, and I recognized the address,” he said before she could ask the obvious. “Or at least, I was pretty sure. I called your house, and you didn't answer, and I called DeAnn, and she said you'd left almost thirty minutes ago. I decided I'd retrace your route, which we both know goes right past here. I was hoping I'd find you waiting for Triple A to come fix a flat tire or something equally lacking in danger, but I saw your car at the curb and the fire engines and here we are."
"Rodney's dead,” Harriet said before he could launch into a lecture.
"What?"
"Rodney's dead,” she repeated, and pointed with her chin toward the spot where he still lay on the ground.
"How? What happened? Why Joseph's house?"
"I don't know what happened,” she said. “I saw someone move past the window, but no one answered the doorbell. I was going to look in the window, but just as I was about to, someone hit me from behind. A moment later, Rodney's body fell on top of me."
"He fell on you?"
Harriet sighed. “He was already cool when I tried to do CPR on him, so I think he was dead before I got here."
"Why were you out in the bushes? Wouldn't it have been easier to look in one of the windows on the porch?"
"That wasn't where I saw motion. The window just above the rhododendrons is where I saw something move."
Aiden looked back at the house. “The window is dark. How did you see something moving?"
She tried to twist around, but he stilled her with a hand on her arm.
"That window was lit when I drove by. I noticed it on my way to DeAnn's, so I was driving slowly when I went back by on my way home. Someone crossed in front of the window."
Aiden looked at the dark house again.
"I didn't make it up,” Harriet insisted. “There was light in the window, and someone was in the room. We need to get some answers from Joseph, and I thought he was home."
"I believe you,” Aiden said. “Someone else had to have been here, or Rodney wouldn't have gone airborne after he was already dead."
"Unless she made the whole thing up,” Detective Sanders said, joining them.
"I suppose you think she clubbed herself in the kidney and sprained her own ankle, too?"
"She could have fallen down the stairs when she was carrying the body out of the house. And by the way, who are you?"
"Dr. Aiden Jalbert,” Aiden said in his professional voice, extending his hand, forcing Sanders to either shake it or appear rude. He cleverly left out the DVM part of his title, Harriet noticed, correctly guessing Sanders would defer to someone he thought was a people doctor.
"We need to get Ms. Truman here to the hospital for an MRI, if you'll excuse us,” he continued. “You can question her after we've run our tests."
His bluff worked. Sanders stepped back, and the blond paramedic pushed Harriet to the waiting emergency vehicle.
"You can meet us at the hospital, Dr. Jalbert,” he said with a smirk.
"Could you call my aunt?” Harriet called as she disappeared into the ambulance.
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter 29
A part of Harriet was impressed by the speed with which the paramedics and then the emergency room staff transferred her into a cubicle in the hospital's trauma unit. The other part wondered how many more years it was going to take to get pain relief of any sort. The ER doctor explained they would not be giving her major painkillers until they finished assessing her injuries.
Aunt Beth and Mavis were waiting in her hospital room when the nurse's aide finally brought her in, after every possible test that could be done had been.
"Oh, honey, are you okay?” Aunt Beth asked. “They wouldn't tell us anything."
"Aiden got called back to the clinic. Apparently, one of his patients took a turn for the worse,” Mavis told her. “He said to tell you he'll be back as quick as he can."
"Are the detectives here?” Harriet asked, her voice weak from exhaustion and pain.
"No, we haven't seen any police, detectives or otherwise.” Beth said. “All we know is Aiden called and said you'd been hurt and to meet him here."
"He said you were at Joseph's house and that someone had died,” Mavis added.
"Rodney,” Harriet said.
"Oh, thank heaven,” Aunt Beth said. She picked up the plastic cup of water from the bedside table and guided the straw to Harriet's mouth, urging her to drink. “Well, not that Rodney's dead, of course. I thought when Aiden said you'd found a dead man and you were at Joseph's house...well, I assumed it was Joseph."
"Aiden went back to wherever they had you before he told us who it was you found,” Mavis explained.
"And they wouldn't let us in the emergency area. They said you were off getting scanned or x-rayed or something,” Aunt Beth said.
"It's okay, you're here now.” She started to cough but checked it when sharp pain radiated through her back. Her face must have turned the color of her sheet.
"So, what happened?” Aunt Beth asked, having waited until the color returned to Harriet's face. “Why were you at Joseph's house?"
"A light was on, so I stopped. I saw a shadow cross the window. Someone was in the house."
"Why did you go alone? You could have been killed.” Tears filled Aunt Beth's eyes.
"Somehow going up and knocking on the door of someone I know in Foggy Point didn't seem like a big risk. This is Washington State, not Washington, DC. “
"If I'm not mistaken, you weren't found on the front porch,” Mavis pointed out.
"I started out on the front porch. When no one came to the door, I went over to the lighted window to see if I could get Joseph's attention. When I got to the window, I discovered it was just above a basement window well. I thought I saw something moving through that window, so I bent to look and then I was hit from behind."
"So, why are you worrying about a detective being here? If you were just looking in a window and then you got attacked, that makes you the victim here, right?” Mavis asked.
"You could have been killed,” Aunt Beth said again.
"Not according to Detective Sanders,” Harriet said. “He thinks I hit myself in the back, fell, sprained my own ankle, and somehow killed Rodney, too."
"He doesn't!” Shock was clear in Mavis's voice.
"Aiden ran interference so he didn't get very far, but that was the road he was going down."
"Well, that's just ridiculous,” Aunt Beth said.
"Did Joseph kill him?” Mavis wondered.
"I have no idea,” Harriet said. “One minute I was trying to look into the basement window and the next I was getting whacked in the back. I fell into the window well, and when I was trying to get out, someone threw Rodney on top of me."
"Do you think he dropped from above?” Mavis asked thoughtfully.
"I do
n't see how. The roof is the only thing above that window, and it's three stories up. With that weird shape—flat on top but steeply sloped sides below, I can't see how that would work. My guess is, someone did a fireman's carry with him over their shoulder then just flopped him onto me. I was below grade in that cement well, remember."
"Who would want Rodney dead?” Aunt Beth wondered.
"I'm not sure we know enough about the man to answer that,” Mavis said.
"That's true, but I don't think it's a coincidence he was found at Joseph's house,” Harriet said. “Aiden saw him at Little Lamb earlier tonight, and we know he was frustrated with the police. What we don't know is why he thought Joseph had the answers he was after."
She shifted slightly and winced as pain shot up her back. Aunt Beth gave Mavis a long look.
"We don't need to solve this tonight,” Mavis said.
"I had a thought about our quilting deception,” Aunt Beth said, changing the subject. “We need to make up a couple of ugly dog-bone quilt blocks and make sure anyone who might encounter a Small Stitch member has one. As awful as that block looks, they might become suspicious if Sarah is the only one working on them. We need to sell them on the idea we're all making blocks for that quilt."
"Harriet for sure will need one, since she'll probably be asked to quilt a few of theirs before the auction,” Mavis said.
"Don't even think about how you're going to keep your quilting schedule. My shoulder is doing much better since it's had time to rest,” Aunt Beth told Harriet, referring to the reason she'd retired from long-arm quilting. “I can run the machine while you recover. You just focus on getting better."
Harriet felt her eyelids beginning to droop under the influence of the drugs the doctors had finally given her. The next thing she knew, her aunt and Mavis were gone, and Aiden was sitting in the chair beside her bed, in her darkened room, holding her hand.
"How are you feeling?” he asked softly when he realized she'd awakened.
"Like I've been trampled by a herd of wild horses.” She tried to smile.
"What am I going to do with you? Putting yourself in harm's way—again."
"I wasn't trying. Somehow, it didn't occur to me going to Joseph Marston's house was putting me in harm's way."
"Yeah, but you did know he'd been acting weird lately."
"Yeah, and hindsight is twenty-twenty,” she said. “Can we not talk about this right now? Do you know what's wrong with my back?"
"The doctor told your aunt you have a renal contusion as a result of blunt-force trauma."
"In English, please."
"Your kidney is bruised, but thankfully not broken. And you have a sprained ankle. You can expect a full recovery if you rest until your injuries are healed."
"It sure hurts more than just a bruise."
"The tissue of your back is also bruised, and they think you have a cracked rib. And by the way, a bruised kidney is nothing to be taken lightly. You're lucky you're not in the operating room having that kidney removed."
"Did anyone say what I was hit with?"
"Not that I've heard,” he said. “But then, I was gone for a while."
"Is your dog okay now?"
"I'm sorry I had to leave, but I'm the only one in our clinic trained to handle the skin grafting. It still could go either way, but we've done everything we can. Like a lot of them, he has an infection. He had large sores on his back, and he's just a little fellow. It's just sick. These hoarders are so delusional, they can't see how horrible their animals’ conditions are."
"I'm sorry,” Harriet said.
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be talking about this when you've got your own problems."
"It helps, actually. I mean, I'm sad about your dogs, but thinking about them keeps me from thinking about Rodney and Neelie and Joseph."
"Do you think Joseph did this to you?"
"I don't know what to think. I was at his house. But why would he want to hurt me?"
"I doubt whoever did this was trying to hurt you. They just wanted to keep you from seeing what was going on in the basement."
"Which leads us back to Joseph. It's his basement. Assuming his mother and stepfather are still out of the country, he's the person who has access to the space. I suppose it's possible someone else was using it, but that still means he at least had knowledge of what was going on there."
"Here's a wild idea,” Aiden said. “How about we just let the police figure it out?"
"That's fine with me. I'll leave them alone if they leave me alone."
"It doesn't work that way, I'm afraid. But let's take one thing at a time. Let's you and me concentrate on getting you better."
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter 30
Harriet felt better when she woke up the next morning. In spite of near-constant interruptions by the nurses, the pain medication had allowed her to fall back to sleep easily.
Sunlight streamed into her room, illuminating the falling dust particles in the air. Aiden was gone, and her guest chair was empty. She reached for the glass of water on her bedside table and found a folded piece of paper standing like a tent in front of her glass.
"Aiden is checking on his dogs and Mavis and I are in the cafeteria having breakfast. Call us when you're awake,” the note read. It was signed by Aunt Beth. Harriet glanced at the clock and was surprised to see that it read nine-thirty.
"Oh, good, you're awake,” a red-headed nurse said as she came into the room. “I'm Heather, and I'm your day nurse. How are you feeling?"
"I've been better, but all things considered, I'm not too bad."
"We aim to please,” Heather said in a cheery voice. “I'll call for your breakfast and see if the doctor okayed shower privileges."
"I thought I'd do that at home later when you let me out."
"Nice try,” Heather said without missing a beat. “The doctor wants to keep you for at least a full twenty-four hours. You checked in just after midnight, but we don't check people out in the middle of the night, so your clock started at seven this morning. You might as well settle in and enjoy the room service. The doctor will be by later today to check your injuries and answer any questions you have."
"Great,” Harriet mumbled.
"What was that?"
"Thanks,” she said in a louder voice. “I said thanks."
Heather gave her a genuine smile and left the room.
"Well, the dead have arisen,” Mavis said to Aunt Beth as the pair came back into Harriet's room.
Harriet had just finished her hospital breakfast. The scrambled eggs were soft and fluffy, and the toast was crisp and warm. The orange juice tasted like it was fresh-squeezed, or at least was pure juice.
She was lying with her sprained ankle propped up on pillows and her head only slightly raised. She tried to scoot into a more upright position, but the pain in her side stopped her efforts.
"Is my sweatshirt here somewhere?” she asked.
Mavis and Beth looked around the room, and then Mavis got up and went to the tiny closet in the wall opposite the bed.
"Here it is,” she said and brought over Harriet's gray hoodie.
"What are we looking for?” Aunt Beth asked.
"Check the pockets,” Harriet said.
Aunt Beth did as directed and, after one false start, retrieved Rodney's small black notebook.
"What have we here?” she said and riffled the pages before handing the book to Harriet.
"I'm not sure, but I found it in Rodney's pocket. I think it's the same book he had out when we saw him in Tico's making phone calls. Hopefully, it's going to tell us something about why he and Neelie were in Foggy Point.” She opened the book and scanned the first few pages before flipping quickly through the rest. “Well, it isn't exactly a memoir,” she said. “It's names and phone numbers and a very few cryptic notes."
"Did you really think he was going to carry his ‘dear diary’ around in his breast pocket?” Mavis asked.
"A girl can h
ope.” She paged through the book again, more slowly this time. She stopped and pointed to a name and its corresponding phone number, tapping the page. “Jasmine. I'm pretty sure that's the person Neelie supposedly was staying with after she left Rodney and before she came here."
"One way to find out,” Aunt Beth said.
"My purse,” Harriet groaned. “My purse is or was in my car in front of Joseph's house before...all this.” She gestured to encompass the room.
"Don't worry,” Mavis said before she could get too worked up. “Your aunt and I went by Joseph's early this morning and brought your car here. We'll take it home when we leave tonight."
"And,” Aunt Beth said as she got up and went to the small closet, “we brought your purse in with us, and your cell phone's there on the bedstand.” She brought the purse to the bed.
"We also took the liberty of bringing your stitching bag in,” Mavis added.
"After we gathered up the materials for an appliquéd dog block and put them inside,” Beth finished.
"Let's start with the cell phone,” Harriet said. She winced as she leaned toward it. Aunt Beth moved it within her reach. She dialed the number, but the phone sent her directly to Jasmine's voice mail. She left a brief message asking for a call back.
"Well, that's a dead end,” she said.
"She might call back,” Aunt Beth said. “In the meantime, you can rest."
Harriet started to protest but was interrupted by the arrival of a large spray of yellow flowers that obscured the person carrying it. Phyllis carried the cut-glass vase filled with yellow lilies, roses and sunflowers into the room, staggering a little from the weight, and set it on the windowsill. The fragrance from the lilies immediately filled the space.
"I hope it's okay that I barged right in without knocking,” she said. “That vase is heavier than it looks, with the water and all."
"Come in,” Mavis said. “Here, sit down and take a load off.” She got up and offered the easy chair she'd been sitting in to her larger friend. “And of course you're welcome."
"Thank you,” Harriet said. “I appreciate the flowers. You shouldn't have, but I'm grateful that you did."
Aunt Beth beamed her approval of Harriet's courtesy.
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