“I don’t want to pull it off,” Sarah replied as she gently pulled.
“You can’t. I stitched it on with this,” she said, holding up a container of dental floss.
“How clever,” Sarah responded, “but how did you get that thick stuff through your needle?”
“I used beading needles. I brought a few in, and everyone is welcome to use them and help yourself to the floss. Just be sure to return the needles. I’m making jewelry for all the girls in my family for Christmas.”
“You’re planning Christmas in May?” Sophie remarked.
“I sure am. I’m making necklaces for all the girls: my daughters, my daughter-in- laws, my grandchildren, every female in the family, and even for a couple of my close friends. That takes time.”
“I’m duly impressed,” Sophie responded, “and, by the way, I consider myself one of your closest and dearest friends.” Everyone at the table laughed and shook their heads. Sophie’s back.
“We can always count on Sophie to lighten things up,” Kimberly announced as she held up her little quilt. “How do you like this?”
“I love it,” Sarah responded, followed by comments from everyone including Anna, who had just come in from the storage room carrying a few more items she had found around the shop.
Myrtle arrived next, and Frank was right behind her, making his usual apologies for being late.
“It’s never a problem, Frank,” Anna assured him. “We know you work on Fridays.”
It turned out to be a very quiet meeting as everyone worked diligently on their individual fidget quilts. During the last hour, they began talking more, asking one another’s advice about what else they should attach.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Sophie announced. “When I was having physical therapy last week, I was talking with the head nurse from the Alzheimer’s unit, and I told her about our quilts. She thinks they would be great for her patients, and she asked if she could have a couple to try them out.”
“Yes,” everyone responded at once.
“Is this the nursing home at Cunningham Village?”
“Yes, it’s right by my house, and I go for physical therapy there three times a week. I’d be happy to take them,” Sophie added.
“We’ll have two or three finished by the next meeting,” Delores said. “I’m taking mine home to bind it.”
“Mine doesn’t need binding,” Christina said. “I turned it before Delores quilted it last week, so mine will be finished tonight.”
“Mine, too,” Kimberly added, “so that’s two you can take with you tonight and let us know what she says next week.”
“Good for you two,” Allison remarked. “I wish I’d done that. It’s going to be awkward sewing the binding on with all these things attached.”
“Will you help me with my binding?” Caitlyn whispered to Sarah, who assured her she would.
As they were packing their projects away for the week, Christine and Kimberly passed their completed fidget quilts to Sophie to take to the nursing home. “Oh wait, I wanted to get a picture of mine,” Kimberly said as she pulled out her phone.
“Take one of mine, too,” Christina added. “I want to show them to Ruth when she gets home.” Sarah thought about the fact that she said it as if Ruth were just away on vacation and was expected back soon. Sarah was becoming less sure and could feel a lump in her chest. I must stay positive, she told herself firmly.
“Before you leave, I wanted to bring up something that several of you have talked to me about. Friday seems to be the worst day of the week for our meetings, what with summer coming and all. I wanted to ask if there was another day that would work better.
“How about Tuesday or Wednesday?” Allison called out. “I think the middle of the week would work better, at least for me.”
“I don’t work on Tuesday,” Frank said, “so I wouldn’t have to be late all the time.”
“What do the rest of you think about changing to Tuesday?” Everyone appeared to agree, but Anna wasn’t sure she was hearing from everyone, so she added, “Is that bad for anyone?” No one spoke. “Okay, then, we’re the Tuesday Night Quilters effective next week.
“The TNQ,” Anna said. “I like it. I’ll get an email out to the members that weren’t here tonight, and I’ll see everyone on Tuesday.
On their way home, Sophie sighed and remarked, “That was fun. I should have listened to you years ago when you first started in on me about coming to these meetings.”
“You weren’t ready,” Sarah responded as she turned and smiled at her very best friend. “You just weren’t ready.”
“Well, I am now,” Sophie replied, sitting tall and looking extremely pleased with herself.
* * *
“John called while you were at your meeting last night,” Charles said as they were having breakfast.
“Did he have any news?”
“Nothing encouraging,” Charles responded. “If his contact is being honest with him, the FBI seems to be at a complete standstill. Ybarra swears he hasn’t sent anyone after Laura Bradley, and they’ve offered several enticements to get him to talk.
“And still nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“Actually,” Sarah said thoughtfully, “I would think that if he were going to go after her, he would have done it long ago.”
“True, but these guys get bored and look for ways to stir things up.”
“And as you suggested, we may not be getting all the information the FBI has.
“True.” Charles figured that the FBI was probably close to pulling out of the case and turning it over to Chicago PD. He knew that would happen once they officially determined it didn’t involve a Federal case. He decided not to mention this to Sarah, although he and John had discussed the possibility.
Charles sighed and got up to refill his coffee cup. He lifted the lid on the cookie jar, but frowned and closed it.
“What are your plans for the day,” Sarah asked as she stood to carry their dishes to the sink.
“As soon as they open, I’m going to the hardware store because I need to get a few keys made.”
Sarah laughed. “And because you love hardware stores.”
“That, too.”
Chapter 23
When the phone rang, Sarah glanced at the display and saw that it was the Chicago Police Department.
“Hello?” she answered, wondering why they were calling and assuming it was for Charles.
“Sarah,” the familiar voiced began, “This is Jake Krakowski from Chicago PD. How are you?”
“Detective Krakowski,” she responded. “I’m fine. Charles isn’t home right now, but…”
“It’s Jake, and I was hoping to speak with you.”
“Oh?’ she responded uncomfortably.
“I have something I want to ask you if you don’t mind.”
“Go ahead,” she responded reluctantly.
“How well do you know Nathan Weaver?”
“Nathan?” she responded with surprise. “Ruth’s husband? Well, I see him occasionally. Of course, I know him through Ruth but not personally. Why do you ask?”
“Have you been aware of any financial problems he might have.”
“Ruth and I are quilting friends, but I don’t know anything about their personal lives. I have no idea about their finances, except…well, I do know he’s been trying to get his computer business off the ground.”
“What sort of computer business?” he asked.
“I have no idea. Have you talked with him?”
“I’m not ready to do that just yet. Do you know anyone who might know more about this business he’s getting into?”
Sarah hesitated, wondering where the detective was going with this. “I know he’s been working with his brother-in-law, Geoff Bailer. Geoff’s married to Ruth’s sister, Anna. Geoff has a computer consulting business, and he’s been helping Nathan get started. Why do you ask? Isn’t this case in the hands of the FBI now?”
“It i
s, but I’ve had this nagging feeling that we’re missing something. It started the day her husband came up here, and I can’t get rid of it. There was something about his behavior, but I can’t say what. Just an annoying feeling that he knew more than he was saying.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Jake. He might be a little standoffish, but he seems like a nice guy, and he certainly was devastated by her kidnapping.”
“I thought he seemed more terrified than devastated, Sarah.”
“Well, that could be. I would be terrified and devastated if it were my loved one. You aren’t suspecting him of being involved are you,” she asked skeptically.
“I don’t know. No. It’s like I said before. I just feel something is off, and I wanted to run it passed you.”
“Have you talked to the FBI about their investigation?”
“Yes, some.”
“Why don’t I have Charles call you when he gets home? He’d be a good person to run your concerns by, and he also knows Nathan and Geoff.” She was hoping her husband would tell the detective the latest information he had about Dante Ybarra, but she had promised not to share that information with anyone.
As they were preparing to hang up, Sarah heard the garage door opening. “Wait a minute,” she said to Jake. “I think I hear Charles now.”
“It’s Detective Krakowski,” Sarah said as Charles came into the kitchen. “He’d like to talk with you.”
Charles took the phone and said, “Hey, Jake. What’s up?”
Sarah put the coffee pot on and listened to Charles’ side of the conversation. He glanced at her once but didn’t put the call on speaker.
“I hear what you’re saying, Jake, but I think you’ve got to sit down with the guy.”
There was another long pause while the detective talked, and then Charles said, “Sure, I could talk to him, but ultimately it’s got to be you.” They continued to talk for another few minutes, and Charles ended the conversation saying, “Okay, I’ll see what I can do and get back to you.”
He sighed when he hung up the phone and shook his head.
“What is it?” Sarah asked.
“He thinks there’s some investigating to be done, and since your friend’s case has been taken over by the FBI, his hands are tied. He said it isn’t worth losing his retirement by going against his bosses, but he has a strong feeling that there’s more to be learned.”
“So he wants you to talk to Nathan?”
“That’s it.”
“Surely he doesn’t think Nathan is involved in her disappearance. They are so much in love, Charles…”
“I know, and that’s not what he’s saying. But he thinks Nathan knows something.”
“Are you going to do it?”
“Got to, Sarah. He needs my help.”
“You men in blue,” she responded, shaking her head. “Always sticking together.”
“It’s the creed,” he responded, pouring himself a cup of coffee and opening the cookie jar, only to find it still filled with his wife’s latest find: low fat, sugar-free wafers. He took two reluctantly.
* * *
Charles had been gone over an hour, and Sarah was getting jumpy. She wanted to know what it was Nathan knew and whether it would help someone find Ruth. She ran the vacuum and put a load of laundry in. Sometimes doing housework helped her deal with anxiety, but it wasn’t working today.
In every room, she noticed things that could be used in a fidget quilt, and she began to collect them. She had a few wooden beads, a piece of lace, some fur she had kept when she had shortened the sleeves on a fake fur coat, some fringe, and a couple of crocheted doilies.
Sarah had already used the doll in the quilt she made at the meeting, but she remembered the party box she had in the garage with things left over from Alaina’s second birthday party. In it, she found two little, soft bears. I’ll make a pocket with the fur piece, she thought. An arrangement began to form in her mind. She looked in her fabric cabinet and found a piece of butterfly fabric and three others that coordinated with it nicely.
She checked the house phone and her cell phone to make sure there hadn’t been any calls while she was in the garage. Still no word from Charles.
She grabbed a pad of paper and drew a rough design of the quilt she had in her head. She hurried to the sewing room and got to work cutting and stitching.
When she looked at what she had done, she frowned and said aloud, “It needs something.” She wondered about a border but didn’t want to make it any bigger since it would probably lay on someone’s lap. “Prairie points,” she suddenly exclaimed. She opened her laptop and did a computer search on making prairie points and was delighted when several tutorials popped up.
She stretched out her butterfly fabric and cut squares for the prairie points which she decided to scatter around on the quilt rather than using them in the binding. She was preparing to add them to the quilt when she suddenly looked up and saw that it was early afternoon. She had worked right through lunch and was scheduled to teach a class at Stitches in forty-five minutes.
Leaving the room just as it was, she changed clothes, grabbed a peanut butter sandwich, and hurried to the garage. As she was pulling out of the community, she spotted Charles pulling in. There were no other cars around, so she drove close to the driver’s side of his car and lowered her window and he did the same.
“You’re leaving me?” he asked jocularly.
“No, you silly man. I’ve got a class to teach. I’ll be back around dinner time. Pizza okay?”
“Always!” he responded, eager to take advantage of an opportunity to eat the good stuff. “Do you want me to order it?”
“I’ll call it in after class and pick it up on my way home.” His elation was short-lived. He could imagine the pizza that would make its way to his house that night.
“Broccoli and tofu with a touch of alfalfa sprout?” he responded playfully. Then in a more serious vein, he added, “I’ll tell you about my meeting with Nathan when you get home.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“We’ll have to wait and see. Good luck with your class.” He blew her a kiss and they each drove off.
Chapter 24
“Jake, it’s Charles Parker. I just left Nathan and he’s on his way up to see you. You’ll never believe what he had to say. You were right. He was holding something back – something big, in fact.
“And you’re going to tell me, right?”
“No, Jake. This needs to come from him. He’ll be there in a few hours. Don’t go home.”
“Thanks for getting this moving, Charles. I’ll call you after I talk to him.”
“You do that.”
* * *
Charles wandered around the house for the next few hours, waiting for Sarah and eager to hear from Jake and Nathan. Walking down the hall, he noticed the light on Sarah’s sewing machine and he went in to turn it off, realizing that she must have left in a hurry. He stopped to see what she was working on, but couldn’t make sense of it. It didn’t look like anything he’d seen her do before. Lace? Bears? His thoughts were interrupted by the phone.
“Charles, Nathan will be staying up here,” Jake announced when Charles picked up the phone. “We’re putting the wheels in motion.”
“So you know these thugs he’s talking about?” Charles asked.
“We sure do, and they are thugs but very organized and very dangerous. I can’t go into it now but just sit tight. I’ll let you know when something breaks.”
* * *
“I’m in the living room” Charles called to Sarah when he heard her coming into the kitchen from the garage.
“I’ll be right there,” she responded. When she came into the living room, she was carrying the pizza box, a roll of paper towels, and two beers. “Dinner,” she announced. They each reached for a piece of pizza and eagerly bit into it. Charles was pleased to see that the meat appeared to be real, and the vegetables were the familiar ones often found on a pizza.
They had each devoured two pieces before Charles brought up the topic of his visit with Nathan.
Charles started talking about his call from Jake, but Sarah interrupted him as she reached for a napkin and slid the pizza box toward him indicating she was finished.
“Charles, you’re confusing me. Start from the beginning. The last I heard, you were on your way to see Nathan. Start there.”
“Okay, sorry. Nathan didn’t want to talk to me at first, but he finally broke down, and the whole story started pouring out. He’d been having serious financial problems and was on the verge of losing his business. The bank had turned him down for any more loans, and he was afraid his troubles were going to spill over onto Ruth and her shop.”
“Jake asked me about that, but I had no idea,” Sarah responded. “Go on.”
“Okay, so some guy that Nathan hardly knew told him about some easy money up in Chicago – ‘loans, no questions asked,’ the guy had said.”
“Surely Nathan knew better than to get involved in something like that.”
“He was desperate, Sarah.”
“Did Ruth know about this?”
“No, he didn’t want to worry her. Anyway, he borrowed the money, and everything seemed fine for a while. He said he made his first few payments on time, and he didn’t expect any trouble. Well, it turned out that he had gotten himself involved with a crime syndicate up there, and the interest started doubling every day until he owed the guys some astronomical amount that he’d never be able to pay.” Charles smiled slightly when he added that Nathan said he figured they’d just threaten to break his knee caps.
“He watches too many movies,” Sarah responded. “But what does all this have to do with Ruth’s kidnapping?”
“They called him three weeks ago and said they had his wife and wouldn’t release her until he paid them everything he owes, and at this point, it’s several hundred thousand. He’s been trying to come up with the money, but he’s totally tapped out.”
Missing Memories Page 15
