Make Quilts Not War - By Arlene Sachitano Page 0,22

going on. Jenny’s going to need support, and I’m not sure we’re the ones who can give it to her.”

“She’s got some explaining to do, if you ask me,” Lauren said. “These Twinkies aren’t bad.” She popped a second slice into her mouth before tossing her empty plate into a garbage bin.

They found Mavis at a booth in the north vendor area, on the opposite side of the exhibit hall from where Harriet had her booth. She was selling raffle tickets for a quilt, which would help fund improvements to the restrooms at Fogg Park that the homeless people who lived in the park had access to. The Methodist Church was organizing the project and had several fundraisers planned. They hoped to add an indoor shower and a coin-operated gas stove and tables in a covered outdoor eating area.

The quilt was composed of a combination of blocks that depicted trees, cabins, mountains, birds and other country-related images, with vines and flowers connecting them into a whole. It reminded Harriet of a block-of-the-month quilt she’d seen at a show in Tacoma.

“How’s it going at your end?” Mavis asked when she saw her friends approach.

“Haven’t you heard?” Lauren asked.

“Heard what?”

“Someone’s been shot in the main exhibit hall,” Harriet explained.

“What? How could someone be shot in a room full of people? Who was it, and did they catch the shooter right away? Was anyone else hurt?”

“Whoa,” Lauren said and held her hands up.

“First, it wasn’t anyone we know,” Harriet said. “It was one of the women attending to Jenny’s quilt. They didn’t catch anyone. Judging by the hole in her forehead, I’m guessing she was shot from across the room.”

“We were outside when it happened,” Lauren added. “Jenny was inside, but in the bathroom.”

“As far as we know,” Harriet said.

“What do you mean?” Lauren turned to look at Harriet to see if she was serious.

“All I’m saying is, we were outside, so we have no way of knowing if Jenny was in the bathroom or not. She told us that’s where she was going, but we were outside before she went in.”

“Oh, honey, you don’t think she had anything to do with this, do you?” Mavis asked. She started to take off the deep-pocketed apron she wore while she was selling tickets. “Where is she? She needs us if she’s involved in some way.”

“No rush,” Lauren said. “She took off already.”

“Does she know the family?”

“She claims she didn’t know the woman until they were teamed up by the committee to show her quilt,” Harriet offered.

“Why would she go running off if she didn’t even know the victim?” Mavis asked. “Her husband is on a hunting trip in Africa, so she’s not going home for comfort.”

“The exhibit hall is closed for the rest of tonight, so she said she wasn’t needed and left,” Harriet said.

“She was acting really weird, even for a Loose Thread,” Lauren told Mavis.

“Yeah,” Harriet agreed. “She told us that since they were all dressed in the same shirt, wig and glasses, the bullet could have been meant for any of them.”

“That sounds like she had some reason to believe it could have been meant for her,” Mavis said thoughtfully. “Did she give any indication as to why she said that?”

“No, but I have to agree with Lauren—she was acting weird. When we went back to see if her quilt had been damaged, she stepped past Pamela like she was a bag of trash on the rug.”

“Yeah,” Lauren jumped in. “Then she was fondling her quilt like it was the one who had been shot.” She finished with a shiver. “It was kinda creepy.”

“Do the rest of the Threads know?” Mavis asked.

“No. I mean, we haven’t told them,” Harriet said. “Aunt Beth had already heard, but Robin and DeAnn are watching my table in the south vendor hall, and we haven’t seen Connie or Carla yet.”

“Connie and Carla are here, two rows over, helping people arrange precut fabric into patterns that other ladies are sewing into blocks for baby quilts for the hospital. I’ll go talk to them while you two go tell Robin and DeAnn. We all need to talk.”

“Where shall we meet?” Harriet asked.

“Do you mind us coming to your place? It’s too cold to sit outside here for very long.”

“Sure,” Harriet agreed.

She and Lauren went back outside. There was a door at the back of the room that led into the exhibit hall, but Harriet assumed the police wouldn’t be letting people through that way for the time