Read Disappearing Nine Patch (A Harriet Truman/Loose Threads Mystery Book 9) for Free Online Page A

advice.”
    “I can’t move forward until I know what happened. I mean, what if I did something to Amber. We were always climbing on trees and stuff. What if she fell and hit her head, and I got scared and hid her body.”
    Harriet straightened up and put her hands on Molly’s shoulders.
    “Molly, you were—what? Five years old? What five-year old could have pulled off that sophisticated of a plan? Besides, they probably searched with dogs. They would have found her. They found you miles away from where you were playing, in Fogg Park. You couldn’t have walked that distance.”
    “I suppose. It doesn’t ever go away, though.” She balled her hands into fists and pressed them into her temples. “I have to know what happened.”
    Harriet sighed. “I’m not sure what I can do that the police haven’t already done, but I suppose I can see what Lauren turns up and go on from there.”
    Molly blushed. “I guess Lauren told you I asked her for help, too.”
    “Foggy Point is a small town, and the Loose Threads don’t have many secrets from each other.”
    “I suppose not.”
    “Now, I really do have to go run.”
    “I’m sorry I kept you.”
    “No problem.”
    Molly got back in her rental car and drove away. Harriet looked at the sky and wondered what she’d just gotten herself into.

    Harriet couldn’t help but notice that her ten-pound weight loss made running up her hill a lot easier. She wanted to think she could keep it off, but her aunt’s Jekyll-and-Hyde behavior when it came to food would make that difficult. One minute Beth was admonishing her about her gluttonous eating habits and the next was bringing over her latest dessert concoction. She never knew which version of her aunt would walk through the door when they got together.
    Her phone interrupted her musings.
    “Hello?”
    “Can you go with me to a wiener dog race meeting?” asked James. “We could go for coffee and then the meeting. I’d come get you in about an hour.”
    Harriet did a quick mental review of her day’s schedule.
    “I can do that.”
    “See you in an hour.”
    She stared at her phone for a minute after the screen went dark. James’s sister was his usual partner in dog racing, but Harriet had subbed for her once before when she’d had to miss a race due to her child’s illness. It was curious he hadn’t mentioned what the problem was. She slid her phone into her pocket and walked the remainder of the way to her house.

    Harriet came outside and locked her studio door when James pulled into the driveway.
    “Thanks for coming with me on such short notice,” he said as she climbed into the passenger seat.
    “Is Maggie sick? Or one of the kids?”
    James hesitated before answering then blew out a breath through his teeth.
    “Something is going on with her, and I’m not sure what, but it isn’t good. She resigned from Team Cyrano. The whole wiener dog race thing was her idea in the first place. Now she doesn’t want to be away from home—at all.”
    “How are things with her husband?”
    “She won’t talk to me about him. But then again, she’s always been tight-lipped about her relationships. We’d only met her husband a few times when she announced they were getting married. I see her, and I see my niece, but we never see Dan.” He turned the car on.”Whatever’s going on, the net result is Team Cyrano is down a member.”
    Harriet looked at her hands. She had a feeling James wasn’t going to come out and say it, but he was clearly asking her to replace his sister on the race team.
    “How much of a time commitment would it be?”
    James smiled as he guided his brown BMW SUV toward the Steaming Cup.

    “The whole idea of the wiener dog races, besides having fun, is marketing,” he said when they were seated and had their drinks in front of them. “It gives the participants an inexpensive way to promote their businesses. You may have noticed the team shirts all have sponsor names on the back.
    “In