Disappearing Nine Patch (A Harriet Truman/Loose Threads Mystery Book 9) by Arlene Sachitano

I’m going to go look.
    Detective Morse rushed out into the waiting room.
    “Duty calls,” she said as she hustled past James, Harriet and Lauren. She turned on her unmarked car’s blue and red flashers and sped out of the unloading area.
    Lauren leaned forward in her chair to watch until Morse’s car disappeared from sight.
    “I wonder what that was all about.”
    “Must be pretty serious if she put her lights on this soon,” James observed. “I mean, there’s a lot of highway between here and Foggy Point.”
    Harriet stared out the glass doors and sipped her water.
    “It’s especially curious since she works cold cases now. If they called her, it must be an all-hands-on-deck situation.”
    Lauren pulled out her phone.
    “I’ll text the group if you want to answer Molly’s.”
    “Only because she’s related to DeAnn am I going to do this. I don’t want to be any more involved in Molly’s delusions than I already am.”
    James’s brow furrowed.
    “Her message said ‘how to find Amber’, not ‘where to find Amber’, right? Doesn’t it seem like if the person really had psychic powers, they could tell her where?”
    “Good one, James,” Lauren said. “We’ll make a detective out of you yet.”
    “No, thanks, I’m but a humble cook. No detecting for this boy.”
    They laughed.
    Harriet set her water bottle on the floor by her chair.
    “Would you two hush so I can call her?”
    Harriet tapped Molly’s number into her phone. She was startled when a man answered.
    “Who is this?” he said.
    “Harriet Truman. Who’s this?”
    She held her phone out and pressed the speaker button.
    “Detective Dane, Foggy Point Police.”
    “Why do you have Molly’s phone?” Harriet’s stomach clenched into a knot. She leaned forward in her chair.
    “Are you a relative?”
    “I’m a friend of her sister.”
    “What’s her sister’s name?”
    Harriet told him and he thanked her and hung up.
    The color drained from Lauren’s already pale face.
    “This can’t be good.”
    Harriet stood up.
    “I’m going to go tell Mavis. Can you call Robin? If this is what we think, DeAnn’s going to want her.”
    Mavis had stepped out of the curtained ER room and was headed for the lobby when Harriet opened the door.
    “I’m glad you’re out here. Something weird just happened, and I’m afraid we’re about to have some more bad news.”
    “Honey, you’re not making sense.”
    “Walk with me, and I’ll explain.”
    Mavis followed her into the lobby and over to where James and Lauren sat, and Harriet explained as they went. Mavis listened thoughtfully until Harriet had finished speaking.
    “As you were talking, I was trying to come up with an innocent explanation for your facts, but nothing good comes to mind. If a police detective has Molly’s phone and won’t tell you why, it can’t be as simple as her losing it.”
    Lauren tapped her phone off.
    “I just spoke to Robin. She hasn’t heard from DeAnn, but she’ll call her and go wherever she is. I texted Carla with an update on all fronts.”
    “Did the doctor or anyone else come back to Aunt Beth and say anything about when she can leave?” Harriet asked Mavis.
    “Jorge was helping her practice with that scooter thing. The nurse said when they all agreed she was okay with that contraption, she could go home.”
    “Maybe I should go back to your house and get my car to transport her in,” Harriet said to James.
    Mavis chewed on her lip.
    “That might not be necessary. She and Jorge were talking about putting the scooter in the back of his truck. I think they may be planning on him driving her home.”
    “What!” Harriet all but shouted.
    A trio of young women two chair rows over stopped talking and stared at her.
    “Am I being replaced?” she said in a loud whisper.
    Lauren laughed.
    “You are. You are so being replaced by the dashing Jorge. Good for your aunt.”
    “I’m not sure how I feel about that,” Harriet huffed.
    “It may