The Quilt That Knew by Patrick E. Craig

Author:Patrick E. Craig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: P&J Publishing

Elbert knocked again. Finally, the door opened. Chantrice stood there in a rumpled housedress with a sour look on her face. “Again? Don’t you people have something better to do?”

Elbert waited for her to quiet. “It’s about Emma, Mrs. Edwards.”

“Emma! Emma! Well, did you find her in San Francisco like I said?”

Jenny stepped forward. “Closer than that, Chantrice.”

“What do you mean?”

“The girl in the box is Emma.”

“Now how in the world could you possibly…” Chantrice stopped.

“Doctor Garner compared his dental records with the x-rays of the corpse. A perfect match.”

“But I heard…”

“Heard what, Chantrice?”

“Well,… it was all around the village that Dr. Garner’s records burned up in the big storage building fire.”

Jenny shook her head. “Not all of them, Chantrice. He found some in his garage that he did not move to storage. Emma’s records were in there. He told us how you brought her in with her teeth knocked out. Knocked out by Johnny Edwards, your second husband.”

Chantrice went white and closed her eyes. “Is it really Emma?”

Elbert nodded. “Without a doubt.”

Chantrice looked like she was about to faint. Bobby and Elbert leaped forward and took her under the arms. They helped her inside and walked her to the couch. She sank down with a small moan.

Jenny slipped down beside her. “I’m so sorry, Chantrice. I know this is a shock.”

“I always thought she just ran away. Are you sure?” She began to cry. “It can’t be my Emma.”

Bobby went in the kitchen, found a glass, and poured Chantrice some water. He brought it back and handed it to her. She wiped her eyes with a handkerchief.

She looked up. “Thank you, Sheriff.” She took a long drink and sat for a long time. “Emma, Emma, my Emma,” she whispered. Then she set the glass down, sighed, and picked up a box that was sitting on the end table. “I found this, Detective. It’s a box with some pictures in it. It was in the crawl space above Emma’s room. She must have put it there before she left. I was looking up in the attic and found it.”

They set the box on the coffee table, opened it, and looked through the items. There were several ribbons, blue and red, on the top. Chantrice held them up. “Emma was a competent artist, amateurish, of course. She used to enter her drawings in the local fair. She won a few ribbons, nothing major, but one day she just tore all the pictures up and never drew again.”

The next item was a yearbook from the local high school. Jenny looked inside the front cover, where most annuals had a few blank pages for friends to write comments on. Emma’s book only had three comments—one from Dennis and one from someone named Sheryl. The third was from another girl named Pam.

The one from Dennis was a casual note.

“Hey, Emma! Great year, lotsa fun, see you around! Dennis.”

Then the one from Sheryl.

“Hey, Emma. Fun hanging out, best of luck in the future. Hope your love life improves.

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