Immediately, Jack looked guilty. “Get the thick-cut kind.” He swallowed. “Maybe Cheryl told me. I’m not sure.”
“And you’re just now remembering that important fact?”
Jack gave a weak smile. “Guess so. You want some hot dogs?”
“No. They’re poison.” Kate pulled her cell out of her bag.
“Calling anyone I know?”
“Your mother. You deserve a time-out. I cannot believe you forgot to tell us that. What else—? Hi, Heather. Could you help me find out something about Verna?” She told her what Jack had said about the job Verna had given up, adding in her annoyance with Jack for keeping it from them. From the look on Kate’s face, Heather agreed with her.
When she hung up, he was smiling. “You and my mom get along well, don’t you?”
“Better than you and I do. Wait until I tell Aunt Sara this. What kind of cheese do you want?”
“All of it. Did we get any crackers? I like it when you make a plate of things. You do it so it’s very pretty. And tasty.”
She knew he was complimenting her so she wouldn’t be angry at him. She started tossing packets of cheese in the cart. “Come on, let’s go. We need to get to Mr. Niederman before the sheriff talks to him and he runs away in terror.”
“That would be difficult, since he can’t use his legs.”
She glared at him. “So help me, if you just remembered that, I’ll throw that big round of Gouda at you.”
“Somebody told me recently,” he said. As Kate grabbed the end of the cart and began pulling, he added, “I think.”
SIXTEEN
By the time they got home, Kate was seeing Jack’s side. They must protect Sara. With the sheriff’s threat that he was going to do what he could to stop their investigation, things could get very unpleasant.
“I don’t want to see her locked up,” Jack said as he drove them home.
It flashed through Kate’s mind that her mother would love to hear that Sara had been thrown into jail. She made herself stamp down that idea. Of course her mother wouldn’t be happy if that happened. But it was guaranteed that she would go into such hysterics that Kate would have to return home to calm her down.
Jack kept glancing at her, waiting for her answer.
“I agree. But how do we exclude Sara from this one thing?”
“She’s been alone for a couple of hours, so she’s writing. When she’s absorbed by that, an earthquake can’t disturb her. One time in New York she went into her bedroom to get ready to go out to breakfast. She didn’t come out until it was time for dinner.”
“I thought she retired from writing.”
“I think trying to make a writer retire is like persuading a lioness to pretend she’s a kitten. Can’t be done.”
“And irritates the hell out of the bear.”
“What?”
“It’s just a saying about talking to a man. Can’t be done and irritates the hell out of the—”
“I got it. What if I called your uncles and told them you were using bad words?”
Kate didn’t laugh. “Clever pirate,” she mumbled as they pulled into the garage.
She didn’t want to think about her uncles. “You think Lachlan residents will ever stop calling this the Stewart Mansion?”
“Nope. Could be flattened by a hurricane and rebuilt and it’d still belong to the Stewarts.” Jack reached over the side of the truck bed and handed the bags of groceries to Kate. As she opened the door into the house, he gave a conspiratorial nod. They were going to talk to Mr. Niederman alone.
They were quiet as they put the groceries away. Paper and nonrefrigerated items could be left for later. It was better to come and go quickly.