“Mr. Niederman?”
Jack’s eyes darkened.
She understood. It was Alastair.
“Don’t ask him to stay. Don’t tell him anything. Don’t go out with him. You might slip up and tell him something.”
“Jack,” Kate said with a smile, “go screw yourself.” Turning, she hurried toward her bedroom.
“Where are you going?” He was practically hissing. “Don’t leave me alone with him.”
“Man up and talk to him,” she said over her shoulder as she closed the door behind her.
With the speed of light, Kate repaired her face and pulled on a cute cotton sleeveless blouse and midthigh shorts. Tasteful, not too revealing, but she hoped sexy.
As she stepped back from the mirror, she said, “What do you think, Cheryl?” For a moment she paused and blinked back more tears. How involved her life had become with those two women! She opened the door.
Sara had come out of her room and she was with Jack and Alastair in the kitchen. Alastair had a glass of cola and Kate would bet that Jack hadn’t poured it for him.
Jack was still chopping things and he gave Kate a look as though he was being greatly imposed upon.
“Hi,” Alastair said to Kate. His eyes swiftly moved up and down her in an approving way.
Kate smiled demurely. “It’s lovely to see you again.”
Jack rolled his eyes at her formality. Ignoring him, she went forward and exchanged double-cheek kisses with Alastair.
“Alastair brought something from high school to show you,” Sara said.
“Honor-roll certificate?” Jack had been moving about the kitchen quite well, but now he made a big display of using his crutches.
“I didn’t mean to just show up,” Alastair said to Kate, “but I did send you some text messages.”
“Sorry, but I didn’t look at my phone. Today has been, uh, very busy.”
“Bet your mother is frantic with worry,” Jack said. “You should call her.”
“She’ll live,” Sara said. “Alastair, please, let’s sit down and you can show us what you brought. Jack doesn’t need us to use a grill.”
Jack mumbled something but they couldn’t hear what it was. He stayed in the kitchen while Sara, Kate and Alastair went a few feet away and sat down on the sofa.
Immediately, Alastair’s eyes went to the wall. On both sides of the big TV, they’d taped photos enlarged from the high-school yearbook, and the names of people they had talked to or wanted to interview. In large letters was printed Cheryl’s Birthday.
“I see you’ve made some progress in your investigation,” Alastair said.
Sara gave a little laugh. “’Fraid it has all come to a permanent standstill. Happened too long ago to find out anything now, and besides, Sheriff Flynn was threatening us that we had better stop. I’ve decided to use the work we did as inspiration for a new book.”
Alastair was sitting between them and Kate looked around him to stare wide-eyed at Sara. She was certainly good at lying!
“So what do you have to show us?” Sara asked.
Alastair leaned back on the couch. “My mother found a high-school clipping that I’d like to show you.” He turned to Jack, who was frowning in the kitchen. “Actually, I came to see you.”
It was a moment before Jack looked up to see them staring at him. “Me?”
“Yes. Last night I had dinner with my mother and three of her lady friends. I don’t mean to sound elitist, but they are all rich widows, and they don’t like condo living. Too many young people, too much noise. They’ve decided that they’d like to buy your houses, all six of them. After you’ve remodeled them, of course. And they’d like to buy some more houses there, too. For more friends. They also want one of the houses made into a kind of gym-cum-spa and to put in a pool. Basically, they’ve dreamed up a retirement living community, but where they get their own homes instead of being cooped up in apartments.”
Through all this, Jack had been listening with his knife aloft. He put it down and grabbed his crutches. “Kate! Finish this up. And add some more veggies. Alastair, would you please stay for dinner? It’s not much but we’ll do our best.”