A Justified Murder (Medlar Mystery 2)

“I agree,” Kate said. “What about you?”

Jack put his hands in his pockets. “Maybe.” He picked up a piece of paper off the coffee table and looked at it.

“Let me guess,” Sara said. “Daryl accidentally left the name and number of Sylvia Alden’s cold, snooty brother.”

“He did.”

“And you might do a bit of an internet search,” Sara said.

“Maybe.” Jack kissed her forehead and watched her walk away. He turned to Kate. “You leaving too?”

“Yes.” The door to her apartment was off the family room. She turned back. “What did Sheriff Flynn mean when he said that my father was ‘difficult’?”

“It was difficult to make him do what my father wanted him to do. Steal things, threaten people, get drunk, and start fights. Go to bed. Get some sleep.”

Kate yawned. “I will. Good night.”

Jack was looking at his computer screen as he mumbled good-night.

Six

“WALKING ON EGGSHELLS.” If the term hadn’t already been coined, Kate would have made it up. For the last two days, everyone in their office had been tiptoeing around their boss, Tayla.

Kirkwood Realty was in a pretty house just off the Great Blue Circle, an area where cheaply built offices and ugly apartment buildings used to stand. But nineteen years ago, a widowed Tayla Kirkwood had returned to her deteriorating hometown and set about restoring it.

In the months Kate had been working there, she’d had lunches and after-work drinks with her boss. She’d enjoyed hearing Tayla tell about all she’d done to get the backing she’d needed to make the little town beautiful again. “I did everything and anything I had to, to get the money I needed. Except sex. Not that I was asked, but I would have said no. I think.”

Working for and with Tayla had been a joy. She was open to ideas and enthusiastic about whatever Kate thought of doing. Summer wasn’t the good tourist season in Florida, so Kate had come up with ideas for the locals. She’d been behind two block parties and a toddlers’ parade. The parade had drawn people from miles away and on that day, sales in the local stores went up 83 percent.

For Kate, the big reward had been that now when she walked down the streets, people said hello to her. Whether it was for what she’d done for Lachlan or because she’d helped solve a multiple murder was something she didn’t want to think about.

Whatever the reason, Kate loved her life now so much that she sometimes got chills. Of course, there was still the problem of her widowed mother, Ava. She was living outside Chicago and without her daughter there, she was spending more time with her three older brothers and their families. In ordinary circumstances, that would have been good, but they were religious fanatics, always preaching doom and misery—and they wanted Kate and her mother to move in with them. And of course, they

were expected to turn over their income to them. The uncles were very angry that Kate had escaped them, and lately Ava was starting to ask when Kate was coming “home.”

Every time, she had to work not to say, “I am home.” Instead, she said, “My job keeps me very busy, but I’ll come for a visit soon.”

As much as Kate loved her mother, she was glad there was animosity between her and Aunt Sara. It kept Ava far away. Kate thought that if she had to go back to dealing with her mother’s depressions, she just might jump out a window.

But today at work, she was beginning to think about getting in her car and driving to...Oregon? Was that far enough away? Her boss’s nervousness was putting everyone on edge.

Usually, Tayla was unshakable. She was tall and slim, with gray hair that swung elegantly about her face. She seemed like she would have been calm during the sinking of the Titanic, and she’d been the best boss a person could ask for.

But now, Tayla was jumping at the slightest sound. She constantly asked her employees if they’d done what they’d already told her they had. Maybe her anxiety was from all the gossip in town about a deranged killer being on the loose.

Today, when Kate escaped long enough to grab a sandwich, she saw Tayla in the parking lot talking with a man. He was so deeply hidden in the shade that Kate couldn’t see his face, and Tayla seemed quite agitated.

Part of her wanted to run to them and ask what was going on, but the larger part wanted nothing to do with whatever the problem was. She and Jack and Aunt Sara were standing by their decision to stay out of it. DGI—Don’t Get Involved was becoming their motto.

This morning, Jack said he was going back to work. Sara said she was going to spend the day compiling everything they’d heard or seen about Janet Beeson into one document. And she was going to add an outline of what they thought the sheriff’s department should do to further investigate the crime.

“I’m sure that will go over well,” Jack said.

“They’ll probably send you a thank-you card,” Kate said.

“And flowers,” Jack added.

“Exactly.” Sara was smiling.