A Justified Murder (Medlar Mystery 2)

When she lifted her arm as though to hit him again, he laughed against her hair.

They heard the swoosh of the door, then Tayla entered the office. They could just see her through the open space. She started frantically opening drawers in her desk, but when she didn’t find what she wanted, she went to the tall filing cabinet in the corner.

When her cell rang, she put it on speaker and set it on the corner of the cabinet as she kept searching through the files.

“Carl told me to call you,” a male voice said. “Where are you?”

When Kate let out an involuntary gasp, Jack glared at her to be quiet. The caller was Gil Underhill, Jack’s best friend, the foreman of all his jobs. The guy who had shot himself in the foot with a nail gun.

“I’m at the office. Alone.” Tayla slammed a drawer shut. “I am looking for the copies of the emails, but they aren’t here. People use my office. I’m afraid Kate will see them. I don’t need Sara Medlar snooping into all this.”

“You gave them to me and I destroyed them, remember?”

“Right. Sorry.” Tayla closed the bottom drawer of the cabinet and leaned on it. “I’m on edge.”

“We all are. We just need to find Sylvia’s book so we can clear her name. It has to be in that house! Are you sure she didn’t tell everything in one of her other novels?”

“How would I know? I never read any of them.”

Gil paused. “How’s Charlene holding up?”

“She doesn’t know anything has happened and I want it to stay that way.”

“You can’t keep her in the dark for long. This town is already on fire with gossip.”

Tayla turned toward the window. “That’s a perfect word choice. Fire. And witches and sui

cides and...and white lilies.” Her voice broke.

“It’s going to be all right,” Gil said softly. “Carl will take care of it all.”

She took a deep breath. “Have you said anything to Jack?”

“And get his temper involved? No thanks! When I was at the hospital he—”

“Hospital?” She picked up the phone off the cabinet. “What happened? Was it Carl?”

“No. Just me being stupid. But all the attention was on Jack and whether he was going to work on the murder. He says they won’t and I pray that he keeps his word.” Gil took a breath. “I have to pick up Quinn now. I can’t risk him being alone for even minutes. I want you to calm down and keep quiet about everything.”

“I’m hiding it all well. No one would guess that my life is falling apart. If I see you, don’t even wave. It’s better that we pretend we don’t know each other.”

“I agree. Go home and read one of Sylvia’s books.”

Tayla gave a bit of a laugh. “Not a bad idea. Her book, a tub of hot water, a bottle of gin, twenty-five or so pills, and—”

“Stop it!”

“Okay. Gil, thank you.”

“Save your sympathy for Charlene.”

Tayla grimaced. “When I think of that poor, poor baby... Sorry again. I hope we both have an uneventful night.” Tayla clicked off the phone, dropped it into her bag, and quickly left the office.

For a moment, Jack and Kate stood together, unmoving, then he dropped his arms. When Kate looked at him, his face was a stone mask. Unreadable. But he didn’t fool her. What he’d just heard had deeply upset him.

“Maybe we shouldn’t go...” He didn’t finish.

As for Kate, she didn’t know who all the people Tayla had mentioned were. Quinn was Gil’s son. But Charlene? Carl?