A Justified Murder (Medlar Mystery 2)

For the first time in years, Tayla began to pray. She needed help in trying to fix this.

Eleven

AS JACK DROVE them home, he was happily listening to Kate’s chatter. Knowing that he’d cheered her up, that she and Charlene could possibly become friends, was all he wanted. He thought she spent too much time with just him and Sara. They had well-established lives in and out of Lachlan, but Kate didn’t. In the few months she’d been in the little town, she’d made progress in breaking away from her domineering mother but she still had far to go. Friends would help.

Kate was talking about the different styles of Charlene’s birdhouses. “I’ve never done any kind of crafting but Charlene made me want to try. I’d start with something simple. An adobe, I guess. Lots of flat walls.”

“I have tools you can use,” Jack said. He glanced across her to Sara. She was looking out the side window and saying nothing.

Jack had known Sara for years. They’d been through a lot together and he could see that right now she was upset. Really upset.

Tayla, he thought, then cursed under his breath. When he was in the barn, he’d wondered where Tayla’s horse was, but he’d been too concerned with Kate to think about anything else. Was Tayla there? Did Sara and she meet? Have a fight?

As Jack turned onto Nob Hill Road, he regretted not asking Charlene if Tayla was going to be there.

Kate was talking about Charlene’s chickens. “The boys gather the eggs every morning. Aren’t they great kids? So full of life. I’d like to meet her husband, Leland. Charlene seems to be madly in love with him. Do you like him?”

Jack was so deep in thought that the silence as Kate waited for an answer went on for seconds. “Yeah, he’s okay.”

Kate gave a big sigh. “Okay, what’s up with you two? I feel like I’m sitting between two statues.”

Jack wanted to save Sara from an interrogation. “We can’t get a word in around you. Leland is a good guy if you like old men. Nobody could figure out why she wanted an oldie like him. But then, when Charlene was fifteen she looked twenty-six. She—”

“Shut up.” Sara’s voice was soft but it was like she was shouting.

Kate turned to her, but Jack kept his eyes on the road. Now he was sure Sara had met with Tayla—and it had been bad.

“What’s wrong?” Kate asked her aunt.

Jack spoke before Sara could. “What I said reminds her of Cheryl Morris. I shouldn’t have said that Charlene looked older.” He was talking faster. “Truth is that Leland is a great guy. He was married before to a woman who did nothing but spend his money. He got away from her, found Charlene, and they now have their little farm. And a family. He’s a happy man. So are you and Charlene going to meet again?”

“I guess so, but we didn’t make any specific plans.”

“I’ll give you the materials I put aside for her and you can deliver them. It’ll give you a chance to meet Leland and spend time with the kids and the chickens.”

Kate was staring straight ahead. “Sure,” she murmured.

Jack pulled into the driveway of their house and let the women out in front, but he stayed there for a moment. He wanted to see if Kate was going to start asking Sara questions.

When the women were inside, he pulled the truck into the garage and sat there. Living with two women was heaven and hell together. The guys at work teased him about his “harem.”

“You planning to add any more women?” his trim carpenter asked. “I have a sister. Divorced, two kids. You have room in that big house for them?”

The electricians were there and they laughed. One said, “I think Jack wants Kate and just her.”

Jack had an urge to start the chain saw and go after them, but he just smiled. He tried to act like it didn’t matter.

Was it obvious to the entire world? Did everyone see how he felt about Kate by the way he looked at her? There wasn’t one thing he didn’t like about her. Even the way she sometimes dismissed him as though he were an annoying mosquito buzzing around made him like her even more. Too many women...well, made themselves too available to him. Made everything too easy. But Kate...

Right now the problem wasn’t Kate, it was his “other” woman, Sara. Something had deeply upset her.

Sara Medlar had come into his life at a time when he desperately needed help. Jack was eighteen years old when his beloved stepfather died, and he’d left behind a grieving widow and a young daughter. Jack saw his greedy father, Roy, circling the bereaved family like the vulture he was. Jack could see dollar signs in his eyes. No doubt he thought that if he could entice his ex-wife to remarry him, he’d get his hands on her widow’s fortune. No matter how many times he was told, Roy wouldn’t believe that there was no fortune.

At his stepfather’s funeral, Jack had been sick with worry. His stomach was eating itself. His hands were in fists as he tried to figure out what to do. If only there was some way he could support his mother and his half sister, maybe he could keep them out of the clutches of Roy Wyatt.

Jack was standing by the coffin, feeling like he might explode, when from behind a little utility building came salvation. An older woman came into view. He knew who she was and to him she looked like an angel sent down to grant his every wish.

She was his grandfather Cal’s Great Love. The one who got away. The one Cal should have been with but wasn’t. The girl who left town and became a famous writer. Cal had always said, “If you need help, go to Sara Medlar. She’ll give you whatever you need.”