A Willing Murder (Medlar Mystery 1)

“So...” Sara said. “We agree that Roy probably didn’t hide two murders and he certainly didn’t plant a tree. However, I think that he did do something to that poor girl that he wanted to hide. He was so worried that she’d report him that he tried to discredit her before she told on him. I think that’s the real reason he edited the videos to make her look bad.”

“You mean he wasn’t doing all that to save the honor of his son?” Jack was sneering.

Sara turned to him. “Was Roy good enough with a computer to do that kind of editing?”

“I don’t know,” Jack said. “Maybe. But you know Donna. She would have helped him bury the bodies. She worked with the parks department and she did a lot with computers.”

“Donna?” Kate asked.

“Roy’s mother,” Sara said quickly.

“Wait,” Kate said. “If she was Roy’s mother, then she was Cal’s wife.” She looked at Sara. “If you loved Cal, why didn’t you marry him?”

“The question we all ask,” Jack said. “Everyone in this town wants to know the answer to that one.”

Sara shook her head. “Neither of you two could ever write a novel. You need to stay on point. If Roy didn’t kill Cheryl, who did?”

They were silent for a moment.

Jack said, “If I say that we should try to solve this twenty-year-old murder—which, by the way, is impossible to do—can we order in pizza?”

“Four kinds of cheese,” Sara said.

“Just sauce and a very thin crust for me,” Kate said.

Jack took out his cell. “I want everything but anchovies.” He called and ordered, then they looked at one another in silence.

“Where do we begin?” Kate asked.

“With her,” Sara said. “With Cheryl. What was going on in her life that backfired so much that someone wanted to kill her?”

Jack leaned forward. “Aren’t you two forgetting something?” There was no reply. “Cheryl’s mother. If she’s the second skeleton, that is. From the sound of it, she slept with several men in town. Maybe she blackmailed one of them, then got greedy. Wanted more than they were willing to give and they got fed up.”

“Are you saying her death was her own fault?” Kate said. “Are you really going to blame the victim? It’s more likely that one of the slimy bastards who took advantage of her financial problems got scared and did away with her.”

“Or that,” Jack said.

“You both make good points,” Sara said. “So where do you two think we should start?”

“With Cheryl,” Kate said.

“The mother, Verna,” Jack said. “Cheryl was so young that I believe she was collateral damage.”

“Beautiful young girl who was wanted by lots of boys and men but she told them no,” Sara said. “That must have generated a great deal of anger. Then there was Verna, who wasn’t saying no to any man who had a checkbook.”

“Or woman,” Jack said.

Kate rolled her eyes.

Sara stood up. “I need a notebook. We have to figure out what we know and what we need to find out.” She looked at Jack. “I want you to think back to your time with Cheryl. When you weren’t drooling over the girl and/or trying to mess up her work, who did she talk about? Did any of those randy boys in high school interest her?”

“None of them,” he said.

“She only liked you?” Kate said. “A gorgeous fifteen-year-old girl was only interested in an eleven-year-old boy who looked like an Italian castrato? And if you don’t know, that’s a—”

Jack put his hand up. “Don’t translate. I get it. Let me think about this. It was a while ago.”

“I’m going to change clothes,” Kate said.