Twenty-One

When Kate awoke, she was lying on a bed inside an ambulance and Jack was sitting beside her. He was jamming a long, stainless-steel stick inside his cast. She started to get up.

"No, you don't. I was put in here to make sure you don't move."

The doors were open and she could hear loud voices. "Is that Aunt Sara?" Her voice was raspy and her throat hurt.

Jack kept scratching. "Yeah, it is. She's having a three-way with Flynn and Cotilla."

"The detective?"

"That's him." Jack turned to her and seemed to inspect her face. "Flynn is mad at Sara, Cotilla is furious with Flynn, Sara is angry at both of them. They're having a screaming match, and by the sound of it, our Sara isn't winning."

Kate felt very weak and she suddenly remembered why she was there. Instantly, she started crying, the tears coming from deep inside her. "Did he kill them?" Her whole body was shaking.

Jack leaned over her, stroking her hair back as he motioned for the EMT to come. "We'll sort that out later. They can give you a shot to let you sleep. Okay?"

She nodded. She wanted time to get the image of that man hanging there out of her mind.

"Good," Jack said. "When I get you home, I get to undress you and put you to bed. I read about how to do it in one of Sara's books. I'll be gentle."

As she felt a needle in her arm, she tried to make a saucy reply to him, but her eyes were already beginning to flutter. "Take care of Aunt Sara."

"I will." Jack kissed her forehead. "Just sleep now and dream of chocolate ice cream."

"Strawberry," she whispered, then went to sleep.

When she awoke again, it was still night. She was in her bed in Aunt Sara's house and she could hear her phone. It was playing her mother's favorite song, Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings." Her mother was calling her. Some deep, primal command—inspired by having been her mother's caretaker for most of her life—made Kate struggle to stand up. Her clothes had been removed and she had on a cotton nightgown. Vaguely, she wondered who and how.

Her brain was foggy, but she stumbled toward the half-open double doors. She was still in the shadows when she heard Aunt Sara's loud, angry voice.

"Ava, I don't give a crap what you've read on the internet! No, you're not going to talk to her now. She needs rest." Sara paused. "Yeah? If I'd known what you were putting that child through for all those years, I would have had the law on you. No, I take that back—I would have made you get a job." She listened. "Stop it! Your melodramatics don't work on me. You're about as delicate as a Sherman tank. If you don't want me telling her the truth about all you've hidden from her, then you'll do just what I tell you. You are going to be compassionate for her. Sympathetic for her. For once in your life you're going to think of someone besides yourself and that worthless brother of mine. Do I make myself clear?" She waited. "All right. Now go rehearse what you're going to say to her. And I warn you that if it isn't loving and caring, tomorrow you'll be going to job interviews."

Kate's mind was so fuzzy that she wasn't sure what she'd just heard. Something about her mother and a job. But that made no sense. Her mother's nerves had never allowed her to hold any job for long.

As Kate yawned, she glanced into the family room and saw Jack, his hands full of papers and photos. When he looked up and saw her, he was shocked. With a frown, he motioned for her to go back to bed.

"Of all the gall." It was Sara's voice.

Kate turned away and went back to bed.

When she awoke again, Jack was in her bedroom and slinging the curtains back so the daylight could come in.

"You can't get in bed with me," she mumbled.

"Darn! And that's why I came in here. Other than that, I'm to tell you that you've slept the clock around and you need to wake up. Sara and Mom went somewhere, so I thought you and I should catch up."

"I have to..." She motioned toward the bathroom. She wasn't going to get out of bed in just her nightclothes.

With a shake of his head, Jack left the room. "I can't believe your uncles didn't see you as the prude you are."

"Only with you, Jack," she called. When she emerged from the bathroom, she went into her closet to pull on jeans and a T-shirt—and underwear.

He was in her living room with a pile of papers on the coffee table. And in a pretty glass dish were three scoops of strawberry ice cream with sliced strawberries and whipped cream on top. "For you."

"I can't eat that! The calories—"

He handed her the dish. "The doctor said you need to eat. Part of why you passed out was because you don't eat enough calories to sustain the energy needed for sticking your nose into the business of everyone in town."

"The doctor said that?"

"No. That was courtesy of Sheriff Flynn. He told Sara that we were the reason poor Dan Bruebaker died. If we hadn't stirred up so much trouble, he wouldn't have had to do what he did."

With the name came memory and Kate started to put down the dish of ice cream, but Jack wouldn't let her.

"What else?" she asked as she started eating.

"Flynn spilled his guts to Cotilla. Our sheriff knows when to retreat."

"Mary Ellerbee?"

"Yes."

"What about Evan?"

"The Broward County Sheriff's Department now knows it all." Jack looked down at the paper with a grin.

"What are you smiling about?"

"It was a joy to hear Flynn being told that he was an idiot for ever thinking Roy Wyatt killed the Morris girls."

"That isn't what the detective said last time. What makes him so sure now?"

"The confession and suicide of the actual murderer." Jack hesitated. "We have been ordered off the case, though. Which is now officially closed."

Kate nearly choked on her ice cream—which she was enjoying immensely. "Again?"

"It was smart of you to tell me to send the photo of the suicide note to people, because Sara and I had our phones confiscated. And one of her camera cards was taken."

"What was on the card?"

"The pictures she took before you found Dan. The later ones were on a card she put inside her shoe."

"They don't know you took a photo of the note?"

"No. I sent it to my mother. And by the way, she came over here and undressed you. But I did offer to help."

"Kind of you." She held out her hand and Jack gave her a piece of paper. It was a copy of the suicide note.

I'd always thought Cheryl was beautiful, but she would never pay any attention to me. I knew it was her birthday, so I took flowers to her. She rejected them, then yelled at me to get away from her. I got so angry that I pushed her. She hit her head on the concrete steps and died. Her mother came out of the house and screamed that she was calling the sheriff.

I went berserk and strangled her. I threw both bodies in the pit in the back and kicked dirt over them. Right after that I left for the training camp in Naples. When I got back, I planted a tree over their graves. No one in town looked for them but what I did has haunted me for all my life.

I can no longer live with myself.

She put down the paper and looked at Jack. "He doesn't mention Evan or Mary. And what about the stabbing?"

"That's what Sara and I wondered, too. But last night all we did was nod and agree with every law-enforcement person that we'd behave and go back to our respective jobs."

Kate sucked in her breath. "Jobs! That reminds me, I heard Aunt Sara on the phone to my mother. She threatened her. Said she was... I don't remember, but it was awful. I have to call my mother now."

Jack reached across the table to put his hand over her wrist. "I think you should hold off on that."

"But—"

"I think there's something big between your aunt and your mother. Right now you need to decide whether you're going to stay out of it or put yourself between two armed warriors. You could get destroyed by both of them."

"Mom must have been hurt by Aunt Sara's words."

"Probably. So whose side will you choose?"

"My mother's, of course. She—"

"Want me to help you pack?"

His words made Kate visualize where her admission of overhearing and the resulting sympathy would lead. Of course, she'd have to immediately return to her mother's house. Then she'd spend weeks soothing her nerves. But to get ultimate calm, she'd have to agree that Aunt Sara was a terrible person. It would be years before Kate could get up the courage to again leave her mother on her own, so she'd have to take a job nearby. And probably continue living with her.

She looked at Jack. On one hand, she could be living with her aunt. And Jack. And the people she'd met in Lachlan.

Or she could go to her mother. And the three uncles and their families.

"Any decisions yet?" he asked.

Kate made a motion of zipping her mouth shut, locking it and throwing away the key.

"I agree."

They looked across the table at each other and made a silent agreement. The telephone call was a secret they'd keep between themselves. Besides, Sara would be horrified if she knew Kate had overheard her.

Kate motioned to the suicide note. "Do you believe this?"

"I don't know. It leaves out a great deal."

"Why would this man kill others so he wouldn't be found out, then suddenly give up?" she asked. "Because we were about to find out the truth?"

Jack shrugged. "Maybe. This note implies that Dan only went to the Morris house once. So why kill Mary? Did she see something and didn't know it?"

"And you," Kate said. "Why try to kill you? You keep remembering things—did you see Dan there?"

"Maybe he went after me because I bought the property where the bodies were buried. He'd know that I'd eventually find them."

"True, but maybe you did see someone. Mr. Niederman said you only looked at Cheryl. Maybe Dan was lurking in the corners. What was he like? I got the impression from Alastair that he was a real loser."

Jack's voice was soft. "His wife and his two teenage kids, a boy and a girl, were there last night. They were devastated. The girl was crying a lot. They didn't think he was a loser."

"So many tears," Kate said. "And for what?"

"You want something to eat? I was told I'm to make you a triple-decker club sandwich with lots of bacon and mayo. Sara even bought the bread for it."

"Bread? For me?" She started to get up.

Jack caught her hand. "I want to know how you feel. What you saw was traumatic enough to make you pass out. And when Sara saw you rolled up on the grass, I thought she was going to join you. There I was with two gorgeous women in distress, and with this damn leg I couldn't sweep either of you into my arms and rescue you."

He said it as a joke but his face was serious. She sat back down. "I'm all right. I still feel a bit out of it, but I'm okay. It was such a shock to see him there. I'd hoped he was still alive. I—"

Jack squeezed her hand. "You did exactly right, but he'd been dead for hours. Last night Sara and I were separated and questioned about who was where when. Someone went to Gil and asked him when he'd set up the lights."

"The lights! I forgot about why we went there. Did Sheriff Flynn confiscate everything from the garage?"

Jack leaned back on the sofa. "Odd thing about that. The deputies looked around the house. When they saw the bedrooms with all the junk in them, Flynn made some remarks about what a slob I am and closed the doors."

"They didn't realize that some of those things may have belonged to Cheryl and Verna. Not that we know for sure."

"And not that there's anything in there that we can use."

She stared at him in silence for a moment. "You don't think Dan did it, do you?"

"The truth?" He paused for a moment. "I think he may have paid the ultimate price to make us stop opening old wounds. Evan, Mary and now Dan. I don't want to see any more people hurt. I think it's time to let Cheryl and her mother rest in peace."

They looked at each other and didn't need to say that they were worried about Sara. For all that she was energetic and smart, she was still older and more fragile.

"I think I'll email Tayla to say that I'll be in the office on Monday."

"Sounds like a good idea."

"How do we get Aunt Sara to agree with us?"

"Easy. We just stop participating. And we start today. It's Saturday, so we'll do other things, like wash my new truck."

"Answer emails," she said. "And I need to look at new listings so I'm ready to go to work on Monday morning."

"Good idea. I might even make myself take care of the company's finances."

"You don't have a secretary?"

"She's on maternity leave."

"Yours?"

He grinned. "There's my Kate back. Jokes about everything. Come on, let's get you fed."

"But I just ate ten thousand calories."

"By this time tomorrow you'll be six sizes bigger, so what's a few bites more?"

"You are so not funny." She followed him into the kitchen.