“Hear what?”
“Daisy needs you. Her moo sounded so sad,” Blossom said. She jumped up and threw open the sliding deck door.
Roger followed her at a run. “What’s the matter, Daisy Girl? Did that mean old hag next door scare you with her weird hair again?”
Blossom dragged the door closed, and Nick saw her smack Roger in the chest.
“You know, they could be your in-laws someday,” Kellen said, picking up the tarot card to study it.
Blossom and Roger seemed to be engaged in some kind of argument involving a lot of hand gestures and a confused-looking pet cow.
“Like either one of us can talk when it comes to parents. Your mom is a religious sociopath, and mine—”
“Your mother is a saint to have put up with you and your sister all these years.”
“Stop dating my mother. Did you talk to Constance since springing her long-lost daughter on her yesterday?” Nick asked.
“I’m not dating your mother. We just go out for drinks and meals occasionally. And no. Why? Should I?”
Santiagos talked. About everything. Usually at excessive volumes and with aggressive hand gestures. He’d always been fascinated by the icy dynamics of Kellen’s family. If someone had a problem, they didn’t blow up at the dinner table and throw a bowl of prawns. As far as he could tell, they never got around to talking about anything other than the weather and church fundraisers.
“It was a pretty big shock. I mean, you almost choked to death on a pork rind when you found out. But your mom didn’t so much as blink.”
“She’s got a poker face. If she didn’t think poker was the eighth deadly sin, she’d clean up at Fat Tony’s casino,” Kellen said, tossing the card back onto the table.
The patio door slid open, and a smiling Blossom and a contrite-looking Roger returned.
“Roger has something he wants to say. Don’t you, Roger?” she prodded.
The man heaved a sigh. “I’m sorry for getting confused about what day of the week it is. I think it’s my cholesterol medicine that Blossom told me I didn’t need because I could make more progress with lifestyle changes.” He sounded like he was reading off a cue card.
“Uh. Apology accepted?” Kellen said.
“Good. Now, where were we?”
“You were telling us how we can get Beth—I mean, Sesame—to open up to us,” Nick said.
Blossom nodded vigorously. “Right, right, right! I remember.”
“Now who’s on the statins?” Roger muttered under his breath.
Blossom interlaced her fingers on the table. “Have you tried asking her?”
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Kellen said dryly.
She giggled. “Oh, you kidder.Howdid you ask her?”
Nick and Kellen shrugged at each other. “I don’t know. We just told her it was very important that she tell us what happened so we can find these people as soon as possible and prosecute them.”
“Or drag them out to the desert and feed their bodies to coyotes,” Nick added, hazarding a sip of the murky green tea Blossom had poured for them. It tasted weirdly of licorice and lemon. He didn’t quite hate it, but he was probably going to dump it down the sink if she left the room again.
She winced. “I say this with plenty of love and no judgment, but it kinda sounds like you boys were railroading her like her feelings matter less than yours.”
“Justice isn’t a feeling,” Kellen snapped, putting his mug down. “If she doesn’t tell us what she knows, we may never find these people. They might never pay for what they did.”
Blossom held up her palms. “I hear what you’re saying, and namaste.”
He glared at her. “What?”
