“We don’t know, but maybe.”
Her head came up. “If Rachel hid it somewhere, then her grandmother couldn’t give it to him.”
She looked so hopeful that Rachel wasn’t a thief that Jack said, “Maybe.” But he didn’t believe that. “When Derek disappeared, did Mrs. Meyers say anything about missing jewels?”
“She was as happy as we all were. Billy was an excellent host and champagne flowed. He said, ‘Drink up, ladies, the bad man paid for it.’ So we drank and ate and laughed hysterically. Barbara is a great mimic, and she did a one-woman show for us, and Mrs. Meyers told us raunchy stories from her long life.”
“What about Greer and Reid?”
“Greer wasn’t allowed to participate. Too young. Actually, I sent her and Kate upstairs. Reid? He couldn’t have been there. A male presence tends to make women tone themselves down. But of course Billy added to the fun.”
“And Rachel?”
“Now that I think about it, she wasn’t there either. She and Reid were probably doing it in the garage or in the guesthouse or at the cottage or on top of the iguanas. We all laughed at how insatiable they were.”
“Even Mrs. Meyers laughed about her granddaughter?”
“The hardest of us all. She often said that she was just like Rachel at that age.”
“A scantily clad, promiscuous thief with a bad temper?”
Lea laughed. “You’ve been around Sara for a long time. That’s just what she’d say.”
“Thank you. That’s a compliment.” He took out his phone. “Excuse me,” he said as he sent a text to Sara:
Lea saw Rachel with a bag full of jewels. And she was hot and heavy with Reid.
“Don’t forget to tell her how Rachel dressed,” Lea said. “I think maybe she was Derek’s next choice for wife.”
The look on Jack’s face told what he thought of that. “She wouldn’t have fallen for him, would she?”
Lea shrugged. “There’s something enticing about older men.” She said it with a twinkle because Randal was no kid.
Jack tapped on his phone.
Rachel wore little, sulked a lot, and old Oliver may have planned to try to marry her. $$$$
He looked at Lea. “Anything else?”
“That’s all I can think of.” She looked at her watch. “When’s your curfew?”
“I’m to report back at 4:00 p.m.”
“Then we better hightail it. We have ten minutes. Want me to drive?”
Jack scoffed, then stood up. “Think you can keep up?”
“Try me.”
They ran to the truck, sped out, and arrived at Lachlan House in nine and a half minutes.
Fourteen
Lenny appeared to be busy in the kitchen, but the truth was, he was watching and listening. The caterers were in charge of preparing the food, and Lenny used his scarred face to keep them in line. His fierce looks kept them from bothering him with idiot questions about where what was and did he have whatever. He believed in kids growing up instead of endlessly depending on adults.
This freed Lenny to keep up with what was going on in the house. He felt he owed this as he was eternally grateful to Sara, Kate, and Jack for taking him in. After he was shot, they could have left him alone to take care of himself. He didn’t tell anyone, not even the doctor he visited often, but he was plagued with headaches, sometimes blurry vision, and an inability to move quickly.
To repay his saviors, he was determined to watch over them. In spite of their encounters with murders, they still tended to believe the best of people.
