Sara was trying to figure out how she was going to tell the others that she’d failed when her phone dinged for a text. Good! Maybe someone in Alaska urgently needed her and she’d have an excuse to escape her embarrassment.
It was Kate.
Dad and I are in the library. He’s dying to tell us something. My guess is that it’s about Roy’s son. Should we act surprised?
Sara replied.We’ll act bored. Old news.
Kate sent an emoji laughing to tears.
Sara thought,Maybe my little brother will distract from my failure. She went downstairs, but on the second floor she used the main staircase rather than the narrow one that led down to the kitchen. The last thing she wanted was to see Rachel in the kitchen. Little Miss 1950s Homemaker rolling out pie dough for a man she seemed to like very much didn’t fit with what Sara knew.Whyhad she kissed Reid?
You’re getting old, Sara thought. Today young people popped in and out of bed with each other for no reason at all. Certainly not love.
When Lenny stepped out of the shadows, Sara gasped in surprise.
“Sorry,” he murmured, “but you were right.”
Sara’s eyes widened. How many times in her life had she heard a man tell her she was right? Three? Four? That was probably too many. “About what?”
“I talked to Rachel. I don’t like her either.”
Sara refrained from saying that she’d changed her mind. “Tell me specifics.”
“She’s sneaking around trying to find something her grandmother hid.”
“Oh!” Sara said, thinking that maybe it was Mrs. Meyers who sewed the jewels into Kate’s toy. “Did she say what was hidden?”
“Of course not. She did say she came here to escape her mother. Not sure if that helps or not.”
Maybe she was postponing doing what she was “supposed to do,”Sara thought. Meaning marry a man she didn’t love. “Anything else?”
“She doesn’t seem interested in Gil.” There was anger in Lenny’s voice.
“But isn’t she baking him a pie?” Sara was confused.
“Not in this kitchen.”
“Maybe she’s using the guesthouse kitchen or the cottage,” Sara said. “I have to go. They’re waiting for me. My brother is dying to reveal that Barbara and Roy had a son.” Sara’s smile showed how much she was going to love one-upping her brother.
Lenny smiled as much as his face would allow. “Met the kid. Real smart aleck.” There was affection is his voice.
Sara started down the stairs, but Lenny’s voice halted her.
“She has a tattoo,” he said. “All the kids do now but hers looks old.”
Sara nodded and went down two more steps.
“It’s a bow, like a ribbon tied,” he said.
Sara stopped, opened her ever-present notebook, and drew the tattoo Reid had shown her. “Like this?”
Lenny nodded yes, then gave Sara a look that congratulated her on her sleuthing.
“Thank you,” she said. “How’s your place over the garage? Need anything?”
“It’s all fine, thanks.”
They smiled at each other and parted, both pleased at what had been said.
