“I guess so.”
“Did she do something to Mr. Oliver?”
“I don’t know. I know that man was saying bad things to Reid, and that made Grans angry. She gets real mad. I went to school at first, but a boy was mean to me. I told Grans and she picked him up and threw him across the playground. He flew very far.”
Kate’s eyebrows were almost up to her hairline. “Did the boy stop being mean?”
Greer looked sad. “All the children stopped speaking to me. No one got near me, not even the teachers.”
Kate came out of her memory-trance with a jolt.And the next morning, everyone left, she thought. It was as though they all knew that something bad had happened. When Kate went downstairs, her father was packing clothes, and the house had that eerie feeling of being empty. The first thing she looked for was her hedgehog. Her dad said they didn’t have time to look, that they had to leave for home immediately. Kate knew that meant leaving Greer and Lea and all the fun and laughter. “Home” was her sad, complaining mother. It was Lea who held Kate while she cried. Not long after that, Lea also left—and Kate didn’t see her again for twenty-five years.
She looked up to see Garth standing at the end of the table. He was a firefighter, married with kids, and he was a fabulous dancer. He didn’t say anything, just held out his hand. She took it, and they went to the dance floor.
Jack and Troy started a duet, and as she’d hoped, they were perfectly in sync. She’d never seen Jack look so happy. When he saw her gyrating with Garth, his scowl lasted only seconds.
It was nearly two hours later that Kate left the dance floor. As she’d promised, she’d danced with each firefighter, all while laughing and teasing. When she needed a break, she went back to their booth and downed a mug of beer in one drink. When she put the mug down, Sheriff Daryl Flynn was sitting beside her. That he hadn’t taken the seat across from her meant he had something private to tell her. They’d always been friends.
The sheriff helped himself to salsa and chips and the waitress brought him a beer. “So how’s the investigation going?” His head was close to hers so they could hear each other.
“Great.” Kate held out her left hand to show her ring. “Jack and I are engaged.”
“That’s a shock. I never thought you two would become a couple.”
She ignored his sarcasm. “Aunt Sara says we can have the wedding at Lachlan House.”
“Wasn’t there a murder there? I’m not sure, since I’ve heard next to nothing about it.”
Kate groaned. “You’re not going to let me have even one night off, are you?”
Daryl looked at Jack and Troy on the stage, singing about old-time rock and roll. “They look like father and son.”
“Jack is just twelve years older than Troy.”
“I could believe that,” the sheriff said.
Kate laughed. He was implying that at twelve, Jack was sexually active. Considering that, at the time, he’d been in love with a high school girl who... She didn’t want to think about what happened then. “Do you have something to tell me?”
“Yeah. Years ago I kept a kid out of jail. His dad said if I ever needed a favor to call him.”
“Hmmm,” Kate said. “Just one kid? One favor?”
He’d finished the whole basket of chips and another one was put on the table. “So maybe I have a boxful of what I call Favor Cards.”
She smiled at him. “Which one was this?”
“Big deal investment guy. Knows everyone in that world.” He paused to chew. “It’s been bothering me about Billy. Why didn’t he report finding the dead body?”
“Because of his brothers,” Kate said.
“Right. Those brothers. We’ve been told they’re monsters, yet Sara got them to pay for everything. Doesn’t sound all that monstrous to me.”
“I see. There are always two sides to everything. So you asked someone who might be able to find out the other side.”
“You’re a smart girl. I called in the favor and got some answers. Did you know that when Billy was in his twenties he was a tennis superstar?”
Her face showed her surprise. “I can hardly imagine him outdoors.”
“We all have that impression, don’t we? I saw what you guys did to where he lives now. Movie machines, popcorn, all of it. You’ve turned that sad old place upside down.”
