Jack grinned. “That’s it. She’d say, ‘Go get Mark’ and I’d take the case to her and she’d fix her face.”
Sara and Kate looked at each other.
Kate spoke first. “Why would a mother make her teenage daughter dress up like a...a...all the time? Was she preparing her to follow in her, uh, footsteps?”
Sara put eggs in the skillet. “You ever see that early Brooke Shields movie,Pretty Baby? She was a beautiful child and she was literally offered up on a platter to the highest bidder. For her virginity.”
“Maybe that’s why Cheryl never went on dates with guys her own age,” Kate said. “She was being ‘saved.’”
Sara grimaced. “Her mother would have had to keep strict control. With testosterone-laden boys all around and Cheryl’s teenage hormones, she wouldn’t last long.”
Kate nodded. “She’d have to—”
“Stop it!” Jack said in anger. “You two sound like Salem witch hunters. You’re ready to burn motheranddaughter at the stake.” He glared at Kate. “Now who’s blaming the victim?” He didn’t wait for an answer because the doorbell rang and he hurried to answer it.
Sara put a plate of scrambled eggs in front of Kate and lowered her voice. “We’re going to have to be careful with what we say around Jack. First loves can do no wrong.”
“Cheryl’s mother was supplementing her income with prostitution. That had to have an effect on her daughter. And Verna slept all day. Drugs maybe? Or alcohol?”
“Possibly. But maybe it was just exhaustion.”
“Lucky her,” Kate mumbled and Sara laughed. “I was thinking that whoever killed them probably left town. How would we find them?”
“That won’t be a problem. If our investigation leads to someone who now lives in Montenegro or wherever, then we’ll go there.” She looked at Kate. “Then you and I will go shopping in Venice.”
“Oh,” Kate said, wide-eyed. They heard a man talking to Jack. “Who’s that?”
“Gil.”
“The foreman?”
“Yes.” Sara smiled. “Good memory! I can never remember names. I’m good with faces, but names elude me.”
“When you have as many relatives as I do, you have to memorize lots of names.”
Sara frowned. “Are your uncles still as obnoxious as they used to be?”
“They get worse every year.” She paused. “They want Mom and me to move in with them.”
“And let me guess. Your mother’s income—and yours—would go into the community pot.”
“Exactly,” Kate said.
“I think I’m seeing why Ava let you come here.”
“It was my decision,” Kate said defensively.
“Anyway, Jack texted Gil last night. He thought Gil might have been in the same class as Cheryl and he was. Gil said he’d come over as soon as he got the men started on the job. He—”
She broke off when Jack entered with another man and introduced him.
Gilbert Underhill was shorter than Jack and as pale as Jack was dark. Gil was young but he had little hair, and for all that his T-shirt showed muscle, he had a round, almost cuddly look to him. Kate liked him immediately.
Jack looked at Gil and Kate smiling at each other. “She’s taken. Alastair Stewart has stolen her eternal love. She has room for no other man.”
“Not true. I’m free for whatever life holds.” Kate nodded at the book in Gil’s hand. “Is that a yearbook?”
“It is.”
