Kate rolled her eyes.
“Oh?” Heather sounded like she was ready to defend her son.
“It’s not like that. She can be pretty funny. I’m a pirate and her boyfriend is a Viking.”
“When do I meet her?” Heather asked eagerly.
“As soon as you show up with the current names and addresses of Cheryl Morris’s classmates.”
“Like they keep me up-to-date. Ha! Half the emails I send them get that Mailer-Daemon thing. What does that mean, anyway? Wait! I know. I’ll call Janet.”
“Who?”
“Janet Beeson. Church secretary. She’s good at finding people.”
“Get whoever you need to. I better go. I have to tell Sara and Kate that we have to go to the sheriff.”
“And Kate,”Heather said softly. “I’ll be over as soon as I can. Love you.”
“Back at you.”
They hung up. Jack didn’t need to tell the women what his mother had said as they’d listened to it all.
“We’ll go see Flynn right away and get him to postpone the funeral. We need more time.” Sara looked at Jack. He and the sheriff weren’t exactly buddies. “Maybe you...”
“Should stay home and wash my truck?”
Before Sara could speak, Kate said, “Stay home and try to remember everything you can about Cheryl and her mother.”
“I think I can do that best beside the pool.”
Kate wished she could stay with him, but she didn’t say so. She changed into a dress, and Sara into pants and a blouse—nice clothes for visiting the sheriff. After Sara talked to Heather and gave permission to set up a research team in her house, she and Kate got in the bright yellow MINI Cooper and headed into town. Kate drove. “Mind if I ask you a personal question?”
Sara gripped the armrest hard. “Sure. Go ahead.”
Kate grimaced at her aunt’s obvious reluctance to talk of personal matters. “My mother said you used to weigh a lot.”
“I did.” Sara’s relief made her exhale so hard the papers on her lap fluttered. “I lost it. Turn here.”
Kate pulled into the parking lot and they got out. “I gain weight really easily and Mom said I get it from your side of the family.”
“She still eating brownies before she goes to bed?”
It was disconcerting to hear someone talk of what Kate thought only she knew.
“Yes.”
“With maraschino cherries in them?”
“Oh, yes.” Kate’s voice was full of longing as she held the door open for Sara. “And almonds.”
“However did you resist them? I know I wasn’t able to.”
“An evil thing called a scale.”
“The Medlar iron lady. Pure torture.”
They stopped in front of the desk and a tall, good-looking young man in a brown uniform with a deputy badge pinned to his chest asked how he could help them. He was trying to hide it, but he was blinking at Sara as if she was a movie star.
