“The person who planted that damn tree interests me less than clearing the names of the innocent. Cheryl wasn’t a pedophile; Verna wasn’t pimping her daughter; Jack didn’t drive drunk. I want everyone to know the truth about them.Thatis my goal. What about you?”
“I agree,” Sara said. “Has anyone ever told you that you are a truly remarkable human being?”
“Other than my mother, no one.” Kate got up and started toward the car.
“And you’re as fearless as my lying, thieving skunk of a brother,” Sara muttered as she followed Kate. “If I had any sense, I’d lock you up now.”
NINE
Sara and Kate returned to find the guards had been sent away and the house was a zone of controlled chaos. The big dining table seemed to be the command center, with people seated with laptops. The curtains were closed against the sunlight. The kitchen counter had half a dozen plastic-wrapped casseroles and three coffeepots going. There were a dozen people wandering around, most of them talking on their cell phones.
“Do you know these people?” Kate asked.
“Only one of them.” Sara was grimacing.
“Here you are!” A tall, slim, pretty woman stopped in front of them, her eyes on Kate. Sara might as well have been invisible.
“This is Jack’s mother, Heather.” Sara slipped through the people to flee into her bedroom.
Heather stood beside Kate. “I bet she hates this many people in her home. Sorry, but I couldn’t help it. I put in a call to one person and...” She shrugged. “They all showed up. They’re searching out people who knew the Morris ladies.”
“Plus, there’s the pull of getting to see Sara’s house.”
“Very true,” Heather said.
Kate looked at her. “We heard some really nasty gossip from the sheriff.”
“I know,” Heather said. “Jack’s been told. He—”
“Where is he?”
“Hiding somewhere. Drawing into himself. Escaping. I don’t know what to—”
“Excuse me,” Kate said. “Too much tea.” She made her way past the people into her suite, closing the doors behind her. She hurried into her bedroom and out through the doors to the little courtyard with the dancing-girl fountain. As she thought, Jack was there, sitting in silence. She took a chair beside him. “So who told you?”
“The deputy at the desk, Pete, is a friend of mine. He likes to eavesdrop. What took you so long to get back?”
“Aunt Sara and I stopped at a restaurant. She asked me if I wanted to run back home to Mommy.”
“Sounds like a sensible idea. When do you leave?”
“As soon as she tells me everything I want to know about my father.”
“Looks like you’re staying here for this century.”
“Guess so. How are we going to do this?”
“Do what?”
She glared at him.
He smiled. “I guess people will send us stories.”
“‘I liked Cheryl Morris so much that I killed her.’ That kind of story?”
Jack gave a one-sided smile and scratched at his leg. “You have any better ideas?”
“I might. Can you really build things? Like with saws and hammers?”
