“I did at first, but since then, I’ve changed my mind. There’s too much coincidence. Jack was the one who bought the house with the skeletons, so I think he was the target. But Evan paid the price. You need to make them stop looking into what isn’t any of their business.”
“I will do my best.” On impulse, she kissed the sheriff on the cheek, and he turned the other one. Oh, yes. Cuban. As she left, she managed to smile, even if it was a bit weak at the corners. Outside, she saw that Jack wasn’t back yet, so she sat on a bench in the shade.
Since the day she’d arrived in town, she’d been told that people believed Jack had been drunk and driving. Just this morning Evan’s mother had accused Jack of murder. On the day the skeletons were discovered, the sheriff had asked Jack if he was staying sober.
But it seemed that it was possible that someone had wanted to kill Jack.
And Sheriff Flynn was beginning to see thetruth. Even though he couldn’t get his bosses to believe him, it was nice to have someone on their side.
When Jack arrived, he didn’t get out of his truck. Kate got in and he drove away in silence.
He didn’t go far as she’d seen that South Florida was rich in huge, well-stocked grocery stores. A Publix was in a strip mall and surrounded by necessary shops.
Jack pulled into a parking space and turned off the engine, but he didn’t move. Nor did he look at her. He seemed to be waiting for something—and she had an idea what it was.
“Did you know?” she asked softly.
“Yeah. As soon as I got out of the hospital, I put my smashed truck up on a lift and examined it. Whoever did it didn’t know squat about vehicles. Probably looked up what to do on the internet. I knew nobody wanted Evan dead—he was the good son—but Roy made a lot of enemies. They might want to take it out on me instead. It wasn’t until after we found the bodies at a house I had bought that I began to think there was a connection.”
“Does Sara know?”
“I told her about the brake fluid being drained, but I blamed it on some rough terrain I’d been driving. I didn’t tell anyone I thought it had been done on purpose. Why should I scare you two?”
They still hadn’t looked at each other. Kate’s heart was pounding and she tried to quiet it. “You let everyone believe you may have been driving drunk.”
“Wish I had been,” he whispered. “Wish Evan had stayed home.”
She turned to look at him. “I’m so sorry about all this. Your friend and your brother. You’ve lost the most from this.”
He opened his door. “Which is why I plan to keep on searching for the bastard who did this. Flynn and his cowardice can go to hell for all I care.” He paused. “But I want you and Sara to stop. I’ll—”
She flung open the door. “Come on, let’s buy you some fruit.” She climbed out, then watched across the seat as he wrestled with his cast and crutches. “You think they have any pink grapefruits? Ilovepink grapefruit. Burt’s Bees has a lip balm that smells like it and I would like to smear it all over my body.”
“Can I help?”
She’d set him up for that one, but she was glad to see his teasing, smart-aleck, devil-may-care smile return. “Can you help choose fruit? Sure.”
He gave a snort of laughter and shut the door.
They first went to the huge produce section. Jack began filling plastic bags with fruit, while Kate went for the vegetables.
“Get the ones already cut up,” he said.
“They’re more expensive.”
“I’ve got two houses you can list for me. We’ll be able to afford them.”
“We,” she whispered as she grabbed bags of broccoli, green beans, brussels sprouts and peppers. All for her new family. Was there anything more soul-satisfying than belonging?
“So what did Sheriff Flynn want from you?” Jack put three colors of grapes—all seedless—in the cart.
“A date.”
He gave her a half-hooded look.
“He told me that I’m sane, that you and Aunt Sara aren’t, so I’m to reason with you and make you stop investigating.” She left out the details of how Jack could have ended up in prison. “Did you know he and your father and mine ran around together?”
“Based on Flynn’s wimpiness, my dad might have knocked him up.”
