Although that would explain—or would also explain—why she was gone this morning.If I’d seen someone commit cold-blooded murder next door, and I was worried that they might have realized I was there and could identify them, I would have wanted to get away as soon and as far as possible, too.
“I can have Zachary call you when he comes back in,” I offered.
Mendoza arched his brows.“Trying to get rid of me?”
I shook my head.Never.“I’m sure you must be busy.”
“Now that you mention it.”He leaned back against the sofa and closed his eyes.“It’s been a long day.”
“Have you found out anything?”
“Not much.”He opened his eyes again.So much for the nap.Edwina gazed up at him adoringly.“I found a business card from a lawyer in Mrs.Grimshaw’s desk.When I called, he admitted to having done some work for her.Including drawing up her will.I am headed over there next, to take a look.”
“Will you let me know what happens?”Mrs.Grimshaw’s next of kin might want Edwina.I would have to give her up.And I was already becoming attached to her.
Mendoza nodded.“Once I’ve spoken to him, I’ll have a better idea who might have had a reason to want Mrs.Grimshaw out of the way.”
He moved Edwina’s head off his lap, and pushed up from the sofa with a grunt.Edwina gave him a baleful look.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” I told her.I didn’t want him to leave, either.
Mendoza’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t comment.“I’ll call you later,” he told me.“Take care of the dog.”
I promised I would.
“And let me know when Zachary comes back.”
“I will.When can I expect to see you—I mean, hear from you—again?”
He glanced at his watch.“I have an appointment with the lawyer in thirty minutes.After that, I should have a better idea what might be going on.I’ll call you.”
I told him I appreciated it, and watched him walk out the door.He said goodbye to Rachel on his way through the lobby, and then I heard the front door close behind him.A few seconds later, the sound of an engine started in the parking lot.At the same time, Rachel’s sensible heels came clicking down the hallway.A moment later, she appeared in the doorway of my office.“If I wasn’t an old lady, and he wasn’t young enough to be my son, I would jump that man.”
“You are not an old lady,” I told her, even as I tacitly admitted that the same was true for me.If I wasn’t an old lady, I would also jump that man.“And I don’t think you’re old enough to be his mother.He has to be into his thirties.”While Rachel was in her mid fifties.So yes, maybe she was old enough to be his mother.The same way I was old enough to be Zachary’s.
She put a piece of paper on my desk.“There’s the information you wanted.The house belongs to someone named Araminta Tucker.She has a permanent address in Franklin.”
“Kentucky?”
Rachel shook her head.“Tennessee.”
Nashville is about sixty miles from the Kentucky border.There’s a small town called Franklin just over the border, and another about twenty miles south of us, in Williamson County.Since one of them is about half the distance of the other—not that either is a particularly long drive—I was relieved that she was talking about the closer one.
I pulled the paper closer.“Maybe I’ll go talk to her.”
Rachel nodded.“I’ll hold down the fort.”
I got to my feet and grabbed my bag.“If Zachary comes back, tell him to call Mendoza.The detective wants a better description of the blonde.”
Edwina watched us walk out of my office, but made no move to jump down from the sofa and follow.“Car ride?”I asked her.
She twitched an ear, but didn’t move otherwise.
“I’ll see you later,” I told her, and followed Rachel down the hallway toward the front door.
Franklin is a nice little town,surrounded by horse farms and the estates of country music stars and record executives.And these days, surrounded by a lot of subdivisions, as well.When I plugged Araminta Tucker’s address into the GPS, it directed me to one such.It was called Sheridan Farms, and was located on the south side of Highway 96, not too far from the Historic Carnton Plantation, a civil war site.
The houses were large and cookie-cutter, in four or five different designs.I saw gothic farmhouses, a couple of different Queen Anne styles, and a modern Eastlake as I followed the GPS directions.
