“No,” Kate said.
Huck waited at the top of the stairs, looking odd against the cancan dancers cavorting on the wallpaper. “I have a guy. He did a good job on my shop a couple of years ago. His place is now called Greenfield Architecture and Landscaping. I think they also do snow removal.”
Kate perked up. “I need their contact info, too. For the snow removal. Are the rates okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll text you the info.”
Laurel walked down the stairs, her boots thudding softly. “My uncle plows our road and all of the driveways.” She should probably buy him something as a thank you. It had been a while since she’d knitted an adult’s hat. Perhaps she also could knit something blue and green for Huck in lieu of buying him coffee.
“Good luck with the mayor’s wife,” Kate called out. “She’s friends with my ex-husband’s bimbo and has snarled at me a couple of times.”
Laurel winced. “Does she know we work together?” She paused at the landing.
“Yep. She knows we’re friends,” Kate confirmed.
Laurel sighed. Stupendous.
Chapter Eleven
The mayor lived in a stately, red brick home on Royal Drive and had a phenomenal view of the mountains from the rear. Huck dutifully removed his coat and boots in the foyer as Laurel did the same, hoping he’d worn socks without holes in them today. A quick glance down confirmed that he had. Good.
He glanced at Laurel’s socks. Light pink with peacocks on them. They had to be her mother’s. He stifled a grin and followed Steve Bearing into a surprisingly comfortable living room, with Aeneas at his heels. “Are you sure you don’t mind the dog?”
“Just keep him off the furniture,” Steve said. While Huck and Laurel both wore jeans for this Saturday meeting, the eldest Bearing kid wore creased khaki pants and a blue polo shirt. It was surprising the guy hadn’t had his law firm name embroidered across his chest. He might as well have opened the door and declared himself an attorney.
“Please, have a seat. My parents will be in shortly.” Steve took a plush, flowered chair and gestured to the matching sofa. His thick blond hair was swept up with a generous amount of mousse, and round black glasses gave his blue eyes a studious look. “My mother is understandably upset.”
“How about you?” Huck asked.
Steve blinked. “Very. Aunt Sharon has been a constant in my life since the beginning. She never missed a baseball game or a school recital.” His voice broke.
Laurel wasn’t tall enough to sit all the way back on the sofa and unobtrusively moved a mocha-colored pillow behind her back. “Do you have any idea who would want to harm your aunt?”
“No.” Steve rubbed his clean-shaven jaw. “I’ve been busy with my law practice and haven’t spent much time with her the last few years.”
The mayor and his wife walked in from what looked like the kitchen, both dressed nicely. Mayor Bearing was around six feet tall with silver gray hair, pale blue eyes, and smooth movements from playing baseball most of his life. For the meeting, he wore pressed gray slacks and a yellow polo shirt with a Hawaiian golf course logo above the pocket.
Teri Bearing wore light pink linen pants and a flowered sweater with a silver cross necklace and small silver hoops at her ears. Her hair was blond and feathery, her eyes green, and her posture perfect.
Huck stood as they entered the room. “We’re very sorry for your loss.” The mayor had lines extending from his eyes, and Mrs. Bearing’s nose was red and her eyes swollen as if she’d been crying.
“Thank you,” the mayor answered, leading his wife to the chair adjacent to her son and then sitting on an ottoman near the brick fireplace.
Huck introduced Laurel and himself, giving their job descriptions. “We’re very sorry to bother you at this time, but we need to gather facts while they’re fresh in your minds.”
Mrs. Bearing clasped her hands together in her lap, showing one gold band on her ring finger and light pink fingernails. “We understand.” Her voice was soft but powerful.
Laurel studied them both. “Would you run us through the events of last night, Mrs. Bearing?”
“Teri. Call me Teri.” She sat straighter and her gaze moved up and to the right as if to remember. “My sister asked to stay at our cabin to work on a new book of poetry and went up there, about two weeks ago?” She looked to her husband, who nodded.
“Is that usual?” Laurel asked. “That she’d leave town for weeks and use your cabin?”
“Yes,” the mayor answered. “She has always secluded herself somewhere when really digging down to work, and she has often used our cabin, even for a girls’ retreat for her college friends one week every summer.”
Laurel nodded. “All right. Please continue.”
Teri’s hands fluttered. “Sharon was supposed to be home yesterday afternoon, because last night we had our first meeting to plan the Spring Tempest Youth Ranch auction, and she co-chairs it with me. We raise money for the organization, which houses and counsels troubled teens.” Her eyes teared. “When she missed the meeting and wasn’t answering her calls, I knew something was wrong. So I drove up to the cabin.”
