“Want me to help you pack?”
His words made Kate visualize where her admission of overhearing and the resulting sympathy would lead. Of course, she’d have to immediately return to her mother’s house. Then she’d spend weeks soothing her nerves. But to get ultimate calm, she’d have to agree that Aunt Sara was a terrible person. It would be years before Kate could get up the courage to again leave her mother on her own, so she’d have to take a job nearby. And probably continue living with her.
She looked at Jack. On one hand, she could be living with her aunt. And Jack. And the people she’d met in Lachlan.
Or she could go to her mother. And the three uncles and their families.
“Any decisions yet?” he asked.
Kate made a motion of zipping her mouth shut, locking it and throwing away the key.
“I agree.”
They looked across the table at each other and made a silent agreement. The telephone call was a secret they’d keep between themselves. Besides, Sara would be horrified if she knew Kate had overheard her.
Kate motioned to the suicide note. “Do you believe this?”
“I don’t know. It leaves out a great deal.”
“Why would this man kill others so he wouldn’t be found out, then suddenly give up?” she asked. “Because we were about to find out the truth?”
Jack shrugged. “Maybe. This note implies that Dan only went to the Morris house once. So why kill Mary? Did she see something and didn’t know it?”
“And you,” Kate said. “Why try to kill you? You keep remembering things—did you see Dan there?”
“Maybe he went after me because I bought the property where the bodies were buried. He’d know that I’d eventually find them.”
“True, but maybe you did see someone. Mr. Niederman said you only looked at Cheryl. Maybe Dan was lurking in the corners. What was he like? I got the impression from Alastair that he was a real loser.”
Jack’s voice was soft. “His wife and his two teenage kids, a boy and a girl, were there last night. They were devastated. The girl was crying a lot. They didn’t think he was a loser.”
“So many tears,” Kate said. “And for what?”
“You want something to eat? I was told I’m to make you a triple-decker club sandwich with lots of bacon and mayo. Sara even bought the bread for it.”
“Bread? For me?” She started to get up.
Jack caught her hand. “I want to know how you feel. What you saw was traumatic enough to make you pass out. And when Sara saw you rolled up on the grass, I thought she was going to join you. There I was with two gorgeous women in distress, and with this damn leg I couldn’t sweep either of you into my arms and rescue you.”
He said it as a joke but his face was serious. She sat back down. “I’m all right. I still feel a bit out of it, but I’m okay. It was such a shock to see him there. I’d hoped he was still alive. I—”
Jack squeezed her hand. “You did exactly right, but he’d been dead for hours. Last night Sara and I were separated and questioned about who was where when. Someone went to Gil and asked him when he’d set up the lights.”
“The lights! I forgot about why we went there. Did Sheriff Flynn confiscate everything from the garage?”
Jack leaned back on the sofa. “Odd thing about that. The deputies looked around the house. When they saw the bedrooms with all the junk in them, Flynn made some remarks about what a slob I am and closed the doors.”
“They didn’t realiz
e that some of those things may have belonged to Cheryl and Verna. Not that we know for sure.”
“And not that there’s anything in there that we can use.”
She stared at him in silence for a moment. “You don’t think Dan did it, do you?”
“The truth?” He paused for a moment. “I think he may have paid the ultimate price to make us stop opening old wounds. Evan, Mary and now Dan. I don’t want to see any more people hurt. I think it’s time to let Cheryl and her mother rest in peace.”
They looked at each other and didn’t need to say that they were worried about Sara. For all that she was energetic and smart, she was still older and more fragile.