A Justified Murder (Medlar Mystery #2)(18)

“It’s the sheriff,” Sara said. “Thought you’d want to hear what he has to say.”

The doorbell was still going off as Jack looked the women in their silky jammies up and down. “Sure you two are well dressed enough to receive guests? I could wait while you do your hair. Or maybe your nails?”

“I could use some new polish,” Kate said.

Smiling, Sara nodded at Jack and he opened the door. Sheriff Flynn stood there in jeans and a blue cotton shirt. There were dark circles under his eyes and the lines radiating out the side of his face were deeper.

Jack stepped back and made an exaggerated gesture of entrance.

“Sorry for the late hour,” the sheriff said, “but I’m being watched closely. Not officially, but still... I sneaked out a second-story window to get here.” He held out his left hand, which was covered in blood.

Sara took over. She led him into the kitchen and held his hand under a stream of cold water. “Bandages are in the—”

“I know,” Jack said as he motioned for Kate to follow him. They went across the foyer to Sara’s bathroom. “What took you so long to get to the door?”

“The desire for sleep. And I thought you two could handle whatever it was.”

Sara’s bathroom was octagon shaped, holding two sink counters with lots of drawers beneath. A large glass-walled shower was at the end. To the left, a toilet and bidet were in their own room. On the right was a tub that had windows to a private garden.

Jack went to the drawer that held first aid supplies.

“What do you think he wants?” she asked.

“To tell us he loves us and misses us. The same as the others wanted us to know.”

She just looked at him, waiting for him to answer her question.

Jack handed her tape and gauze. “Flynn is going to do a sob story to try to get you and Sara on his side. He’ll do his best to drag us into this, but I don’t want us to have anything to do with it.”

“But he...” Kate began then stopped. “Aren’t we already involved? Can you get the sight of that body out of your mind? A knife and a gun, and—”

“I know!” Jack said. “That’s the point. Whoever did this is ruthless. And now he or she—”

“It’s a he. It has to be a man. It takes strength to—”

“Have you looked at those women at the gym? They have arms that make most men’s look flabby. They could easily use a knife and a—”

“I get it. You don’t need to be graphic.” She held up the tape. “We have to take this in there. Poor Sheriff Flynn looked like he was about to bleed to death.”

“And we wouldn’t want blood on your pajamas, would we?”

“You could give jealousy lessons to Kyle Nesbitt.” Kate left the bathroom, Jack close behind her.

“I bet his wife didn’t entertain visitors wearing her nightclothes.”

Kate clenched her teeth, then stopped and smiled. “I have on absolutely nothing under this. Just my skin.” Still smiling, she went to the kitchen.

Sara and Sheriff Flynn were in the family room sitting on the big sofa, sipping drinks and laughing. He had a couple of cartoon bandages on his hand.

“And Cal!” Sheriff Flynn was saying. “I thought he was going to kill Roy and Randal—and me—when they wrecked that old Jeep.”

“Ah,” Sara said, “the back seat of that Jeep! I lost it there. Lord only knows what Randal and Roy used it for. And you.”

“I’d have to forfeit my badge if I told the truth about those two, but Evie and I spent most of our senior year on those old springs. She said I gave her all my energy because she made straight A’s while I nearly failed everything. Old man Lakely was—”

“He wasn’t still there, was he? He was old in my day.”

“Still there, still telling us he was going to give a sex education class. But he didn’t know enough about the subject to tell us anything.”

“Cal’s Jeep should have been the guest lecturer,” Sara said and the two of them dissolved into laughter.

Jack had been waiting for them to finish their stories, but when he cleared his throat, they kept laughing.

Kate stood on tiptoe to whisper to Jack, “They’re talking about my father and yours.”

“The saint and the devil,” Jack said, then stepped forward. “Excuse me but some of us need to get some sleep. We have work in the morning.”

“Lot like his dad, isn’t he?” Sheriff Flynn said to Sara.

She laughed. “More so than he thinks he is.”

The two older people worked to get themselves under control while Jack and Kate—their faces disapproving—took the chairs across from them. Kate loudly dumped the medical supplies on the coffee table. “I guess you didn’t need these after all.”

Jack had no humor in his eyes. “You want to tell us what’s so important that you had to come here at this hour?”

Daryl rubbed his hand. “The cut wasn’t as bad as it looked. I always do bleed a lot. Anyway, I just wanted to know what you lot had found out.”

Jack stood up. “We’ll send you a report.” He was waiting for the sheriff to leave, but the man didn’t move.

Kate thought she and Jack must look like the parents while Sara and the sheriff were the naughty teenagers. Jack was still standing, and Kate looked around him. “You knew my father well?”