A Justified Murder (Medlar Mystery #2)(22)

Part of her wanted to run to them and ask what was going on, but the larger part wanted nothing to do with whatever the problem was. She and Jack and Aunt Sara were standing by their decision to stay out of it. DGI—Don’t Get Involved was becoming their motto.

This morning, Jack said he was going back to work. Sara said she was going to spend the day compiling everything they’d heard or seen about Janet Beeson into one document. And she was going to add an outline of what they thought the sheriff’s department should do to further investigate the crime.

“I’m sure that will go over well,” Jack said.

“They’ll probably send you a thank-you card,” Kate said.

“And flowers,” Jack added.

“Exactly.” Sara was smiling.

“I get it,” Jack said. “They’ll be so PO’d at you for telling them how to do their job that they’ll be sure to keep us out of everything.”

“Clever boy.” Sara kissed his forehead. “Nothing like a meddling old woman to stir up a bunch of men wearing guns. The Wild West is alive and well in Lachlan, Florida.” Laughing, she left them alone in the kitchen.

“Could I talk to you for a moment?”

Kate turned at Jack’s serious tone.

“I have something to celebrate today and Sara wants nothing to do with it. Would you join me?”

She squinted her eyes. “Does this involve shots of tequila with giggling girls in tiny tank tops?”

Jack laughed. “I save those times just for me. Taking you along would be like showing up with the schoolmarm.”

“Thank you. That’s a nice compliment.”

He grinned harder and shook his head. “No, Miss Kate, it would be just you and me. I want to show you something. No tequila, but is champagne okay?”

She looked past his laughter and into his eyes. Whatever it was, it was special to him. “I’d love to.”

“Great. I’ll meet you at your office at six.”

And that’s where she was now. She looked at her watch, then at the clock. It was almost six. Please, she thought, let Tayla go home early. She needed some papers that were on her boss’s desk, but she didn’t want to have to go in there to get them. She didn’t want to deal with Tayla asking if Kate had shown any properties, if she’d talked to the last clients about something she did two days ago.

When Tayla stood up and began shoving file folders into her big bag, Kate let out a sigh of relief. In a cowardly move, she ran to the restroom. Jack would be there in minutes so she needed to freshen her makeup—at least that’s what she told herself. But really, Jack was the last person she had to dress up for. He saw her on weekends with no makeup. When she’d had a bad cold, he’d kept her supplied with tissues. You couldn’t be glamorous to a guy you lived with.

She stayed in the restroom longer than necessary, and when she came out, Jack was leaning on the counter talking to fellow Realtor Melissa. She had a crush on him—as did lots of females in town—and she was looking at him with starry eyes.

“There you are, Red,” he said. “You look like you’re going on a date.”

“No, just out with my foster brother.”

With lots of drama, Jack mimed being stabbed in the heart, pulling the knife out, then staggering backward into the clutches of death.

Kate tried not to laugh, but she had to turn away to hide it. She looked at the adoring Melissa. “Is she gone?”

“Who? Oh. Tayla. Yes, she left five minutes ago and everyone ran out behind her.” She looked at Jack with fluttering eyelashes. “You and I are alone in the office.”

“Except for me,” Kate said, but Melissa ignored her. “I have to get some papers.” She went down the hall to her boss’s office. The folder wasn’t on top of the desk so she looked under the papers.

“Can’t find it?” Jack was standing just inside the closed door.

“How’d you escape your fan?”

“I said I might be at the Brigade later and maybe I’d see her there. I think she went home to wash her hair.”

“And to put on clothes just a tiny bit bigger than a bikini.” Kate opened a drawer.

“My favorite garment. They had some nice ones in the window of Moonflower. I could imagine you in the blue one. It—”

She looked up to tell him to stop, then her eyes widened as she looked through the glass down the hall. “Tayla is coming.”

Instantly, Jack grabbed Kate’s wrist and pulled her into the powder room. She tried to close the door but a file box was in the way. The door stayed open a few inches.

Jack pulled Kate into his arms, her back to his front, then nuzzled her neck.

She elbowed his ribs sharply.

He groaned in pain. “I think I need to go to the hospital.”

When she lifted her arm as though to hit him again, he laughed against her hair.

They heard the swoosh of the door, then Tayla entered the office. They could just see her through the open space. She started frantically opening drawers in her desk, but when she didn’t find what she wanted, she went to the tall filing cabinet in the corner.

When her cell rang, she put it on speaker and set it on the corner of the cabinet as she kept searching through the files.

“Carl told me to call you,” a male voice said. “Where are you?”