A Justified Murder (Medlar Mystery #2)(72)

“You want some breakfast?”

“Sure. You have any Frosted Flakes?”

“Fresh out, but I can make you an omelet.”

“Eggs. Yuck. But okay. Then maybe we can go see Gil. I bet he’s gonna be surprised to see me.”

“Oh yeah,” Sara said. “Real surprised.”

Sara got Zelly nestled in front of the TV and put on a surfing movie about Laird Hamilton.

“He’s old but he’s hot,” Zelly said. “Do you remember things like that?”

“I do remember last night, yes.” Sara smiled at the young woman’s look of confusion, then went to the kitchen to start breakfast. She mixed up a batch of carrot muffins for people who were not on the keto diet—which was everyone but her.

Kate came into the kitchen at 7:30 a.m. She nodded toward Zelly on the couch, saw that her eyes were glued to the TV with its pictures of men surfing. “What’s with her?”

Sara kept her voice low. “She’s a veritable fount of information. Sees and hears a lot but has no idea what it means. Where’s Jack?”

“Not with me. His bed was empty.”

They looked at each other, then Kate took off running. She was back in minutes. “His truck is gone and Chet has the door closed but he’s talking to someone. So last night you two didn’t...?”

“Spend the night together? No.” Minutes later, Sara was taking the muffins out of the oven when Jack threw open the door to Kate’s suite. From his look, something bad had happened. “You talked to Gil.”

“Without me there?” Kate sounded hurt.

“Yes to both.” He glanced at Zelly but she was absorbed in her movie. He went into the kitchen. “Gil wouldn’t talk to me. Said it was none of my business. How can he say that when we’ve been friends since elementary school?”

Sara put her hand on Jack’s chest and half pushed him onto a stool. “He’s worried. He’s terrified. He thinks that being quiet will save him.”

“Not with her calling in lawyers.” Jack kept his voice low. “One word about postpartum blues said with tears and a judge will—”

Kate turned on the blender to drown him out.

Sara split a muffin, buttered it, and gave it to him on a plate.

Jack took the hint and shut up.

“What do we do next?” Kate whispered as she handed Jack a smoothie of orange juice and kale. He took one sip, grimaced, and handed it back to her. She took a big drink.

Sara spoke up. “Lisa was at Janet’s house looking for a flash drive copy of her mother’s last book. She said it would show that what had happened was justified.”

“Does that mean Sylvia’s suicide or Janet’s murder?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know but Lisa had a gun.”

Jack and Kate blinked at her.

“I think we need to go searching,” Sara said. “Tear up the floorboards.”

“To do that, we’d have to get permission,” Kate said. “Ready to sit down with the Broward County authorities and tell all?”

“Then they arrest Lisa before we talk to her?” Jack said. “I don’t think so.”

“Oh yes,” Sara said, “Carl came to get Lisa. It was him in the photo, the skinny man who was spying on you two. Janet’s ex.”

“You got all this from her?” Kate nodded toward Zelly curled up on the couch.

“Every word. And Janet had three computers but when she left the house Zelly couldn’t find any of them.”

“There’s a hiding place in that house,” Kate said.

“Computers and flash drives,” Jack said. “I think we definitely should go have a look.”

At that moment, Chet came down the hall. “Wherever you’re going, it has to be postponed. We’re going to visit Tayla in jail.” He looked at Sara. “But not you.”

“I wouldn’t go anyway.”

“Thought not. I had to call in some favors and show some credentials, but I got us in.” He sounded excited, as though he was dying to do this.

“What are you going to ask her?” Jack was cautious.

“Not about the lawsuit. Certainly not if she actually did steal money.”

“She didn’t,” Kate said and they looked at her. “She’s a good person and she has her own money.”

“Maybe,” Chet said. “I want to know about the kidnapping. I need to shave. Be ready to go in thirty minutes.” He grabbed a muffin and went back down the hall.

For a moment, Jack, Kate, and Sara were silent.

“What if—?” Kate began but stopped.

“What if Tayla is protecting someone’s entire life?” Jack asked.

“A young family’s life,” Sara said.

Kate sat down on a stool. “How do we rescue Tayla without giving away that we suspect what may have happened years ago?”

“I have no idea,” Sara said.

“If you were writing it?” Jack asked.

“My character would find Lisa and Carl and prove them guilty of the murder,” Sara said. “Then Tayla would be freed and nobody would ever know anything about a long-ago kidnapping.”

“And Chet?” Kate asked.