A Justified Murder (Medlar Mystery #2)(79)

“They believe Tayla poisoned, stabbed, and shot the woman because of a lawsuit?” Jack asked.

“Yes,” Sara said. “That seems to be the case.”

Kate leaned back in her chair. “And what do we think happened?”

Sara took a deep breath and let it out. “That Chet was killed because he was too close to finding out the truth.”

“Which is?” Kate asked.

They looked at one another.

“I think someone wanted to protect Charlene,” Jack said.

“You don’t think her husband...?” Kate trailed off.

“Fixed Chet’s van?” Jack asked. “No. But maybe somebody did.”

They knew he was thinking of his half brother, killed less than a year ago when the brake cables in Jack’s truck were cut.

“It was us,” Sara said. “We did it. Our snooping cost Chet his life.”

“I guess this means we’re going to, as Kyle said, Let Tayla swing.”

“Nothing else we can do,” Sara said. “The best thing—the only thing—we can do now is go back to our lives.” She looked at Kate. “You need to go sell some houses.”

“That will be fun. They think it’s my fault that Tayla isn’t being set free. And I’m not getting her out of jail because I want to open a Medlar Realty.”

“If you do want your own business, I’ll back you,” Sara said, but the look Kate gave her made her mumble, “Sorry.”

“So we leave it alone,” Jack said. “That right?”

“Yes, exactly right,” Kate and Sara agreed.

But they didn’t leave the table, didn’t start clearing away. No one mentioned actually going back to their jobs.

“Wonder what he meant about those girls?” Jack asked.

“He said they probably didn’t even know the truth,” Sara said.

“I am curious to know what he was talking about,” Kate said. “Of course it’s all ridiculous. His own sister told us Kyle was a problem.”

“And everyone knows about the deep love between siblings,” Sara said.

Kate pursed her lips. “Are you talking about your brother? My father? With Charlene? Is this all his fault?”

Neither Jack nor Sara replied to Kate’s rising temper.

“Too bad we can’t invite the girls over,” Sara said. “We’d just ask them...”

“Ask them what?” Jack said. “They told us everything. Nasty, spiteful, selfish. I still feel sorry for Janet.”

“Britney tried to kill herself and Janet saved her,” Kate said. “Where is the bad in that?”

“It sounds to me like Kyle Nesbitt is a sore loser,” Sara said. “Blames others for his problems. One time a man told me that my novels caused his divorce. I told him my books were a symptom, not the disease.”

“Bet that went over well,” Jack said.

“Let’s just say that I got away from him very fast.”

For a few moments they were quiet.

“If we had those brats come here, we’d be telling the town that we haven’t stopped working on the case,” Jack said. “And we’d be telling whoever may or may not have gone after Captain Dakon that we are actively involved.”

“Too bad we can’t do something to make them climb out their unbarred windows,” Kate said. “Not our fault that they showed up here. Ha ha.”

“We could set a giant trap,” Jack said.

“Bait it with the juiciest gossip they’ve ever heard,” Sara said.

Kate looked at Jack. “We could use you as bait. The girls seemed to want you more than the latest Prada bag.” She waited for Jack to make his usually cutting reply, but instead, his eyes widened. “What is it?”

“Bait,” Jack said.

“The boys,” Sara said.

“Okay, so now I’m feeling left out. What are you talking about?”

Sara stood up and began cleaning the table. “If we could meet with the girls for something far removed from a murder, maybe we wouldn’t set off any alarms.”

Jack began to help put things away. “We’d say the case is closed. Done. Nothing more for us to do. We’d—as they say—get on with our lives.”

“But we’d talk to the girls in secret.” Sara smiled at Jack. “Think we can do it? Will they come?”

“Sure. But it’ll cost me.”

“Give them your Harley.”

“Over my dead body,” Jack said.

“Who?!” Kate shouted. She was still sitting and looking up at them.

“Mike,” Jack said.

“Max,” Sara said.

Kate squinted her eyes at them and they sat back down.

Sara spoke first. “Jack has some sixteen-year-old cousins who—”

“I told you I have lots of relatives,” he said. “Sorry, go on.”

“The boys are so beautiful they make Jack look like a troll.”

Kate looked at him, expecting a protest, but there was none. Instead, he nodded in agreement.

“We’ll just get them to come stay with us and ask those girls to show him around,” Sara said.

“And you think these kids will come?”