A Justified Murder (Medlar Mystery #2)(80)

“We Wyatts are a mercenary lot. Offer them enough and they’ll move in with us.”

Jack had to pay a heavy bribe to get the boys to come to Lachlan. They knew their cousin wanted something big so they made the most of it. The negotiation went on for thirty minutes. New iPhones and iPads, of course. Max wanted to work on Jack’s construction crew during the summer. Mike wanted a summer survival camp.

Jack agreed to it all. Since the boys had only their learning permits, their mom gladly volunteered to drive them down from Sarasota that night. She said she’d stay in a hotel, see a movie, eat meals in peace, go shopping, then pick them up on Thursday morning.

“That should be enough time,” he said when he hung up.

“I’d say that two hours would do it,” Sara said.

“They’re that good?” Kate asked.

“Oh yes,” Sara answered.

“Interesting,” Kate said. “I can’t wait to see them.”

When Jack said the boys were human beings, not things to be ogled, the women laughed.

The boys arrived that night and Kate had to agree that they were beautiful. Identical twins with all the Wyatt dark good looks.

Kate had seen a video of Jack as a child and she’d said he looked like an angel. Of course she’d added, “What happened to you?”

The boys were young enough that they still had that angelic aura—and they knew it. They were courteous, helpful, smart, and all-around adorable.

“It’s an act,” Jack said, sounding like he was jealous of the attention the women were giving the boys.

Kate called the principal and arranged for the boys to spend the next day at the high school. The story was that their family might be moving to Lachlan and they wanted to see how the twins fit in.

“I don’t know,” the principal said. “This is awfully short notice.”

“They play football.”

“And basketball,” Jack said and Kate repeated it.

“Okay,” the principal said. “I’ll get the coach to show them around and—”

“We know Ashley, Britney and Madison so maybe they could escort the boys.”

“That’s highly unusual but—”

“They also run track,” Jack said into Kate’s phone.

“Sure,” the principal said. “Bring them at nine.”

Since Jack hadn’t moved out of Kate’s suite, the boys stayed in his room.

The next morning, he took the twins to the high school. He walked through the halls ahead of them—and it was a Red Sea parting. The boys weren’t just beautiful but were also tall and athletic. And they had the air of being descended from Olympus.

The students stopped talking and flattened themselves against their lockers, gaping in openmouthed astonishment.

As for the boys, they smiled modestly, as though they had no idea what was happening.

“Knock it off,” Jack murmured.

“Jealous, old man?” Max smiled at a dumpy girl who had probably never before been noticed by a boy. He picked up the book she’d dropped and handed it to her.

Mike winked at another girl who looked like she was about to faint.

“This doesn’t last long,” Jack said under his breath.

“You mean that someday we’ll be old and alone like you are, cousin?”

“And we won’t be able to get a hottie like Kate?”

“We saw the bed in Kate’s living room. So you’ve spent nights near her but nothing happened? Are you that old?”

“Would you like me to show you how old I am? A few kicks to the side of your head should do it.”

“Wouldn’t want you to strain yourself. At your age you might not recover,” Max said.

“About Kate,” Mike said, “if you can’t get her, mind if I try? She’s more my age than yours. She—”

Jack gave them a look of such threat that they laughed—and caused a dozen girls to give loud sighs.

“Is that them?”

Ahead of them were the three girls. The other kids were plastered against the walls, but not Ashley, Britney, and Madison. They were the Queens of Lachlan High and they knew it. Their hair was shiny, faces made up like in a magazine, and their clothes were designer. They had no idea that never again in their lives would they have the extreme, unbreakable self-confidence they did at that moment.

Even so, at the sight of Jack’s young cousins, their eyes began glowing like something out of a sci-fi movie. No green screen work needed.

“Uh,” Jack said, looking at them. The magnetic poles of the earth didn’t have a stronger attraction than those kids did to one another. However, Britney did glance at Jack in question. She seemed to say, Three girls and just two boys?

Jack turned and nearly ran out of the school.

At home, the adults weren’t sure the girls would show up that evening. After all, they were still grounded from the last time they’d escaped. The parents had been bawled out by Jack, the sheriff, and the fire chief.

But the boys had been so sure they’d come that they prepared for a party. Jack drove them to the grocery and loaded up on disgustingly unhealthy food and drinks. At home, the boys calmly sat down in front of the big TV to wait.

The adults talked about what they were doing. Would the killer know? Guess? Put it all together? They had no answer.