Best Kept Secrets(91)

near the window. The afternoon sunlight created a halo

around her hair.

"Come in and sit down." She motioned toward a dainty

chair near her.

Usually poised, Alex felt gauche as she crossed the carpeted

floor. "Thank you for inviting me. This was a very

good idea."

"It was mandatory that I apologize as soon as possible for

what I said to you last night."

"Never mind. It's forgotten." Junior and Angus seemed

to have forgiven her for the unwitting role she had played in

the act of vandalism. In return, she could be forgiving toward

Sarah Jo.

Curious, she took in her surroundings. "This truly is a

lovely room. Did you decorate it yourself?"

Sarah Jo offered a laugh as frail as the hand she raised to

her throat to fiddle with the ruffles. "My, yes. I wouldn't let

one of those dreadful decorators inside my house. Actually,

I copied my room back home item by item, as closely as I

could. Angus says it's too fussy."

Alex searched discreetly for something masculine, a shred

of evidence that a man had been inside the room. There was

none. As though reading her mind, Sarah Jo said, "He keeps



his things in another room, through there." Alex followed

the direction of her gaze to a closed door.

"Come in, Lupe," Sarah Jo said at the housekeeper's soft

knock. "Here's our tea."

While Lupe was arranging the silver service on the tea

table, Alex asked conversationally, "You mentioned home,

Mrs. Minton. Kentucky, right?"

"Yes, horse country. Hunt country. I loved it so."

Her wistful gaze drifted toward the window. The panorama

didn't offer much to please the eyes, just miles of dun-colored

earth, until it blurred into the horizon. They watched a tumbleweed

roll across the stone patio and land in the swimming

pool. The landscaping around it was as dead and brown as

a cotton field after harvest.

"It's so barren here. I miss the green. Of course, we have

acres of irrigated pasture for the horses, but somehow, it's

not the same." Her head came back around slowly and she

thanked the maid with a nod. Lupe withdrew. "How do you

take your tea?"

"Lemon and sugar, please. One lump."

Sarah Jo practiced the ritual that Alex thought had died

two generations ago. She did it meticulously. Her pale, translucent

hands moved fluidly. Alex realized then why the custom

had died in contemporary America. No one would have

the time.

"Sandwich? Cucumber and cream cheese."

"Then, by all means," Alex replied with a smile.

Sarah Jo also added two tea cakes to the small plate before

passing it to Alex, who had spread a lacy napkin over her

lap. "Thank you."

She sipped her tea and pronounced it perfect. The sandwich

was only a sliver of crust-trimmed bread, but the filling was

cool and creamy. She hoped her stomach wouldn't make a

rude noise when it greedily devoured the inadequate portion.

She had slept through breakfast; it had seemed superfluous

to eat lunch so soon before teatime.

Starting on one of the tea cakes, she asked, "Have you

returned to Kentucky often for visits?"



hostess prepared her own tea and stirred it idly.' 'Only

for my parents' funerals."

"I didn't mean to bring up a sad topic."

"I have no family left, except for Angus and Junior. Anyone with character learns to live with losses." She replaced

cup and saucer on the table so carefully that the china

didn't even clink. Keeping her head lowered, she looked up

Alex from beneath her brows. "Only you haven't, have

you?"

Alex returned the uneaten half of the sugar cookie to her

plate, knowing intuitively that they had reached the reason

behind this invitation to tea. "Haven't what?"

'You haven't learned that it's best to let the dead remain

dead."

The lines of battle had been drawn. Alex returned all the

tea implements to the silver tray, even the spider-webby napkin

from her lap. "Are you referring to my mother?"

' 'Precisely. This investigation of yours has upset my entire

household, Miss Gaither."

"I apologize for the inconvenience. The circumstances

make it unavoidable."

"Thugs vandalized my property, threatening the health

and life of every horse we own or board, thereby our livelihood."

"That was an unfortunate incident. I can't tell you how

truly sorry I am for it," Alex said, appealing to the woman

to understand.' `I had nothing to do with it. You must believe

that."

Sarah Jo drew a deep breath. The ruffles around her neck

quivered with suppressed indignation and dislike. Her hostility

was so palpable that Alex wondered again what possible