Twilight at Blueberry Barrens (Sunset Cove #3)(19)

He shook his head. “He was always strict with them and insisted on good manners. He started taking them to soup kitchens as soon as they were born, and every Christmas they took loads of presents to homeless people in Boston.”

“Then don’t mess up now, kiddo. Take a firmer hand with them. It doesn’t mean you don’t love them. In fact, it means you love them enough to train them for living a productive life.”

He studied her rugged face. She’d always been a no-nonsense sort of woman, and she made a lot of sense now. “Maybe you’re right. I’m just not sure about Kate.”

She wagged a finger at him. “That girl’s had a tornado of events in her life, and she’s emerged still kicking. You want a strong mother figure for them, someone whose strength the girls can emulate.”

He held up a hand. “Whoa, mother figure? No nanny will take Melissa’s place.”

“Of course not. I should have said role model. That suit you better?”

“It’s just for six weeks. I hardly think Kate or anyone else would have that big of an impact in such a short time.”

“You’d be surprised.” Her voice was soft, and she turned to look out at the water.

He counted back to how many days in total he’d been around his aunt and realized it wasn’t a whole lot more than that. He and Heath had come here for a week every summer starting when they were ten and until they were eighteen, and then a weekend here and there after they’d grown up. Maybe a total of sixty-six or seventy days. It wasn’t much more than the forty-five or so days a nanny would be with the girls. The impact Dixie had on him had been profound.

He studied the topknot on her head and the sag of her shoulders. She’d been widowed when she was twenty-five and never had children, but that was about all he knew. “Why didn’t you ever remarry?”

When she turned around to face him, a tiny smile lifted her lips. “I’m a slow bloomer, but I’m working on it. Walker Rocco didn’t work out, but there are still fish in the sea.”

“You’re seeing someone now?”

“Drake Newham, I might be old, but I’m not dead.” Her penciled-in brows were drawn together, and she folded her arms across her ample bosom.

He knew from her steely tone that his aunt wasn’t about to give him any more personal information. “All right, I’ll hire her. But if it ends up poorly, it’s all your fault.”

Her grin up at him held a triumphal gleam. “I think my shoulders can bear the burden.”

“I love you, Aunt Dixie.” Slinging his arm around her, he motioned for the girls with his free arm. “Dinnertime.”

Seeing Kate’s pretty face every day wouldn’t be a trial, but he wasn’t sure it was enough to compensate for her take-no-prisoners approach with his nieces.





TEN


The bar was mostly empty at only four in the afternoon. It was a little too early for the after-work and dinner crowds, but that was how Kate had planned it. The Wild Pelican was on a narrow side street that boasted peekaboo glimpses of the water from its windows. Kate had finally remembered the name of her uncle’s girlfriend, and they had come to this bar where she worked to question her. From what Kate had heard, this was the same bar Whitney Peece had partied in just before she disappeared.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Claire whispered as Kate led the way to the polished wood bar at the back of the barn-wood-encased room. “Danny might be upset if he finds out you didn’t tell him about this woman.”

“He’s got more important things to worry about, like finding Whitney’s killer.”

Kate gazed at a woman in her forties behind the bar. Her shoulder-length blonde hair held purple highlights. Her blatant sexuality would be a draw for every unmarried man in Folly Shoals. Kate had seen her once or twice at Uncle Paul’s trial, but they’d never spoken.

Becky Oates put down a whiskey bottle and turned to face them. Kate stepped forward with a smile. “Hi, Becky, I’m—”

“I know who you are.” Her husky voice held disinterest. “What will you have?”

“Just sparkling water with lime for both of us. Listen, you probably know Uncle Paul escaped from jail.”

“Heard that rumor.” Becky filled two glasses with sparkling water and dropped in two slices of lime, then slid them in front of Kate and Claire. “It’s not my concern. If you’re here looking for Paul, you can head right back out.”

Kate masked her disappointment and took a sip of water. “He hasn’t gotten in touch with you at all? I really want to talk to him.”

“You want to send him back to prison.” Becky’s gaze flitted to Claire, and her lip curled. “Your sister here sent him away for life. I don’t have anything to say to either of you.”

“He tried to kill me.” Claire’s voice echoed off the bar mirror.

“Yeah, so you told the judge. And like I said, I haven’t seen him.”

Kate knew she was hiding something by the way she kept turning her back to them and the way her gaze never landed for long. “But he’s called, hasn’t he?”

Becky shrugged. “I’ve talked to him a time or two in prison.”

“But not in the last few days?”