I stopped. "You're kidding. Webster's seeing a chiropractor?"
"Hey, between that, the medicine and the acupuncture, he's improving every day," he said.
"Acupuncture, too?" Still, I had to admit Webster was a new dog. He beat us to the back gate, and once we came in through the kitchen, he hurried to his water dish and began lapping like he'd done a marathon in the desert.
As Terry led me into the living room, I took a deep breath to help prepare me mentally for an encounter with my aunt. Kate was curled up in a corner of the leather sofa, and Aunt Caroline sat across from her on the love seat. Since learning last year that my aunt had lied to Kate and me all our lives about our illegal adoption, Kate had generously forgiven her, but I hadn't. Didn't know if I ever would.
"Hey, Abby," Kate said, her dark eyes lighting up.
Aunt Caroline smiled. I believe she'd be a perfect candidate for some talk show centered around people addicted to plastic surgery, because she'd had plenty and then some.
"Abigail. What a nice surprise," she said.
"Hi, Aunt Caroline. You're looking... bright." She was floral today. Flowered silk shirt in pink and fuchsia, matching skirt. Heck, she even had a fake poppy in her white hair. She looked like The Secret Garden gone bad.
Terry cleared his throat. "Ladies, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." He strode through the room, Webster on his heels. I heard them climb the stairs and wished I was going with them.
Instead I sat on the couch, set my drink on the glass coffee table and started in on my sandwich. Nothing like deep-fried chicken on a buttered bun to make the company more tolerable.
"How many fat grams are you consuming this evening, Abigail? You won't keep that handsome policeman interested long if you... Well, you know what I mean. Or has that little infatuation ended?"
"They're very much in love," Kate said quickly, probably knowing I was ready to spit a pickle in Aunt Caroline's direction.
"In love? As in cohabiting?" Aunt Caroline asked, her carefully penciled brows rising.
"That's not really your business," I answered as sweetly as I'm capable of. How I wished we were living together, but Jeff still kept his apartment despite spending seventy-five percent of his time at my place.
Aunt Caroline held up her hands in surrender. "Sorry. I just don't want to see you hurt again. You have an ex-husband in jail, if you've forgotten.... But, wait. What an idiot I've been. That's why you've taken up with someone the exact opposite of Steven."
"That someone is the most honest, sensitive man I've ever met, and to repeat, this is none of your business." Though I wanted to tell her to burn her tongue on her own potpie, I managed to stay calm.
"Aunt Caroline, is something bothering you?" Kate asked. "Because I think you're trying to press Abby's buttons tonight." My sister, always the shrink, was attempting to analyze Aunt Caroline. Like it would do any good.
Maybe Kate's insight had an impact, however, because I noticed tears in Aunt Caroline's eyes. Made me wish my give-a-damner was broke, but it wasn't. She was sad, and for some foolish reason, that bothered me.
"You're right, Kate. I am upset. Hans has left me." She blinked hard, not letting the tears escape.
"I am so sorry," Kate said. "You really cared for him."
Yeah, I thought. Because he was about forty years younger than you and allowed you to live in fantasyland. "That's too bad," I heard myself saying. He had kept her busy and, well, yes, happy.
"I apologize, Abigail. I didn't mean to 'press your buttons,' as Kate so aptly put it. I suppose I am a little jealous. Sergeant Kline is... Well, let's put it this way: I wouldn't mind if he ate crackers in my bed." She smiled.
I laughed, mostly because the image was absurd. Then she and Kate joined me in a good guffaw. Tension broken.
"Maybe I should start over," Aunt Caroline said. "Kate tells me her practice is thriving. What about your job, Abigail? Any new cases?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. And since you bring it up, maybe you can help me with something." I put my half-eaten sandwich in the bag. "There's this blanket that might be a clue to the parents in an abandoned-baby case I'm working. The label says the blanket was made for Posh Prams. Could Posh Prams have been a local business or a store, say about twenty years ago? Because I found nothing even close to that name in the yellow pages."
Aunt Caroline sat back and picked up her glass of white wine from the end table beside the love seat. She sipped, obviously thinking. "Sounds British. Never having had children of my own, it's not a store I would have visited, though I do like the name. Have you been to the Village? That British import shop that's been there forever? They might know."
"Aunt Caroline might be onto something, Abby," Kate said. "It's a place to start."
They were right. I should have thought of this myself. The store they were talking about was in Rice Village, which wasn't actually a village, but several streets near the university lined with expensive specialty stores and yuppie hangouts like the Gap and Banana Republic.
"Okay, I'll check it out. Thanks," I said.
Aunt Caroline seemed pleased I'd actually accepted her suggestion without an argument, but who better to ask about a store that included the word "posh" than her?
We small-talked for a few more minutes, and then Aunt Caroline had to leave for some charity organizing committee meeting.
Once she was gone, Kate said, "How is the case going? Will holding up okay?"
I explained what I had learned about the money since we last talked about the case yesterday. "I'm wondering where her money came from, Kate. Burl Rollins didn't seem to have a clue, but... wait a minute."
Kate leaned forward. "What?"
"Perhaps Verna Mae was receiving child support from the father of her baby."
"I don't get it. Even if she was Will's biological mother, she didn't keep him," Kate said.
"True, but what if the father didn't know she'd given Will up? Or what if this man, whoever he was, paid Verna Mae off to keep her quiet about having his child?"
Kate sat back and considered this. "That would mean he had a giant reason to keep the baby a secret."
"A wife, maybe? Could be Verna Mae came to Houston the night she was murdered to meet with this man, prepared to ask him for more money now that Will had visited her? After all, she could easily tell Will plenty of things about his biological family. Rather than pay up, the guy killed her."
"I guess that's possible," said Kate.
"Those DNA results can't come back soon enough," I said. "The lab usually gets me results within a few days, but HPD may not get Verna Mae's sample there for comparison right away. Damn, I hate waiting."
"Tell me something I don't know," Kate replied with a smile.
"In the meantime, I want to take another look inside Verna Mae's house. She could have hidden away more information about Will. You said you'd help, remember?"
"Yes, but how—"
"I have the keys. The house belongs to Will now. Tomorrow night after work okay for you? Or do you have group therapy this Tuesday evening?"
"I'm free. You're sure this is okay? We're not doing something the police won't like?"
"Burl handed over the keys, Kate."
"Then I'm game."
When I arrived home an hour later, hyped up on the half dozen Diet Cokes I'd consumed, I played with Diva for awhile. She loved chasing the feather-on-astick, and I loved watching her do cartwheels and flip-flops.
When she finally gave up and dragged her toy into the other room, I went up to my bedroom and was just finishing the whole wash, exfoliate, moisturize routine when I heard Jeff's key in the lock downstairs. Damn. I had on an old T-shirt and cotton undies. Looking like this, even the tide wouldn't take me out.