“Go,” I urged. “Call me when you’re done and we’ll do something.”
“Ummm, I like the sound of that,” he said.
My face got warm. “How’s your dad?” I asked, partly to change the subject.
Marcus laughed. “Last time I checked he was sitting at the kitchen table with a bottle of aspirin and an entire pot of coffee. Is it wrong that I might have laughed?”
“Yes,” I said, “but I probably would have done the same thing.”
I heard some kind of crash in the background. “I’ve gotta go,” Marcus said. “Everything will be okay. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I said. I wanted to believe everything was going to be okay. But it seemed to me that it was going to need a nudge or two.
13
Hope called as I was getting into the truck after the library had closed at lunchtime for the day. “Are you still at the library?” she asked.
“I’m just about to head home.”
“Do you mind if I stop in for a minute?”
“No,” I said. I didn’t have any plans anymore. “Did you find Ira?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’ll tell you all about it when I get there.”
When I pulled into the driveway Hope pulled in right behind. I grabbed my briefcase and got out of the truck. “So Ira was there, on the other side of the lake?”
She nodded. “Living in his truck just back from the water in a little clearing in the trees. He’s only been there a couple of days. He knows someone with an apple U-pick up north and he’s been working there. Ira’s actually a pretty interesting man.”
“You don’t think he killed Dani.”
She shook her head. “No. His right arm is basically useless. I suspect he had a stroke at some point in the past. There’s no way he would have been able to pick her up, let alone throw her over the embankment. And I took a look at the truck. It’s banged up in places but nothing recent and nothing that makes it look like it hit someone.”
“It was a long shot anyway,” I said with a small sigh.
“Hey, I’m impressed that you figured out where he was. If you ever want to give up being a librarian . . .” She grinned.
“I’ll go work for Burtis Chapman,” I said, “because I’d make a lousy detective.”
“I think you’re pretty good at it.”
My stomach growled loudly then. “Have you had lunch?” I asked.
“I thought maybe I’d head over to Fern’s,” Hope said with a shrug.
“I have soup and brownies,” I said. “And cats who will at least pretend to listen while you talk about your day.”
“Sounds good to me,” she said.
Owen was in the kitchen lying on the floor on his back, chewing on the head of a funky chicken. He lifted his head to look at us and I thought he looked just a little buzzed on the catnip.
“Should I start looking for the body?” Hope asked.
“It’s probably under the fridge,” I said.
“Do you know why he bites the heads off?”
“He likes to chew on them and suck on the beak part. Roma thinks he was separated from his mother too soon.” I washed my hands and reached for the placemats and napkins.
“Just let me wash up and I’ll do that,” Hope said.
I left the things on the table and got the soup out of the fridge and a pot from the cupboard so I could heat it up for us.
“You found Owen and Hercules at Wisteria Hill, right?” Hope asked as she set the table.
“More like they found me,” I said, “but yes.”
“It’s beautiful out there. I know the resort is supposed to bring money and jobs but I can’t help thinking I’d rather have the trees than an ugly glass-and-metal building.”
“You haven’t heard?”
Hope was folding a napkin into some kind of triangular shape. She looked up at me. “Heard what?” Then before I could answer she made the connection. “Ah crap. Marcus’s friends didn’t find anything. Did they?”
I opened the cupboard for a couple of bowls. “No. It doesn’t look like there’s any way to stop things now.”
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given that John Keller was doing all the work since Danielle McAllister’s death.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “What do mean?” Hercules had come in and was sitting by the table. He murped a soft inquiry as well. Owen was still engrossed in his chicken.
Hope smiled down at the little tuxedo cat and waggled her fingers at him.
“I think I told you that I did some background checking on both John and Travis Rosen.”
I nodded.
“Turns out he used to work as a lobbyist for a consortium of construction companies.”
“Doing what?”
“Making a case for the kind of thing he’s working against now.”
I started filling our bowls. “Maybe he had a change of heart and that’s why he went to work with American Land Trust.”
Hope shrugged. “I know it makes me sound cynical but in my experience those kind of things don’t happen very often.”
I set a steaming bowl in front of her. “This smells good,” she said. “Chicken noodle is my favorite, although at my house it generally comes out of a can.”
I took the place opposite her. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Owen drop the chicken head, stretch and head for the table. “You could make this,” I said. “The slow cooker does most of the work. If you decide you want to let me know and I’ll show you what I do.”
“Seriously?” Hope asked, spoon halfway to her mouth.
I smiled. “Absolutely.”
We ate in silence for a couple of minutes, then Hope set down her spoon. “Kathleen, how much do you know about Dani McAllister?”
“I only met her once,” I said. “Marcus and the others told me some stories about her, but that’s about it.” There was something about the slight frown on her face that made me curious about her question. “Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know if this matters and I’m not even sure it’s something I should pursue . . .”
“But . . .”
“I think Dani was gay.”
I set my own spoon down, hoping nothing in my expression gave me away. “Have you asked Marcus?”
She shook her head, making her dark curls bounce. “No. It’s none of my business unless it has something to do with her getting killed, and so far I haven’t found any evidence of that. I don’t want to air her personal life because if she was gay she kept that information pretty private. But we are running out of possibilities for what happened to her.”
I got up and started the coffee to buy myself a little time. “What makes you think you’re right?”
“She had a book of essays in her backpack written by women sharing their experiences coming out. It just made me wonder.” She suddenly stopped, closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head. “I have a book about decomposition in my backpack,” she said. “What does that say about me?”
“That you’re a good detective,” I said. I hesitated for a moment. “And you’re right about Dani.”
“How did you find out?”
I explained about my online research and Marcus’s confirmation, without saying anything about his and Dani’s so-called secret.
Hope crumbled a cracker into her bowl. “I think it’s sad that Dani felt she had to hide who she really was from everyone.”
I nodded. “Me too.” No matter how crazy my family may have made me over the years, I knew they loved me unconditionally. I couldn’t imagine how Dani had to have felt, thinking that she’d lose her grandmother’s love just by being honest.
“Do you know the woman’s name? The one you think might have been involved with her?”
“Tanith Jeffery.”
“I should get in touch with her.” I didn’t answer right away and Hope looked up from her soup. “You don’t think it’s good idea.”
I sighed. “It’s just . . . what would you say?”