The words jolted, and Lainey could only stare at her. “I didn’t know. What happened to Meredith’s mother? An accident?” She envisioned a car smash-up, with Meredith barely surviving. But Meredith had seemed well enough last night.
Anna shook her head. “They didn’t tell you? Well, it would be a lot to take in, and you having plenty of worries on your plate as it is. No, Margo was murdered, and Meredith nearly so, and all because of poor Aaron Mast’s death that summer you were here. If Rachel hadn’t come back, maybe we’d never—”
Her words cut off abruptly as the bell on the door jangled. Two women came into the store—one tall, angular and businesslike, the other so fair and frail that she looked as if a breath would blow her away.
Lainey’s gaze crossed that of the taller woman and met a look so malevolent that she was reminded of Zeb Stoltzfus for an instant. Apparently this was yet another person who didn’t think she should be here. Lainey gripped the edge of the counter and managed a pleasant smile. She wouldn’t let herself be unnerved by a stranger’s hostility.
Anna, after standing motionless for a moment, came from around the counter and went quickly to take the blonde woman’s hand. “Laura, it is sehr gut to see you. I didn’t know that you were home from...home already.”
Lainey watched them, surprised by what seemed embarrassment underneath Anna’s hearty welcome. Laura, she repeated the name, memories coming back from the distant recesses of her mind. Laura had been a teenager that summer Lainey had spent here. Pretty, popular...what had happened to her? Her face was still beautiful, but thin and somehow empty-looking. She stood motionless next to the other woman like a doll.
“Yes, Laura is home.” The other woman’s tone was brisk. “She’s doing very well, aren’t you, Laura?”
Laura nodded, and the resemblance to a mechanical doll increased.
“We’re glad to hear it.” Anna’s hearty tone didn’t ring quite true, Lainey thought. “And look who else has come home to Deer Run?” She waved an ample arm at Lainey. “Here’s little Lainey Colton, all grown up. Lainey, you maybe wouldn’t remember Laura Hammond. And Jeannette Walker. She runs the bed-and-breakfast across the street from your aunt’s house.”
Lainey nodded. “The Willows, of course. It’s lovely.” The front yard and flower beds were manicured to within an inch of their lives, and the large Victorian house was immaculately kept up.
Just the same, she wouldn’t say she’d look forward to staying there. It was a bit on the formal side for her.
It was time for Jeannette to say that she was glad to see Lainey, or to ask about her aunt. She did neither. Instead she handed a list to Anna.
“Those are the things Laura would like. We won’t wait. You can have them delivered to Laura’s house.”
“She’s not staying with you, then?” Anna seemed to be trying to untangle something in her mind.
“No.” Jeannette snapped off the word. She gave Lainey a cool nod. “We’ll be going. Come along, Laura.” She touched the woman’s arm.
Laura turned obediently and moved toward the door. But before she left she glanced back. She gave Lainey a long look, her forehead creasing as if with an effort to remember.
When the door closed behind them, Anna let out her breath in a whoosh. “Ach, I am so clumsy. But there seems nothing to say around the woman that won’t bring up things that are better left unsaid. At least she didn’t recognize you.”
“Who? Laura?” Jeannette had certainly known who Lainey was, regardless of her actual words.
And Laura? Well, Lainey didn’t know what to make of Laura, but one thing struck her. Her fingers itched to draw that lovely, empty face, and she had a sense that she had drawn it before.
“You don’t remember?” Anna looked at her questioningly. “I shouldn’t say—” She let that trail off.
“I think you’d better,” Lainey said briskly. “I can’t go around Deer Run walking on eggshells, not knowing who I’m going to offend next.”
Anna shook her head. “I can’t tell you all of it. Not about the part that happened when you were here. You’ll have to hear that from Meredith and Rachel. But Laura...the reason I was surprised to see her is that she’s been in a mental hospital for more than a month. And she was there because it was her husband who killed Meredith’s mother.”
Lainey’s mind spun. Laura’s husband a killer? Meredith’s mother his victim? That didn’t make sense.
And the thing that made the least sense of all was Anna’s implication that the crime had its roots in something that had happened that long-ago summer.
Well, one thing was certain. She’d have to talk to Rachel and Meredith again, and soon.
* * *
JAKE SUSPECTED LAINEY wasn’t going to appreciate an unannounced visit from him this evening. On the other hand, if he’d called her first, she could so easily have made an excuse.
He’d made up his mind to drive over after supper. He didn’t want this decision put off any longer. Having a client’s affairs in disarray pounded on his nerves like a jackhammer. He might be relaxed and informal in the rest of his life, but when it came to his profession, he dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s. The school buddies who saw him as a typical good old boy would be surprised.
Only six o’clock, and it was growing dark already, with lights appearing in the houses and shops along Main Street. Fall was drawing in, no matter how nice the weather had been.
A string of orange pumpkin lights decorated the house he was passing, and in the next yard the sheet of a makeshift ghost fluttered from the branch of an oak tree. Halloween wasn’t until next week, but each year the decorations started earlier and grew more elaborate. The adults, it seemed, had taken over a holiday that used to be for kids.
There were no Halloween decorations at Rebecca’s house, of course. But every kid in town knew there’d still be whoopee pies waiting if you knocked on Rebecca’s door. Not this year. The thought depressed him.
He parked at the curb and got out. The glow of a gas lamp came from the front windows, so Lainey must be there.
He toyed with the thought of what she’d do for Halloween if she were back in St. Louis. A party, no doubt. She’d go as a gypsy. Or a witch. Either of those suited the somewhat wild quality of her beauty.
He reached the porch, raised his hand to knock, and nearly hit Lainey in the face as she swung the door open and charged through. For a moment both of them froze, probably equally startled.
“Sorry.” He lowered his arm, trying to look harmless. “I didn’t come to attack, honest.”
“My fault. I was just going out.” The way she said it invited him to leave.
“I’ll just take a few minutes of your time.” And then he could cross this job off his list and move on to a consideration of who would best care for both Rebecca and her property.
Lainey stared at him, maybe deciding whether or not to make an issue out of his unscheduled visit. Finally she shrugged and turned away from the door. “You may as well come in, I guess.”
Not a very gracious invitation, but he’d take it. He stepped inside quickly, before she could change her mind.
Lainey headed into the living room, and he followed. She slipped the handbag strap from her shoulder and tossed the bag onto the table next to Rebecca’s favorite chair. “You might have called.”
“Sorry.” He raised his eyebrows, feeling an urge to annoy her. “Have a hot date?”
For an instant he thought she’d snap at him, and then a reluctant