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“I’ll bet. How’s Aunt Amelia doing?”
“She’s quite frail. And not thinking all that clearly.” That was an understatement. “How’s Spence? Did you remember to pick him up at the neighbor’s?”
“Nope. Completely forgot. Good thing the kid stole a car and drove himself home.”
Meg sighed, hating herself just a little. Of course Jerry wouldn’t forget to pick up Spence. She was going to have to quit treating her brother as if he were the ten-year-old and show more confidence in him. “I’m sorry, Jerry. I never should have suggested that you might forget.”
“No, probably not, but I know you, so the assumption was expected…and forgiven.”
She heard her son’s voice in the background. “Hey, Uncle Jerry, can I have another hot dog?”
“Hot dogs?” Meg said. “You’re having hot dogs for di
“No offense, Meggie, but isn’t that an oxymoron using turkey and meat together in the same sentence?”
Meg could picture her brother’s teasing grin.
“Besides, Spence and I are bonding,” he continued. “You need guy food to do that—good old-fashioned frankfurters.” Before Meg could respond, Jerry said, “Hey, kid, back off on the Easy Cheese.”
She rolled her eyes and decided it was best to adopt the philosophy that a short-term lack of nutrition probably never killed anyone.
“So you had a bad day?” Jerry said.
“Not the best. A few surprises, not the least of which was the presence of a man at the house when I got there.”
Jerry hooted. “Aunt Amelia has a boyfriend?”
“No, you idiot. This was a much younger man, the deputy sheriff of Mount Esther by the way. He’s probably not much older than I am.”
Jerry laughed again. “So you found a boyfriend? Fast work, and it’s about time. Two years is long enough to go dateless.”
“Why do I bother talking to you?”
“Because I’m the only one you know who talks about nothing of any importance, and it’s a nice change of pace.”
“Maybe you’re right. Anyway, the deputy claims Amelia sold Ashford House to him a few weeks ago.”
“Whoa! No way. The house is yours, isn’t it?”
“Yes, at least I think so.” She hated the edge of doubt in her answer and quickly amended her statement. “Of course it is. This is obviously just a big mistake. All I have to do is find the deed, and…”
“Right,” Jerry said. “You’ll straighten it out, I know you will.” Typical of Jerry, he changed the subject before he might actually be called upon to give advice or listen to someone else’s problems. “Speaking of boyfriends…”
“Which we weren’t, really.”
“Well, no, but a girl came in today. Real cute. I’d call her definite girlfriend potential for your baby brother.”
“What did she want?”
“She has a business proposition. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. The brainiac is reaching for the phone.”
The words business proposition immediately translated into harebrained scheme in Meg’s mind. “Jerry, don’t you let a pretty face—”
“Hi, Mom!”
Tension ebbed from Meg’s shoulders at the sound of her son’s voice, and she relegated the solving of another problem to tomorrow’s already crowded list. “Hi, honey, how are you?” she asked. “Tell me all about school today.”
MEG BLEW A KISS into the phone and disco
She pulled to the back and parked. The deputy acknowledged her arrival with a brief wave and returned to tightening the girth on the saddle of a chestnut horse. A young girl walked under the animal’s neck and stared at Meg’s car.
Meg stepped out of the car and watched the exchange between Wade and the girl. He pointed in Meg’s direction and appeared to be explaining her presence. The girl chewed on her bottom lip and nodded a couple of times. Meg wondered if the deputy was describing her to his child as the wicked witch who’d come to ruin their dreams of home ownership.
Sensing movement to her right, Meg’s attention was captured by an elderly man who stood up from the washtub where she had sat earlier. He approached the two by the horse. If this was a delegation of Murdocks intent on challenging her right to be at Ashford House, then Meg was sorely outnumbered.
She walked to the threesome prepared to defend her position. “You still here?” she said u
“Actually I’m back,” he answered. “I left for a while to check the traffic out on the highway and just returned so my daughter could ride while we still have some daylight.” Noticing that the girl had her foot in the stirrup and was staring at him expectantly, he hoisted her into the saddle. “Je
The girl swept her long black hair over one shoulder and peered down at Meg with eyes that Meg now noticed were as dark and haunting as her father’s. “Hi.”
Still uncertain how she’d been portrayed to the Murdock family, Meg said simply, “Nice to meet you.”
“And this is my father, Roone Murdock,” Wade said, indicating the man who stood with his back slightly bent and one elbow on the horse’s rump. The elderly man extended his free hand and she shook it.
“We’ll be out of your hair in a half hour or so,” Wade said. “Just as soon as Je
Je
Sensing that Je
“Yeah, I know all about her,” the girl said. “I know that you—”
Wade distracted his daughter by handing her the reins. “Go on now, Jen. Just down to the river and back and into the side yard.” Roone moved aside and Wade patted the horse’s backside sending the animal off at a slow walk. “Nothing too fast or too fancy, you hear me?” When horse and rider had moved away, he said to Meg, “She doesn’t know the whole story, just an abbreviated one.”
Meg frowned. “I guess that makes two of us.”
He smiled, showing a line of mostly even white teeth with a slightly crooked one in front which gave him an air of comfortable imperfection. “Yeah, I suppose there are a few details missing at this point.”
Roone Murdock headed toward the corner of the barn. “I’ll keep my eye on her,” he said to his son.
“Thanks, Pop.” He bent to retrieve a curry brush from the ground and addressed Meg when he stood again. “So, how’s Mrs. Ashford today?”
“Confused about things, but okay, I guess.”
“Did she know you?”
“After a while but only for a minute or two. I wasn’t able to ask her about the house….”
“I wouldn’t expect you to if Mrs. Ashford isn’t in a state to handle a lot of questions. From what I can tell, she has her lucid moments, and you can talk to her then.”
Meg tried to analyze the deputy’s tone. He didn’t seem worried about what she would discover when she was finally able to ask Amelia about the supposed sale of the house. In fact, he was almost confident.
“I was in the kitchen a few minutes ago,” he continued. “There aren’t many supplies in the cupboards. Mrs. Ashford’s maid came in yesterday and took most of the food so it wouldn’t spoil. If I’d known you were coming…”
Was he actually concerned about what she would eat? Fu