family certainly supplied more than their fair share of good healthy sustenance to the less fortunate.
“I ate the cold sausages for breakfast.” Trent, as skinny as three-ply, decided he needed more protein than Kell, who had to content himself with pretzels and a tomato salad, which he hadn’t particularly minded although he wouldn’t admit that to Trent who thought he had scored.
“I have a rather large basket of food I need to get rid of before everything spoils. You’ll have to come out to the car and get it. I wouldn’t be surprised if I had a few pork pies in amongst everything else, but I think it’s mainly the usual for this time of year—oranges, honey, pâtés, cheeses, a ham, rye bread, nuts, too, I think. I took out the fresh vegetables because I knew neither of you would, um, have time to cook healthy meals.”
Kell nodded, faking detachment, but he honestly thought Vix was the most adorable women he had ever met. He had never known anyone quite as generous as her, or quite so embarrassed by her wealth. He tried not to be embarrassed by her wealth, too. Accepting gifts he could never pay back was hard, but Vix knew this and suffered with every thoughtful gesture she performed. He and the others could do no less than appreciate her consideration.
“Since you brought bread, we could set up a table and stop for a while.”
“Fortunately, I brought a tablecloth, too.” She laughed.
Kell shook his head with rueful amusement and wiped his hands down the sides of his filthy coverall, catching Trent’s glance. They both knew she had come to fuss over them like a mother hen. When they were building the theater set she painted, she had done the same. Jay was the luckiest man in the world. But Jay had made his own luck. Kell intended to make his own, too.
Kell envied his brother nothing other than his wife, who he richly deserved. Jay was the older brother who had cared for his siblings the way a parent should, working to support them while their father drank. Kell didn’t like to remember the bad times, but since his toughness had been formed by the bad times, he had little choice. “Where did you park?”
“Out the front. You parked across the drive and so I couldn’t get in.” Her voice held a tone of accusation.
Kell nodded, indicating the plaster sheets on the floor. “I was about to pack this rubbish into the truck bed.”
Vix lifted her shoulders. “So, I sincerely hope I don’t embarrass you.”
Wary, Kell scratched his ear. He couldn’t guess why the way she had parked her car would embarrass him, but as he reached the driveway gates, he spotted a bright racing red in the street. “A Ferrari,” he said in awe.
She looked guilty. “Jay hasn’t seen it yet. He won’t be pleased, but I’ll only have it for a couple of days. My father sent over the basket in it. He thought it was time I had the Beamer serviced.”
“You shouldn’t let him boss you around like that,” Kell said, trying to sound severe. “Hell, if my father did that to me….” He glanced at Trent.
“And if my father did that to me…” Trent shook his head, his eyes bright with suppressed laughter.
She pursed her lips. “I know you both think I’m ungrateful, but I live in a conservative area of town. This car does not suit my lifestyle.”
“It suits mine.” Kell ran his hand over the polished hood. He wanted to lie there, arms outstretched, hugging the expensive car, but instead he shrugged and tried to look detached. At that moment, the gardener from next door poked his head out of the driveway of the judge’s house. His skinny face disappeared quickly.
Kell frowned. He hoped the kid wasn’t scouting before doing something nefarious, but what could the kid do? Steal a car? He seemed to have left an old heap of his own in the carport. The judge probably told him not to park on the street. A car like that would give the classy neighborhood a bad look.
“You know when we were talking about murder?” he said to Vix. “The neighbor next door is missing and a kid is hanging around the place.”
She looked surprised. “That’s Adrian Ferguson’s house.”
“How do you know?” Kell said, and he wished the words back. Vix and her family knew everyone rich or connected.
“It’s a heritage house. It’s listed. Everyone knows Adrian owns it. Aside from that…” She looked uncomfortable. “He’s a friend of my father.”
“Have you seen him recently? The judge, not your father.”
She shrugged. “I think he is touring the Mediterranean.”
“Why would you think that?” He narrowed his eyes as he gazed at her.
“Because he and his wife went with my stepmother’s sister and her husband.”
Kell sighed. “Let’s get this basket indoors.” He grabbed one handle and Trent took the other.
“If he was dead, I would have heard, because my stepaunt certainly would have said something to my stepmother.” Vix walked down the side of the house.
Once this area would have been sheltered by an open veranda with a view onto a tennis court, but the roof had long since been dismantled, which saved Kell the trouble of knocking off the tiles. And the old tennis court had been lost in the weeds. “Well, the kid is up to something.”
“I’m sure Adrian will be very glad to know you are keeping an eye on his place.” She opened the back door of the house and stepped aside so that Kell and Trent could enter ahead of her. “If someone is planting a bomb to surprise him when he gets back, he would like to know before he opens the front door.”
“You may think this is funny, but the kid was wearing a disguise and snooping around.” Kell walked through the back lobby to the kitchen.
Vix followed behind Trent. “I’ll go and talk to him.”
“Then he’ll know we’re onto him,” Trent said, puffing a little. He grunted as he helped lift the wicker hamper onto the table. “It’s best if we keep cool.”
“Do you believe he is doing something wrong, or don’t you?” Vix gave them both a schoolteacher frown.
Kell inclined his head to the side. “I think it’s unlikely that anyone would employ a gardener to spray blue spots on the lawn, especially when they’re away.”
“So, I’ll talk to him. You two would only scare him off. At the moment you look like a couple medical examiner’s assistants. And with your masks, you would be downright scary. Lunch will be ready as soon as you are.” She raised her eyebrows at their garb.
“If she wasn’t my sister-in-law, I would suspect her of wanting to check out my body,” Kell said to Trent.
“She’s seen better.” Trent was already struggling out of his filthy white coverall as he headed toward the bathroom.
“Let’s hope he leaves the bathroom clear for me,” Kell muttered, having been annoyed by Trent’s habit of leaving his towels on the floor of the bathroom for the past three days.
Vix seemed to be on another track entirely. “You know, this is a beautiful house.”
