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 grin tugged at her lips. “So far the only males I know in Deer Run are Uncle Zeb and young Thomas. Not exactly eligible, either of them.”
“You know me,” he pointed out. “I’m generally considered eligible.”
“And that’s according to the local newspaper, from what Aunt Rebecca said in one of her letters. Most eligible bachelor in the county, or something like that.” Lainey looked as if she felt she’d scored.
“Ouch. I hoped Rebecca didn’t know anything about it.” He grimaced. “How I let myself be talked into that idiotic contest I can’t see.”
“Someone caught you in a weak moment, no doubt,” she said.
“Something like that. Well, much as I enjoy having my follies paraded to the immediate world, maybe we’d best get down to business, so you can meet your date.”
“I planned to drop in on Rachel. Or Meredith.” She shook her head slightly, as if to clear it. “I’m not sure. There’s something I need to find out from them.”
Lainey’s eyebrows drew together, and she raised one hand to press her fingertips between them, as if to clear her thoughts. The urge to annoy her left him abruptly.
“What’s wrong?” He took a step closer, surprised by the strength of his concern.
Lainey blinked, seeming to make an effort to focus. “I was going to ask Meredith or Rachel, but actually I guess you would know it, too. What does the death of Meredith’s mother have to do with the summer I spent here when I was ten?”
He hadn’t expected that, and maybe he should have. Once she was back in Deer Run, Lainey was bound to hear about the events that had been a nine-days-wonder just a month ago. Not enough happened in Deer Run to eclipse something as dramatic as murder, attempted murder and suicide.
“I can, yes,” he said slowly, trying to think how to frame the story. “What did you hear about it? And how?” Obviously not from Rachel or Meredith, or she wouldn’t have been ready to seek them out tonight.
“Sit down, for goodness’ sake.” Lainey waved a hand toward the rocker that was drawn up close to Rebecca’s seat.
He obeyed. They were practically knee to knee, sitting in the two rockers. Rebecca always liked to have her visitors close to her, especially as her hearing worsened in recent years.
“Well?” he asked, a little too aware of how near she was—enough that her elusive, exotic scent touched him.
Lainey shrugged. “I don’t see why it matters, but I was in Miller’s Store today when two women came in—Jeannette Walker and Laura Hammond.”
Jake sent a startled glance out the front windows to the Willows, which sat diagonally across the street. “Laura? Laura’s back in town?”
She nodded. “I thought she looked unwell, and after they left, Anna told me why. She said Laura had been in a psychiatric facility. That her husband had killed Meredith’s mother.” Her eyes grew shadowed. “She said it had something to do with that summer I was here.”
How much to tell her? Maybe he’d have been better off not to interrupt her visit to Meredith and Rachel. They’d do a better job of this than he would.
“Well?” She interrupted his thoughts. “Is it true?”
“More or less. How much do you remember about the summer you were here?”
She considered. “I remember a lot about some things, not much about others. I’ve started to remember more about Meredith and Rachel since I talked to them last night. But there are holes.”
“Natural enough. You left here, went back to your normal life. I stayed here, but I still don’t remember much about the summer I was ten.” He grinned. “Except that I probably spent most of it playing basketball.”
“The years do run together. But...” She frowned. “I should remember more about that summer, I’d think, because it was the only one I lived here.”
He didn’t know whether that theory was true or not. “What makes one thing stay in your memory and another fade? I can remember every single detail of a Saturday afternoon I worked on a science project with my dad and nothing at all about the class I was in.”
She gave him a look. “That must gratify your teacher. Anyway, just tell me. Don’t assume I know anything.”
“That makes it harder. The important thing about
