Page 29 of Killer on the Homestead
His mouth curved in spite of himself. “I know.”
She rolled her eyes, despairing of him and loving him in equal measures, as she always had. But her expression immediately sobered, her hands clasped and wringing the way they only did when she was really upset about something.
“I just… Something about that young man dying. What a waste. What a loss. Because there’s nothing else he can do now. It’s just over. I know you felt like losing baseball was…a death of sorts, and I’m not saying it isn’t, or you can’t grieve it. I just don’t want you grieving it at the cost of life. Because you still have that.”
He was rendered speechless for a moment. His mother wasn’t afraid to wade in and say anything. Ever. But they didn’t really have heart-to-hearts very often. He realized this really was stemming from poor Hunter’s murder. Since it was, he tried to be honest with her, instead of doing what he wanted to do, which was fend her off.
“I’m not grieving it at the cost of anything, Mom.” That was the truth of it, even if he hadn’t really thought of it in those terms. “Maybe I was, but… I’m glad I came home, Mom. To help deal with this, but also because… It feels like life here.”
“And I suppose you’ll tell me Rosalie has nothing to do with that and I should butt out.”
He studied her, knowing he shouldn’t say it, but it’d get a smile out of her if he surprised her. “Maybe one of those things. I’ll let you pick which one.”
Rosalie got home late. She’d forgotten the pizza she’d promised to make up for last week. She was a mess. She’d be smart to go upstairs, take a long shower, and sleep.
She hunted for Audra instead. Found her in her little office, going over accounts, no doubt. Rosalie hesitated. She didn’t want to interrupt Audra, who was already overworked, but…
Audra looked up.
“You got a few minutes?” Rosalie asked reluctantly.
“A few.” Audra pursed her lips, studied Rosalie. “Have you eaten?”
“I’ll scrounge up something in a minute. I’ve just got to finish this up. Can you tell me about when you found the Kirk cows on our property? Let me record it?”
“Okay.” Audra leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes. “It was back in December. In fact…” She trailed off, got up, and went over to her sturdy stack of filing cabinets. She opened one, pulled out a little top spiral notebook. She hummed to herself as she flipped through the pages. “‘December fourteenth. I found three of Norman Kirk’s cattle in the east pasture. Returned by nightfall.’”
“Do you remember anything else?”
“We couldn’t figure out how they’d gotten over to my place. I helped him and his foreman, and a couple of his hands, search fence line. Tried to retrace their path. It didn’t make any sense, but poor Norman was distracted. That was around the time Duncan was having his second surgery, and I know they were just worried sick about him refusing to let them come down to California.”
Rosalie tried to remember it, but she didn’t really. She didn’t pay attention to the ranch, and as nice as the Kirks were, she hadn’t paid attention to them. She remembered the story Audra had brought home vaguely because she tended to file mysteries away.
But she hadn’t thought about how that affected anyone. Not the Kirks, who were already dealing with worry about their injured son. Not Audra and how much she had on her plate, not just at their ranch, but at the agricultural society, and with neighbors.
Not the neighbor who’d had his whole life upended by some tendons snapping.
She refused to feel sorry for a millionaire who’d achieved his dreams, except she couldn’t seem to help herself. What would it be like to devote your entire life to something that you always knew would end? Then it ended, not because of any choice you made, but because of bad luck?
“Rosalie. You aren’t paying any attention.”
Rosalie blinked back to where she was, what sheshouldbe thinking about. “Of course I am.” Besides, it didn’t matter if she’d been thinking of something else, because she was recording what Audra was saying. She could go over it in detail a million times.
“What’s up with you?” Audra demanded.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing.”
Audra rolled her eyes. “The minute I mentioned Duncan, you went somewhere else.”
She could lie to her sister. It wouldn’t be the first time. She wanted to lie. Sheplannedto lie, but when she opened her mouth the truth just sort of escaped. “Duncan…kissed me.”
Audra beamed at her, all smiles and excitement. “That’s fantastic.”
“Why the hell would it be fantastic?” Rosalie demanded. “He shouldn’t have done it, and I have no plans to repeat it.”
