“How is Mary?” Pearl asked. “I haven’t seen her in such a long time.”
“Still kickboxing, still making the best pie I’ve ever eaten,” I said.
“I’d love to see her,” she said.
“She’s working tomorrow at the library.”
“I’ll try to make it in to say hello.” Pearl took the fresh cup of coffee Neil handed her as I put cream and sugar in my own.
“There are so many people I want to see while I’m here,” she said.
Roma smiled. “You can stay as long as you want to.”
“Maybe an extra day or two?” Pearl said, looking at her husband.
“Fine with me. I’m sure there are people who would like to see you too.” Then he gave Pearl a sly sideways glance and arched an eyebrow at her. “His worship, the mayor, for example. You know, if you hadn’t married me, you could be the first lady of Mayville Heights now.”
Roma and I exchanged confused looks and Pearl blushed.
“First lady of Mayville Heights?” Roma said. “Do you mean Mom and…and Sam Ingstrom?”
“He’s just being silly,” Pearl said, giving him a poke with her elbow.
“No I’m not,” Neil retorted. “Sam Ingstrom had a crush on you.” He looked over at Roma and me. “From what I heard, whenever Pearl was around Sam pretty much lost his senses.”
Pearl made a dismissive gesture with one hand. “Sammy and I were just friends. He was younger and he wasn’t carrying any torch for me, no matter what Mr. Romance Novel here says.”
I laughed along with everyone else, but I was remembering that photo of Sam looking at Pearl and her friends. Looking at Pearl with longing written all over his face.
Pearl gestured at me then. “Kathleen, there is one thing I remember from the night I left Tom. Oddly enough, Sam was there, at Wisteria Hill.”
I frowned at her. “He was?”
She nodded. “He’d driven out with a load of old railway ties they’d salvaged from some job for Carson, and Sam stepped on a nail while he was taking them off the truck. It went right through his boot into his foot. Ellen was bandaging it when Roma and I got there. The doctor’s office was closed and well, she was as good as any doctor.”
I’d noticed that Sam had an almost imperceptible limp when he’d been on his feet a lot. Maybe it was because of that old injury.
I wondered if Maggie was right. Had Sam lied about knowing Pearl because he was embarrassed about a teenage crush? Or could he have had something to do with Thomas Karlsson’s death?
No. That didn’t make any more sense than thinking Anna had killed Tom and buried him at the edge of the tree line. Working for his father’s landscaping company would have given Sam lots of good places to hide the body if he’d had anything to do with Tom’s death. It made no sense for him to take a body to Wisteria Hill. What would he have done? Hidden it in among the old railway ties? It wasn’t as though he would have been able to walk through the yard unnoticed carrying a dead body.
It seemed lame, but Maggie’s explanation was probably the right one. And given the amount of time that had passed, maybe no one would ever figure out how Thomas Karlsson had ended up buried at Wisteria Hill.
The doorbell rang. Roma got up to answer it and I leaned sideways in my chair to see who it was. When she opened the door Marcus Gordon was standing on the stoop.
21
“Hello, Roma,” I heard him say. “I’m sorry for stopping by at this time of night, but I was hoping to talk to your mother. She’s here?”
I knew the tone of voice and the body language well. Marcus was in cop mode. I stood up and walked over to the door before Roma could invite him in.
“Hi Marcus,” I said. “It’s kind of late. Do you have to talk to Pearl tonight? She only got here a little while ago.”
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Roma was frowning at me.
“Kathleen,” he said. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I was invited,” I said, stressing the word invited just a little. “For dinner.”
We stood there for a long moment doing the same kind of stare-down thing I sometimes did with the cats. Of course with them I was always the first to look away. This time, here, it was Marcus. I felt a tiny surge of very childish satisfaction when he did.
“So could you wait until the morning to talk to Pearl?” I asked.
He exhaled slowly and for a second I almost thought I saw a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. “I guess I could.” He pulled one of his cards out of his pocket and gave it to Roma. “Would you call me first thing and we’ll set up a time”—his eyes darted to me for a moment—“that works for everyone.”
“I will,” Roma said.
“I really should get going myself,” I said. I glanced at Marcus still in the doorway. “Could you wait and walk me to my truck?” I asked. “It’s dark.”
The truck was parked in Roma’s driveway only a few steps away from the door, but Marcus didn’t so much as turn his head in that direction. “It is dark,” he agreed. “I’ll just wait out here for you. Take your time.” To Roma he said, “I’ll speak to you in the morning.” He moved down the steps to the bottom and leaned against the newel post, crossing his arms over his chest and one incredibly long, strong leg over the other.
Roma closed the door and turned to me. “What was all that between you two?”
“Nothing,” I said. “It’s just that it’s late and your mom must be tired. Why not let her get some sleep? This has to be hard on her.” Pearl was still on the sofa, turned toward Neil, talking to him in a low voice.
“You’re right,” Roma said, tipping her head back to stretch her neck. “I should have thought of that.”
I reached over and gave her arm a pat. “It’s been hard on you too.”
She looked at the little cardboard rectangle in her hand and then put it in her pocket. “I’ll call Marcus in the morning and we’ll take care of it first thing.”
“I think you should…uh…take a lawyer with you.”
“A lawyer?” She made a face and shook her head. “Why would we need a lawyer? Marcus is my friend. I thought you thought of him as a friend too.”
“This is still a police investigation and Marcus has to do his job. Call Peter Lundgren. Call somebody. Please, Roma.” I waited.
“All right,” she finally said.
I walked back to Pearl and Neil. “It was so good to see you,” I said.
Pearl stood up and took my hands in hers. “You too, Kathleen,” she said. “My daughter is very lucky to have you as a friend.”
“I’m lucky to have her,” I said and I realized how much I meant the words as I said them.
“It looks as though we’re going to be here for a few days. I hope we’ll see you again.”
I smiled at her. “I would like that very much.” I gave her hands a gentle squeeze and said, “Good night,” to Neil.
“Call me if you need anything,” I told Roma.
She had one arm folded across her midsection but she wrapped me in a one-armed hug. “Thank you for coming tonight.”
“Anytime,” I said.
Marcus was still at the bottom of the steps. He straightened when I stepped out and walked silently over to the truck with me. Then he made a point to check the front seat and the bed. “Everything looks all right.”
“Thank you,” I said.
He didn’t smile, but I could tell he wanted to. “You’re welcome,” he said. He made no move toward his car, which was parked on the street in front of the house.
“Are you going to give me the ‘stay out of my case’ lecture?” I asked.
“Will it work?” He was standing with his feet apart, hands behind his back.
“No.”
That made him laugh. “You’re honest, Kathleen,” he said. “I’ll give you that.”
I smiled at him. “I’m not trying to interfere in your investigation.”