A Willing Murder Read online

  “Roy Wyatt? Jack’s father? And you?”

  Sheriff Flynn gave a one-sided smile. “I haven’t always been a person dedicated to good. I sowed a few wild oats. Actually, it was your father who made me go into law enforcement.” He laughed. “It was either that or jail. Roy went the other way.”

  “And my father?”

  “He left town. Looks like he did a good job in making you.”

  “Thank you. Maybe I could take you out to dinner some night and you’d tell me about my father?”

  The sheriff stood up. “I’d love to do that, but the gossip in this town would be that I made a pass at you.”

  Kate stood. “Then I’d have to say that I accepted. But that wouldn’t be good for your reputation as a fighter of evil.”

  He looked surprised, then pleased. “Go on, get out of here.” He sighed. “But please do what you can to get them to stop trying to be detectives. Go sell some houses. Help Tayla beautify this town. Leave the dead to rest in peace. You guys made a beautiful memorial service. That’s enough.”

  She started to leave but turned back. “I didn’t know about what happened to Evan...about Jack’s brakes.”

  “Nobody does. But the day after those bodies were found, I was suspicious. I had a friend check that truck out. The line had been cut.”

  “Then why hasn’t there been an investigation?”

  Sheriff Flynn took a while to answer. “Jack kept saying he’d driven over some sharp rocks and they’d cut the line. But then, maybe somebody used a piece of flint to do the cut. Whatever, Forensics couldn’t prove it was intentional.” He shook his head. “Besides, there was a lot of alcohol involved. Evan was clean but Jack was saturated. And no one could prove who the driver was. If I’d pushed, it could have ended up with Jack in prison.”

  “And he is a Wyatt,” Kate said and the sheriff gave a quick nod. “But you don’t believe it was an accident?”

  “I did at first, but since then, I’ve changed my mind. There’s too much coincidence. Jack was the one who bought the house with the skeletons, so I think he was the target. But Evan paid the price. You need to make them stop looking into what isn’t any of their business.”

  “I will do my best.” On impulse, she kissed the sheriff on the cheek, and he turned the other one. Oh, yes. Cuban. As she left, she managed to smile, even if it was a bit weak at the corners. Outside, she saw that Jack wasn’t back yet, so she sat on a bench in the shade.

  Since the day she’d arrived in town, she’d been told that people believed Jack had been drunk and driving. Just this morning Evan’s mother had accused Jack of murder. On the day the skeletons were discovered, the sheriff had asked Jack if he was staying sober.

  But it seemed that it was possible that someone had wanted to kill Jack.

  And Sheriff Flynn was beginning to see the truth. Even though he couldn’t get his bosses to believe him, it was nice to have someone on their side.

  When Jack arrived, he didn’t get out of his truck. Kate got in and he drove away in silence.

  He didn’t go far as she’d seen that South Florida was rich in huge, well-stocked grocery stores. A Publix was in a strip mall and surrounded by necessary shops.

  Jack pulled into a parking space and turned off the engine, but he didn’t move. Nor did he look at her. He seemed to be waiting for something—and she had an idea what it was.

  “Did you know?” she asked softly.

  “Yeah. As soon as I got out of the hospital, I put my smashed truck up on a lift and examined it. Whoever did it didn’t know squat about vehicles. Probably looked up what to do on the internet. I knew nobody wanted Evan dead—he was the good son—but Roy made a lot of enemies. They might want to take it out on me instead. It wasn’t until after we found the bodies at a house I had bought that I began to think there was a connection.”

  “Does Sara know?”

  “I told her about the brake fluid being drained, but I blamed it on some rough terrain I’d been driving. I didn’t tell anyone I thought it had been done on purpose. Why should I scare you two?”

  They still hadn’t looked at each other. Kate’s heart was pounding and she tried to quiet it. “You let everyone believe you may have been driving drunk.”

  “Wish I had been,” he whispered. “Wish Evan had stayed home.”

  She turned to look at him. “I’m so sorry about all this. Your friend and your brother. You’ve lost the most from this.”

  He opened his door. “Which is why I plan to keep on searching for the bastard who did this. Flynn and his cowardice can go to hell for all I care.” He paused. “But I want you and Sara to stop. I’ll—”

  She flung open the door. “Come on, let’s buy you some fruit.” She climbed out, then watched across the seat as he wrestled with his cast and crutches. “You think they have any pink grapefruits? I love pink grapefruit. Burt’s Bees has a lip balm that smells like it and I would like to smear it all over my body.”

  “Can I help?”

  She’d set him up for that one, but she was glad to see his teasing, smart-aleck, devil-may-care smile return. “Can you help choose fruit? Sure.”

  He gave a snort of laughter and shut the door.

  They first went to the huge produce section. Jack began filling plastic bags with fruit, while Kate went for the vegetables.

  “Get the ones already cut up,” he said.

  “They’re more expensive.”

  “I’ve got two houses you can list for me. We’ll be able to afford them.”

  “We,” she whispered as she grabbed bags of broccoli, green beans, brussels sprouts and peppers. All for her new family. Was there anything more soul-satisfying than belonging?

  “So what did Sheriff Flynn want from you?” Jack put three colors of grapes—all seedless—in the cart.

  “A date.”

  He gave her a half-hooded look.

  “He told me that I’m sane, that you and Aunt Sara aren’t, so I’m to reason with you and make you stop investigating.” She left out the details of how Jack could have ended up in prison. “Did you know he and your father and mine ran around together?”

  “Based on Flynn’s wimpiness, my dad might have knocked him up.”

  “I’d laugh at that if you hadn’t called my entire sex ‘wimpy.’ But it does say something about the preferences of your father.”

  Jack laughed. “You win. No, I didn’t know. Roy and I weren’t chummy. No fishing trips together. And no, I don’t remember ever having met your father. What did Flynn say about him?”

  “That he was charming. He said my dad made people laugh, cheered them up.”

  “Like you.”

  “Thank you.” She put two bags full of yellow onions in the cart. “So what do we do next?”

  “You and Sara stay home while I visit Arthur Niederman.”

  “You plan to visit him alone? Without us?”

  “I take it you don’t approve of that idea. How about if you and I visit Mr. Niederman while Sara stays home and writes?” He was putting tomatoes on vines in a bag.

  “Aunt Sara won’t like that.”

  “Then I take it that you don’t want to protect her? You think she can stand up to whatever Flynn dishes out if he finds out we aren’t quitting this case?”

  The way he put it, it was impossible not to agree with him. And besides, he knew Sara much better than she did. She decided to change the subject. “I’ve been meaning to ask what you thought of Alastair Stewart when you were growing up.”

  Jack looked like he was about to make a joke but didn’t. “I was in awe of him. Rich, blond, very tall, great athlete, four-point-oh average. When I was a kid, I wanted to dye my hair because everyone kept saying I looked like Roy.”

  “And Cal.”

  Jack picked up lemons and put them in the bag Kate held open. “Yeah, and