A Willing Murder Read online

  Quite well? Why had she never been told any of this? It took Kate a minute to recover enough to be able to see what was around them. It was difficult to believe that this was part of the perfectly manicured Lachlan that she’d seen. Houses with broken porches, roofs with blue plastic covering holes, weeds, two dogs fighting, crumbling sidewalks. This wasn’t the result of a hurricane, just plain old-fashioned poverty.

  “This area is where Jack’s grandfather and I grew up,” Sara said. “We were next-door neighbors.”

  Jack and Sara smiled at each other across Kate in a way that showed they shared both memories and secrets.

  “We’re here,” Sara said as Jack pulled into a weed-infested driveway. The house was in bad repair but Kate could see its potential. Add a little entry porch, repair the windows, paint...it could be nice.

  Sara picked up her big black camera bag, got out of the truck and went past the house to the back.

  Kate started to get out but Jack turned to her. He looked serious.

  “I don’t think you should take more calls from your mother in front of Sara. She doesn’t need to hear more of that.”

  He looked like he was bracing himself for a fight, but Kate said, “I agree. I feel bad that she heard that. It won’t happen again.”

  Jack seemed surprised at her answer, and he gave a smile. “Bet you think this place should be bulldozed.”

  “Are you kidding? I could make that house so cute that one look at it and you’d turn into a girl.”

  When Jack laughed, it was so contagious that Kate joined him. She was startled to see Sara in the driveway photographing them through the windshield.

  “Don’t mind her. She’s always doing that. She’s trying to replace writing novels with a photography obsession. She needs to be addicted to something.” He struggled to get out of the truck and winced when his left leg hit the ground.

  Kate got out the other side, still smiling. Maybe it was from a lifetime of dealing with her mother’s up-and-down moods, but she was glad that no one was angry at her. Her mother’s comments must have stung Sara, but she’d been nice about it.

  She followed Jack down the driveway and to the back of the house, then halted when she saw the tree. It was huge. Not big—enormous. It was on its side, delicate greenery spread on the ground. It was lushly covered in beautiful red blooms. The wide, shallow roots were standing upright, taller than a person. Sara was moving around it, taking what seemed to be a thousand photos.

  “Shame.” Jack was looking at the tree. “I knew it was in bad shape, but still...”

  “Even now, it’s beautiful.”

  “It is. But the rain and disease were too much for the old lady.” He turned. “At least it missed the house. Small favors.”

  Sara returned to the roots and the wide, deep hole it had made. “Kate, would you mind stepping down in there so I can get a size comparison? I’d ask him, but...” She shrugged.

  “She wants you because you’re smaller than me, so the thing will look bigger,” Jack said. “She likes dramatic photos.”

  Kate replied before Sara did. “More likely, you’re so clumsy that you’d fall face-first into the roots. We’d have to use a block and tackle to get you out.” She had to almost jump down into the hole, as it was deeper than her knees.

  Sara was looking at her niece oddly, as though she couldn’t believe what she’d just said.

  “You’re ridiculing a wounded man,” Jack said. “Before this—” he tapped his cast “—I could pole-vault that thing.”

  Smiling, Kate started through the mud but it was so deep that it went over her sandals. She pulled them off, then tossed them toward Jack. He caught one—and got mud over his hand and arm. “Thanks a lot, Red.”

  She blinked at the nickname, even though it was a familiar one. Red-haired people were always called Red by someone.

  While Jack was hobbling away to get the other sandal, Kate moved closer to the roots. On the last step, the mud sucked at her bare feet and made her fall forward. She barely missed having her face smack into the tree roots. As it was, her movement loosened a bunch of dirt and gravel. She crossed her arms over her head to keep from getting hit as it poured down the slope.

  With the giant tree root behind her, she stepped back until she could feel it touching her. More dirt and gravel fell. She looked at Sara with her camera. “I hope you can do this fast or I might find myself buried in here. My hair is already caught on something.” She reached up to loosen it, but it was wrapped tightly. Whatever was holding it didn’t feel like a tree branch, but was smooth and hard.

  “I’m very fast.” Sara clicked, then stepped to the left. Suddenly, she stopped, moved the camera from her eye and looked at Kate. “Stand right there and don’t move.” Her voice sounded as though she was warning someone crossing a minefield.

  “Is everything all right?” Kate asked.

  “Don’t move!”

  Jack had picked up Kate’s other sandal. At Sara’s tone he pivoted on his crutches to look at her, then stared, wide-eyed, his face drained of color. “Stand very still,” he said softly. There was a tone of reassurance in his voice, one that said, “Trust me.”

  Kate obeyed both of them. She froze where she was. Rigid.

  She watched as Jack moved to the edge of the pit and seemed about to climb inside it.

  “You can’t—” the women said in unison.

  Jack didn’t take his eyes off Kate and plastered on a smile of reassurance. “You’re too small to go.” His words were directed at Sara. “The mud would swallow you whole, so I’m going.”

  Kate didn’t move as Jack made his way toward her. He stopped inches in front of her, put his muddy crutches under his arms and reached out to her hair.

  He said, “I’m going to untangle you,” as calmly as though whatever was holding her was an autumn leaf.

  Sara had her phone out and placed a call. “Daryl, you need to come here now.” She gave the address. “Yes, now!” She listened. “I don’t give a damn where you’re going tonight or how many medals they pin on you. Now! Got it?”

  Kate was looking at Jack, his face inches from hers. He had a hand on each side of her head, his fingers getting her hair away from whatever was holding it. “You forgot to shave this morning.”

  “It’s not Sunday. I bet Stewart shaves every day.”

  “Of course.” She was trying to keep her voice from shaking. What was in her hair? A snake? Some giant Florida bug? Every Indiana Jones movie ran through her mind. It couldn’t be an alligator, could it?

  “There,” Jack said. “All done.”

  “Did you kill it?”

  “That was done by someone other than me.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He turned on his crutches, expecting her to follow, but Kate looked back at the tree roots and gasped. Where her hair had just been tangled was a human skull and near it was another one. There were other bones protruding from the dirt. Two entire skeletons were exposed. The big tree had wrapped roots around the bones like loving fingers holding them to her.

  “Jack,” Sara said.

  He looked back at Kate, took a step toward her. He handed her a crutch, then put his arm around her shoulders. “Would you mind helping me out of here?”

  She knew he didn’t need help but her heart was pounding so hard she was glad for his steadying arm.

  With Jack’s crutches, his unbending leg and Kate’s bare feet, it made slow going in the mud. When they got out of the hole, Kate sat down and cleaned her hands on the grass. Jack sat beside her.

  They were both staring at the skulls and bones embedded in the tree roots. It was an eerie sight. The tree seemed to own the bones, to hug them, caress them...protect them. If someone tried to remove them, the tree looked as though it would swallow them whole.

  Sara came to stand behind them, her ca