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“Hey, since we’re in Seattle already, do you mind if we stop by Mackenzie’s house?” Julie asked when she and Kat were back in the car.
Kat glanced at the dashboard clock. “Sure, we have time before we need to head back. Who’s Mackenzie?”
“My friend.”
The name registered in Kat’s head a split second later. “She’s the girl whose house you were at when your mother was killed.”
“Yeah.” Julie didn’t seem inclined to elaborate. “What did you and Old Franny talk about?”
Kat eyed her across the console. “You mean Ms. Dearborn?”
Julie slunk a little lower in her seat, looking appropriately chastised. “Yeah.”
“Not much.” Then, not wanting Julie to think she was another adult who refused to treat her as an equal, she added, “We mostly talked about your mom. I had some questions about her death and hoped Ms. Dearborn could help answer them.”
“Did she?”
“No. But I think she would have if she could.”
Julie’s only reply was a terse, “Take a right at the light.”
Kat did as instructed. If Julie didn’t want to rehash the details of Carolyn’s death, Kat would respect her wishes.
Mackenzie’s house wasn’t far, and pretty soon Kat found herself sweating through another bout of street parking. It didn’t escape her notice that she’d had to parallel park more today than she had in the past fifteen years combined.
They walked the block back to Mackenzie’s in silence. When they were one house away, Julie skipped ahead, veering left onto a narrow concrete pathway that cut through a patchy lawn. She dashed up the steps and onto the porch, waiting impatiently for Kat to catch up before she rang the bell. A minute later, a slim blonde with the smoothest skin Kat had ever seen on a woman over forty answered the door.
She gasped. “Julie?”
Julie gave her a tentative smile. “Hi, Mrs. Treeger.”
“What are you doing here?”
Despite the shock in her voice, Mrs. Treeger’s expression didn’t change. Her forehead stayed silky smooth, her eyebrows in perfect position. Botox, Kat figured.
Julie folded her hands in front of her. “I was hoping to say hi to Mackenzie. Is she here?”
“She is, and I’m sure she’d love to see you, honey. It’s been a while.” Mrs. Treeger stepped aside. “Go on upstairs to her room.”
Julie slipped past her. “Thanks.”
Mrs. Treeger shifted her attention to Kat. “Hello,” she said, sticking out a hand. “I presume you drove Julie over here?”
“I did. I’m Kat.” Kat shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Treeger.”
“It’s Susan. And please come in. Would you like some tea?”
“I’m fine.”
Susan shut the door behind Kat and led them into the den. “Please excuse the mess. I wasn’t expecting company.”
“It’s not a problem,” Kat assured her. Although, she wasn’t sure what Susan was worried about. It wasn’t impressive enough to land on any magazine covers, but with an array of magazines laid out on the coffee table and a vase of flowers centered on the fireplace mantle, the room still looked picture-perfect.
A black cat lifted his head from the loveseat. His eyes widened when they landed on Kat. Apparently he didn’t like what he saw. He jumped to his feet and scampered off.
“That’s Pizza,” Susan said, sitting down in the spot the cat had vacated. “Pizza the Second, to be more accurate. He’s afraid of everything.”
Kat smiled as she lowered herself into the armchair across from Susan. “I won’t take it personally then.”
“Pizza the First was much more friendly. It’s been almost two years since I lost him now, and I still miss him terribly.”
“I’m sorry. I have two cats at home, and I know how quickly they become an integral part of your life.”
“They certainly do.”
The melancholy in Susan’s voice was the only indication of her grief. Kat wondered exactly how many Botox shots a person had to receive before her facial muscles became completely paralyzed.
A series of high-pitched giggles floated down the stairs. The sound warmed Kat’s heart. She was glad Julie was enjoying her time with her old friend. Who knew, maybe reconnecting with Mackenzie would encourage the girl to seek out some better influences when they returned to Cherry Hills.
“So.” Susan crossed her legs. “Are you a friend of Elsa’s?”
“Elsa?” It took Kat a moment to place the name. “Oh, you mean Julie’s aunt.”
“Yes. Mackenzie said she’s in her custody now.”
“No. I mean, yes, Julie lives with Elsa. But I’m not friends with her.”
“I see.”
Kat suspected Susan would look curious if she could, so she answered her unspoken question. “I’m friends with one of her teachers. She asked if I would help her out a little. I guess Julie hasn’t really adjusted well since her mother’s death.”
Susan nodded. “That’s understandable. Carolyn’s passing was a blow to all of us.”
“Did you know her?”
“I did. Our daughters went to the same school, and we served together on the PTA.”
Kat’s heart skipped a beat. She had been wondering how she might learn more about Carolyn’s fellow PTA volunteers, and now a golden opportunity had been dropped right in her lap.
“I heard the police interviewed everybody on the PTA after her murder,” Kat said.
“They did,” Susan confirmed. “They were grasping.”
“Or they had reason to believe a member killed Carolyn.”
Susan shook her head with enough vigor that Kat heard her neck pop. “Uh-uh. No way. Nobody on our PTA would have done something like that.”
“I wasn’t fingering you,” Kat assured her.
Susan crossed her arms in a defensive gesture. “Good.”
Kat figured a subject change was in order. As much as she wanted to delve into the PTA members’ deep, dark secrets, pushing the issue would probably only get her booted from Susan’s house. “Given that the PTA members were all cleared, somebody else has to be responsible. Did Carolyn ever mention any enemies to you?”
“Carolyn didn’t have enemies. Everybody loved her.”
“Do you know if she was seeing anyone?”
“She was not. She’d only lost her husband a few months prior to her death. You don’t just bounce back from that. Why, it took me six months after losing Pizza to adopt another cat. Just think how long it would take a woman to recover from losing her husband.”
“I heard her husband traveled a lot,” Kat said.
“Yes. Your point?”
“I was curious how close they were, since he wasn’t around much.”
“Some relationships aren’t defined by distance.”
Kat wasn’t sure what that meant, so she didn’t say anything. Besides, she was having trouble thinking under Susan’s steady gaze. The woman’s lack of expression was unnerving.
The girls’ laughter rang through the house again. Listening to them, Kat never would have guessed they’d spent the past few years apart.
She thought about Susan’s statement, thinking she might have an inkling of what she had meant after all. But friends reconnecting after a long time apart was a lot different than a husband and wife who rarely saw each other. She tried to imagine how she would feel about Andrew being on the road all the time. She’d miss him terribly, that was for sure. But would their love eventually start to erode? She didn’t know the answer to that.
“If you’re thinking Carolyn had a secret lover who killed her in a fit of passion, I can assure you that wasn’t the case,” Susan said. “In fact, Carolyn had her grief group on Saturdays, and she attended with religious regularity. Even if she did have a lover, she wouldn’t have entertained him so soon after sharing stories about her husband.”
“Unless she connected with a widower there,” Kat considered.
“You’re grasping at straws.”
Kat couldn’t deny that. But what was she supposed to do? Wipe Carolyn Conway’s murder from her mind and go on about her life as if she’d never learned about the woman’s tragic fate? She couldn’t do that even if she wanted to.
Susan stood up when another peal of laughter drifted downstairs. “Those girls will stay up there all night if we let them.”
Would that be so bad? Kat wanted to ask. She was surprised to find herself reluctant to head back to Cherry Hills. This trip had given her a glimpse of the carefree girl Julie had once been, before she’d lost her mother, father, dog, and friend.
She sighed as she recalled what Ms. Dearborn had said about broken hearts never completely healing. Maybe it didn’t matter that she would never be able to bring Julie’s mother’s killer to justice. Maybe the damage had already been done.
