Lizzie called the kids when we got home. She made plans to pick them up after school the next day. I got in my hellos and good-byes. They seemed happy to be with their father.
I rummaged through my tote bag and finally found the note pad I’d been using during the investigation. Then I sat at the kitchen table to organize my thoughts. Flipping through the pages, I reviewed everything I’d learned over the course of my investigation. When I was finished, I made a list of what I planned to do the next day. At the very top was Go out to Buckhorn—talk to Jackie Pierce.
***
I looked at the clock by my bed; it was eight. Throwing on my robe, I walked out to see what my daughter was up to.
Lizzie sat perched on a high stool in front of the marble counter. She looked very professional in a gray suit. She wore pants so often that I wasn’t used to seeing her legs. Those black suede heels of hers were perfect.
“Wow,” I stopped to admire her, “talk about dressed for success. You nailed it, kiddo.”
She looked up from the laptop propped open on the counter in front of her. “Thanks. I have to be in court at ten.” She got up. “Want some coffee?”
“Always.” I sat on the stool next to hers.
“What’s the case?”
“I’m helping a woman get her child support increased. It’s gotten real messy between her and the father.”
Lizzie refilled her cup and then brought it back to the counter along with one for me.
“Sometimes I forget you’re all grown up, a respected member of the community. When I’m out in Taos I think of you as just . . . Lizzie. My little girl. And then I come back here and BAM! There’s this beautiful grown woman, with two children of her own, running an office, and it kind of rattles me. It takes a few minutes to take it all in.”
Lizzie grinned. “Welcome to my world.” She sat down. “Now you know how I felt.”
“What do you mean?”
“You were my loving mother, the one who made cookies and colored with me. Daddy and I were the only people you took care of. Then I’d go to the station and you were wearing a uniform, not T-shirts and jeans like at home. Policemen were reporting to you; you had a big office. And you weren’t the same mother I had at home. You were the freakin’ chief of police! I realized then that when you left home, you were taking care of hundreds of strangers. I got a little jealous sometimes.”
I reached out and stoked her hair. “Well now I’m just a wandering artist.”
Lizzie rolled her eyes. “Come on, Mother, you’ve never been ‘just’ anything.”
“Neither have you, my dear.”
“Here’s to the Sullivan women,” Lizzie said, raising her coffee cup. And we toasted each other.
We talked for a few minutes more before she left the house. When I was alone, I called Nathan.
“Has Rosie come in yet?” I asked him.
“She’ll be here any minute. I told her all about Stacey’s book, and she plans to work on it all day. What’s on your schedule?”
“I’m going out to Buckhorn to talk to Jackie Pierce.”
“Why?”
“Last night Lizzie told me that Jackie’s trying to get documentation stating the mansion belongs to her.”
“And you think her legal problems had something to do with how she felt about Stacey?”
“I think they might have contributed to her state of mind.”
“Oh, that woman’s always been a little psycho.”
“Sometimes I think her craziness is all an act just so she can keep getting away with things. People don’t really see or take time to listen to a crazy person. They’ll do whatever they can to just make them go away. I think she’s counting on the police to do the same.”
Nathan took a deep breath. “I’m not going to try and talk you out of this but I—”
“You insist on coming with me, right?”
“Now don’t get mad, Kathy but—”
“I want you to come this time, Nathan. That’s why I called.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that you’ve come to your senses.”