Kate drove slowly along the curving roadways through the cemetery. The grass was a lush green, the sky a brilliant blue—a perfect day for planting flowers. After she finished here, she’d get started on the memorial garden in front of the research station. Kate smiled. Daisy would have gotten a kick out of all the different varieties of marigolds Kate intended to plant in her memory.
The song on the car radio cut out. “Lawyers for Molly Gilmore, only daughter of diamond tycoon Jeremiah Gilmore, today demanded attempted murder charges against their client be dropped after key evidence in the case went missing,” the newscaster said. “The judge denied the request, citing sufficient eyewitness testimony to proceed. The police continue to withhold the name of the victim, but CZN news has learned that she is Kate Adams, an associate of Daisy Leacock, the research scientist whose suspicious death remains under investigation. In other news, GPC Pharmaceuticals has—”
Kate snapped off the radio. She should’ve known her anonymity wouldn’t last. Now the media would be hounding her and Edward. Kate reached the end of the roadway and touched the brakes. Which way?
She backtracked twice, trying to find the side drive that passed by Daisy’s grave. Finally she located the place, grabbed her trowel and tray of flowers from the trunk, and set to work. As she planted, she talked. “I wish you could hear me, Daisy. I saw Edward today. What you did for him—putting his real name in your will—made a big impression, but after Molly’s betrayal I’m not sure how he’ll be. He really loved her.”
Molly must have loved him too, or she would have stuck to her original plan of revenge and twisted her testimony to make him look guilty.
Kate shook away the thought. Molly didn’t deserve her pity.
Kate reflected on her earlier conversation with Edward as he’d helped move her boxes into Daisy’s house, her house now. She didn’t feel right about accepting the house when Daisy had left it to him, but Edward had insisted. That alone convinced Kate he’d changed. If he hadn’t wanted to stick around town, he could have sold the house and pocketed the proceeds. But he’d refused to consider the possibility.
“I reminded him what you wrote in your journal, that you wanted to show him God’s love in a tangible way,” Kate said aloud. “That even though he lied, you wanted to prove you loved and accepted the person he really was.
“He seemed skeptical, but at least he kept your Bible. That’s a start. I wonder if he’ll ever come back. He said he had to get away for a while. The news teams have been relentless.”
Kate pried a bright orange marigold from the flat and set it in place in front of the stone. “Everything that’s been going on got me thinking about Dad. How all these years I’ve been afraid to find out what really happened. I know. I know. After Mom died, you told me the time had come, that the truth would set me free, but I wasn’t ready.”
Unfortunately, now that the media had figured out she was Molly’s intended victim, it was only a matter of time before they ferreted out the family dirt, especially with GPC Pharmaceuticals moving to the area. What a nightmare.
If she hoped to neutralize the collateral damage, she needed to be armed with the truth, whether she was ready to hear it or not. Hear it. The thought twigged a memory. The creepy phone message from weeks ago replayed in her mind. Kate Baxter . . . I think you’ll want to talk to me.
Shivers tingled down her spine. Thankfully, the caller with the horror-flick voice hadn’t bothered her again. But she would investigate.
Of course, she could start by asking Tom. After finding out about her name change, he’d probably scoured the public records to puzzle out her secret.
Except . . . she wasn’t ready to face him again. Not just yet. Between Julie’s wedding and the move, brushing off Tom’s attempts to see her hadn’t been difficult.
Kate sat back on her heels and kneaded the warm earth between her fingers. “I miss you, Daisy. I miss you so very much. I wish you could have met Tom. Well, I guess you knew him since he grew up here. I couldn’t have caught Molly without him and his dad.”
“Nice to be appreciated.”
Kate toppled onto her backside at the deep masculine voice and sent her trowel flying.
Tom chuckled.
“Don’t scare me like that. Especially in a cemetery.”
He picked up the trowel and offered her a hand. “I’m sorry. I was visiting my mom’s grave and noticed your car. How are you doing?”
She brushed the dirt from her pants. “Okay, considering.”
“You heard the noon news, I take it?”
“Yeah, my five seconds of fame. Yee haw.”
“We can hope that’s all it lasts.”
“Are you trying to cheer me up? ’Cause you’re not very good at it.”
“How about giving me a chance to practice? Say, dinner tonight?”
“Dinner?” She squatted in front of the flowers she’d planted and smoothed the dirt around them. “Um, sure. Dinner sounds good.”
She might even scrounge up the courage to ask about her dad’s arrest.