Leann Sweeney - Pushing Up Bluebonnets

"My cell's in my bag," I said. "Could you check the battery?"

"Your battery is fine. I turned your phone off before we talked. Do you want me to turn it back on?"

"Um, yes, please ," I said, once again annoyed at how they had completely invaded my personal space. Even though I understood their reasons, I was still irritated.

"We have to walk into the house like we've become friends," Estelle said. "Can you do that?" I heard the sound of my phone powering up.

"I don't know a damn thing about Pineview, so you better give me details. And I need to know about our imaginary dinner. Where did we eat?"

On the short drive, she told me a little about the town and we agreed that we'd stopped at the Sonic drive-in and binged on fast food and shakes. God, how I wished this were true. Then I took my cell from her. I had three messages. They were all from Kate asking me to call her. By the third one, she sounded worried, saying she didn't know where I was.

I parked the Camry alongside Cooper's truck—three other vehicles sat in the driveway, too—and as we walked toward the house, I said, "If you left a note, then why is my sister calling me and sounding so worried?"

"I don't know," whispered Estelle.

We'd reached the door and it opened before Estelle could use her key.

Cooper and Kate greeted us, relief written on my sister's face. She said, "Where have you been? Cooper has a patrol car out looking for you."

"You didn't get the note?" I forced myself not to glance Estelle's way.

They backed up so we could enter and we walked into the foyer.

"What note?" Elliott Richter called. He was in the formal living area to the left and seemed out of place in his jeans and Western shirt. Adele looked right at home, though, as did Leopold, Scott and Matthew.

Estelle spoke up, thank God. "I left a note, sir. When no one was home yet, Miss Rose mentioned she'd never seen the town. I told her I could show her around. I knew Otto and Eva would be here to fix dinner."

Richter's glance traveled around the room. "Anyone see a note?"

Lots of negative headshakes and I wondered if Estelle was lying. Maybe Johnson told her to leave a note and she forgot.

Cooper was on his cell calling off the search party and Kate was looking me up and down. "You're all sweaty, Abby . . . and look at all those mosquito bites on your legs."

"Those skeetos are out in droves. We checked out the property, too. Walked into the woods. The ranch goes on for miles," I said.

"May I go now?" Estelle said to Richter.

"You've eaten?" he said. "Otto prepared a delicious pork roast with oven potatoes."

Estelle started to speak, but I beat her to it. "No, we haven't eaten. Guess we lost track of time." No note meant no written evidence about dinner together. And my mouth was watering at the mere mention of pork roast.

"Then follow me. You both should fix a plate." He started down the hall to the kitchen with Estelle, and I grabbed Kate's hand and told her to come, too.

"Cooper and I ate in town. Isn't it a darling little place?" she said.

"I love the town square." I kept my eyes straight ahead. No one could read my lies better than Kate.

Then I heard Cooper call, "The posse has gone back to the police station. Where y'all going?"

Kate waited for him to catch up and I was hoping his presence would distract her from asking me more questions. I sure hadn't heard a word from her yet about heading for home.

The huge professional-style kitchen had a large preparation island in the center with stools lined on one side.

Richter said, "Otto's worked hard enough today. I can probably feed you two without his help. Chief? Kate? Can I offer you anything?"

"Just water for me," Kate said. "I can get it myself if you point me to the glasses."

Soon Kate, Estelle and I had tumblers of ice water, and Cooper was helping Richter pull leftovers from the stainless steel refrigerator.

Then I noticed that Estelle, who'd taken the stool next to me, was fidgeting. I looked down and saw why. The note was on the floor. She dragged it with her shoe, then bent quickly and picked it up and slipped it into her pocket; the pocket with the necklace.

I didn't like this one bit. Lies can catch up with you in not-so-pleasant ways, but my guilty conscience was put to sleep when Elliott Richter removed my dinner from the microwave and set the plate in front of me. Herbed pork, red cabbage and golden potatoes made everything wonderful.

Richter excused himself to return to his family. "I'm hoping they'll all go home now that you two are safe and sound."

After a few minutes, Estelle said, "I'll head to my room if you don't mind?" She carried her plate of halfeaten food to the sink, cleaned it and put the dish and silverware in the dishwasher.

Cooper watched her retreat, then said, "I thought you came to talk to Simone. To check out JoLynn's room for that necklace? What happened?"

Simone. With what I'd just been through, I'd forgotten about her. "I did talk to her, as a matter of fact. Before I decided to invite Estelle for a drive. I mean, Estelle's probably seen and heard plenty, yet we never questioned her."

"I questioned her as soon as I found out JoLynn lived here," Cooper said.

"Okay, you questioned her, but I didn't. Anyway, that's not what's important." I lowered my voice. "Get this. Simone admitted she took the pictures of JoLynn at the cemetery."

Cooper said, "That's one question answered. How did they get in Dugan's hands?"

"She doesn't know," I said. "She said she threw them away because they were such poor quality. She also lost her camera."

"That's certainly true." Richter was back and he'd heard us. "I bought Simone a new one. What does this have to do with the investigation?"

He obviously hadn't heard the first part of what I'd said about the cemetery pictures. So I told him.

"Are you considering the possibility that Simone somehow met this Dugan man?" Richter said. "Gave him the photos?"

"I don't think so. Her biggest concern was her lost camera and how to replace it. She thought she may have left it behind on a trip to U.T."

"Yes. She went with Adele and Ian. Those two in the same room is bad enough, but in the same car? No wonder Simone was distracted enough to lose something as important to her as her camera."

Ian? I'd assumed Simone meant Leopold when she said she took the trip with her parents. "Can you excuse me a minute for a restroom break?" I said. If Estelle was still around, I needed to ask her something.

I stood quickly and started for the big hall.

"There's a powder room right off the utility room this way," Richter called.

"I noticed you have a bathroom with cherubs last time I was here. I love cherubs," I said over my shoulder.

As I hurried down the hall, I noticed the living areas were both empty, so the rest of the family had taken off. I made the left turn and saw all those closed doors. Which one belonged to Estelle? I had to talk to her. Now.

But when I saw JoLynn's door ajar, I knew where she was. Replacing the necklace. Sure enough, she was in the room. Her back was to me and she was fluffing pillows at the head of the bed.

She gasped and turned when I whispered her name.

"You scared me," Estelle said. "You can't act like we're suddenly best friends, Abby. You'll make Mr. Richter suspicious."

"I know. But I have to ask you something important. You've cleaned all those houses. Did you notice if Adele Hunt or Ian McFarland had a camera similar to Simone's?"

"Actually, I thought Simone lent hers out. Which was odd because she was in love with her camera. Hardly ever let it out of her sight. Then I decided Mr. McFarland must have bought one just like hers. Simone probably convinced him—so she could have a spare handy in an emergency."