Pushing Up Bluebonnets

without even knowing her last known address.'

'How do you know he didn't research her past?' I asked.

'Because if he had, he would have discovered what I did. That she doesn't seem to have existed before she showed up here. Does that tell you something?'

Piper's eyes were wide when she turned to her husband. 'I thought we weren't going to talk about that, baby.'

Finally something. I said, 'Did you hire someone to check her out?'

'I was worried about my father, that's all,' he said.

'I take it that's a yes?'

He drew a deep breath and said, 'Okay, yes. Are you happy? Can we leave now?'

'Who did you hire?' I said.

'That's none of your business,' Piper said.

But I could tell Matthew's wheels were turning. He knew I reported to the man with the money.

'I hired an investigator named Rocco Green. He told me there was no record of any driver's license for JoLynn Richter and no vehicle was ever registered in her name. I wasn't sure what to do after learning that,' he said.

'Did you tell your father?' Kate asked.

'Yes,' he answered. 'He said I should stay out of his business. Obviously he didn't care because that was six months ago and she's still here. Or . . . was here.'

And you're hoping she won't come back, I thought. 'Did this detective learn anything else during his background check?'

'No. He said I'd need her Social Security number if I really wanted to find out about her, and well, I couldn't give him that.'

His eyes drifted away from mine and Piper wasn't looking at me, either.

'Because you couldn't find her Social Security number?' But I knew the answer. The tips of his ears were bright red and Piper had taken a keen interest in her fingernails.

'You're making a lot of insinuations,' Piper said, still not making eye contact.

'You searched her room, right?' I said to Matthew. Then I looked at Piper. 'And maybe you helped.'

Matt's flush deepened and Piper smoothed a strand of hair away from her face.

'No need to say more,' I said. 'You've both been a big help.'

* * *

Kate and I left Magnolia Ranch for Houston after ten p.m.—which was late for Kate, but she wasn't complaining. She seemed more like her old self than I'd seen in months. I told Elliott Richter I'd use what information I'd gotten from the family to help research JoLynn's past. He'd pressed me for specifics, but I said I needed to sort through what we'd learned first. He hadn't been exactly forthcoming with me about JoLynn from what Matthew said, and before I reported on those interviews, I wanted to calm down, maybe understand why.

'That was an interesting evening,' Kate said once we reached the main highway. 'Why do you think Richter didn't tell you what Matthew learned?'

'I don't know. Maybe he wanted me to find out for myself—he is paying me a lot of money, after all. But oh boy, Aunt Caroline would have loved every minute of tonight.' I steadied the steering wheel with my left hand and reached into my right pocket. 'By the way, I forgot to turn that clock back on. But let's see what's written on this.' I handed over the folded paper.

Kate turned on the map light. 'Could be some old note that came with the clock. Who knows? Maybe we'll end up on Antiques Roadshow showing off something Washington wrote to Jefferson.'

'You watch Antiques Roadshow?' I said.

'Well, yeah. Lately.'

'Dreamer,' I said. 'There's nothing old about that paper. Looked brand-new to me.'

'You're right,' Kate said. 'This is a Xerox copy of a newspaper article. The print is small and all I can make out is the headline. 'Mysterious Katarina Richter Succumbs to Cancer.' '

I nearly swerved off the road. 'You're kidding. That's the same article I found online. The one that talks about Katarina's disappearance and how at first they thought she'd been kidnapped. Do me a favor? There's a plastic grocery bag in the backseat. Could you put that paper in there? Cooper Boyd has JoLynn's prints and I'd like to see if she handled this paper.'

'You think she put it under the clock?' Kate said.

'I have no idea. Could be something Richter saved. But JoLynn spent time in that library, according to both Leopold Hunt and Richter himself. If this article meant something to her and if she had a clue that people were searching through her things—which of course they were—she might have hidden it.'

'What does the article say?' Kate asked.

For the rest of the trip home, I filled her in on my Internet research into the Richters, Katarina and missing persons. Then we discussed the bigger picture the Richter family had presented—their lack of concern about JoLynn's welfare, the threat she represented and, beneath it all, what I had felt and Kate confirmed: smoldering hostility.

14

Diva and I lay in bed past our usual time to get up on Wednesday morning. While she purred next to me, I thought about the case. Each family member offered me something different to consider.

Matthew's discovery that JoLynn's license was a fake made me wonder why no one in the family came right out and said JoLynn might be faking other things—like why she made her entrance into their lives. So what made Elliott Richter so trusting? Did he need the closeness and affection their relationship seemed to provide? Something that simple might be the answer.

As I stroked Diva, she turned on her back and stretched out, her purrs almost as loud as that dumb clock last night. Now in possession of a photo of JoLynn, I could return to my missing-persons Internet search with a better idea of what she looked like. Though she was using an invalid driver's license, she did have a name, though perhaps not JoLynn Richter. The birth certificate could have been fake, too. But maybe her story wasn't. Maybe JoLynn was put up for adoption— but never found a home as a child. I reached for my phone on the bedside table. Penny Flannery, here I come with more questions.

I got Penny's voice mail and left a message for her to call me when she was free. She didn't phone back until after I'd done forty minutes on my new elliptical trainer. I bought the contraption after deciding to give up running in Houston's summer heat. It was just too draining, not to mention very bad for the skin. I have nice skin, one of my decent features, and was discovering that ugly red bumps erupted after every outdoor run.

While I'd exercised, Diva watched me huff and sweat with great interest and seemed to be smiling slyly and maybe thinking, When will she figure out she's not getting anywhere? I just finished and was about ready to shower when Penny called back.

'Same problem case?' she asked.

'Yup. Question: You put up pictures of foster kids on a Web site, right?'

'Sure. First names and case numbers only,' she answered.

'And I'll bet like all things on the Internet, those pictures are available for eternity, even if they've been removed from the site.'

'I—I guess so. I'm sure someone has those files on their computer, maybe in Austin, maybe in Houston.' She paused. 'And that's what you want me to do? Find an old photo array that might have your girl's face?'

'Can you do that for me?' I asked.

'I can, but I don't know how long it will take.'

'I know you're busy and I'm sorry, but—'

'This is no problem, Abby. You've done so much for the foster kids, we'll help any way we can. I don't have any dealings with our Web site people, that's all. But I promise I will find someone in the know as soon as I can.