Blowing out a sigh, I moved to the wine rack, and remembered something the police said. My sister had been found with a glass of wine next to her, but she hardly ever drank wine. She was a beer girl, and while any beer would do, if she had her druthers it was IPAs, the more bitter the better. I’d mentioned as much last week to the officers. They’d made notes, but I didn’t think they took me seriously since they said, “People change.”
I stared at the bottles in the rack. All of them were whites, and all of them should have been in the fridge, but Mom and I were cool with a glass on ice. It pained me to do it, but I had to ask Mom about it.
I walked into the living room to find her soaps had just ended.
“Can I talk to you about something, Mom? About Wynnie’s death?”
Her face fell. “I suppose, sweetheart. It’s not like there’s anything new I can tell you.”
I gave a slight nod. “Maybe not, but they said a glass of wine was found next to the tub. She never cared for wine.”
Mom’s lips pressed together for a moment. “Most of the time, that was true. But she had come around to having a glass of white wine with me once in a while. And more often if she didn’t have her beer on hand, which she didn’t last week.”
I sighed. “All right, well. Another thing, will next Friday work for a celebration of her life? If so, I’ll let the funeral director know that’s what we want to do. And I’ll contact everyone who needs know the date and time.”
Mom closed her eyes and two tears traveled down her face. Seeing her cry made tears well in my eyes, but I fought them off.
After moment and a deep breath, Mom opened her eyes. “Yes, Raegan. Next Friday will work fine.”
Chapter 4
You Didn’t Have To
Raegan
ASIDE FROM A GLIMPSE of him at the cemetery yesterday, it had been over two weeks since I’d seen Clint and that was just as well.
I was determined to wean Mom from the boiled peanuts, come hell or high water. If my mom had anything to say about it, there would certainly be hell along the way. This morning though, I was willing to go through that hell because her blood pressure had finally lowered. Whether that was compliments of her medication or the smaller serving of peanuts from me was an argument Mom pursued tenaciously.
The investigation into my sister’s death was closed and ruled an accident. I sensed the detective on our case was eager to move on, and I didn’t blame him, but I still knew my sister’s death wasn’t accidental. And nobody was going to stand up for her but me.
My emotions see-sawed between anger and sadness all day. How could my sister be dead? Mom didn’t need to outlive one of her daughters, on top of surviving a stroke! Then for the police to dismiss her death, and even hint it might have been suicide added insult to injury. At least we had celebrated Wynnie’s life yesterday. It was good to know she could be at peace.
Now, I had to decide if I was going back to New York.
Clint had been right about Madison Avenue. Working there had been my dream, but sometimes even the best dreams devolved into nightmares. My dream had done that in spectacular fashion.
Thankfully, the divorce was settled before Wynnie’s murder, so my bank account was much fatter. With the insistence that Wynnie’s death was an accident, I was going to hire...
I sighed.
Clint was a private investigator. Would I hire him? It didn’t make sense to hire him. He was too close to all of us to be objective.
A hasty knock at the door pulled me from my internal debate. I knew that knock because Mom’s next-door neighbor, Tanya, had two children under three, which meant her hands were always full.
“You better let that girl in here, Rae. I need time with little Jared before I start a Blue Bloods marathon.”
I shook my head as I scurried to the front door. Through the glass I saw Tanya had a baby carseat carrier perched on one arm, the other barely hanging on to Jared, who was struggling to break free of her hold.
I opened the door, but blocked Jared from charging ahead. “You need to behave for your mommy, Mr. Jared.”
He wrapped his chubby arms around my leg. “Me a good boy.”
His big brown eyes stared up at me with such sincerity. I crouched down and picked him up. “Yes, you are. Let’s go see Miss Penny.”
Tanya came inside and closed the door behind herself. As she followed me, she said, “You ever gonna wear that dress I gave you again?”
I handed Jared off to Mom, and she smiled almost as brightly as she did at Brock.
When I looked at Tanya, the look in her eyes demanded an answer. “Tanya, you’re lucky I wore it the first time.”
Her chin dipped in acknowledgment. “True, but I saw you go out with Clint wearing it. Why aren’t you going back for round two of that?”
I had moved into the kitchen to grab a cold LaCroix for her, and I wondered how little I could tell her.
When I came back in the room, I gave her the drink. “It’s a long story.”
“The best kind of story for nap time,” she muttered.
I looked down at little Marcus, realizing he was the perfect distraction. “Can I hold him?”
“Sure, let me get him out for you.” She fiddled with the straps and such, but then scrunched her face. “Seriously, little dude? You should not be messy again.”
Her exasperation drummed up my sympathy. “I can change him for you. One less diaper for you today.”
She gave me her big eyes. “If you’re willing, I will not pass that up. Let me set up the changing pad for you.”
It wasn’t the
