Seven Sisters - Earlene Fowler [56]
I cleared my throat, feeling awkward and apologetic. “I’ll have to tell Detective Hudson, you know.”
“I wish JJ would have come to me first.” She left it at that, knowing better than to ask me not to. If JJ had gone to her mother first, there’s a good chance it would have stopped there.
“He seems like a fair man,” I said, folding the brochure over and sticking it in the back pocket of my jeans. “That note doesn’t mean Cappy did anything, but Detective Hudson will probably want to talk with you both again.” I tried to encourage her. “The fact you didn’t show it to her helps, I’m sure.”
Her face became still. A soft wind blew tendrils of gray-blond hair around her eyes, but she didn’t blink or brush them away. “I know that JJ put you in an awkward position, what with your husband being the chief of police. I apologize for my daughter. Normally she would have come to me first, but these days . . . ” Her voice trailed off again. It was a trait I was beginning to see was common for her.
“She just got scared. I was a convenient adult, I think. She was trying to keep you from being involved. Maybe she was afraid it would cause problems between you and Cappy.”
“Thank you for listening to her and for being so kind to Bliss.”
“You have wonderful daughters.”
“Yes, they are.” She stood up and used one hand to pull back her long hair. “It seems in spite of Moonie and me.”
As she started walking away, a thought occurred to me.
“Susa, there’s one thing I wondered.”
She turned, her silvery eyes dark and questioning. “Yes?”
“Why did you leave Seven Sisters when the girls were so young? I mean, forgive my curiosity, but I just wondered.”
“No great mysterious reason. Moonie just didn’t feel comfortable in San Celina County or with my family. You can see why. Cappy and the aunts can be pretty overpowering, and my mother didn’t like Moonie much.”
An easygoing, hippie-type guy who preferred commune living to building an empire. No, he wouldn’t be Cappy’s dream husband for her only daughter.
“Is that all?” I asked, hoping for more.
An unreadable expression swept over her face—bewil—derment, anger, sadness? I couldn’t tell.
“Are you close to your family, Benni?” she asked.
I stuck my hands deep into the pockets of my jeans. “We have our squabbles, but, yes, I’d say we’re close.”
“No secrets?”
Remembering all that had happened last May concerning my own past and that of my mother and of my father’s often frustrating reserve and lack of openness, I answered, “Every family has secrets, I think.” I inhaled deeply, the overwhelming sweetness of the hundreds of roses making me slightly sick to my stomach.
“Maybe so, but there were too many unanswerable ones in the Brown family for my taste. Moonie and I wanted to raise our girls in a more open environment. And we did. I don’t regret leaving at all. As a matter of fact, if it were possible, I would have never come back to Seven Sisters. But it’s JJ’s and Bliss’s heritage. Good or bad, I couldn’t keep it from them forever. I just worry that the malevolence I’ve always sensed permeated the Brown family will hurt my girls. Especially now that Bliss is going to have a baby. I’ll never forgive myself if it does.” She turned and walked away before I could question her more.
What secrets? Secrets terrible enough that the family could be blackmailed? Secrets terrible enough to kill to keep hidden?
Those questions churned through my brain when I walked back to my truck. I poured some bottled water into a tin pie plate for Scout. While he gratefully lapped it up, I contemplated my next move. My answer came when Cappy drove up in her old Jeep Wagoneer.
“Benni! One of the grooms told me you were here,” she said, climbing out. Her expression appeared congenial and welcoming.
“I thought I’d come out and see if Bliss was working any of the horses. And I hadn’t gone through the winetasting room and rose garden yet.”
She reached down and scratched behind Scout’s ears. “So, what did you think of them?” His tail wagged