Ring Around the Rosy (29 page)

* * *

Dave reproached himself as Susan
walked away.

Damn it, what possessed him to do
something so stupid? What was the matter with him? They had a good thing going
here, and he almost ruined it. But damn, at that moment, he wanted to throw her
on the floor and make love to her. Mad, passionate love.

He’d better get hold of himself.
He didn’t need this. Especially not now. Hell, he was acting like a lovesick
teenager.

 
He was getting in way over his head. Still, he
was going to miss her.

Dave didn’t want to scare Susan,
but he felt her life was in danger. And someone was still sending the roses.
The partial print they found led nowhere. And how were they getting in? Her
building was staked out, and Horace hadn’t seen anyone.

He had a murder to solve, and he
needed to concentrate on that, not Susan. Besides, he still had to convince the
chief she was innocent in all this. Even though Greenwood checked the date of
the phone call and found out it was the date of the break in, he wasn’t
completely convinced. Said he wanted to talk to Hill again. How or where was
Hill getting his information? He had admitted to leaking the stuff about the
bracelet. But Hill seemed to know more.

At least the chief lifted his
suspension.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Susan drove to her mother’s with
the radio blasting — something about the warm, fresh October air and driving
with the windows rolled down prompted it. She turned the radio down when she
pulled onto her mother’s street. Wouldn’t do to have the neighbors upset. Why
her mother insisted she come over was beyond her. It wasn’t like her mother to
sound so mysterious.

Kate pulled in the driveway right
behind her. Well, that was nice. She didn’t know Kate was coming. Or was it
nice? Now she was really worried. Either her mother had some big plan up her
sleeve, or something was drastically wrong. Susan shook her head while she got
out of the car and followed Kate into the house.

“What’s going on, Kate? I didn’t
know you were going to be here.”

Kate shrugged. “It’s as much a
surprise to me as it is to you.”

“Oh good, you’re both here.”
Martha Weston hugged Susan and then Kate.

“Okay, Mom, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean? Can’t a mother
ask her daughters to spend some time with her?”

The feigned innocence didn’t fool
Susan. Her mother was too crafty for that. Susan cocked her head and looked at
her mother.

“Oh, okay. I need your help with
something. Clare will be here soon, and we’ll sit down and discuss it
together.”

“I’m not helping you talk Clare
into moving in here.” Susan put her overnight bag in the corner. “I told you that
on the phone.”

“Neither am I,” Kate said. “We
already discussed this.”

If their mother didn’t believe it,
all she had to do was look at the expression on Kate’s face. Even she wouldn’t
cross Kate when she got that look.

“No, no, it’s not about that. Come
in and sit down, for goodness sake. We can’t be standing out here in the hall.”

“Where’s Dad?” Susan glanced into
the living room. Normally, her father was laid back on his recliner, either
watching TV or reading the newspaper.

“He went bowling, which is another
reason I wanted you to come tonight. I don’t want him to hear us talking.”
Martha smiled. “Would you like a cola or something to drink?”

“Sure, I’ll have a cola.” No point
trying to get her mother to talk about it until Clare got there. If nothing
else, her mother was stubborn. When she set her mind on something, it was hard
to change it.

Finally, Clare came in. “Hi,
everyone. Okay, Mom, what’s the big secret that you couldn’t tell me over the
phone?”

“My goodness, Clare, come in and
sit down. Relax a minute. Would you like something to drink?”

Clare walked to the refrigerator
and pulled out a cola. “Anyone else want one?”

Susan held her glass up. “Already
taken care of.”

“Kate?”

Kate shook her head. “Okay, Mom,
we’re all here. Don’t keep us in suspense. Is everything okay?”

“Just sit down. All of you. Yes,
everything’s fine. I have something I wanted to run by all of you together.”

Susan sat down next to Kate. Thank
God everything was okay. She let out her breath. She had suspected the worst.
“Uh oh, Mom wants to run something by us. That can mean only one thing —
trouble!”

“Well, your father and I were
talking, and…well, to be honest, we’re thinking of buying a home in Florida.”

Susan stood. “What do you mean
buying a home? You mean you’re moving?”

“Now, don’t get your panties in a
twist. It’s not a permanent move. We’d just go for the winter.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Kate
said.

Susan shook her head. Kate would.
She thought everything her parents did was a great idea.

“Your father and I can’t handle
the cold weather anymore. And the snow makes it so hard to get around.”

“When you say winter, exactly what
does that mean?” Susan didn’t like the idea at all, but she could understand
it. Winters seemed to be getting colder. And Florida was heavenly. Heck, she’d
move there herself if she could.

“We wouldn’t leave until after the
holidays, probably not until the first week of January.”

“Until when?” Clare finally spoke
up.

“We’d come back in April or May.”

Kate walked to her mother and
kissed her cheek. “Great idea, Mom. You and Dad deserve it. I don’t blame you.
I hate winter, too.”

“So, I’m curious, why didn’t you
want Dad to hear this conversation? Why didn’t you tell us together?” Susan
still didn’t care for the idea, but she understood it.

“Well, to be honest, if you
disagreed, I probably wouldn’t do it. We’re still just talking about it. We
haven’t made any decisions.”

“You really wouldn’t do it if we
objected?” Guilt suddenly overwhelmed Susan. What kind of selfish person was
she to keep her parents from enjoying life?

“Only if you all objected.”
 

“Well, Kate thinks it’s great, and
so do I. Heck, it’ll give me another place to visit. Where in Florida are you
talking about?” Susan joined Kate next to her mother and gave her a quick hug.

“Probably the Fort Myers area.
Stella and Jack are flying down with us to look at some places next week.”

“So that’s it. No more discussion?
What about us? What about your grandkids?” Clare crossed her arms over her
chest and leaned back. “I’m not crazy about the idea.”

“You’re living your life the way
you want. Let Mom and Dad enjoy their life, too. Besides, you’ll be back every
summer, right, Mom?” Their mother needed their support, and she, for one, was
going to give it.

“Of course we will, and we’ll be
here for all the holidays. Clare, I’ll miss all of you, but your father just
can’t handle the winters here anymore.”

Susan threw Clare a look. It
wasn’t like Clare to be so selfish. Of course, Clare was going through a bad
time, with the divorce and all. But heck, their parents weren’t leaving for a
couple of months, yet. So why had her mother wanted Clare to move in?

“What about the house here?”

“Well, my original thought was to
have Clare and the kids move in with us, but she nixed that idea. I figured
they could keep it up while we were in Florida.” Martha wiped the counter while
she talked. “So I guess we’ll put it up for sale. Any buyers?”

“Actually, I might be interested
in buying it,” Kate said. “But then where will you and Dad live when you’re
here? I mean, you’re welcome to stay with me. The house is plenty big enough.”

“What do you mean, you might be
interested? Kate Weston, what are you saying? What about your quilt shop?”
Susan hit her sister’s arm.

“I’m thinking about moving back.”

“What? Get out. When, and more
importantly, why?”

“Just an idea I’m tossing around.”

“That’s wonderful.” Martha hugged
Kate. “But are you sure you’d want this house? I mean, it’s not your style, at
all.”

“So what you were asking, then, is
if I wanted to buy your house.” Susan shook her head. What the heck would she
do with a house? Her apartment was too big sometimes. Of course, if Dave were
to move in with her… Well, that would be different.

Lord, what was she thinking? She
shouldn’t be having these thoughts.

“Well, it was a thought. It’s time
you settled down, Susan.”

Oh no, not another lecture. “Why
should I settle down? How about Kate? She’s older than me.”

“Hey, no fair. Don’t start picking
on me.” Kate poured more cola into her glass.

“Listen, Dad’s home. I don’t want
him to know we had this discussion.”

“Why not,” Clare asked.

“Because he said I can’t do
anything without asking you first. I told him I could make my own decisions.
We’re going to tell you this together. Act surprised.”

Susan laughed. “Do you really
think he’s going to believe that?”

“If you play along, he will.”

“Yeah, right.” Susan took the cola
from Kate and poured some in her glass. “You could have offered, you know.”

“Sorry, didn’t think you’d want
any more.” Kate took the bottle and put it back in the refrigerator.

“Daddy.” Clare ran to the door and
hugged her father.

“Hey, here’s my girls. What have
you four been planning?”

“Well, we thought we’d all move
back in.” Susan hugged and kissed her father.

“Oh, you did, did you?” John
Weston smiled. “Don’t tell me your mother didn’t tell you our news.”

Kate slid onto the stool after she
kissed her father. “What news? You have news and didn’t share it with us? Oh my
gosh, don’t tell me, you won the lottery.”

“Ha, I wish,” Martha said.
“Actually, dear, I was waiting for you to get home, like we planned.”

The twinkle in her father’s eye,
when he kissed her mother, told Susan he didn’t believe her for a minute. “So
come on, what’s the news? Oh no, don’t tell me you’re pregnant.”

“That would be almost as good as
winning the lottery.” Leo sat down and laughed. “You really didn’t tell them?”

Martha shook her head. “We agreed
to tell them together.”

“All right, enough with the
suspense. Tell us what?” Susan hoped she sounded convincing.

“Your mother and I are looking for
a winter house in Florida.” Leo put his arm around Martha. “You really didn’t
tell them?”

“Florida! Really?” Kate jumped off
her stool and hugged her parents.

“Florida? Oh my gosh? When?
Where?” Susan hoped she wasn’t overreacting. She glanced at Clare, who sat next
to her, a sullen look on her face.

“I don’t like the idea. What are
we going to do without you? How long will you be gone?”

Susan took Clare’s hand. Poor kid
really was dependent on their parents, more so than she or Kate were. Their
parents had practically lived at Clare’s after Johnny was born.

“Now, Kitten…” Leo looked at
Clare. “You’ll be fine. You don’t need us interfering in your life. You have
that job, now, so we don’t see you much anymore, anyway.”

Kate yawned. “I’m sorry, guys, I
had a long day, and I really need to go to bed. Why don’t we sleep on it and
talk more about this in the morning?”

“Sounds like a good idea to me.”
One good thing about Kate, she always knew how to defuse a situation. Susan
stood and stretched.

Gosh, she missed Dave. She tossed
and turned most of the night.

Susan woke the next morning before
everyone and sneaked downstairs to call Dave. Although she enjoyed spending
time with her sisters and her parents, she missed him. Funny, how she had
gotten used to his company in such a short time.

She looked out the window. A red
rose dangled from her car. Shoot! And why wasn’t Dave answering his phone
again? “Hey, Dave, it’s me. Guess I’ll talk to you tonight.” No point
mentioning the rose. She’d tell him about it later. Someone had followed her
again. Somehow, she had to hide it from her parents. She had to get out there
and get rid of that rose.

Kate came down just as she hung up
the phone. “Early morning call to your boyfriend?”

The heat crept into Susan’s face.
She hated that she blushed at the simplest thought of Dave. “Actually, yeah.”

“Oh, aren’t you a pretty shade of
red?” Clare followed Kate into the kitchen.

So what if she had a boyfriend?
That’s what they all wanted, anyway. The problem was she wasn’t really sure
about Dave. He seemed attentive and caring. And his kisses sure said he wanted
more, but...was she just an interesting sideline in an otherwise gruesome case?