Organized for Homicide (Organized Mysteries Book 2) (20 page)

Reaching high to place a pitcher, Kate felt her muscles twinge.
"Yeah, we did. Both physically and mentally, and my body aches in all directions."

"
We'll creak along together tonight." Then he grinned. "Want to tell me about your strategies?"

"
Had a few surprises." Kate told him about the list they'd made and the revelation they'd learned when Sydney overheard them.

He dropped his bottle into the glass recycle bin.
"Wow. Did not see that coming."

"
You and me both."

"
Does it change anything?"

"
I don't think so. Meg and I discussed it at length on the drive home. From what Sydney told us, Lee Ann gave her up for adoption and relinquished all rights to the Colliers when the child was four. They took her back to Florida to grow up, and she never saw her mom again until Lee Ann moved here a year after they arrived in Hazelton. There's been some real friction between all of the adults, not to mention that Lila and Lee Ann were apparently cousins, too. So we have the additional family element."

"
Would Sydney stay here and move in with Lee Ann?" Keith asked.

"
We couldn't figure out how she could, unless she sought emancipation, and I'm sure Blaine Collier would fight it with every legal tool in his arsenal."

"
Even if that's what she wanted?"

Kate pondered his question for a moment before answering.
"I didn't get the feeling from Sydney she wanted to live with Lee Ann. Giving us the information was very matter of fact for her. There might be some hidden issues of abandonment coloring everything, but it was really just a quick 'she gave me up, Mom and Dad raised me, I'm grateful for my life,' and she disappeared upstairs to start packing up her workroom."

"
I would say that's weird, but she's a teen, so who knows?" Keith replied, stepping closer.

She tackled the silverware, and Keith walked up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist.
"Speaking of surprises. While Sam's splashing around in the bath, and Suze is still with my dad, we have a surprise few minutes we could spend sharing a shower. Work those creaks out of our old muscles."

"
That sounds very tempting—"

Just then the front door crashed open.
"Mom! Dad! I caught a fish! Come see!"

"
But everyone is home," Keith murmured.

"
Rain check?" Kate asked, turning to face him.

"
You're on."

"
Good." She patted his chest. "Now go help your other daughter gut her fish."

* * *

A couple of hours later, Kate saw Suzanne alone in the twins' room, while Sam was downstairs watching television. She'd been concerned Suze might feel left out now that Sam had a new activity of her own, especially since the activity involved one-on-one time with her dad. Despite Keith's assurances that Suze took the news fine, even seemed to like the idea of her sister having a separate pursuit of her own, Kate remained a little concerned.

From the doorway, she silently watched her daughter mix and match pattern squares, as if Suze was creating a collage project for art class. Finally, she asked,
"How's it going, kiddo? Pretty good fish you caught today."

Suze raised her curly head.
"Oh, hi, Mommy. Yeah, fishing was okay, but I'm designing now."

"
Designing what exactly?"

The child touched the quilt on her bed. Jane McKenzie had made her granddaughters coordinating quilts for their room, both pieced together with the same starburst pattern, but the colors in each quilt better mirroring the individual twin
's personal favorites. "I'm going to ask Grandma if she'll teach me how to make quilts.

Kate smiled. Her daughter was already a lifelong devotee to reality shows like
Project Runway
and
Say Yes to the Dress
whenever she could get a television to herself. It was nice now that Suze was letting her obviously inherent designer gene move out of dormancy and attempt a hands-on activity. Kate already recognized her daughter's head for business. She could be a budding designer like Sydney.

Best of all, Suze seemed to be internally dealing with what Kate had already been worried about, and doing so in a very positive way.

"Sounds like a great idea, Suze," she said. "And I know your grandmother would be pleased to show you quilting techniques. Would you like me to sign us up for a sewing class first? I know the rec center offers a lot of different mother-daughter classes."

"
No, that's okay," Suze said, smiling innocently. But that didn't take the pain out of Kate's heart when she added, "You can help me organize my sewing box. You're good at that and good at being a mom, too. But Grandma's the best at sewing, so I'd rather learn from her than in a class."

She knew her daughter didn
't mean the words the way they sounded, but Kate was overwhelmed with feelings of wanting to both laugh and cry at the same time. Instead, she offered Suze a tight smile and said, "Good plan, sweetie. Call your grandmother if you'd like, and ask her if she has the time."

"
I'll do that right now." Suze scrambled to her feet and raced past Kate, her paper quilt pieces flying in every direction from the back draft the exuberant girl created as she left the room.

* * *

Next day, the packing job continued without interruption. Keith left early for an out-of-town on-air assignment, so Jane offered to pick up her granddaughters from school and left Kate free to use the opportunity to handle a little end-of-the-day-reconnaissance on the rest of the project. The Stacked in Your Favor pair felt pretty good about the progress they'd made so far. Kate fielded several calls from the moving company, and even with all the changes and delays, it looked like things remained on track. As long as Sydney could leave the state, of course.

"
But that isn't our concern," she said, when Meg voiced that roadblock. "Our job is to make sure the stuff can move when the moving van is ready to stuff it."

They worked in tandem to pack the remains of Collier
's office, now that he'd already removed all sensitive documents and valuables. Kate stacked the corporate material she had mentioned on Saturday to Timothy, hoping she could take it by the corporate headquarters in the next day or so. Family pictures, awards, and some pricey-looking artwork hung on the walls, so the supply of bubble wrap took a decent hit before items went into labeled boxes.

The audio and visual equipment in the media room was set to sell with the house, so they only needed to box up the DVDs. Everything was inventoried into the master binder by box number, so the family would have l
ittle difficulty finding everything when they reached the other side of the country.

"
Katie, how do you know to do all of this? Do you just collect rules on how to move?" Meg asked, as one final note was jotted in the binder before they left the media room.

"
Keith was traded three times in the eight years we were married. Add those to our most recent move to Vermont, and I've had quite a lot of personal experience in this realm." Kate rubbed her hand over the top of the binder she hugged to her chest with one arm. "Master lists like this one are what kept me sane when I absolutely had to have something and couldn't take the time to unpack everything else first. Add a couple of babies to the moving mix, and I think you can see why I started figuring out a system to cover all eventualities."

Meg looked at her watch.
"I guess I'd better to go if I'm going to get the boys to tae-kwon-do, then over to help my mom. She needs to clean out the winter yard mess and bribed my monsters with cookies."

"
Oh, that's nice. Hope you don't have to do any bending and stretching yourself, unless you're feeling less achy than me."

"
Yard work will be for the boys alone. I'm figuring on getting my mother aside with a cup of tea and see what kind of information I can dredge from her steel-trap gossip brain."

Kate laughed as they crossed the foyer and to the closet where they
'd stashed their purses. "A good deed and a gossip fest. Sounds like a perfect afternoon."

"
I'll call you tonight," Meg said, smiling as she slung her purse strap over one shoulder and slipped out the front door.

Kate shot the deadbolt, then took a wide sweep of the perimeter, her hands on hips as she contemplated what they needed to focus on next. She hadn
't been kidding about feeling achy and wasn't looking forward to wrapping all the furniture in plastic like she'd explained to Collier the day before, but that was one big job still ahead of them. They also needed to go through the bathrooms, throwing out the smaller remnants of shampoo and such liquids. But for the ones worth saving and sending, they would remove the tops, put plastic over the opening, then replace the tops so none of the liquid could escape. For smaller drawers, or those with less depth, like those holding silverware or small toiletries, they would do the same as the rest of the furniture—wrap the entire filled drawer or drawer divider with plastic, so the contents would stay in place and secure, then wrap the entire chest to leave the wood well protected.

"
But first, I need coffee. And not here. I need to get out of here for awhile." She removed her job apron, scooped her own purse out of the closet, and pulled out her keys. She may have an afternoon free from the school run, but that didn't mean she couldn't take a break. "I am the boss, after all. It's time I made an executive decision."

Less than fifteen minutes later she was seated at a table in the Book Nook. Saree was busy with customers, but service in the bistro end of the store was stellar, so Kate already had her mocha latte and snickerdoodle when she heard the door chimes and noticed Lee Ann enter the bookstore. Now what to do? Meg, of course, would call out and ask her to sit down and talk.

She's probably busy running errands. She won't have time to talk to me.
That thought gave Kate the courage to at least offer a small smile and wave when Lee Ann looked over. A few minutes later, Lee Ann had her purchases paid for and sacked and stood at the chair opposite Kate.

"
Are you meeting someone?" Lee Ann asked.

"
No. Please, sit." Kate motioned to the chair.

Lee Ann called for an Americano, then took the proffered seat and sighed. She wore a tailored suit today, a spring floral jacket that complemented the auburn highlights in her hair and coordinated with pale pink slacks.
"You don't know how wonderful it feels to just sit in the quiet for a moment."

"
I think I do." Kate smiled. "I've met your boss."

"
Ah, yes, you have."

"
So, I take it she's as bat-crazy a person at work as she is when she goes into a house she's not supposed to enter?"

"
If possible, bat-crazier at the office. If she wasn't such a good closer, there's no way anyone would put up with her." Lee Ann shook her head. Her order was brought over then, and she took a moment to grab the right amount of bills for the tab and tip. "Thank you."

Kate broke her cookie in two and offered half to Lee Ann.

"Thank you."

"
How do you work with her?" Kate asked. "And I guess the next question is, why?"

Lee Ann sighed, then nibbled the short end of the cookie.
"I had a reason before, maybe not a good reason for putting up with her crap, but a reason anyway. But now everything has changed."

"
Sydney's not staying."

"
So you know." Lee Ann's gaze dropped to the tabletop.

"
She told us yesterday." Kate placed warm fingers over Lee Ann's chilled free hand. "I take it you moved here to try to make a connection."

Lee Ann sniffed but still didn
't look up. "It was too late. She thought I'd abandoned her. I never got enough time with Sydney to make her understand. I was in an auto accident and couldn't work. I'd already dropped out of college when I was pregnant, so even if I hadn't had the accident my options were limited. I was on pain meds and not really taking good care of either of us. Blaine and Lila didn't think they could have children at the time, and everyone told me letting them take Sydney would be the best thing for my child." She put a hand to her forehead, partially shielding her face. "I didn't realize I was completely giving up my rights. The pain meds didn't always leave me thinking clearly. When I did understand, it was too late, and any move I made to see Sydney while they lived in Florida was taken by Blaine and Lila as a threat."

Kate drew back to give the woman her space.
"These things take time, and the teen years have enough turbulence even without the extra history like yours and Sydney's. Don't give up, but give her a chance to figure this out herself as she experiences more of life. Are you staying in Hazelton?"