whiskey.”
He smiled. “No one knows me like you do, Mom.”
She slid into the chair next to him. “That’s true, which is why I know that you didn’t come here for supper, even though I’d be the first to agree that my chicken and dumplings are first-rate. So are you going to tell me what’s wrong or do I have to ground you until you talk?”
He stuck a huge dumpling in his mouth and held up one finger. Absolutely amazing.
His mother shook her head. “You know, if you’d find yourself a woman who cooks, you might get a decent meal other than the nights you stop here.”
He popped the top on the beer and took a swig. “I have three women, to be exact—all working down at the café. They provide me with home-cooked meals and I provide them with a good portion of my paycheck.”
“You get a wife and she could provide you with a lot more than food.”
“I’m not having this conversation with you.”
“What conversation?”
“The one about all the things a wife could provide me with. Some of those aren’t the sort of thing you think about sitting at the dinner table with your mother.”
She waved a hand in dismissal. “You think I don’t know anything? Your father and I had forty glorious years together and we darn sure didn’t spend them all watching television. Do you still think the stork dropped you off?”
He stared at his mother in dismay. “Can we just change the subject? Please?”
“Fine. So if it’s not woman troubles, then what’s got you out this late in the middle of a downpour?”
He tried to formulate a response that didn’t include Alaina LeBeau but couldn’t come up with anything.
“Aha!” His mom clapped her hands. “I knew it was a woman.”
He dropped his fork in the bowl and sighed. It was absolutely useless to try to hide things from his mom. Her uncanny ability to read people had left him little wiggle room as a child and it sometimes seemed even less as an adult.
“Alaina LeBeau arrived today.”
His mother studied him for a couple of seconds. “I see. How does she look?”
“She looks like a city lawyer.”
She smiled. “Beautiful, then. William said she favored her mother, so I expected as much.”
“Her looks are not the problem.”
“So there is a problem.”
“The beautiful, cast-off daughter of an heiress turns up decades later after her evil stepfather’s death to live in the big mansion of horrors, and you have to ask if there’s a problem.”
“So she is beautiful.”
He sighed. “Can we stick to the problem part, please?”
“Of course. I was just trying to get my facts straight.”
“Uh-huh.” He took another bite of the dumplings and began to tell his mother about his first meeting with Alaina, his concern that someone else had been in the house, his subsequent conversation with William and the lack of readily available information on Trenton Purcell. He left out the part about his second visit. It wasn’t relevant to the case.
His mother frowned when he was done and tapped one finger on the breakfast table. “I don’t like it,” she finally said.
“Me either, but I’m at a loss as to what to do about it. I have nothing concrete to go on—no direction in which to focus.”
“So I take you didn’t get anything further in your second visit with Alaina?”
He stared. “How did you— Never mind. No, I didn’t find out anything except that the power was off and Amos told her where to find flashlights.”
“You should have stuck around, at least until the storm passed.”
“I offered, but she turned me down.”
His mother raised one eyebrow.
“Scout’s honor,” he said.
“You were always a horrible scout. Gave the scout leaders fits, but you are my son, so I suppose you made the offer. Makes me wonder about the girl, though.”
“Why is that?”
“If a fine-looking man offered to keep me company in an unfamiliar and creepy house during the rainstorm of the century, I would have taken him up on
He smiled. “No one knows me like you do, Mom.”
She slid into the chair next to him. “That’s true, which is why I know that you didn’t come here for supper, even though I’d be the first to agree that my chicken and dumplings are first-rate. So are you going to tell me what’s wrong or do I have to ground you until you talk?”
He stuck a huge dumpling in his mouth and held up one finger. Absolutely amazing.
His mother shook her head. “You know, if you’d find yourself a woman who cooks, you might get a decent meal other than the nights you stop here.”
He popped the top on the beer and took a swig. “I have three women, to be exact—all working down at the café. They provide me with home-cooked meals and I provide them with a good portion of my paycheck.”
“You get a wife and she could provide you with a lot more than food.”
“I’m not having this conversation with you.”
“What conversation?”
“The one about all the things a wife could provide me with. Some of those aren’t the sort of thing you think about sitting at the dinner table with your mother.”
She waved a hand in dismissal. “You think I don’t know anything? Your father and I had forty glorious years together and we darn sure didn’t spend them all watching television. Do you still think the stork dropped you off?”
He stared at his mother in dismay. “Can we just change the subject? Please?”
“Fine. So if it’s not woman troubles, then what’s got you out this late in the middle of a downpour?”
He tried to formulate a response that didn’t include Alaina LeBeau but couldn’t come up with anything.
“Aha!” His mom clapped her hands. “I knew it was a woman.”
He dropped his fork in the bowl and sighed. It was absolutely useless to try to hide things from his mom. Her uncanny ability to read people had left him little wiggle room as a child and it sometimes seemed even less as an adult.
“Alaina LeBeau arrived today.”
His mother studied him for a couple of seconds. “I see. How does she look?”
“She looks like a city lawyer.”
She smiled. “Beautiful, then. William said she favored her mother, so I expected as much.”
“Her looks are not the problem.”
“So there is a problem.”
“The beautiful, cast-off daughter of an heiress turns up decades later after her evil stepfather’s death to live in the big mansion of horrors, and you have to ask if there’s a problem.”
“So she is beautiful.”
He sighed. “Can we stick to the problem part, please?”
“Of course. I was just trying to get my facts straight.”
“Uh-huh.” He took another bite of the dumplings and began to tell his mother about his first meeting with Alaina, his concern that someone else had been in the house, his subsequent conversation with William and the lack of readily available information on Trenton Purcell. He left out the part about his second visit. It wasn’t relevant to the case.
His mother frowned when he was done and tapped one finger on the breakfast table. “I don’t like it,” she finally said.
“Me either, but I’m at a loss as to what to do about it. I have nothing concrete to go on—no direction in which to focus.”
“So I take you didn’t get anything further in your second visit with Alaina?”
He stared. “How did you— Never mind. No, I didn’t find out anything except that the power was off and Amos told her where to find flashlights.”
“You should have stuck around, at least until the storm passed.”
“I offered, but she turned me down.”
His mother raised one eyebrow.
“Scout’s honor,” he said.
“You were always a horrible scout. Gave the scout leaders fits, but you are my son, so I suppose you made the offer. Makes me wonder about the girl, though.”
“Why is that?”
“If a fine-looking man offered to keep me company in an unfamiliar and creepy house during the rainstorm of the century, I would have taken him up on
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