A Wee Dose of Death by Fran Stewart Page A

something in her voice, but I couldn’t identify it. Maybe Emily had always wanted a little girl.
    â€œDo they live close by?” What a stupid question. If they did, they’d be here helping her, instead of making me drive all the way.
    â€œOne’s in Oklahoma. The other lives in Iowa.”
    â€œOh. Do you have grandchildren?”
    I shouldn’t have looked over at her. The pain on her face was blatant.
    â€œNo,” she said.
    â€œDo you get a chance to see your sister very often?” Now, why did I ask that? Senators couldn’t just go roaming around the country, visiting relatives anytime they wanted to. Or, come to think of it, maybe they could.
    â€œNo,” she repeated, but this time there seemed to be a hard edge to her voice.
    â€œI’m sorry, Emily. I didn’t mean to pry.” Casting about for something to say, I asked, “How long did Mark plan to be gone?” Beside me—silence.
    Eventually we moved out of the mountains. People who live out West think the Rockies, Sierras, and Tetons are the only respectable mountain ranges, but our Green Mountains are tall enough, thank you. And they’re far older than those upstart Rockies. Or the Scottish Highlands.
    Once we were in the valley, I felt my shoulders loosen. It was another five miles before she started talking again. Once she started, though, she didn’t slow down.

13

    Endurance Test
    I didn’t lose Karaline, although with Emily’s nonstop chatting it was a miracle I didn’t. I couldn’t hear myself think. I was sorry—truly sorry—that her house had been broken into, but I was ready to throttle her by the time we reached Burlington.
    It didn’t take us long to get to Emily’s house. I followed Karaline onto one tree-lined street and then another, and pulled up before a modest one-story white house. It looked somewhat lost, surrounded as it was on both sides and across the street by three- and four-story edifices. I was willing to bet those would cost a small fortune to heat. Two enormous maples in the front yard were bare now, of course, but I could tell they’d join their leafy hands above us come full summer.
    She must have called ahead, because someone waved out of an upper window of the house next door. “Oh, good! Look,” Emily said. Her voice lifted, and I could hear the relief. “Sandramust have gotten back from her meeting early. She said she wasn’t sure she’d make it on time. I’m so glad she’s here. She’s my neighbor, the one who discovered the break-in. She always waters our plants for us when we’re gone. They’ve been here for years and years.”
    Even though I felt sorry for the poor woman, I was already dreading the trek back to Hamelin. Luckily, that turned out to be wasted worry.
    Emily leaned against the open car door. “I think I’ll stay for a few days.”
    Dirk and Karaline sauntered up next to us. “This is a lovely house, Mrs. Wantstring.”
    Dirk looked around as if trying to locate the chickens that any family must need. He still didn’t quite understand the concept of grocery stores. Why had I never taken him to one?
    Cancel that question. I knew darn well why I’d never shown him the inside of a grocery store. I didn’t think I could cope with all the impossible-to-answer questions. Maybe I
should
take Karaline up on her offer, I thought. Not to take him permanently—I had to admit I wouldn’t like that at all—but just to borrow him once in a while, like when she was on her way to shop for food.
    I tuned back in, just in time to hear Karaline say, “It’s really close to UVM.”
    Emily nodded. “Yes. Mark always walks to work.” I had the feeling she wasn’t engaged in the conversation. “Do you want to come in and have some coffee before you go?”
    That was one of those tricky questions, wasn’t it—the kind