Varnished without a Trace by Misty Simon

Author:Misty Simon [Simon, Misty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2020-06-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

“Ican’t find Hoagie on your family tree.” Mama Shirley announced this as if it should have been intoned instead of said.

It took me a moment to follow what she was saying. “Did you look in the right place?”

She shot an eyebrow up at me that matched the one from Gina earlier. “Of course I did. And he’s not there.”

“Wait, do you have an actual tree for everyone in town? Like on a wall in a gallery, the way Sirius Black did?”

Gina laughed. “She is not going to know what you mean by that, Tallie, because she only watches her daytime soaps. We don’t have actual trees on walls, but Mama does have a book where everyone’s name and place is kept, and if Mama says he’s not there, he’s not there.”

“But we are related, right?” I asked a second, obvious question and got a frown in return.

“I don’t know,” Mama said. “I talked to several of your relatives, and they all agree that he’s related to them but can’t remember how.”

“Did you ask Burton?”

“That’s the strange part. He said it was through your Aunt Bertha, but I know where that page is and he’s not there. And Hoagie’s never been like a relation that was born on the wrong side of the blanket, or someone who married in. I distinctly remember that he and his family were a solid branch of the tree going back decades, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I don’t know where that started or where it came from. When I pressed Burton, he got pissy and then pretended to take a call to get me out of his office. The darn phone didn’t even ring, but he picked it up and started talking as if it had.”

“Rude,” I said, baffled that Burton would do that to his favorite cousin. They might have had their differences over the years, but he always came in for coffee and to talk with Mama, knowing that nine times out of ten she’d have more info than he could legitimately pay for from an informant.

“Did he hang up when you walked out?” Gina asked.

“I don’t know because I was in a huff, but I went in there to see which child he had contacted to make the funeral arrangements, and who he thought might come so we could make sure the whole family was taken care of, so I decided to do some looking on my own. But I cannot for the life of me find out who Hoagie is actually related to.”

“That is bizarre.” My mind was in high gear as I took a seat on the couch. That only lasted for a second, though, as I popped back up fast enough to have my knees cracking. “I feel like Burton’s hiding something. I thought he was being truthful with me and really wanted my help, but now I’m not so sure. And why is there so much focus on Hoagie and not on finding Ronda’s killer? It’s like she’s being left in the dust.

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