“Humph! Your family is nothing but trouble,’’ she said.

I parked under the meager shade of a slash pine. The asphalt lot baked under a mid-afternoon sun. Sprinting through the woods, it took me just a few moments to arrive at the breezeway outside the park’s office. Elaine Naiman sat on a cypress log bench, whistling off-key.

“Sorry I kept you waiting.’’ I was a bit out of breath.

“No problem.’’ She gave me a friendly grin. “I was just enjoying sitting under the trees, listening to the birds singing.’’

“Yeah, I heard you accompanying them just now.’’

“Hope it didn’t hurt your ears. I love all kinds of music, including birdsongs. But I’m actually tone deaf. No telling how I sounded.’’

I flashed a thumbs up, withholding my opinion she’d never get a job as a professional whistler.

“I got your supervisor’s permission to steal you for a few minutes.’’

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m on Rhonda’s bad side today. Did she say you could keep me for good?’’

Elaine smiled. “Not exactly. She said we should make it snappy so you could get some work done. For a change.’’

“Sounds like Rhonda.’’

“I’ll get to the point: I’ve found out some things about our mayor. If you’re going to fight him on that development he’s pushing, you might be able to use the information as ammunition against him.’’

She seemed so eager. I didn’t want to tell her I already had one pretty big battle on my hands. Proving Kenny was innocent of murder had to take precedence over saving Florida from another development scheme. The sad thing was, even if we stopped this one, another ill-conceived project would pop right up to take its place. Out-of-control developers were the state’s version of Whac-A-Mole.

Elaine pulled a notebook from her purse and shuffled through the pages. “First, the honorable Bill Graf is into some pretty weird things.’’

“So I’ve heard. You mean sex, right?’’

Her head jerked up from the notebook. Surprise showed on her face. “Yes, and it’s creepy! One of my fellow teachers has a niece, just out of high school. She interviewed for a filing job in the city manager’s office. The mayor followed her out to the parking lot at City Hall, and then asked if she’d consider ‘hooking up’ with him and his wife. It was pretty clear he didn’t mean for a nice family dinner.’’

“What a sleaze ball.’”

“Clearly.” She touched the tip of her pencil to her tongue, then made a check mark in her notes.

The door to the park’s office opened. Rhonda stuck out her head. “You two found each other?’’

I nodded. “I’ll be in soon, and then I’m yours for the rest of the day. I’ll even spread that pile of mulch on the nature path.’’

A city crew had dumped it, smack dab at the beginning of the path. Rhonda had been calling ever since to try to get somebody to come back to even it out. Hey, if a little manual labor would get me back on her friendly side, I was not above lifting a shovel. She shook her finger at me and closed the door.

Elaine consulted her notes again. “Next, he was connected to a business up north that got into trouble for trying to bribe some local government officials.’’

That I had not heard. It looked like the Himmarshee paper fell down on reporting the stories it ran about the candidates in our recent elections. I wasn’t surprised. Newspapers nationwide were struggling to survive. The local paper was so short-staffed and strapped for the advertising that paid its bills I was amazed it still managed to publish anything at all.

“Was that case common knowledge?’’ I asked.

Elaine lowered her eyes, suddenly modest. “No, it was a little bitty town in Rhode Island, and the charges were pretty small potatoes. But I’m a good researcher. It’s a passion of mine, along with supporting the hapless St. Louis Rams.’’

She paged through the notes. “The company belonged to his wife’s family, so the mayor’s name wasn’t directly involved. No charges were filed against him, though his wife worked there when the trouble arose. Now, I can’t say whether our mayor managed to cover his tracks, or he really didn’t have anything to do with their business. I intend to keep looking into it, though.’’

“Why are you so interested in all of this?’’

She looked out across the breezeway, her gaze lingering on Himmarshee Creek and then the cool greenness of the woods beyond. “You know, I love it here. I didn’t like the mayor, even before he showed such disregard for the kids’ safety in the parking lot. I liked him even less when I found out he had plans to bring in a lot of big development to ruin this place.’’

She turned to me, her eyes meeting mine. “Maybe someone else would be a better mayor for Himmarshee.’’

I waited for her to go on. A cardinal chirped from an oak branch, filling the silence.

“You?’’ I finally asked. I sure as hell wasn’t mayoral material.

She chewed her lip. “Is that crazy?’’

I shook my head. “I’ve heard nuttier ideas. You’re smart. You show great attention to detail. You love the community, and you love kids. The town could do a lot worse.’’

She grinned. “Mayors here serve a two-year term. I’ve got time to decide.’’

“And gather more dirt on His Honor in the meantime.’’ I stuck out my hand. “You’ve already got my vote.’’

We shook, and said our goodbyes.

“I better get to work before Rhonda explodes.’’ As I walked toward the office, I started making a list in my head:

Return phone calls. Spread mulch. Feed animals. Decide how to tell Maddie her husband had shagged a murder victim …

The sound of Elaine calling me from the breezeway stopped me at the door. “Sorry,’’ I said, “what’d you say?’’

“I forgot to mention Mrs. Graf’s family’s business. It was trash hauling.’’

My hand was on the knob when Rhonda yanked open the door. The scowl on her face told me she was not happy.

forty-one

I held back my sister’s hair as she retched over the toilet in the bathroom Kenny had remodeled for her thirty-fifth birthday. I remembered how excited she’d been: They’d splurged on beautiful, custom glass tiles, forming a cobalt-blue border around the shower. The tiles were still in fine condition.

I couldn’t say the same for Maddie.

She coughed, and blew her nose. Shaking, she sat back on her heels. Her breath came out as a shudder.

“You done?’’

She nodded. “I’m sorry, Mace.’’ The words were muffled by a washcloth pressed over her nose and mouth.

“Don’t worry about it.’’ I tucked a loose tendril of hair behind her ear. “I love you. What’s a little barf between sisters?’’

She shifted the cloth, revealing a weak smile.

I didn’t mention it wasn’t the first time today I’d watched one of my relatives upchuck. I hoped Kenny’s behavior hadn’t triggered an epidemic of family vomiting.

Earlier, at work, I’d finished my chores. I groveled until I patched things up with my boss. When not chasing down murderers or dealing with family drama, I was a reliable employee. Rhonda was a forgiving sort, usually willing to meet me more than halfway.

I left the park and headed for Maddie’s house, dreading the conversation I knew we needed to have. I brewed chamomile tea and sat her at the kitchen table, where I broke the news that her husband was in fact a cheating bastard. It seemed she was taking it pretty well. Then I got to the part about the swingers’ club, and how Kenny may have been the last person to see Camilla Law before she was murdered. Maddie clapped a hand over her mouth and galloped for the bathroom.

She threw up two full cups of chamomile tea, turning the water in the toilet bowl bright yellow. I flushed.

“Did you eat anything today, sister?’’

She shook her head, putting two fingers over her lips to cover a burp.

“You have to eat, Maddie.’’

Even as I said the words, I thought how weird they sounded. Maddie never needed encouragement to eat. Usually, we encouraged her to stop. She collected herself, and began getting up from the bathroom floor. I helped her to sit on the bathtub edge. Then I gathered the balled-up, soggy tissues from the countertop, and tossed them in the wastebasket. One hit the rim, bouncing onto the floor behind the toilet. I got on my knees to pick it up. The angle brought my face right over the top of the wastebasket.