Her phone buzzed in her purse.
Good Lord, that was fast. Was Angela Calvo texting her already?
She pulled out her phone and nearly did an excited boogie on the front porch.
It wasn’t Angela, it was Val.
I’m in, you sweet Georgia peach. Sully and I will drive to the coast day after tomorrow. Better find a place for his giant truck to park.
Chapter 14
Katherine sat across the table from Megan, her keen eyes watching silently as Megan fidgeted. They were drinking coffee at the North Beach Bistro, where Angela Calvo was meeting them for lunch in a little over fifteen minutes. Katherine had finished the sketch of the man she’d seen in her vision and given a copy to Megan.
“He might be Latino?” Megan said. “Definitely white or Latino.”
“I would say yes. Latino was my first impression as well.”
“He’s not familiar to me. You?”
“Nothing. I’ve run through everyone I can think of from the university, especially the biology department, and from the wineries I’ve visited.”
“He’s very… average-looking.”
Katherine nodded. “He is.”
“Well, nuts.” She folded the paper and put it in her pocket. “Still, I’ll try to slip this to Drew somehow without making things too suspicious.”
Katherine hadn’t taken her eyes off Megan.
“What?” Megan asked.
“I’m just curious why you wanted me here. I could have dropped off the sketch. Or you could have come to pick it up. Why did you want me at lunch?”
“Because… it’s Angela Calvo, and she was kind of a suspect in the vine theft.”
Katherine looked confused. “I thought we’d eliminated her. Despite her reputation, Professor Njoku and I confirmed that her land doesn’t have the right soil composition to grow Poulsard.”
“You know she also owns other property. Like that resort north of town at Dolphin Cove. I drove up a couple of days ago and checked. I definitely saw some greenhouse-looking things.”
And impeccable landscaping which… would explain the greenhouses.
The resort also had a crystal-blue pool, steaming hot pools, and ocean-view spa cabanas.
She really needed a spa day.
“I suppose it’s still a possibility,” Katherine said. “What would her motive be?”
“Um… messing with Nico?”
Katherine seemed to consider that. “For what purpose?”
“To… get revenge for not being able to steal the wine caves?”
Katherine nodded thoughtfully. “Though Angela Calvo maintained that she didn’t know anything about the wine caves or about her fiancé’s goal of tricking Nico into selling his land.”
“She says that, but why should we believe her?”
Katherine asked, “Why shouldn’t we?”
Megan slumped. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to meet this woman by myself. I’d ask Toni to come because I know you’re busy—and I’d love to pry into what on earth this woman sees in Rodney—but she’s not feeling well, and I don’t want to stress her out.”
“Do you feel that the meeting with Angela Calvo will get off to an adversarial start if she feels that you’ve brought what the kids would see as backup?”
Megan opened her mouth, then shut it. She hadn’t even thought about that, but Katherine was right. “Do you want to leave? Do you think that would make for a better meeting?”
“Oh no,” Katherine said. “There’s still a not-remote chance of her being a sociopath. I definitely want to stay.”
Megan bit her lip to keep from laughing. “You’re not going to tell her the sociopath theory, are you?”
“Not right away.” Katherine sipped her coffee. “I’d like to observe her more first.”
“Speaking of sociopaths, how’s the ethics review at the university going?” Megan asked. “The Alice Kraft thing?”
“It seems to be running into a wall. She wants the university to clear her record but isn’t offering anything new to add to the initial investigation. Nothing that would mitigate the evidence against her. She simply seems to think the college owes her an apology because she wasn’t found guilty by the court.” Katherine frowned. “Ethics panels don’t work like that.”
“She sounds entitled,” Megan said. “I have to say, that fits with my initial impression of her. Is that typical for college professors?”
“In my experience? Absolutely.” Katherine’s entire face brightened. “Did I tell you that Fred the Third solved his most complicated puzzle yet?”
“You didn’t. You mentioned the eel-reproduction thing to me though, and now it keeps coming back to me at odd times.”
“One spawning ground in the entire Atlantic Ocean.” Katherine nodded slowly. “Fascinating, isn’t it?”
“It’s… definitely something.” Megan could never get as excited about eel reproductive systems as Katherine did, but that’s why she wasn’t a scientist. “Do you think Trina’s doing the right thing heading back to Atlanta next year? She could get accepted at Central Coast in a heartbeat.”
Katherine didn’t answer quickly, which Megan appreciated.
“She’s very attached to her friends and family back east,” Katherine said after a long pause. “And you won’t find many better schools for undergraduate degrees in biology in the United States than the one she’s chosen. If she sticks with marine biology, then her options for graduate school will be wide open. She might return here or she might move to a school that specializes in the mid-Atlantic region, which is really what she’s interested in.”
Megan put a hand over Katherine’s hand. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For caring about my kids so much. I know Trina talks your ear off.”
“I love it,” Katherine said. “It makes me much more comfortable at large gatherings if Trina is there to quiz me about coral or ocean-temperature trends or whatever has caught her attention that week. And getting to know Adam has been just as delightful.”
Megan cocked her head. “Adam?”
Katherine nodded. “He’s been running on the beach by our house most afternoons lately and he always offers to take Archie with him. The dog loves it.”
“I thought he was running with his basketball team.” Megan was feeling distinctly out of touch with her kids. She felt like she hadn’t spoken to Adam in months. Not a real conversation anyway.
“I’ve just seen him on his own,” Katherine said. “But it’s nearly every day. He’s a lovely young man.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Megan said. “He’s been like a thunderstorm fixin’ to cloud up and rain on whatever’s nearby lately. I don’t know what’s going on with him.”
“Adam?” Katherine’s eyebrows went up. “Well, as Baxter often reminds me about my freshman students: be gracious. Their frontal lobe isn’t fully developed until twenty-five.”
A voice came from a few feet away. “And that’s just the average.”