Harmony arrived home and came into the kitchen, shrugging off her purse, and stared at me, eyes wide and mouth open. “Kate! Are you…cooking?”
“I can cook!” I reached over to turn the heat on the chowder down, as it seemed to keep bubbling up too high. I might have taken on more than I could handle at once. I had a whole roasted chicken sitting on the counter next to a bag of shredded cheese, all waiting to go into the pot of corn chowder. On the other counter was a bowl with a mixer, flour and poppyseeds dusting the surface, and bits of dough sprinkled in a horizontal line across the backsplash and also across my middle. “I had hoped to be a little further along before you came home, though.”
Harmony came over to help me, but I could see the tired circles under her eyes. She looked defeated.
“No, no, you sit. I don’t need any help.”
I handed her the beater from the poppyseed bread, and she gave me a wan smile. “You know you’re not supposed to lick these because of the raw egg, right?”
“I think we should live dangerously just this once.” I took the other beater, and we both licked them like little kids.
Once she was done, I took the beaters, threw them in the sink, and asked, “How did your interview with the police go?”
“Fine, I guess. I told them everything I could think of that might help, but it wasn’t much. After that, I went to the funeral home to make arrangements. She wanted to be cremated, so that’ll be done, and she told me many times that she wanted a celebration of life when she went, not a sad funeral, so I’ve been trying to figure out how to plan that.”
“Hang on,” I said, turning the heat all the way down on the soup. I threw the pans of dough into the oven and ushered Harmony into the family room with a cup of tea. She folded her long limbs into a chair, leaning back and closing her eyes with a sigh. Stormy appeared out of nowhere, leaping gracefully into her lap as though there was nowhere else in the world she belonged, and Harmony stroked her fur.
“Did you go to the house?”
“Yeah. It was hard, but at the same time, it’s home, you know? It’s where I grew up. I have so many good memories there. The dining room, kitchen, and study were still taped off, but I was able to walk around the other areas. They said not to take anything yet, though.
“We’re thinking of holding the funeral the day after tomorrow. Jeremy and the girls are flying in tomorrow, if I can get it all planned this quickly. Would it be okay with you if they also stay here?”
“Of course!” I held my arms out, gesturing at my large home. “I have tons of room, and I’d love to see Jeremy and the girls!”
Harmony stared at her tea. “I just keep thinking about the murder.”
“We all do, Hon.”
“Do you think it was somebody in the HOA? I mean, maybe it really was just robbery gone wrong.”
“Obviously anything is possible, but there were plenty of expensive items in the house that were not stolen, like her jewelry and electronics, so unless the murderer was looking for something specific, it looks a lot more like a crime of passion.”
Harmony sipped her tea thoughtfully. “She used to tell me the funny stories, you know, like about that lady that wants to keep bees. I think she told her she could have bees as long as the bees didn’t go onto her neighbor’s property. She had a good laugh about that one. But she never mentioned anything serious.” She frowned and put her eyebrows together. “She also mentioned some woman who wanted to put in a fountain as a way to save water and a man who was refusing to allow the HOA to pull up their own shrubs. Certainly not anything worth killing her over.”
Harmony folded her legs under her so she was sitting cross-legged. She took a deep breath. “We should probably talk about Dad,” she said lowly, her eyes down.
“Your father? What about him?”
She paused, and I could tell this was difficult for her. “Mom told me she worried about what you thought of her, you know, when you first met. She felt like you’ve always thought less of her because of what happened.”
My heart did a double take. Angie was worried about that? For all this time? “Why on earth-”
Harmony held up her hand. “Mom was strong in every aspect of her life except with Dad. She was a great attorney, and she never backed down from a fight. But with Dad, she was…well, she told me she just turned a blind eye to his drinking, and she ignored all the red flags. She said he changed, and not for the better, but she was so busy raising me and trying to build a practice, she just didn’t pay attention.
“Kate, Mom was horrified that you walked in on what you walked in on. Seeing how bad it got through your eyes is what made her realize she had to get him out of her life. And she was immensely grateful for your help in the aftermath, what with making sure he couldn’t get custody of me and all.”
Angie, my strong, amazing friend, was worried about what I thought about her? I hadn’t cried in 20 years, and now twice in as many days tears filled my eyes, and I found myself brushing away the one tear that escaped and was trying to fall down my cheek.
“Thank you for sharing that with me.” I stood up, and Harmony stood up, and we found each other in a huge bear hug full of sadness and love for each other and the incredible woman who was still such a large part of our lives.
Stormy flicked her tail at us, disgusted at losing the warm lap she had been enjoying.