“I thought the house looked rather sad, needs new paint, and there’s not a lot of furniture, at least in the hall and in the front parlor.”

Kanesha nodded. “Aunt Lily told me they had started selling the furniture. She said it like to have broke her heart, seeing all those family heirlooms go. Then they had to let her go, too. They couldn’t pay her, and she couldn’t work for free.”

“I didn’t know your aunt worked for the Beauchamps.”

“For nearly forty years.” Kanesha made a sour face. “And now she has to go out looking for a new job, at her age. She can’t afford to retire.”

“I’m sorry she’s lost her job.” I was about to add, If there’s anything I can do, let me know, but I realized in time that wouldn’t go over too well. Kanesha would bite my head off.

“What about Morty Cassity?” I asked. “Is his financial position solid?”

“From everything I can find out, he’s in excellent shape. Worth about twenty-five million or so.”

“Money that the Beauchamps could certainly use, and with Vera out of the way, Morty is free to marry Sissy.”

“That could wrap it up pretty neatly,” Kanesha said. “But there’s a matter of proof. Motive is there, but we still have to make sure one of the three of them had the opportunity.”

“Morty was upstairs with Vera,” I said. “We know that from Azalea’s evidence.”

“He was upstairs with her part of the time, but we don’t know for sure that he was still upstairs when she got pushed. Unless Mama can swear in court that she saw him do it, of course.”

Her cell phone rang as I was about to pose a question. Kanesha held up a hand to forestall me as she answered her phone. “Right,” she said. “On my way right now.” She ended the call and put the phone back in her pocket. “Three-car accident about three miles out of town. We’ll talk more later.”

That was fine with me. Maybe by the time we talked again, I would know enough to make a decision about sharing what I’d learned about Vera’s connection to the Ducote family. I showed Kanesha to the door, then wandered back to the kitchen to figure out what to have for dinner.

Diesel waited by the fridge and peered inside the moment I opened it. I never could figure out what it was he looked for, but he inevitably wanted to see inside whenever someone opened the door.

I found a casserole dish with a note on it. “Found this in the freezer, so I took it out to let it thaw for you. Love, Laura.” I pulled the casserole out and peeled off the foil and plastic wrap. It looked like one of Azalea’s chicken, broccoli, rice, and cheese casseroles. Good rib-sticking food. Not exactly healthy, but definitely tasty.

I put it in the oven to warm. While I waited for dinner to be ready, I went upstairs to wash up and fetch the book I was reading, the latest Ellery Adams Books by the Bay mystery. This was a relatively new series, but I loved the characters and the North Carolina setting.