She looked startled for a second. “Oh, that’s right. You don’t know about my family.”

“Captain Johnson just told me that you were a single woman and that your mother was a longtime, dear friend of his. I assumed you either lived alone or with your mother.”

Lainie smiled then and folded her hands in her lap. “I sort of do both…live alone and also live with my family, that is. A few years back, I bought a big house in a fancy Houston suburb. It’s an old place and has a good-size guest house right on the grounds. I bought it with the idea in mind of letting my sister and her husband use the guest house.”

She frowned at a large crack in the wall directly in front of the bed. “But when it came time for us to move in, I realized that the two of them would be much more comfortable in the bigger place. So…”

“You moved into the guest house,” he said with a yawn.

“Yes, but it wasn’t a hardship. The smaller house is so cozy. It’s just perfect for my needs. And Jeff, he’s my brother-in-law, loves to entertain and have big parties. Someday, the two of them might have a bunch of kids, too, and the living arrangements have all worked out for the best. Without family nearby, a person is no one.”

“But you own both houses?”

“Sure. In fact, a year or so ago I bought a neighboring house when the old woman who lived there passed away. It was a good thing, too. My father had a stroke a few months later, so I insisted that he and Mom move in next door so I could keep an eye on them.” She inclined her head. “I suppose you could say we live in a family compound.”

Sloan could not imagine anything worse. The thought of having people—meddling family members especially—underfoot all the time gave him the creeps.

“Sounds real cozy,” he said, using her words and with a grin he didn’t feel. “So your father is still alive. Does he work?”

“He’s totally disabled. Confined to a wheelchair,” she said sadly.

“And your brother-in-law…what does he do for a living?”

Lainie studied her toes. “Well, Jeff runs my father’s bar now. It’s not much of a living, though. The place is only open a few hours a day, except on weekends. Mom keeps the books, but it never has been much of a moneymaker.”

Sloan got the picture. Lainie seemed to be the sole support for the whole clan. He wondered if she realized how much friction could arise between family members when one strong person ruled the purse strings. As a lawman he’d seen that kind of thing happen often enough.

“Hmm. Let me get this straight in my head,” he began. “All of your immediate family lives in housing that you own and no doubt provide free of charge.”

“I couldn’t ask my family to pay me.”

“Uh-huh. And you are the one person in the family who is gainfully employed.”

“My sister works hard in her job at the paper.”

“I’m sure she does. But you’re her boss, right?”

“Yes, but—”

“So without you, what would become of the rest of the family?”

Those great green eyes widened and she twisted the edge of the bedspread around in her fingers. “I’ve provided for them in my will, of course. And I imagine that Suzy could keep the column going for quite a while if I were ill. I’ve been letting her write a few of the columns so she could get the practice.”

“Seems to me that the whole bunch of them ought to be real concerned over your welfare.”

“That’s not fair.” She stood up and began pacing from the bed to the door and back. “They’re my family. All families have a few problems, but that doesn’t mean they don’t love each other.” She stopped and held her palm out, pleading for him to understand. “You must know how it is. Family is the most important thing in the world. You probably have a few family problems of your own. Everyone does.”

His silence told Lainie a lot about the man. There was something about his family that bothered him.

Finally he shook his head. “Don’t have a family,” he muttered.

“None? No wife…or ex-wife…and kids?”

He scowled. “Never been married.”

“But surely you must have parents. Were you orphaned at an early age or something?” She sat down on the edge of the bed and studied him again.

“Nope. Had a mother…up until December fifteenth.”

“Your mother just passed away three months ago?” She gulped, wondering how she’d gotten herself into such a stupid conversation in the first place. “I’m so sorry, Sloan. Were you two very close?”