Death on the Family Tree by Patricia Sprinkle

served as their family.
    Even after Dr. Flo retired and got more involved in community organizations, she remained chic and elegant. Katharine had often run into her at meetings of the Perennial Plants Association, at members-only events at the High Museum of Art and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, at fund-raising galas for women’s shelters, or at evening performances for adults at the Theater for Puppetry Arts. And while they weren’t well acquainted, Katharine always enjoyed Dr. Flo. The woman’s mind was sharp, her interests wide, and her conversation brilliant.
    That morning, though, Katharine realized she had seldom seen the professor since her husband had died unexpectedly a year earlier. Dr. Flo hadn’t seemed like a woman to hang up her socks after she was widowed. Maybe she had been traveling, picking up new clothes in street markets around the world.
    “I like your hair,” Katharine told her. “It’s a softer look.”
    “I’m not feeling very soft right now.” Dr. Flo gestured toward her microfilm. “I’m looking up some relatives of my husband’s, trying to chase down one of Maurice’s cousins. His people came from down in Butts County, and I always told him the lot of them were real good at butting heads in a butt-ugly manner. Maurice was the only decent one in the lot. Are you into genealogy?”
    “A beginner,” Katharine admitted.
    “It’s fascinating when you get into it.” Dr. Flo’s eyes danced. “You begin to feel like a detective or something, rooting around for clues. What are you looking for?”
    “I’m trying to solve a puzzle I got handed this morning. My Aunt Lucy died last week—Lucille Everanes?”
    Dr. Flo wrinkled her forehead. “I didn’t know her, but the name sounds familiar. It’s not a common one, so I wonder why. Was she on your mother’s side of the family?”
    Katharine shook her head with a rueful smile. “She wasn’t on any side of my family. Her older brother married my mother’s sister. But because they all grew up together and the Everaneses had no other family, Lucy got adopted into ours.”
    “An honorary auntie,” Dr. Flo said with a nod. “I had several of those.”
    “I did, too, but I was in elementary school before I found out Aunt Lucy was one of them. I loved her like she was blood kin, and after listening to her stories all my life, I’d have sworn I knew everything there was to know about her past. Now, clearing out after her death, I’m discovering she had a brother Carter I never heard of.”
    “Carter Everanes. Now why does that sound familiar?” Dr. Flo cocked her head, wrinkled her forehead and pursed her lips, trying to come up with an answer. Reluctantly she shook her head. “Nothing comes immediately to mind, but my mind isn’t what it used to be.”
    “Well, it’s not like Carter has been mentioned very often in the past forty-five years. At least not in my presence.” Katharine nodded toward the microfilm machine. “I hope to find out something about him in a minute.”
    “I hope you have better luck than I did. That no-good Drake doesn’t appear in any of these records, but I know he existed, because Maurice talked about him all the time. He used to manage some property Maurice owned down near Jackson, and I want to find him to ask him about it. I guess I’ll have to drive down there and see if I can locate him.” Dr. Flo rolled back her chair and stood, shaking out her skirt, which fell almost to bright yellow flip-flops. Dr. Flo Gadney in flip-flops? What was the world coming to?
    “Maybe he changed his name,” Katharine suggested, calling on her recent lesson on genealogy research.
    Dr. Flo let out a disgusted little huff. “Or maybe he skipped the country with Maurice’s money. That’s also possible.” They chatted lightly while Dr. Flo gathered up a red canvas tote and a black shoulder bag. Finally she said, “Well, I’d better be getting home. Good luck with your search.” As she walked from the room,