Madeline nods. "Where is she?"
Sergeant Overby comes over. "She"s in the debriefing room-she"ll be done soon. What do you know about that goat of hers? She said you were there when she brought her home."
"Yes," Madeline says. "She"d gone to the farmer"s market and found her there."
"Did she say what her intentions were? Apparently some flyers went up today, but why did it take her so long before notifying anybody about the goat"s whereabouts?"
Madeline knits her brows. "Is Connie in some kind of trouble?" she asks.
Sergeant Overby looks grim. "She"s in some kind of trouble, all right. She"s been accused of theft-goat-napping, to be precise."
"But that"s ridiculous!" Madeline exclaims. She"s about to push past Sergeant Overby when he holds up his hands and shakes his head.
"I"m afraid not, Madeline. Rayna Doherty is pressing charges. Someone broke into the petting zoo about eight weeks ago. There were skid marks everywhere-a busted fence and trough-and they took off with one of Rayna"s goats. This one was pregnant, too. Did it in the middle of the night, scared everyone."
"I can a.s.sure you that Connie would never do such a thing," Madeline says vehemently.
"Can you vouch for her whereabouts the night before?"
"Of course." Madeline casts an anxious look at Ava and Yvonne. "She was home, with me."
"Are you a light sleeper?"
Madeline stiffens. "Average, I"d say. b.u.mps in the night wake me up."
Sergeant Overby nods. "Early to bed?" he asks.
Madeline"s face is a blank.
Sergeant Overby sighs. "No offense, Madeline, but this happened just after midnight. Connie could have easily slipped out, gone to the Dohertys" farm, stashed the goat, then brought her around in the morning. You wouldn"t be any the wiser."
"If there were skid marks everywhere, couldn"t you match the tire tracks with Connie"s car?" Yvonne asks. Everyone turns to look at her in surprise. "That would resolve it once and for all, wouldn"t it?"
"This is Avalon, Ms. Tate. We don"t plaster tracks unless foul play is suspected."
"You didn"t suspect it then but you suspect it now?" Ava asks. She looks at Yvonne for support. "I mean, tire tracks and a broken fence sound like foul play to me."
Yvonne and Madeline are nodding while Sergeant Overby looks flummoxed.
"So if there"s no way to match up the tire treads," Yvonne continues, considering this aloud. "What about checking her car for any damage? Even if she had it fixed up you"d be able to tell, right?"
"Yes!" Madeline says. "Her car is right there on the curb and I know it hasn"t been in any sort of incident, ever. Connie is a very conscientious driver."
Connie emerges from the debriefing room looking shaken. Officer Juanita Tripp is behind her. When Connie sees Madeline she rushes forward.
"They didn"t even let me say goodbye!" she cries as Madeline puts her arms around her. "They think I stole her!"
"Connie, we"re going to inspect your car now," Sergeant Overby says. Connie sniffs and nods. They watch as Officer Tripp goes outside.
Sergeant Overby looks at Ava and Yvonne with a shake of his head. "Please tell me you weren"t planning on booking these women," he says to Officer Daniels with a sigh. "Get those cuffs off of them, for Pete"s sake."
Officer Daniels looks up with a frown. "Sergeant, Ms. Catalina dumped a trash bag full of diningware into a convertible sports car without provocation," he reports. "Pots, pans, plates, bowls, gla.s.sware, forks, spoons, and knives." He lingers on the last word, eyebrows raised knowingly.
Sergeant Overby isn"t impressed. "And?"
Officer Daniels checks his notes. "Ms. Tate publicly humiliated a member of the Hill family and caused excessive damage to their front porch."
"First of all, there"s hardly a dent on that porch," Yvonne says. "And second of all, I needed to wipe my hands on something and it turned out the towel around his waist was all he had on."
Ava giggles. Even Sergeant Overby gives a chuckle.
Officer Tripp reappears in the station and hands Connie back her keys. "No marks, sir," she says.
Sergeant Overby nods. "Connie, you"re free to go," he says. He grabs the handcuff keys from Officer Daniels and quickly removes the cuffs from Yvonne and Ava. "We still need to talk to each of you."
"Can I go first?" Ava asks anxiously. She quickly apologizes to Yvonne. "My son is in preschool and I"m already late-really late-to pick him up. They charge a lot for after-school care and I don"t want him to be worried."
"Do you have anyone else who can go in your place?" Sergeant Overby asks.
Ava shakes her head. "It"s just me . . ." she starts to say, when she remembers. When she was filling out the paperwork for the school, it was mandatory that she list an emergency contact. She didn"t have anyone, didn"t have any names or phone numbers to put down except for . . .
The door swings open and Isabel walks through, Max in her arms.
"Max!" Ava cries in relief, rushing forward.
"Mommy!"
"Isabel?" Yvonne breaks into a grin.
"Yvonne?" Isabel looks bewildered as she looks between Yvonne and Ava. "Ava? What the heck is going on here?"
Ava is kissing Max"s face as he squirms and giggles. "How did you know I was here?" she asks breathlessly. She holds her son tight, so grateful that she can"t help smiling at Isabel.
But Isabel doesn"t return the smile.
"I didn"t know you"d be here," she says. She thumbs in Yvonne"s direction. "I came looking for her. But I"m glad to see you because I have a question." Her eyes are hard as she leans in. "What in the h.e.l.l were you thinking by listing me as your emergency contact?"
"I tried to tell you," Ava begins, stammering, but Isabel isn"t paying attention. She"s crouched down so that she"s eye level with Max. He"s cowering behind Ava"s legs, startled by Isabel"s harsh tone.
"I"m sorry, Max," Isabel says, her voice tight but gentler. "I was surprised to see your mom and I got a bit carried away. But I"m happy to see she"s okay."
Ava can"t tell if this is a lie or the truth. But Max seems to relax.
"Max, let"s go outside for some fresh air," Madeline suggests, and looks to Ava for approval. Ava manages a nod. Connie holds out her hand and Max takes it, and the three of them leave the station.
"Again," Isabel says. Her voice is lower but Ava can tell she"s furious. "You put me down as your emergency contact? Your backup?"
"I never thought they"d ever use it," Ava confesses nervously, "and I didn"t know who else to put down. I wrote about it in the letters I sent you . . ."
"I never read those letters."
Ava swallows. She can feel Isabel"s eyes on her and, unnerved, turns to Yvonne. "I know it was wrong to put her down without her permission, but I didn"t know what else to do. The school wouldn"t let me submit the paperwork without a name and number." Ava bites her lip and finally turns to face Isabel. "I"m sorry, but the truth is, you"re the only person I really know. The only person I trust with Max."
"You don"t know me," Isabel informs her hotly. "You don"t know me at all. How do you think it makes me feel to get a call saying that I have to go and pick up a boy who"s my husband"s son? My dead husband"s son? Whatever gave you the idea that you could trust me with him?"
"Because he"s Bill"s," Ava says in a small voice. "I know you would never hurt Max, because you loved Bill, too."
Isabel is sputtering, unable to form whole words. Yvonne clears her throat, touches Isabel on the arm. "Let"s talk about this later."
"And you!" Isabel turns to her friend. "Why weren"t you answering your phone?"
"Hugh"s mother called the cops on me," Yvonne explains, a bemused look on her face. "They caught up with me a couple blocks away from the house, sirens blaring and everything. To hear her tell it, I took off with her grandmother"s silver instead of a nubby department store towel. Officer Daniels almost drew his weapon! It was quite the spectacle-I"m sorry you missed it."
"I told you not to do anything crazy! I called Hugh to make sure he wasn"t cut up into little pieces on his front lawn and he told me what happened. He did not sound happy. I came over thinking I"d have to post bail or identify your body in the morgue!"
"Now you"re exaggerating."
Isabel looks exasperated. "Yvonne, you don"t storm up to somebody"s house who"s threatening you. You don"t know anything about them, you could have been hurt."
"Hugh"s a wimp and his doughnut-loving brothers are the reason people make fun of plumbers." Yvonne says defiantly. "Anyway, it"s all over now."
Isabel turns back to Ava. "What"s your story?"
Ava hesitates. "I dumped everything but the kitchen sink in Randall Strombauer"s Maserati."
Isabel gives a start and Ava can tell this catches her by surprise. "Randall Strombauer? Why?"
"I won"t be able to get another job as a dental a.s.sistant because of him," she says. "He ruined my chances of getting a job, a really good job, and he"ll do it again, I know. I went to confront him and he tried to blackmail me, told me that he"d treat me nice if I treated him nice. I went to my car and took the bag of things I was going to donate and dumped it in his car instead."
"Randall Strombauer," Isabel murmurs. "I never trusted him." She looks at Ava. "I always thought you"d take up with him, but obviously I got that part wrong."
"Bill said you weren"t happy," Ava blurts out. She shouldn"t be saying this, not here, but she doesn"t know when she"ll get another chance. "And you didn"t seem happy whenever I saw you, even though you were always nice to me. If I"d known . . ."
Isabel is glaring at her again. "What? You wouldn"t have slept with him? Had his child?"
Ava pinks as Sergeant Overby clears his throat. "Okay, ladies, I think we"re good here. Ava and Yvonne, you can go."
Officer Daniels looks up from his paperwork. "But Sergeant . . ."
"Go," he tells them, and then turns to Officer Daniels. "You get another pot of coffee on. I"ll deal with the Hills and Dr. Strombauer."
The women exit the police station. Madeline and Connie are singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" with Max under the shade of a walnut tree.
"Isabel . . ." Ava begins.
"I don"t want to talk to you right now," Isabel tells her. The anger is gone, and she sounds tired, like it"s all too much and she just wants to go home.
Ava hates to ask but she doesn"t have any other choice. She doesn"t want to go back to the dental office and risk seeing Randall Strombauer again. "I"m sorry, but I have a favor to ask."
"You"ve got to be joking."
Ava gives her a helpless look.
"Fine." Isabel sighs. "What is it?"
Ava hesitates then asks, "Could you please give me and Max a ride home?"
The doorbell is ringing. Frances is in the kitchen, her hands sticky with dough. "Nick, can you get that?" she calls.
"I"m busy," comes the reply from the living room. Noah and Brady are sitting at the kitchen table, fighting over a video game that has something to do with birds and pigs.
"Nick, come on," Frances says.
There"s no response.
Frustrated, Frances quickly dampens a paper towel and wipes her hands as she heads toward the front door. Noah and Brady follow her, intrigued. They pa.s.s Nick lying on the couch, a baseball cap askew on his head.
"Don"t you have homework?" she asks, grabbing the TV remote and turning it off.
"I already did it," he says. The baseball hat falls off his head as he gets up and follows her to the door. Frances notices that his cowlick is sticking up and attempts to smooth it with her hand.
"Mom!" he protests, batting her hand away. "Stop! It"s embarra.s.sing!"
"Who"s looking?" she wants to know, and it takes all of her willpower not to try to smooth it down again. She"ll have to talk to Mavis at the Cut and Curl to see if there"s another way to cut it so it doesn"t stick up so much.
When she opens the door she"s surprised to find Hannah standing on her doorstep holding a platter of what looks like chocolate brownies.
"Oohhh," all the boys say in unison. Even Frances feels her tastebuds at attention.
Hannah laughs. "I"m sorry to stop by unannounced, but I wanted to share these with you and I don"t have your number."
Frances steps aside and waves her in. "We"ll have to change that. Come on in!"
"I made a batch of gluten-free quinoa chocolate breakfast bars for my neighbor," she tells them as Frances navigates them through the typical Latham detritus on the floor. "And I thought you might be interested in trying them after our last experiment together."
"The kids loved them," Frances tells her. "Suffice it to say the first cla.s.sroom party of the year was a hit, thanks to you. I wanted to call you and tell you but I didn"t have your number either. I meant to look it up in the phone book, but . . ." Her voice trails off, embarra.s.sed.
"Don"t worry," Hannah a.s.sures, putting the platter on the kitchen table. "It was the same for me. One thing after another. I don"t feel like I got a break until today."
They stand in the kitchen, grinning at each other. The boys are mobbing the table, Brady"s hands already trying to sneak under the plastic wrap.
"I know it"s close to dinnertime, but is it okay for them to have one?" Hannah asks, peeling back the wrap.
"Yes, but ladies first," Frances says. She reaches forward to pick up the first bar. She takes a bite. "Oh, this is good!"
Hannah nods, breaking off a small piece for herself. Nick has already finished his and is reaching for another.
"Nick, manners!" Frances reprimands. "And what do you boys say to Hannah, by the way?"