enforcement at its finest, might I suggest the name of a few Realtors?"
We sent the kids upstairs to get dressed. Back in the kitchen, I started in on the sinkful of dishes while Janie helped herself to coffee.
"So, Sherlock," Janie said. "What next?"
I shrugged as well as I could with my hands full of silverware.
"Call Evan back, I guess."
"In my presence, and not from your house," Janie said. "We'll find a nice quiet pay phone somewhere else."
"Why a pay phone?"
"So after they arrest him there's no record of you consorting with criminals."
"And why do you want to be there?"
She rolled her eyes. "Hello! I have to be there so you don't pledge your undying love to him--which, if you'll remember, didn't work out very well the last time--and run away and ditch me with the rug rats."
"Don't pretend you don't secretly dig them," I said, even as the memory of the last time I'd pledged my love to Evan McKenna twisted in my heart like a straightened paper clip. I bent down to put the silverware in the dishwasher while Janie flipped through the newspaper.
"Who were Kitty's friends in town?" she asked.
I scrubbed a frying pan and thought about it. I knew who Kitty hung around with, but I wasn't sure they were really friends. I'd never heard them talk about the things that friends would talk about: their marriages, their parents, their former lives, preparenthood. In fact, most of their conversations seemed to revolve around scintillating topics such as whether the organic milk they sold at the local convenience store was really organic.
"I don't know," I said slowly.
"You don't know who her friends were?"
"I don't know if she really had any. Maybe everyone else was afraid of her," I said. "Lord knows I was." I squirted soap into the dishwasher. "I should probably talk to the sitter," I said. "If she worked, she had to have a sitter. Someone who was in her house. Someone who saw her, and her husband, and her kids."
"Sitter. Excellent." Janie tossed me the phone, and I called Sukie Sutherland, who seemed to know everything, to ask if she knew the sitter's name.
"Lisa DeAngelis," Sukie said, and rattled off home and cell phone numbers. "Why?"
"Well..." I hadn't considered that Sukie would want to know why I was trying to get in touch with Kitty's sitter.
Luckily, she gave a cool little laugh. "Don't be ashamed. You're only the third person who's called me to ask for her number. Listen, a good sitter's hard to find."
I saw the lifeline, and grabbed it. "Do you think she's got any time left? I'm desperate for a little help."
"If I were you, I wouldn't wait too long to call."
"Great. Thanks. I'll see you at the park!"
"See you there," Sukie said, and hung up.
"Good job," Janie said, nodding her approval from behind the Business section. "Call her up. See if she's free. I'll hang out with the kids."
"Don't you have to go back to the city? And work?"
She waved the concept away as though it were a fly. "I'm supposed to write a trend piece. Gray is the new black, black is the new pink, belly buttons are the new nipples." She drummed her fingernails on the table. "Hmm...Ass cleavage is the new cleavage?"
"Works for me," I said. I closed the dishwasher, hit the buttons for heavy wash, and wiped my hands on my bathrobe.
"Excellent. Only, Kate? No offense, but you might want to let me help you pick out an outfit before you go."
Ten
In most other towns in America, the opening of a chain coffee shop isn't that big a deal. When Starbucks wanted to come to Upchurch, it occasioned no fewer than three town meetings that packed the town hall's auditorium, a month's worth of outraged letters to the editor of the Upchurch Gazette decrying the "degradation of our downtown," and a demonstration on Main Street, where the protestors held placards with red slashes through mugs beneath the words No Corporate Coffee. Evidently, they were perfectly satisfied with Tea and Sympathy, where you could buy lapsang souchong for four dollars a
We sent the kids upstairs to get dressed. Back in the kitchen, I started in on the sinkful of dishes while Janie helped herself to coffee.
"So, Sherlock," Janie said. "What next?"
I shrugged as well as I could with my hands full of silverware.
"Call Evan back, I guess."
"In my presence, and not from your house," Janie said. "We'll find a nice quiet pay phone somewhere else."
"Why a pay phone?"
"So after they arrest him there's no record of you consorting with criminals."
"And why do you want to be there?"
She rolled her eyes. "Hello! I have to be there so you don't pledge your undying love to him--which, if you'll remember, didn't work out very well the last time--and run away and ditch me with the rug rats."
"Don't pretend you don't secretly dig them," I said, even as the memory of the last time I'd pledged my love to Evan McKenna twisted in my heart like a straightened paper clip. I bent down to put the silverware in the dishwasher while Janie flipped through the newspaper.
"Who were Kitty's friends in town?" she asked.
I scrubbed a frying pan and thought about it. I knew who Kitty hung around with, but I wasn't sure they were really friends. I'd never heard them talk about the things that friends would talk about: their marriages, their parents, their former lives, preparenthood. In fact, most of their conversations seemed to revolve around scintillating topics such as whether the organic milk they sold at the local convenience store was really organic.
"I don't know," I said slowly.
"You don't know who her friends were?"
"I don't know if she really had any. Maybe everyone else was afraid of her," I said. "Lord knows I was." I squirted soap into the dishwasher. "I should probably talk to the sitter," I said. "If she worked, she had to have a sitter. Someone who was in her house. Someone who saw her, and her husband, and her kids."
"Sitter. Excellent." Janie tossed me the phone, and I called Sukie Sutherland, who seemed to know everything, to ask if she knew the sitter's name.
"Lisa DeAngelis," Sukie said, and rattled off home and cell phone numbers. "Why?"
"Well..." I hadn't considered that Sukie would want to know why I was trying to get in touch with Kitty's sitter.
Luckily, she gave a cool little laugh. "Don't be ashamed. You're only the third person who's called me to ask for her number. Listen, a good sitter's hard to find."
I saw the lifeline, and grabbed it. "Do you think she's got any time left? I'm desperate for a little help."
"If I were you, I wouldn't wait too long to call."
"Great. Thanks. I'll see you at the park!"
"See you there," Sukie said, and hung up.
"Good job," Janie said, nodding her approval from behind the Business section. "Call her up. See if she's free. I'll hang out with the kids."
"Don't you have to go back to the city? And work?"
She waved the concept away as though it were a fly. "I'm supposed to write a trend piece. Gray is the new black, black is the new pink, belly buttons are the new nipples." She drummed her fingernails on the table. "Hmm...Ass cleavage is the new cleavage?"
"Works for me," I said. I closed the dishwasher, hit the buttons for heavy wash, and wiped my hands on my bathrobe.
"Excellent. Only, Kate? No offense, but you might want to let me help you pick out an outfit before you go."
Ten
In most other towns in America, the opening of a chain coffee shop isn't that big a deal. When Starbucks wanted to come to Upchurch, it occasioned no fewer than three town meetings that packed the town hall's auditorium, a month's worth of outraged letters to the editor of the Upchurch Gazette decrying the "degradation of our downtown," and a demonstration on Main Street, where the protestors held placards with red slashes through mugs beneath the words No Corporate Coffee. Evidently, they were perfectly satisfied with Tea and Sympathy, where you could buy lapsang souchong for four dollars a
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