It occurred to her that Sara took a lot for granted: a pleasant home, three nutritious meals a day, a loving and supportive family, medical and dental care, stylish and appropriate clothing, a good school system, friends. These were just the basic building blocks for healthy development, but not all kids were lucky enough to have them. And even if they did have them, they could lose them, like Preston and Tommy had. It struck Lucy that the Stanton family was repeating some terrible cycle of destruction that began with the death of Mimi’s father and mother. The sins of the father visited on the children? In this case it seemed more like the misfortunes of one generation being passed down to the next.

One thing was different, however. Because Preston and Tommy were older they wouldn’t have to go into foster care, at least Preston wouldn’t, and if he wasn’t found to be a suitable guardian for Tommy, at least he’d only be in care for a few years. Lucy had heard plenty about the deficiencies of the foster care system and could cite several recent news stories about abuse and neglect. She was sure that most foster parents were decent folk who tried their best but the need was so great that a few rotten apples always seemed to slip through. Even the best-intentioned foster parents could be undone by the demands of the job. She wondered what Mimi and her brother’s experience had been; she had a feeling it hadn’t been good.

She was thinking along those lines when she turned into her driveway and saw Tommy and Preston standing there. Her first impulse was to lock the car doors and call 9-1-1 but Sara leaped out of the car before she could put that plan into action. She was certain the boys had come to confront her about the report she’d filed against Preston at the police station that morning.

But when she extricated herself from her seat belt she found Sara was smiling flirtatiously at Preston, swinging her hips and twirling her hair around her fingers.

“What’s up?” asked Lucy, joining the group.

“I just wanted to apologize for being a jerk,” said Preston. Tommy nodded in agreement.

“If you want me to drop charges, I don’t think I can do it,” said Lucy. “It’s a rental car so it’s out of my hands.”

“He didn’t slash your tires,” said Tommy. “He was home with me all night.”

Lucy looked at Preston through narrowed eyes. “Really?”

“Really,” said Preston. “I understand why you thought it was me, because of the stuff I said at the gas station. But I didn’t really mean that.”

“He’s been upset,” said Tommy, “because of everything that’s happened.”

Preston, despite his black motorcycle leathers and long hair suddenly looked very young to Lucy, with his skinny wrists and barely-there mustache.