“She says she can hear you already.”

Gloria’s mouth squished up like lemon was inside. “Can she now.”

“Yes, she can, she says.”

“Well you tell that witch Telly finally got his priorities straight. He’s moving back here. Just as much said so.” She flicked the spoon. The jam flew off and splotched on the wall. “And if she hadn’t of broken up this perfectly fine home, none of this would’ve happened. Rowan’d be good and safe.”

I held out the phone. “She already hunged up, Gloria.”

“What?”

Sparks zipped around behind my eyes. “Do I call back?”

“No, you do not call back.” She threw down the spoon. It made a loud crack. “What were you doing, sleeping under the table like that?”

“I, um, don’t know.”

“Well I won’t have it. I don’t need a little insomniac. You wandering around all hours. When you go to bed, you stay in your bed.”

She pulled the lid off a container of cookies and pushed it across the counter. “Eat,” she said. “And get out of that nightgown. Throw it in the trash while you’re at it. I can see everything you got right through it.”

My face got hot. I looked hard at the cookies. There were flat cookies and squares with cherries and something jiggly and pink. I picked a sticky coconut thing and took a little bite. “Are we going to the police house?”

“They called and said for me to come in.”

I dropped the cookie. “They found him. They found Rowan?”

“How do I know?” She looked even more angry. “They would’ve told me if they did, wouldn’t they? What a mess this all is.”

I chewed and chewed the coconut.

“We got to take a bus. Don’t know why they think every single person’s got a car ready at the drop of a hat.”

“Am I going?”

“Of course you are. Better for you to learn when you’re young how horrible life can be.”

—

Our neighbor Mrs. Murtry saw us waiting at the bus stop. She stopped and me and Gloria got in. Gloria told her we got to go see the police.

“Why didn’t you call?” Mrs. Murtry said.

“I didn’t want to put no one out.”

“You’re not putting me out, but you need a car, love. You really do.”

“Cars cost money,” Gloria said. She folded her arms across her chest.

“They certainly do. But I seen that one Telly’s tangled up with driving a brand-new one. Red and shiny as can be. You know where that came from.”

Gloria didn’t say nothing. But I saw her fingers sticking into her arms. Maybe Mrs. Murtry saw too because she stopped talking about the new car.

“Has there been any word?”

“Nothing. No. Nothing at all.”