“You are, are you?” Gloria laughed a big laugh. “Well, that certainly means a lot. Your Detective Aiken said the same thing when my son got taken. I believe you even said it yourself.”

“Ma’am,” he said. He shook his head back and forth. “I can’t comment on that.”

“I told you already, I took the bus for a few groceries and then was home with my daughter. You can ask her yourself. She’s upstairs with a stomach bug, but I can drag the poor girl down here if that’s what you want.” I put my hand on my middle. I never knew, but now it felt a little bit sick. It did. “Is that what you want, Officer?”

I scooted over on the step so no one could see me.

“She’s quite certain it was you, Mrs. Janes. They both are. And we’ve had a look at the side of his house. There’s evidence of vandalism.”

“If you look at my driveway, Officer Cooper, you’ll discover no car is parked around here. I don’t got a car. I don’t drive a car. I never had the privilege of even owning a car.”

“Mrs. Janes—”

“You know what type of person sees someone who’s not there? An airhead. A flaky airhead. That woman is unstable. She’s one of those vengeful and vindictive types, stealing other women’s husbands. Have you considered that possibility?”

My middle was gurgling and squirting.

The man didn’t say nothing for a minute. Then he said, “We need you to come down. Make a formal statement.”

“You want me to leave my sick child and go to the police station?”

“Exactly, ma’am. You’ll have to arrange some care.”

I heard Gloria snort. “This is laughable. Completely laughable. You know that, right? That woman is deeply troubled. She’s been attacking me since the day she met Telly. Trying to pollute my daughter’s mind. Driving around the circle at all hours, going slow in front of my house. Threatened, she is, because Telly’s getting bored of her.”

“Did you file a report?”

“No. I just rise above it all. But how much patience am I expected to have?”

He put his hand on his belt. His gun wiggled. “Do you have someone to watch your daughter, Mrs. Janes?”

“Oh for god’s sakes,” Gloria huffed. “My neighbor’s here. Erma. In the kitchen. She’ll stay.”

I leaned over and peeked into the kitchen. It was empty.

“Good,” he said. “My partner and I’ll be waiting in the car. We’d really like to resolve this, Mrs. Janes. In a friendly way.”