“Oh, what a sweet doggie you are,” Mrs. Love said, stroking Cyrus’s head. That was enough for Cyrus. He backed away and dropped to his haunches next to Jack. Sweet doggie indeed.

“Do they work? Do Lionel and his friends have jobs?” Jack asked.

Mrs. Love threw her hands in the air. “I have no idea. I just assumed—now mind you, no one said this, it’s just my opinion—but I more or less thought they were on Mr. Cricket’s payroll. I suppose I could be wrong. I just don’t know. Just so you know, we here at Happy Village might be old, but we do not—I repeat, we do not—gossip.”

“What about the other group, gang, whatever they are?” Dennis asked.

“Ah, yes, the Scorpions. They are a bad group. This whole area used to belong to them, at least that’s what they claim. They had to . . . I guess you would say relocate, to a less desirable area. They make trouble whenever they can. They have guns. Their leader is someone named Alonzo. There are a lot of them, and they ride motorcycles up and down the roads here in the middle of the night. They throw rocks at our windows, strew their trash all over our lawns. Sometimes they shoot their guns off. By the time the police come, they’re always gone. Someone said that Lionel told Gentry they have over twenty members and that a lot of them are girls. Don’t know if any of that’s true, it seems unlikely, but that’s what I heard.

“You really need to speak with Gentry about all of this. I’m sorry I cannot be more help. Tell me this, if you know. How is Mr. Cricket? Please tell his wife we’re all praying for her husband’s recovery. He’s such a good man.”

“We’ll do that. We’ll come back tomorrow, probably late morning. One last thing. Do you know how many people live here in this complex?”

Mrs. Love pointed to the open ledgers on her desk. “I was working on that when you arrived. We have room for 212 people. We were full as of December of last year, with a small waiting list. We’re down to 192 now. We have applications pending. We thoroughly vet all the applicants, and it does take a while; but it’s worth the wait, as everyone says. This is a wonderful place to live, with people just like you.”

“Where did the other twenty people go?” Jack asked.

Mrs. Love shook her head. “That’s the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. I don’t know. No one knows. They just left. Not all at once but over a seven-month period. It’s worrisome, I can tell you that. No good-byes. They were just gone. Gentry had a call in to Mr. Cricket to discuss it. I’m not sure, but I think that’s why Mr. Cricket was here that day, to talk about it.”

“Well, thank you, Mrs. Love,” Jack said. “We appreciate your taking the time to talk to us. We’ll be back tomorrow.”