“Sounds to me, Amy Chambers, like you’re jealous of your old friend,” Julie sniped.

“I am not jealous. Where is it written that I have to fall all over her just because we played together when we were ten years old?” She reached for the cinnamon bun and bit into it just as Pete Danson entered the shop.

“Hi, Amy.”

“Hi yourself,” Amy responded.

“The only thing left is one jelly donut and two cinnamon twists,” Julie said, getting up to go behind the counter.

“I just came for coffee. I’m on my way to the courthouse.”

“You just missed Cady and Boomer,” Amy said, wiping the sugar off her mouth with a paper napkin.

“Really. That’s okay, I have a dinner date with Cady this evening. I can see Boomer anytime. Take it easy, Amy. By the way, I was sorry to hear that Andy and Jill are having some marital difficulties. That’s too bad. Jill’s a nice girl.”

“Now why did I know you were going to say that?” Amy muttered as she gathered up her plate and paper napkins. The table was littered with granules of sugar that she brushed onto the floor with her arm. Pete looked away, but not before Amy saw his look of disgust.

Amy waited five minutes before she left the bakery. She ran around the corner and down the block to Lupinsky’s Gymnasium, where she signed up for a training program that would start within minutes.

Cady walked into Devine’s Pharmacy and blinked. It looked like a Dollar Store, with its shelves of toys, kitchenware, plumbing supplies, and general bric-a-brac. She looked for the pharmacy section and the notions, and finally found them tucked away in a corner in back of the store, where there was a small soda fountain with tables and chairs that were full of elderly men and women reading the morning’s paper. Everything smelled like Johnson’s Baby Powder.

Cady sauntered over to the counter, aware that the men and women were staring at her. What was she supposed to do? Be seen, Lola said. She sat down and ordered a cup of coffee. She could hear the buzz of conversation behind her. When she felt a poke to her arm, she looked up at a little white-haired lady.

“Is it true, they’re going to make a picture show right here in Indigo Valley? I saw your picture in the morning paper.” She waved her arm to indicate the oldsters behind her. “We were wondering if we could be extras.”

“I’ll ask my grandmother,” Cady said.

“That would be nice. We don’t have much to do but sit around and read or gossip. That’s what happens when you get old. You don’t look like that old picture of you from that accident. I never for one minute believed you had anything to do with that boy’s death. None of us believed it.” She waved her arms again to indicate her friends behind her.

“Thank you for telling me that. I can’t remember the accident, but I don’t think I would have done anything like that.”