“What! Eighteen dollars wouldn’t cover the cost of the thread,” Lola squawked.

Cady rolled her eyes. “Guys don’t know anything about women’s clothes. He said he was worried it was going to cost him eight hundred bucks. I was being nice.”

“Very nice.” Mandy grimaced.

Cady took a deep breath and continued. “I went to the cemetery, and yes, Anthony, I took flowers, and who do you think I met there?”

“Cyrus King,” Lola said triumphantly.

“Wrong.”

“The boy’s mother. I think her name is Marilyn or Mary Ann, or maybe it’s Maxine,” Mandy said.

“Wrong again.”

“The mayor or maybe an angel,” Anthony said.

“Wrong again. Jill Hollister, Andy’s wife. We even went to breakfast together. She offered to pay for it, too. On our way into Eva’s, and boy does she make good bacon, who do you think tried to run me over in the parking lot? Amy Hollister Chambers, that’s who. If Jill hadn’t pulled me out of the way, she would have mowed me down. She said, and this is a quote now, ‘God, how I hate you!’ Jill said it was meant for her, but I’m not so sure.” Cady gulped again at the cold drink before she added two more packets of sugar. She stirred her drink vigorously, her eyes on the bug-eyed Big Three.

They looked like three wise old owls as they stared at her. “And you think this means…what?” Lola asked, a frown starting to build between her brows.

“I don’t know. I thought surely one of you would have a clue. For God’s sake, she tried to run me down, Lola!”

“You could file a complaint with the new police chief,” Anthony said.

“I don’t want to do that. Whatever is bothering Amy is Amy’s problem. I’ll be careful, don’t worry. I wish you could have seen Jeff King’s tombstone. It has three huge carved angels in flight. It’s the biggest one in the cemetery. It was rather awesome. Almost like someone was trying to make up for something by having the biggest and the best in the whole garden.”

“Did the visit to the cemetery trigger any memories, Cady?” Lola asked.

“No, unfortunately. I didn’t feel anything. I should have felt something. Anger, sadness that a young boy died. I felt nothing. Jill was crying, but then it was her father buried there. I can understand her sadness and the tears. She’s nice, I liked her. She might become a friend if Amy doesn’t screw it up.”

“Now if this was a movie I was directing, my instincts would lead me to Amy as the person to watch out for. Am I wrong, Cady, in assuming that as children, she was the ringleader and the rest of you were followers?” Anthony asked.

“She always had the best ideas. At least the most daring ideas. It was her idea to rig the zip line. She read about it in a comic book. She always got to be Maid Marian when we played Robin Hood. She would only agree to play if she got the part of Marian. She always got the red checkers, too. If it wasn’t her idea, she didn’t want to play. She was like that in school, too. One of our teachers used to say she was bossy.”