The pudgy reporter patted his shirt pocket. “No need. I always keep my recorder on.”

“You’re drooling again, Anthony.” Lola handed him a napkin from the food bag. “They said we were trespassing. There are no signs. I rest my case. I’m not even going to go into that Daisy Duck business.”

“I wish you would. I could do a follow-up article on the one I did for Sunday’s paper. I think the readers would like that. What do you say, lovely lady?”

“I say that’s a smashing idea. Mandy, Anthony, what do you think?” Lola gushed.

Anthony’s head bobbed up and down as he dabbed at his mouth. Mandy socked her clenched fist into the palm of her hand as she muttered, “good, good, good.”

“If they had a brain between the three of them, they might be considered dangerous,” Officer Conroy mumbled.

“I heard that,” Lola snapped.

“I did, too!” the reporter said, pointing to his shirt pocket.

“Oh, shit,” Pete Danson said.

“Get the hell out of here, Conroy. Bring back the damn sign and post it.” The chief turned to face Lola. “We aren’t going to give you a ticket. The minute that sign goes up, you have to leave. Is that understood?”

Mandy scratched at her skinny rear end while Anthony stared at the clouds, his mouth slack.

“Whatever floats your boat, Chief,” Lola said breezily. “But at what point can I expect my apology? I might be old, young man, but I’m not feeble, like these two sitting next to me. Age deserves respect. So, to answer your question, I will leave when I get my apology. I don’t care to discuss this any further. I have to take care of my friends here. I’m truly sorry we had to meet under such ugly circumstances.” She turned to the reporter. “Did you get that? Use the word ugly. People relate to that when old people are involved. Larry, why don’t you come to dinner this evening and we can really talk.”

Mac Ward turned on his heel to follow Pete Danson up the embankment. At their respective cars, they stared at one another. “You a betting man, Pete?”

“Depends,” Pete hedged.

“I’d say the dark stuff is going to hit the fan soon. What’s your take on all of us getting together and talking this out?”

Pete shrugged. “I guess that means you want me to call Andy and Amy, eh?”

“It’s a place to start, Pete. Get back to me, okay? That client of yours is something else. Guess you know that already.”

“She loves her granddaughter. She wasn’t just blowing smoke down there. The lady means what she says.”

“I figured that out from the git-go. See you around.”

“Yeah,” Pete said, climbing into his car.

9

Cady looked up from the scrapbook she was perusing on the firstfloor terrace just as Anthony let the Bentley come to a full halt in front of the six car garage. Her jaw dropped when she saw him open the back door for her grandmother and Mandy. Atlas barked sharply to let her know he was also aware that something strange was going on. She blinked. They looked like farmers. She didn’t know if she should laugh or not.