“Sounds good.” Culpepper ran his finger down the column of ads. “Put down ‘Man for Hire’ at nine-thirty, ‘Pest Control’—I don’t think he’s serious—at ten, and ‘Bad Guy’ at ten-thirty. Is that enough for one day?”

“We can fit one more in at eleven, but then I have to pick up Sara at nursery school.”

“ ‘Ex-marine’ sounds promising, put him down for eleven. Then on Thursday you can have ‘Combat Veteran’ for nine-thirty and ‘Cool Professional’ for ten. That’s it.” He put down the magazine.

“You know,” said Lucy, licking an envelope, “this is an awful lot like paying bills.”

“A lot of life is like that.” Barney smiled ruefully. “I wanted to be a cop because I thought it would be real exciting. High-speed car chases, shoot-outs, the works. Like on TV. You know what I spend most of my time doing? Paperwork! Paperwork and traffic duty. I sure didn’t expect that.” He shook his head and took a big gulp of coffee.

“You drink too much coffee. It’s not good for you.”

“Gotta take a risk sometimes, Lucy. Have that extra cup of coffee, drive without a seat belt, have one beer too many. You know what I mean?”

“I do. I always hated Nancy’s slogan, ‘Just say no.’ So prim and proper. I’d rather say yes.”

“Lucy, I hope you’re not going out on a limb for me.” Culpepper was looking straight at her, and the direct eye contact was making her uncomfortable. She shifted on her seat and glanced away.

“Now, don’t get all mushy on me, Culpepper. I have an ulterior motive.”

“Uh-oh.” Now it was Barney’s turn to shift uncomfortably on his seat.

“Yup. Pack twenty-seven needs a new cubmaster next year.”

“They do?” Culpepper gulped.

“They sure do. I figure you’re the perfect man for the job.”

“Lucy,” said Culpepper, rising and reaching for his jacket, “if I’m not in jail, I’ll be glad to do it.”

Lucy watched as he drove away, then went upstairs to see how Sara was doing. Her fever was down and she was demanding food, so Lucy set her up on the couch, where she could watch TV and nibble on some toast. Then she put a casserole together for supper and prepared for the afternoon onslaught when Toby and Elizabeth came home from school.

Much to her relief, her mother and the Subaru returned intact. Lucy showed her where the salad fixings were in the refrigerator; then she left for work.

At Country Cousins, she punched the time clock and hung her coat up slowly; ever since the layoffs she hadn’t enjoyed going to work. She missed Bev and Karen and the others; the phone room seemed empty without them.

“You know, I used to like working here,” Ruthie said as they went to their computers. “The pay wasn’t very good, but there used to be a nice atmosphere.”