I was so surprised, I sat there for a moment thinking she would come back. When she didn’t, I rinsed out the coffee cups and put them in the dishwasher. As I left, I turned and looked into the condo behind me; it suddenly seemed as empty as a shell.

And what in hell had Laura meant by saying we were all in trouble?

I didn’t mention Laura’s remark to Haley and Frances, but when they wanted to go to Sunnyside for lunch I was very agreeable. It’s a small community so I was hoping we might run into Sister. I wanted to tell her what Laura had said, to encourage her to get in touch with her as soon as possible. As for Haley and Frances, they were hoping to find out the impotent man’s reaction to “Medical help is available.” But the writers’ conference participants were meeting in a building known as “The Nest,” so we were informed by the waitress at Billy and Jo’s. And their meals, she said indignantly, were being catered by The Catfish Market in Panama City, though Billy and Jo’s food was ten times better, a hundred times better, and they had even offered to throw in a brownie.

“Did Aunt Sister,” I asked Haley as soon as the waitress had left with our cheeseburger orders, “happen to mention that she was meeting in The Nest and eating food from The Catfish Market?”

“Didn’t say a word.” Haley grinned.

“Sounds kind of nice to me,” Frances said. “I like catfish.”

“But she didn’t get a brownie thrown in, Frances.”

“Maybe she got something else, like one of those smushy lemon things with the graham-cracker crumbs on the bottom. Or even a slice of poundcake.”

I looked over at Haley who was studying the beach. “After lunch,” I said, “let’s go see Blue Bay Ranch. It’s on the way home.”

They both nodded yes, but Frances was not to be sidetracked.

“You know what else she might have gotten?” she asked. “A cupcake with something on it. Maybe a marzipan shell, since we’re at the beach.”

“Or a catfish,” Haley said.

I kicked her lightly.

“Will they let us in at Blue Bay?” Haley asked quickly.

“We’ll tell them we’re visiting Eddie and Laura Stamps,” I said, “if they stop us.”

They didn’t. In fact, no one was at the guard house. A sign in the window said, “On patrol. Back in 1 hour.”

“Good. We’ll be able to steal a lot of stuff in that amount of time,” Haley said.

“When you get to the fork, hang right,” I directed Frances.

“Looks like a bunch of nothing in here,” Haley said. And just then we broke through the spindly trees and scrub bushes onto the bay where the five rainbow houses perched.