“You’re right,” Alice said. “I think I got scared. It really dawned on me when Brenda Owen called and told me this thing was going to hang over my head for the rest of my life. People were going to blame me.” She paused. “I got freaked out. I’m not proud of that and I’m sorry I lied.”

“Did you lie about Emma Whitman being in your backyard?” Rena asked.

“She has never been in my backyard,” Alice said.

They were at a stalemate.

“Your sister seemed to believe that you might not consider the Whitmans to be very good parents,” Rena said. “What can you tell us about that?”

“It was months ago. Maybe even six months ago. Leah and Troy both ended up at the day care late one afternoon to pick up Emma. There’d been some miscommunication about who was doing what. I’ve seen it happen before with many parents. They usually laugh about it and that’s the end of it.”

“But it was different with the Whitmans?” Rena asked.

“Yes. Leah had arrived first and she and Emma were just about to walk out. Then Troy arrived. And Leah got so angry. Said that she’d had to leave work in the middle of an important meeting and that Troy was inconsiderate as usual in not calling her to tell her that he was going to be free to get Emma. It was ugly. They were flinging accusations back and forth. It actually reminded me of how my sister used to fight with her husband. I think that’s why I told her. I shouldn’t have. It was bad enough that I saw it.”

“Nobody else around?” A.L. asked.

“I don’t think so. I think I might have mentioned that Emma is generally one of the last to be picked up. It’s possible that a couple of the teachers might have seen it. I remember that we were having a staff meeting that night. We do that once a quarter. But we didn’t talk about it. It’s very uncomfortable to witness someone fighting like that. I think the saddest part for me is that Emma didn’t seem all that bothered by it. It made me think that she’d heard similar arguments in the past. And she really is a very sweet little girl.”

“You didn’t say anything about this before,” A.L. said.

“If I had any reason to believe that the Whitmans mistreated Emma in any way, I would have said something. But I don’t think that’s the case. I think they both love Emma very much. I’m just not certain how much they love each other.”

A.L. could relate. It had been that way with him and Jacqui. Both had loved Traci fiercely but knew the marriage wasn’t going to make it.