She helped the old woman back into the house, but once inside, there was no place to sit. The living room had been cleared of furniture, marks on the faded carpet indicating where the couch and chairs and coffee table had once been. Norma led Mrs. Beecham to the stairs that climbed to the upper level and got her settled on the second step.

In the distance, a siren wailed.

“I don’t understand,” Mrs. Beecham said. From her perch on the stairs, she looked into the living room. “Where’s the sofa?”

“We can get those documents you want,” Harvey said to Duckworth. “It just might take a day or two. Give me a card and we’ll be in touch.”

Duckworth said, “Mrs. Beecham, I have some people coming to check you out. That’s the first thing we want to do, is make sure you’re okay. Then we want to sort out what’s going on here.”

“Did you hear what I said?” Harvey asked. He was standing right next to Duckworth now, crowding him as he spoke with Eleanor Beecham.

“Stand over there, sir,” Duckworth said.

“I’m asking, did you hear me?”

“And I said, stand over there.”

“You give us a couple days to get the paperwork you want.”

Duckworth viewed him with undisguised annoyance. “Why don’t we just phone Pine Acres right now and confirm what you’re saying? How about that?”

Norma and Harvey exchanged looks once again, but this time there was a higher level of concern.

“I don’t know if there’s anyone there today,” Norma said.

“Why? It’s not a weekend.”

The siren grew louder.

When Duckworth returned his attention to the old woman, Harvey reached out and grabbed him by the elbow. Duckworth turned suddenly, shook off Harvey’s hand, and pointed a finger in the man’s face.

“Sir! Do not touch me. I’m warning you, if you touch me again, I’ll place you under arrest.”

“This is bullshit,” said Norma, who was behind Duckworth. Without warning, she extended her arms, placed her palms on the detective, and gave him a forceful shove. He stumbled forward into Harvey, who shoved him back in the other direction. Duckworth feared he was going to fall right onto Eleanor Beecham and injure her—he might have lost some weight, but he was still a pretty heavy guy—so he tried to pivot in mid-fall. He landed hard on the step next to her.

Harvey’s face flushed red. He brought back a leg to kick the detective, but Duckworth shifted quickly and Harvey’s shoe connected with the stairs.

“Stop it!” Mrs. Beecham screamed.

Harvey decided another kick was not the way to go. He formed a fist and swung at Duckworth, connecting with his chest as the detective attempted to get back up. He was thrown back onto the stairs again.