“Maybe you should listen to him and leave it be,” Hannah said, after Grace related her visit with Randy. “Maybe it’s a matter of time. Someone professional must have evaluated Randy and decided he could handle it by himself.”

“Or some fool made him feel he didn’t deserve help. There are more men and women coming home with psychological problems than anyone anticipated, only how the generals and the people at the State Department wouldn’t know this would happen and plan for it after what happened to the Vietnam vets, I don’t know.”

“And all the suicides,” Amelia said. “I read somewhere that many soldiers are committing suicide.”

“How does anyone win a war like this against—what, guerrillas in a civil war? You only have to study history to see that guerrillas know every nook and cranny of their own country and have the advantage.”

Amelia didn’t like where this was going. They would all end up with splitting headaches, and they couldn’t do a thing about the war in Iraq. She’d stopped watching the news weeks ago. It actually made her so tense her stomach hurt. “So what’s the answer?” Amelia asked.

“Leave Iraq,” Grace said. “You wait and see. That’s what we’re going to have to do, or keep losing men and bringing home badly injured men and boys.” I’ve got to stop talking and thinking about this. My blood pressure must be sky high. “I have to do something,” Grace said. “Tomorrow I’m going to the VA hospital in Oteen, talk to someone about post-traumatic stress, and find out what’s available for Randy.”

“I’d go with you.” Amelia wondered if Grace had told Hannah yet about Zachary’s gambling and decided that this was not the time to ask. Then she slapped the side of her head lightly. “Heck, I’m sorry, Grace. I can’t go with you. Mike and I signed up for a four-day photo field trip in Cades Cove.”

Amelia left the house then and did not see Hannah’s raised eyebrows or the look she cast at Grace that said, Well, you can’t depend on Amelia now, can you?

Grace needed to think and talk about something other than Randy Banks and his problems. Time to tell Hannah about Zachary. “I think you should sit down, Hannah. I have something to tell you about Zachary. Amelia and I followed him. We know where he goes.”

“You followed him?” Then she smiled and leaned forward. “Tell me, where does the no good son of a gun go?”

“You won’t believe it.”

Hannah crossed her arms. “Try me.”

“He goes to Weaverville to a private home. Guess what he does there?”

“Stop playing with me. If you’re going to tell me, tell me.”

“He gambles. We saw him sitting in a smoky room filled with tables and men playing cards,” Grace said.