“You probably think I’m too harsh, but I had to draw the line. It is just too dangerous at the theater. Look what happened to you. As his mother, it’s my job to protect him even if he doesn’t like it,” Joanie said.

“It’s okay, Joanie,” Lindsey said. “Of course you just want him to be safe.”

“He’s my baby,” Joanie said. Her voice sounded strained. She sniffed and then seemed to pull herself together. She gave them a brisk nod and strode toward the parking lot.

“Wow,” Lindsey said. “That was tense.”

“Dylan is seventeen, almost eighteen,” Sully said. “She’s going to need to loosen her grip or lose him forever.”

“Do you think Emma told him?” Lindsey asked. “Do you think he knows that Robbie might be his father? For that matter, do you think Joanie knows?”

Sully shrugged. “There’s only one way to find out.”

Together they made their way into the police station.

Emma was pacing in the front lobby when they entered. She didn’t look happy.

“Hi, Emma,” Lindsey said. “Is everything all right?”

Emma looked at her, and Lindsey could tell she was still deep in thought. It was almost as if she didn’t recognize them. She shook her head as if to clear it.

“Yeah,” she said. “Things are coming together.”

“How did it go with Dylan?” she asked.

“Well, his mother arrived and she clarified a few things. Dylan isn’t Robbie’s son. She said there is no father listed on his birth certificate.”

“So, then it could still be Robbie?” Lindsey asked.

“No,” Emma said. “Apparently the mother did not list the father’s name on the adoption papers, but she did put down his nationality. He was an American from California.”

The phone on the counter started to ring and an officer hurried from the back to answer it.

He spoke a few sentences and then put the receiver to his chest. “It’s that same reporter from the London Times. Do you want to talk to him?”

“Aw, hell no,” Emma said. “Tell him the same thing I said yesterday: no comment.”

The officer nodded and went back to the phone.

“If I could just get the press off of my back, I might be able to do some real investigating,” Emma said. “I have new appreciation for what Chief Daniels went through when he was in charge.”

Lindsey had seen the hordes of reporters swarming the town since Robbie’s death. Violet had years of experience dealing with the media, but for Emma it had to be overwhelming to have the mayor breathing down her neck as well as the international media, all wanting to know who had poisoned Robbie Vine.

“I’m sorry,” Lindsey said.

“No, it’s all right,” Emma said. “It comes with the job. So, what brings you two here other than an update on Dylan?”