Ellie took Julia by the arm and hurried her into the church. The door clanged shut behind them.
Julia couldn’t help feeling a twinge of nerves. It pissed her off, that weakness. None of this old crap should bother her now. It wouldn’t have if she’d come home in triumph instead of shame. “I don’t care what they think anymore. I really don’t. So why—”
“I never understood why you let it all get to you. Who cares if they don’t like you?”
“Girls like you can’t understand,” Julia said, and it was true. Ellie had been popular. She didn’t know that some hurts were like a once-broken bone. In the right weather, they could ache for a lifetime.
The doors banged open, and people rushed into the church, took their places in the rows of oak pews. Their voices combined, rose, sounded like a Cuisinart on high, crushing ice. Max was one of the last to arrive. He took a seat in the back.
Ellie went to the pulpit. She waited until six-ten, then motioned for Peanut to shut and lock the doors. It took her another five minutes to quiet the crowd.
“Thank you all for coming,” she said finally. “I know how early it is and I appreciate your cooperation.”
“What’s this all about, Ellie?” someone asked from the back of the room. “Our shift starts in forty minutes.”
“Shut up, Doug,” yelled someone else. “Let ’er talk.”
“You shut up, Al. It’s about the Flying Wolf Girl, right, Ellie?”
Ellie held up her hands for silence. They quieted. “It is about the girl who arrived recently.”
The crowd erupted again, hurling questions at the podium.
“Can she really fly?”
“Where is she?”
“Where’s the wolf?”
Julia was awed by her sister’s patience. There was no eye rolling, no sneering, no fist pounding. She simply said, “The wolf is with Floyd at the Olympic Game Farm. He’s being well cared for.”
“I heard the girl eats with her feet,” someone called out.
“And only raw meat.”
Ellie took a deep breath. It was the first sign that she was losing her cool. “Look. We don’t have long to get ourselves together. The point is this: Do we want to protect this child?”
A resounding yes rose from the crowd.
“Good.” She turned to Peanut. “Hand out the contracts.” To the crowd, she said, “I’m going to read off your names. Please answer so I know you’re here.”
Ellie read off the names in alphabetical order, starting with Herb Adams. One by one people responded until she came to Mort Elzik.
There was no answer.
“He ain’t here,” Earl yelled.
“Okay,” Ellie said. “We don’t mention this meeting or the girl to Mort, or to anyone else who isn’t at this meeting. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” they responded in unison.
“But what is it we ain’t sayin’, Ellie?”
“Yeah. Speed it up. I got a charter in thirty minutes.”
“And the mill’s gonna open.”
Ellie held up her hands for silence. “Fair enough. As you all know by now, my sister, Julia, has come home to help. What she needs is peace and quiet, and a place to work away from the media.”
Daisy Grimm stood up. She wore denim overalls that were covered with appliqud daisies. Her drugstore makeup was so bright against her powdered cheeks that it probably glowed in the dark. “Can your sister really help this poor girl? I mean … after what happened in California, I just wonder …”
The crowd went still, waiting.
“Sit down, Daisy,” Ellie said sharply. “Now, here’s the plan. It’s a version of Hide-the-Walnut. You—We—are all going to talk to the media. When asked, we’re going to secretly and off-the-record tell where the girl is staying. You can tell them anyplace you want—except my house. That’s where she’ll be. They won’t trespass on the police chief’s land, and if they do, Jake and Elwood will give us warning.”
“We’re lying to the press?” Violet said in awe.
“We are. Hopefully we can send them all on wild-goose chases until we know the girl’s name. And one other thing: no one mentions Julia. No one.”
“Lying,” Marigold said, trembling like an excited puppy and clapping her hands together. “This will be fun.”
“Just remember,” Ellie said, “until you hear differently from me, we’re lying to Mort, too. No one outside this building gets to know the truth.”
Violet burst out laughing. “You can count on us, Ellie. Those reporters will be looking for the girl as far north as the Yukon. And I don’t know about the rest of you, but I never heard of Dr. Julia Cates. I believe the poor child is seeing Dr. Welby.”
NINE
While Ellie was parking the car, Julia went into the hospital. She was almost at the old day care center when she turned the corner and ran into a man.
He stumbled back from her, sputtering, “Watch where you’re going, I’m—”
Julia bent down for the black canvas bag he’d dropped. “I’m sorry. I’m in a bit of a hurry. Are you okay?”