“Sounds good.” Angel smiled down at Lorna, and her face transformed. As she turned to leave, she slipped me a wink, and I grinned back at her.
Cleve Dan watched Angel until she buckled Lorna into her car seat and left.
He’d obviously never met Shelby, her husband. Not that Angel needed anyone to run interference for her. She and Shelby had done bodyguard work before coming to Lawrenceton.
When she’d gone and I had the full attention of Cathy and Cleve Dan, I told them something I’d just remembered. Overshadowed by the discovery of the telephone in my purse was the fact that we’d found it because we’d been searching for Robin’s keys. “I mentioned them before, when you were asking about missing things, but the keys have only been missing since Robin went to Bouchercon. He’s sure he left them here.”
“And you just now remembered that?”
I had had it with the sarcastic cops. “Yes, I just now did,” I snapped, and stomped into the house.
There was nothing more I wanted than to share a good gripe with Robin, but it was not to be. Sophie began crying the minute we stepped inside. I had to wait until later that night, after supper and Sophie’s bath, before Robin and I got to talk. Phillip had gone to Sarah’s house after taking his turn with the dishes, but not without ostentatiously checking the calendar to make sure it was his day. (After he’d questioned me three times in a row in previous weeks, I’d marked the calendar so there couldn’t be any dispute.)
I told him about my conversation with Amina, which seemed a month ago instead of the day before. I had left a voice mail on Levon’s work phone, since he’d wanted to know who had recommended Virginia to my mother. I hadn’t heard back, but I hadn’t expected to. That was a dead end.
Robin decided to take my keys to get another set made, first thing in the morning. “I called about getting the locks changed, but the locksmith can’t come for two weeks. I’ll need keys in the meantime. I’m giving up on my original set,” he said. “Maybe a year from now we’ll find it in the lint trap of the dryer.”
“Or the bottom of the fruit basket.” I got up to check the basket while I was thinking of it. Of course, the keys weren’t there.
We picked out a code for the security system, which turned out to be a longer discussion than I’d imagined. The number had to be one we’d both remember, and it couldn’t be super obvious, like Sophie’s birthday. But we finally came to an agreement.
“Tomorrow night, the Shield will protect us,” I said, quoting the brochure Arnie had left. “Will you feel safer?”
“To an extent. But we’re changing the locks, too. I’m taking care of my family in any way I can.”
I gave Robin a fervent hug. He returned it with the same feeling.
We speculated for about five minutes on who might have broken in (excuse me, unlocked and strolled into) our house, and why. But then we abandoned that fruitless discussion to do something much more agreeable.
I think anyone would admit that we had had a trying day. But at the end of it, I felt content and safe with Robin.
Chapter Twenty-one
After Phillip had left the next morning to go work out with Josh, we had a visitor. Another visitor. Arnie Petrosian had shown up at 8:30, before I was even dressed, to put the final touch on our security system.
I heard Robin tell him, “We had an intruder yesterday.”
There was a brief silence. “No!” Arnie said. “Was anything taken?”
“Not that we’ve been able to find. But the police think he had a key.”
“You’re going to have your locks changed, as soon as possible, right? I know a good locksmith.”
“Thanks, but I’ve already put in a few calls.” Their voices faded as they entered Phillip’s room, the one needing the component Arnie hadn’t had yesterday. Arnie was as good as his word. He was through in five minutes, and I heard the two men talking as Robin walked Arnie out.
I got dressed and brushed my hair and teeth as quickly as I could, because I just knew we were going to have more callers. Our house was as busy as an airport these days.
Aubrey Scott, our priest, arrived at nine o’clock. He’d called earlier “to make sure you’re at home,” which gave us a much-needed heads-up. We’d put everything back together the evening before with Phillip’s help—and Sarah’s—but there were still odds and ends to replace. I worked on that while Robin abandoned his computer to tidy the kitchen.
Aubrey was our friend, our priest, and a great guy. He (probably) wouldn’t have cared at all if I’d come to the door in my bathrobe and the breakfast dishes had been strewn on the counter.
But I cared. Robin did, too.
As we swapped greetings, I really looked at Aubrey for the first time in a while. He was more serious than he had been before the awful events of the year before, and there was something luminous in his face that hinted Aubrey had undergone a spiritual earthquake. I thought he might bless us, which would be very non-Episcopalian first thing in the morning, but he just said, “Hi.”
After the mandatory offering of a drink, we invited Aubrey to have a seat. Our priest was always busy, so I knew he hadn’t come to engage in idle chitchat.
“You don’t know how much I appreciate Emily’s help when I was so sick,” I said. (I didn’t add how surprised I’d been that she’d given it.)
“You won Emily’s heart by coming to our daughter’s rescue when she was abducted,” Aubrey said simply. “Emily and I have both gone through some changes, as a result of that ordeal.”
I felt very awkward. There’s a reason Episcopalians are called the “Frozen Chosen.” To gain a little time, I took my glasses off (the blue ones) and polished them with the hem of my T-shirt. “I’m glad all the kids are okay,” I said. They might have buried emotional problems from the ordeal, but they’d all recovered physically. “I hope Liza is happy? Emily said she’s much better placed, now.” If I remembered correctly. I’d been in and out of that conversation.
“She is. The new school and a new group of friends have been the best thing in the world for her. I don’t know if the private school exactly prepares Liza for the real world … but I know she met the real world last year, and she doesn’t need another dose this soon.”
“Of course,” I said. I wondered why Aubrey was here. He could simply be showing that he recognized we’d had a crisis. That would be welcome. But I felt he was working his way toward something. I could not have been more surprised when he came out with it.
“Do you have any idea when the funeral will be?” Aubrey looked at us with gentle inquiry on his face.
“Funeral?” I drew a blank.
“For Tracy Beal. The woman who was killed in your yard,” Aubrey added, in case we might have forgotten.
I didn’t dare look at Robin.