10

Saturday, July 2

Sarah, Alice, Carol, and Cecilie were inspecting the giant Browning Buckmark pistol as if it were a prize Weimaraner at the Westminster dog show when Lia arrived at the garage. She stood in the doorway for a moment, judging their mood. Chewy, who had finally succumbed to his limitations, sat at her heel. Sarah looked up. Caught, Lia smiled and walked in.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“It’s fabulous,” Sarah said.

Alice lowered her glasses and tilted her head. “Much sexier than a Walther PPK.”

Cecilie squinted through her wire rims. “I wish we didn’t have to toss it in the dump.”

“I would have nightmares about children climbing on it,” Alice said. “And Jerry needs his trailer back.”

“We’ll want something different for next year. We have to stay competitive,” Sarah said. “Think you can top this, Lia?”

Lia’s immediate instinct was to widen her eyes, like a woodland creature trapped in headlights. Next year? Am I supposed to pull this off again? “I, uh, guess we have time to think about it. Has Jerry installed the smoke machine yet?”

“Tomorrow afternoon,” Sarah said. “We’ll hang the banners and have a dress rehearsal. Then we’ll hang the person who suggested we wear cat suits. Who was that anyway?”

“If you don’t remember, the guilty party won’t confess,” Alice said.

“That was me,” Carol said, leaning on a cane. “Five middle-aged women in spandex will be mild compared to other floats.”

Chewy sniffed Carol’s clunky support boot.

“Are you up for standing on a float with your ankle still healing?” Lia asked.

“I’m ready for a lighter brace, and I’ll hang onto the gun when I need support,” Carol said.

“I don’t think any of us are in the right frame of mind to do this, with Leroy still missing,” Alice said.

“We don’t fight it. We use it. Go dark,” Sarah said. “Like Tonya Harding in her Olympic bid after her ex-husband hired a thug to smash Nancy Kerrigan’s knee.”

“She imploded after that and was banned from skating. Do you want us to wind up on the women’s boxing circuit?” Cecilie said. “Because I really hate getting hit in the face.”

“We have 48 hours to figure out how to avoid that. I had new banners made up that will help. Did you bring an invoice, Lia?” Sarah asked, her eyes on the envelope in Lia’s hand.

Lia gave it to Sarah. “Let me know if you have any questions.”

“Carol will cut you a check first thing next week.”

“Thanks.” Lia stood, chewing on her lip. Chewy, picking up on her nerves, whined.

Sarah raised an eyebrow.

“I need to let you know, I think we’ve done all we can to find Leroy. I’m so sorry we weren’t successful.”

“I know,” Sarah said. “I’ve been wondering if there was anything for you to find.”

Alice looked at Sarah over her black frame glasses for a hard moment. “You did your best,” she said.

Lia shrugged and quirked her mouth before she turned to go. Chewy circled smartly and followed her out, glued to her heel.