“Thank you, Mrs. Wheaton. I’m sure no one will make lemon tarts. They sound delicious,” Amelia said over the phone. So far, she had gotten twenty-four people to commit to providing some kind of baked thing for the sale, and she still had ten more people to call. With half the proceeds being donated to a charity of the Richtman family’s choosing, the volunteers were really coming out of the woodwork. It was actually really heartwarming that the community was pulling together in such a positive way.
“I’ll make sure to email you all the details and where to drop everything off. Thanks again.”
She hung up the phone and looked across the kitchen table at Dan, who was eating a late snack of a bologna sandwich with potato chips and pickles and a can of Coke to wash it down.
“This bake sale is going to be gigantic.” She looked at the list of people Reggie had sent to her for possible donations. There were red checks next to each one. “So far, everyone has offered to bake something. I thought it would be a success if we got ten people to bake, but we got way more.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah. Half the money will go to the art club, and half will go to a charity in Brian Richtman’s name.”
“That’s a nice gesture,” Dan said.
“Sure it is. But it’s a little creepy. I mean, with the murder and all.” Amelia rolled her eyes. “Any breaks on the case?”
“I’ve got to be honest. Interviewing teenagers is like having a root canal. You have to get it done, but every second of it is painful. Do you remember there being so much drama in school? I don’t.” Dan took a sip of Coke.
“Maybe you weren’t popular enough to have so much drama.”
“What are you talking about? I was no different than I am now.” He leaned over and took another giant bite out of his sandwich.
“I believe that.” Amelia said. “I took the kids to the football game the other night and talked with Stacy Arlings. She’s pretty broken up. It’s sad to see.”
“I spoke to her, but I didn’t really get anywhere. She was a real mess. That’s understandable. But we told her we’d be talking to her again once the shock of what’s happened has settled in.”
“She mentioned Joe Smarman. Did you talk to him?”
“Football player, right?”
Amelia nodded.
“No. We haven’t gotten a chance to. Several of the parents have lawyered up. They don’t want anything to prevent their kids from getting scholarships to college. Don’t let a dead boy get in the way.”
“That’s a little creepy too.”
“You’re telling me.”
Amelia and Dan chatted about the case a little more before Dan yawned and pushed himself up from the table.
“Dinner was fantastic.” He slipped his arm around her waist.
“You liked that? Gosh, wait until I make franks and beans. You’ll be blown away.”
“No pun intended?” He smirked.
Amelia burst out laughing, her cheeks flushing red.
“I didn’t mean that.” She giggled. “Hey, why don’t you just hang your hat here tonight? The spare room is made up. I’ll get up early and fry up some sausage, and we’ll have some English muffins. Fresh black coffee. What do you say?”
“I think that is the best offer I’ve had all week.”
Meg came bounding downstairs with her science book. Her face brightened as soon as she saw Dan was still there.
“Dan, do you know anything about the anatomy of a frog?”
“I’m a little rusty. Why?” He winked at Amelia.
“We have to get ready to dissect one in biology class. I’m not all that interested in doing such a thing.” She shrugged. “But it’s fifty percent of our grade.”
“I see. What do you need help with?”
“Well, I know what it looks like in the drawing in the book. I’m just afraid that when we cut it open, I’m going to puke or faint or embarrass myself. You’ve seen crime scenes. How do you not puke or faint?”
“There have been times I did puke and thought I was going to faint,” Dan admitted. “But what I try to do now is kind of difficult. I try to focus on the details and not the victim. There is plenty of time to focus on the victim after I’ve done my job. So when you go into the lab, don’t think of it as a frog. Think of it as nothing more than an inanimate object that you need to study. No different from a plant.”
Meg nodded and flipped open her book to the page with the frog diagram on it.
“Here.” Dan took the book from her. “Study where everything is. Then when the specimen is cut open, you’ll be paying attention to the details like where the heart is, the lungs, the stomach. Pretend you are investigating a crime scene and are looking for abnormalities. It will remove the gross factor and replace it with curiosity. Don’t you think?”
“That makes it sound like so much fun,” Meg gushed, her eyes wide with renewed enthusiasm.
“Hey, your mom said I could sleep in the spare room tonight. Tomorrow, sausage and English muffins for breakfast.”
“Nice.” Meg smiled and put her hand up to give Dan a high-five. “I like it when you stay here, Dan.”
“Yeah? Why is that?”
“I don’t know. It just feels like the house is fuller.” She closed her book and walked over to the fridge. After a brief scan of its contents, she settled on a bottle of water then headed back upstairs.
“Thank you, Dan. She doesn’t get that kind of help from John.” Amelia folded her arms across her chest. “And she probably won’t now that Jennifer is pregnant.”
Dan started to cough. “Pregnant?”
“Yup. Adam told me he overheard her telling her mother on the phone. I guess technically we aren’t supposed to know about it yet.”
“At his age?” Dan shook his head.
“It’s the woman that should be young, and Jennifer is that if nothing else.”
“How do you feel about it?”
“Her being pregnant? I knew that was going to happen eventually. I didn’t expect it this quickly. But that isn’t the worst of it.”
Amelia explained her suspicions about John demanding the kids live with him to become the in-house help.
“I can’t help it, Dan, but I know John, and this is not out of character for him. He was selfish when we were married, and not much has changed when it comes to the kids and me. Now he’s lawyered up, and I’m just this little lady with a pea shooter up against a Howitzer.”
Amelia watched as Dan clenched his jaw.
“You’ve got a few things in your favor, Amelia.” He repeated several of the things Lila had mentioned. It was reassuring that a detective from the local police department thought she had a good chance at keeping her children with her.
She pulled out the chair next to him and flopped down in it.
“But he knows the judges and the other lawyers. He can be ruthless when he wants to be.”
“If he were so influential, he would have the kids with him already.”
Amelia hadn’t thought of that.
“Plus, his history is against him, and whether Jennifer wants to admit it or not, she has displayed poor judgment that any family court judge would look at harshly.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Are you forgetting that John broke the bonds of marriage? It wasn’t you. The possibility that Jennifer didn’t know he was married is too hard for any rational judge to believe. So, see? You have a few aces in your pocket that you didn’t even know.”
Dan looked down at Amelia as he scooted his chair closer to her.
“I’m really thinking you are my ace, Dan.” She leaned into him and rested her head against his hard chest. For a man of middle age, he was fit and strong, both emotionally and physically.
“You’ll have to talk to the kids about this.” Amelia heard the shift in Dan’s voice. “They should know what’s going on. About the pregnancy. I wouldn’t tell them your hunch about why John wants them at the house. Not until you have some kind of proof.”
“I’ve been stewing on it for the past couple of days. It’s been burning in my blood so much that I’ve literally had to stop myself from driving to John’s office and having it out with him in front of everyone.”
“Had I known about this sooner, I can’t say my encounter with him at the school would have stayed so professional.”
“Part of me wanted to see you arrest him.” Amelia looked up with that famous Robert DeNiro “You lookin’ at me?” expression on her face. Dan chuckled.
“I’ll bet.” He kissed her on top of the head.
They sat there quietly for a few minutes.
“I’ll help you, Amelia. Any way I can. John won’t take the kids from us.”
Amelia’s heart leaped when she heard Dan’s words. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Thank you, Dan.”