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stay at home with Anna for a few days while Mom visited my sister, and each afternoon the receptionist dropped around plans and papers.”
    Aha! “So, could she have smashed the gnomes?”
    He pushed Anna’s plate back in front of her and ate his daughter’s pickle in two bites. “I can’t see why. She’d have no reason.”
    “You’re sure she’s not a woman scorned?”
    The corner of his mouth twitched and his eyes were doing that dancing thing again. “She’s married. And Valentina’s theory rests on the receptionist knowing that my father-in-law lives at number three, which she doesn’t.”
    “Oh.” I felt like a child watching her helium balloon float up into the clouds. “But that leaves me with no theories.”
    He laughed and eyed my pickle. “Sorry. Are you going to eat that pickle?”
    *
    Simon drove Anna and me back to his house and left us there with his mother.
    “Come and have a sit down and a cup of tea, dear.”
    I was saved by my cell ringing. Smiling my apology, I walked out to the front yard to answer. It was Sofia.
    “Hey, Tobi. How’s it going?”
    “Slowly.” I blew out a breath. “This street is weird. The people here play with garden gnomes the way little kids play with toy animals.”
    I could’ve sworn I heard a muffled laugh. “Then it’ll make a great story. Kevin wants to make sure you’ll have it in on time.”
    “I’ll have it to him by tomorrow afternoon.” Something moving in the shrubs two doors down caught my attention. “Hang on, Sofia.” I put the cell against my chest and approached the sidewalk.
    Davo jumped out of the shrubs, looked over at me, gave me a thumbs up and walked away, hands in pockets.
    I put the phone back to my ear. “Sorry, Sofia, just another strange resident of Los Alamos Court. How’s the government scandal story progressing?”
    “Floundering. Our contact hasn’t been back in touch so I can’t go any further.” She groaned pathetically. “If only we’d actually met her or had her name I could do more.”
    “That’s tough.” A small tendril of hope crept into my thoughts. “Maybe if we swapped stories—”
    “No way, Kevin gave it to you!” She sounded horrified at the prospect and, really, I couldn’t blame her.
    “It was worth a try.” I sighed. “I have to go.”
    She chuckled as she said goodbye and I walked back into the house, resigned to my fate.
    Dot was waiting, her pale orange hair swept back in coiffured waves. “Tobi, dear, we’ve got about half an hour before Anna’s nap, so how about we take you over to meet Gerald and Ethel now?”
    Yep, that’s what I needed—to meet more reality-challenged residents of Los Alamos Court. “That’d be great.”
    Gerald and Ethel lived at number three, on the other side of Valentina—meaning we had to walk across Winston’s turf to get there. I was on guard the whole time—looking quickly left to right and grabbing Anna’s hand perhaps a little too tightly.
    I was under the large cottonwood tree before I realized my mistake—I’d been looking left to right, not up and down. There was a hiss above me and I glanced up in time to see manic green eyes and a flicking tail before he leaped and I screamed. He landed a few feet in front of us and streaked off into the house.
    I was trying to get my heart out of my throat when a small hand tugged mine. “Tobi, it was only Winston.”
    “Yes. Yes, it was. Thanks, Anna.” I forced a smile and swung her arm as we continued to number three.
    Ethel was at the door—she’d probably heard the scream—and welcomed us in. She was a plump, middle-aged woman with shiny coral lipstick. Gerald, who was sitting in a padded armchair with a small long-haired dog on his lap, turned to look out the window.
    Dot introduced us. “Gerald Philips is Anna’s maternal grandfather, Ethel is his live-in carer, and that’s Remington on Gerald’s knee. He’s a prize-winning Silky Terrier.” Remington looked harmless enough, but I