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to cook because it’s Thursday. Is Wade coming? Should I call Fred?”
    “No!” I shouted into the phone, then realized how strongly I’d reacted. “No, don’t call Fred. I can’t explain right now, but Wade won’t be there. Just us girls. Okay?” I tried not to wince at the word girl and carefully avoided mentioning that there would be another “girl” at dinner.
    I hesitated. I hadn’t really expected to get away without telling her, and it really wasn’t fair not to give her some advance warning that she was having dinner with Mom. And why.
    “Okay,” I said. “This is an emergency. And it’s complicated. Listen, I’m at the grocery store. I really can’t explain this on the phone. I’ll come by the spa on my way home. But I can’t stay long if I’m going to cook.”
    I hung up before she could ask me anything else.
    Twenty minutes later I pulled up in front of Doggie Day Spa, having set a personal power-shopping record for the grocery store. The front-end cargo space of the Beetle was packed with enough groceries to last me several weeks, or Mom and me a few days. Fast-food dining made groceries last a long time, but I knew that wasn’t going to be possible with Mom in the house.
    I let the dogs out of the car, clipping on their leashes. Sue met us at the door of her pet grooming shop with treats for the dogs and a question for me.
    “What’s going on, Georgie? When I tried to call Fred he wasn’t available, and the deputy who took my message was acting awfully strange. That couldn’t have anything to do with why you didn’t want me to invite him to dinner, could it?”
    Her tone was curious, but there was an edge. She’d been dating the sheriff for a few months, and we occasionally double-dated: her and Fred, and me and Wade Montgomery, a Pine Ridge City Councilman and my sort-of boyfriend. But since I’d been involved in the investigation of a couple murders in Pine Ridge, Fred and I were sometimes at odds.
    I motioned to a stool behind the counter, and Sue took the hint.
    I still didn’t know where to start, but there wasn’t time to tiptoe around the truth. “Gregory Whitlock’s dead.”
    Sue’s mouth dropped open but no sound came out.
    “I found him,” I continued, “this morning.” Had it only been a few hours ago? It felt like an eternity since those few horrible minutes under the house.
    “You found him? Where was he?” Sue’s voice strained with shock.
    “He was under Mom’s house.” Even though it was the truth, I realized how absurd it sounded when I said it that way.
    “What?”
    I tried to explain. “I went to check the plumbing and stuff in the crawl space under the house. He was down there.” I shrugged. “I don’t know how he got there or what he was doing. In fact, I don’t know much of anything about this. I just know he was dead.”
    “But, how . . .?”
    I shrugged again. “Ask Fred. He isn’t telling me—or Mom—anything. All I know is that he won’t let my mother back in her house, and she can’t stay at Gregory’s, either.”
    Sue eyed me suspiciously. “And just where is she staying?”
    “With me,” I admitted miserably. “Which is why you have to come to dinner tonight. I left her unpacking, but I’m stuck with her until your boyfriend lets her back in her house, or lets her stay at Gregory’s. I mean, she’d practically moved in there already, so she ought to be able to stay there, shouldn’t she?”
    I tried not to think about how long it might be before I could get Mom back into her own house. I already knew it wouldn’t be soon enough.
    “So you have to come to dinner,” I pleaded. “Just for a little while, to give me a break. Maybe, with you there, we can get through this evening with a little dignity intact.”
    Speaking of dignity, another thought occurred to me. “And do you have a pair of pajamas I can borrow? Just until I can get into town to buy some new ones.” Pine Ridge wasn’t known for its shopping