headed for the kitchen. “I’ll just put it in the refrigerator until we’re ready.”
“Did you talk to Alice?” Tracy asked Janya.
“She said she will come and bring Olivia.” She glanced at the door, as if to be certain Alice wasn’t standing there, and lowered her voice. “She was unhappy. I’m not certain why. But she said Olivia got her hair cut, and that seemed to worry her. I got a glimpse. It is short now, quite short in fact, but she is such a pretty little girl, nothing can spoil that.”
“Alice has had so many changes. Any change may just be too much.”
“Perhaps.”
They heard footsteps, and Alice and Olivia walked in. Olivia had a baseball cap pulled over her head.
“I’m glad you’re both here,” Tracy said. “Olivia, I hope you won’t be bored, but we’re going to have pie in a little while.”
“I brought a book,” Olivia said shyly.
“I hear you got your hair cut,” Tracy said. “I bet it’s cool for the summer.”
Olivia bit her lip.
“Long hair is a lot of work,” Alice said. “Hard to keep up with.”
“Nobody knows more about hair than me,” Wanda said, coming back into the living room. “Let’s see the damage, and I’ll tell you what I think.”
For a moment Olivia looked rebellious; then, as if she were used to doing what she was told, she swept off the hat.
Tracy was surprised Lee had allowed the stylist to make such a drastic change. The little girl’s hair had been well past her shoulders. Now it was boyishly short, clipped to the top of her ears in front and trimmed neatly above the nape in back without a wisp to soften it. Tracy was afraid what might come out of that “tell it like it is” mouth of Wanda’s.
Wanda surprised her. “Now, that’s a sensible hairstyle for Florida. Especially for a little girl who likes to get all sweaty riding her bike up and down this old oyster-shell road. A very good choice.”
“You are such a pretty girl, it just makes that clearer,” Janya said kindly. “And now your lovely blue eyes are so easy to see.”
“I think next you should get your ears pierced,” Tracy told her. “Get some cute earrings, maybe sapphires to match your eyes. You have great ears. I had to have mine flattened against my head when I was your age.”
“Yuck.” Olivia wrinkled her nose.
“Her father does not like a fuss,” Alice said.
Tracy winked at Olivia. “Just tell me if you’re interested. I’ll talk to him and see what he says.”
“Will it hurt?”
“Not as much as having them pinned to your head. Just think about it.”
Olivia looked a little happier. “May I look around?”
“You bet. Make yourself at home.”
The little girl wandered off.
“Well, we all make fashion mistakes,” Wanda said.
Tracy motioned the others into the living room, where she had dragged the boxes. “She’ll think twice next time she decides on such a big change.”
Alice wandered in behind them. “It’s always been long. Karen used to brush her hair and braid it. I couldn’t keep up…well enough.”
“By the time it grows out, you won’t have to worry,” Tracy said. “She’ll be old enough to do whatever the style of the day requires. You’ll be so tired of watching her play with her hair, you’ll wish it was this short again.”
“She was so unhappy when they came home.”
Wanda put her arm around Alice’s shoulders for a moment. “That’s how we learn.”
Alice nodded, but she still looked sad. Tracy wondered if Lee was right and being here with them was a bad idea for Alice, after all.
“I’ve gone through everything else,” Tracy told them after everybody found a place to sit. “His dresser, closet, even his medicine cabinet.”
“What did you think you’d find there?” Wanda sounded interested. “You think Herb was dealing drugs?”
“Not unless there’s a black market for Preparation H. No, I thought maybe I’d find some kind of medical ID bracelet, you know, with next of kin.”
“You’re reaching.”
“Am I ever. Anyway, I’ve skimmed through some of these boxes, but it takes time to look at every little piece of paper and memento.”
“Well, dig in.” Wanda was already elbow-deep in one. “Maybe we can get through them tonight.”
The box Tracy looked through was filled with papers. Receipts, most of them recent, a few from the last place he’d lived, where none of the present residents had ever known him. Tracy had managed to track down the developer who had been in charge of those renovations, and he had confirmed that