syrup on hot flapjacks.
“Yes, well, I did hear, and—” Mother started.
“I’m sure you understand then that we need Naomi down at the station to file a report. And the van is tied up inside the crime scene tape for the time being, so she won’t be able to drive it home for at least a couple of hours.”
“No!” Mother snapped. “Put her on the phone! Now!”
I glanced over at Naomi, who gulped. I guessed she’d heard Mother and was having a hard time holding down her breakfast.
“Naomi can’t talk to you right now. She’s busy taking care of a baby we found alive at the scene,” I said. “You’ll have to talk to me.”
I could feel Mother’s anger build even over the phone. “Clara, I need the van within the hour. And I don’t want Naomi talking to any police. I’m grateful for what you did, that you helped us last summer when we needed it, but I can’t have you around the family.”
“Mother, Naomi is a witness in a quadruple murder case,” I pointed out. “Of course she has to talk to the police. And I am Alber’s police chief. So that means she has to talk to me.”
The phone went quiet. My greatest regret was that while I’d left Alber to save my own life, not to separate myself from those I loved, that had been the painful consequence.
I’d returned out of love to help my family, but Mother still barred me from spending time with my siblings. More than anything else, Mother feared the outside world, and I had become part of it. I was no longer bound by the strictures of Elijah’s People, and she worried that my brothers and sisters would see how I lived and question their own place in the sect. As much as I hoped for an opportunity to build a bridge over the crater between Mother and I, she simply wouldn’t have it. Perhaps that was the reason I’d yet to put down any permanent roots in Alber. Or maybe the town just held too many bad memories.
Rather than acknowledge that what I’d said was true, Mother remained silent, seething, I suspected. Eventually, her voice gravel, she said, “And how will I get the shopping done? I need to drive to Walmart in Pine City. We are nearly out of milk for the children.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m sure it will work out. Right now, there’s nothing to be done.” I then said goodbye and hung up before she had time to object.
At PD headquarters, Naomi and I bustled in, she carrying the baby, me my shoulder bag and the diaper bag slung over my arm. Jeremy was fussy and kept nuzzling toward Naomi’s chest, I assumed anticipating lunch. I looked in between the blanket folds and saw his tiny nose, the sparse lashes that framed his blue eyes. The little guy had been surprisingly patient. Kellie manned the desk. She was petite with curly sunflower-yellow hair cut short, and had a habit of twitching her nose when she got nervous—something she did as she jumped up as soon as I walked in. “You need to go on a supply run,” I said. “The grocery store.”
“Yes, Chief, what do you—”
“Baby formula, bottles, for this little one. Ask one of the clerks, an older woman who looks like she has a bunch of kids, what type of formula is good for a newborn who has been nursing.” I opened my bag and pulled a couple of twenties out of my wallet. “Save the receipt and you can reimburse me out of petty cash.”
“Maybe more diapers, too,” Naomi suggested.
I thought about the dozen or so I had in the diaper bag, all I found in the nursery. Laurel must have had more stashed somewhere, but I didn’t see them. Naomi was probably right. I took out a third twenty, pretty much all the cash I had, handed it over and said, “Kellie, where’s Detective Mullins? Where’s Carl Shipley?”
“Detective Mullins is in the conference room with Chief Deputy Anderson,” she said, a deep frown on her usually smiling face. “I heard that one of the victims is the detective’s daughter. He came in pretty upset and started to go after Mr. Shipley. A couple of the guys got in between and separated them.”
It appeared that we were going to continue to have fires to put out. “And Carl Shipley?”
“He’s in interview room number one,” she said. “Chief, he’s been making noises about calling a lawyer