call her doctor tomorrow and have the dressing changed. And she’s supposed to take antibiotics just in case, and pain meds, and they said her own doctor could tell her about plastic surgery in the future.
“The police are testing the brew from the bottle to see what-all was in it. They’re pretty sure it was both hydrofluoric acid and something like sulfuric acid. They want to be sure they got the hydrofluoric stopped. I guess it heads for your bones when it can.”
“So, there you go,” Harriet said. “To answer your other question, it is tender but the pain meds are keeping it in check. Can we talk about Jenny, please?”
“I’m not sure what else there is to say about Jenny until she comes and tells us what’s going on,” Robin said. “Then we can find out what, if any, trouble she’s in.”
Robin hadn’t actively practiced law since her children had started school, but she kept her license current just for these occasions.
“I bet acid lady will turn out to be our tire slasher,” Lauren said.
“We need to find Jenny’s brother,” Harriet said. “Not to minimize the damage of the tire-slashing or the acid-throwing, but Bobby seemed way more worried than one crazy person would warrant.”
“Honey, you’re starting to repeat yourself,” Mavis said.
“Sorry,” Harriet said. “Here’s a new topic for you. Aiden was in the ER. Any guesses as to why he was there? And, Carla, you don’t get to play.”
“Michelle is trying to get Aiden to fire me,” Carla blurted out before anyone could make a guess. “She said my soup poisoned her, and she made Aiden take her to the emergency room. Aiden left me a message on my phone, and Terry brought me home but they’d already left for the hospital.”
“Oh, honey, that’s terrible,” Connie said.
“You can’t get food poisoning from hot soup,” Mavis stated. “Not if you brought it to a boil.”
“Terry searched Michelle’s room, and he found two empty bottles of syrup of ipecac,” Carla said.
“So, she poisoned herself?” DeAnn asked, frowning.
“No one else had any of the soup, because Aiden worked late, and Terry took Wendy and I out to dinner, but Terry thinks she waited until Aiden was home and then drank a dose to make sure she produced the right effect at the right time.”
“And she blamed Carla,” Robin said in a clipped tone.
“Apparently,” Harriet said.
“That’s really bad,” DeAnn said.
“What a psycho,” Lauren said.
Mavis looked at Beth and then Connie.
“We may need to stage an intervention here,” she said. “Interfering with Harriet and Aiden is bad enough, but trying to get Carla fired and ruining her reputation in the process is not acceptable.”
“First things first,” Beth said. “We need to get Jenny out of trouble before something worse happens. Then we can worry about Aiden and his sister.”
“Honey, if it’s getting too uncomfortable, you and Wendy can stay with Rod and me,” Connie said. “You know we have plenty of room, and everything is baby-proofed.”
Carla rolled the baby monitor receiver back and forth from one hand to the other, indecision etched on her face.
“I’ll go back tonight and see how things are,” she said and blushed. “Terry offered to talk to Aiden, but I want to give Aiden a chance to do the right thing.”
“If Michelle is that out-of-control, maybe you should consider Connie’s offer,” Harriet said.
“My two rooms have locks on the doors. I’ll keep Wendy in my rooms instead of the nursery. And Terry gave me a can of pepper spray if all else fails.”
“Keep your cell phone on and with you at all times,” Aunt Beth instructed.
The sound of a car pulling into the driveway silenced everyone. A moment later, there was a knock on the door and Jenny entered.
“Hi,” she said with a wan smile.
“Here, sit down,” Mavis said and brought her a wheeled workroom chair.
“Can I get you some tea?” Connie asked.
“That sounds wonderful,” Jenny answered as she took off her coat and sat down. She turned to Harriet. “I’m so sorry. I know that woman thought it was me standing there by my quilt. I have no idea why she wanted to hurt me, but I was her target.”
“You didn’t throw the acid,” Harriet said. “And you couldn’t have guessed it was going to happen.”
“What did the police say?” Robin asked.
“They wanted to know if I know who she is—I don’t—and told me her name is Patty. They weren’t able to get a last name or any other information from her. She was avenging something, they