Over Her Head (18 page)

“Tanya Peizer. You know.”

Laurie’s jaw hung open for a second. “You’re seeing . . . Tanya? Is that . . . legal?”

“Well, she’s not my cousin or anything. And I’m not exactly ‘seeing’ her.”

Oh, my, if he was getting defensive, then there were emotions involved. And if there were emotions involved, which hadn’t
happened in years with this guy, then maybe he was getting serious.

But . . .
Tanya
?

“No, of course not. I only meant—with the case and everything. Isn’t it like fraternizing with a witness?”

“If I were dating one of the ninth graders, Laurie,
that
would be fraternizing with a witness. Tanya is the victim’s mother. And yeah, maybe it isn’t a hundred percent ethical, but
at this point I’m not too concerned. It just doesn’t sit right to leave her alone in her apartment when it’s in our power
to do something.”

“I know, I know.” Laurie tried to make her tone soothing and welcoming and happy for him, even though she was so surprised
she hardly knew what she felt. “Of course she can come. She’s in my Bible study group, you know. I—I was just surprised. That
she could get the day off, you know.”

“Isn’t Susquanny Home Supply closed that day?”

“Well, yes. But she works more than one job.”

“The school’s closed, too, so they won’t need the shuttle drivers.”

He knew what jobs she worked, and on what days. That meant this wasn’t just a pity invite. It meant they’d actually talked.

And what’s it to you, anyway? You’ve been as bad as his sisters-in-law about wanting to get him married off.

Yes, but not now. And not to—

She stopped herself before the thought even formed. She had nothing against Tanya. Nick was right. The poor woman deserved
sympathy and comfort and everything a Christian sister could give her. And that included Thanksgiving dinner. Hadn’t she thought
just a few days ago that Tanya’s dinner would probably be a turkey burger and not much else? If the Hales and Tremores could
make even one moment of her first holiday without Randi easier, then their work would have been done.

“I’m looking forward to seeing both of you, then,” she said. “We’ll probably eat around two o’clock. Come early.”

“Thanks, Lor.” The defensiveness was gone, and if he was back to using her childhood nickname, then all was well. “I know
she’ll appreciate the welcome. And so do I.”

When he hung up, she could tell he was smiling. After a second, she closed the phone and dropped it into her purse. She started
the van and pulled out onto the highway.

Nick was a big boy. He wasn’t the type to be taken in by a needy woman, or a good-looking one, or one who was looking for
a daddy to take care of her. Nick was smart and well-balanced, and it was absolutely none of her business who he invited to
dinner on a holiday that was meant for family.

Her business was to make sure Tanya had a plateful of food and as much sisterly support as she could manage.

Under the circumstances.

When she pulled the van into the garage, she saw Colin through the window, busy wrestling the trellis off the wall. She called
up to Anna and Tim, and when they both answered, she told them, “Homemade pizza for supper. Half an hour.” From behind his
door, Tim cheered. Behind Anna’s door there was nothing but silence.

Laurie went down the stairs and pulled out frozen pizza crust and tomato sauce and cheese. Then she saw the light blinking
on the answering machine.

“You have one new voice message,” the digital voice told her.

“Laurie, this is Janice. Look, I’m really upset about the way we left things this afternoon. Can you call me, please?”

Click. Beep.

Your son can endanger my daughter.

Vanessa’s story about seeing Anna running through the dark could be discounted. At that time of night she could have made
a mistake. But Kyle’s story could be dangerous. If it came to light that Randi had surfaced . . . or that she was alive when
she did . . . and Anna was there . . . Laurie shuddered. Innocent people went to prison all the time. A net of circumstances
closed around them, and there wasn’t a single thing their frantic family could do about it.

Whether Janice could have been a friend or not, Laurie had to distance herself from Janice, and Anna from Kyle. She had no
choice.

She reached over and pressed the Delete button. The machine blinked and the digital recording came on.

“Your mailbox is empty.”

To: Manga15

From: JohnnysGrrl

5-0 is all confused. No one to arrest.

Keep it tight girlfriend and maybe u wont be the next one.

Hows little bro anyway? He been on any bridges lately?

To: JohnnysGrrl

From: Manga15

Leave me and him alone. Im not saying anything.

I hope u die.

To: Manga15

From: JohnnysGrrl

We all die stupid. Some of us go sooner than others thats all.

Way sooner.

O
n Sunday, Laurie
got her family organized and out the door only ten minutes late. It took all of that extra ten minutes to convince Anna that
“total lockdown” did not include church. In fact, her whole attitude toward being grounded was a little off. Instead of complaints
and tears and drama in order to wring just one night out or one concession out of Laurie and Colin, she seemed almost happy
to stay in her room. She didn’t even complain about not being allowed to watch TV, and if nothing else, that was strange.

But at least Laurie knew where she was every minute. If her cub was safely in the den, then she was in no danger of prowling
animals out there in the dark.

Or at least gossiping classmates.

Meanwhile, over the issue of church, Laurie won a Pyrrhic victory. Anna came with them, but she pulled on her sloppiest pants
and shirt and ran a brush the absolute minimal number of times through her hair.

At one end of their pew, Rose Silverstein and her mother were already seated. As the Hales, led by Colin, filed in, Mrs. Silverstein
and Rose got up and moved a couple of rows back. Laurie ignored them and tried to concentrate on the beauty of the hymns,
but even as she lifted her hands in praise, her thoughts whirled like a dust storm on the prairie.

She needed to talk to Colin again about getting Anna into counseling. It just was not normal that a girl who ordinarily took
an hour in the bathroom to get her hair and makeup perfect would be seen in public like this—especially if there was a chance
that Kyle Edgar would be here, too.

Laurie looked around. There he was, sitting with his mother and the O’Days. She wondered if Janice had done that on purpose,
in order to talk to Nancy after the service about the women’s shelter project.

Janice looked up, but Laurie didn’t meet her gaze. Instead, she glanced behind her. Tanya was at the back, alone except for
Cammie and Debbie with her family. No Nick. Laurie didn’t know whether to feel relieved about that or not.

Of course she’d be delighted and praise God without ceasing if Nick became a believer. His family had been encouraging him
for years, but maybe it would take someone outside the family to wake him up. She just wasn’t quite prepared for it to be
Tanya. Because what did she have to keep her in Glendale? Two jobs of a kind that she could pick up anywhere? If Tanya thought
she could make Nick fall for her and then up and leave him when the next big idea hit, she had another think coming. Nick
was an honorable guy. Any woman should be proud to be his choice. And he didn’t deserve to have his heart broken by a woman
who didn’t plan to stick around for the long term.

As the hymns ended and they sat for the opening prayer, Laurie reflected that she was doing it again: overdramatizing. Here
she had the whole relationship mapped out, right to the big breakup when, to her knowledge, Nick had become acquainted with
poor Tanya only long enough to invite her to a family supper so she didn’t have to spend the holiday alone.

No big deal. Probably nothing would come of it, especially if he was concerned about the ethics of seeing her. Laurie had
bigger fish to fry, like what was going to become of Anna if the case didn’t break soon.

Counseling was the first step. Which meant another talk with Colin.

Cale Dayton’s sermon was on the subject of being busy with the right things—so appropriate for her frame of mind this morning.
She really needed to stop the dust storm in her head and concentrate on the message God had for her heart. So she tried, and
by the end of the sermon had managed to find a little peace and maybe even some direction for the coming week. Cale would
know a good Christian counselor. Anna could go to the one at school, but that person might not see things from a Christian
point of view. They were literally talking life and death here, and Anna, once persuaded to talk, was likely to open up along
those lines.

After the final hymn, everyone was so busy chatting with one another that it was difficult to get a word in edgewise. With
Thanksgiving falling on their usual Thursday, she needed to find Maggie and ask if it would be okay to have Bible study on
Tuesday that week instead.

“Cammie, have you seen Maggie?” she finally asked when she’d migrated with the crowd to the back of the church and still not
managed to locate her. “I’m hoping she can reschedule Bible study to Tuesday.”

Cammie turned from whatever she had been saying to Debbie and Tanya, and Laurie smiled at them both. Their smiles were quick
and preoccupied, and Debbie took Tanya’s arm to hustle her out the door. Probably a good thing, since it was obvious large
crowds disturbed her. How did Tanya manage to drive a university shuttle, with all its distractions?

“I think I saw her heading out to her car with the kids,” Cammie said. “She’s probably gone by now. Try calling a bit later.”

“What do you think? Tuesday sound all right?”

“Wednesday’s better for me. Debbie, too.”

“But I have to work Wednesday. Wait, what about Friday? I have that off.”

“We have family coming for the long weekend.”

“It’ll have to be Tuesday, then, if Maggie is free. Can you rearrange things?”

“Laurie, I know you’re our study leader, and of course we always take your workdays into consideration, but really, this week
Wednesday would be better for Debbie and me.”

Laurie blinked at her. “Okay. I guess.”

“Don’t look like that. It’s not personal. Well, maybe it is, a little.”

“What do you mean?” How could changing their study day be personal? What was she missing?

Cammie pulled her aside into the anteroom where the extra chairs were stored. “We kind of hoped we wouldn’t have to have this
conversation—”

“We?”

“But don’t you think we should be putting Tanya first, under the circumstances?”

Had she not had enough sleep last night? Why couldn’t she follow whatever Cammie was trying to say? “What circumstances?”

Cammie hunched a little under her winter coat. “You know. With Anna being under suspicion and everything.”

Laurie stared at her. She’d known Cammie Petersen since third grade and would have banked money on her friendship. Through
the years they’d spent in Bible study together, they had come to know each other’s struggles, strengths, and weaknesses as
women and as parents. She never would have expected words like this out of Cammie’s mouth.

“Anna is not under suspicion.”

“Well, maybe not officially. But don’t you see how awkward it would be? It’s Tanya’s first week back in study group since
Randi’s funeral. How do you think she’s going to feel if the mother of someone who was there that night on the bridge is the
one leading the study?”

Laurie’s lips felt cold. Stiff. “I hope she would feel loved and included.”

Cammie shook her head. “Be realistic, Laurie. It’s going to hurt her. You know it is. Everything hurts her right now. It’s
just for a little while, until the police find out who really did it.”

“That could take weeks.”

“If it does, it does. But in the meantime, we have to do what we can for her, don’t we? Look, why don’t I check with Tanya,
and you call Janice and Mary Lou. I’ll fit in with whatever the majority decides, but Debbie and I really feel strongly about
this.”

“Cammie, this doesn’t make sense. She’s invited to our place for Thanksgiving.”

“Yes, but is she coming?”

Laurie opened her mouth to say, “Of course,” but Cammie spoke first.

“All of us have invited her, and of course you would, too. But do you really think she’d come to your house instead of Maggie’s
or mine, and look at Anna across the table?”

This is ridiculous.
“We’ll have to see, won’t we? Have a good holiday, Cammie.”

Laurie walked out the door. She felt as though a bomb had gone off, leaving her shell-shocked.

How was it possible that people could take these rumors and speculations so seriously? It was one thing to gossip and talk
behind people’s backs. It was quite another thing to act on rumors in the name of brotherly love. Hadn’t she proved she cared
as much about Tanya as any of them? Who had organized the funeral supper? Who had put together the rotation of women who had
been keeping Tanya company for the last week and a half? Did none of that count?

Out in the parking lot she saw Janice talking intently with Nancy O’Day, their heads close together. This was not going to
be easy, but it had to be done. She had to let Janice know about the proposed change in their meeting day. Why did it have
to be Nancy O’Day, of all people, who was close enough to hear what would probably be a very uncomfortable conversation?

Hanging back near the rear fender of Nancy’s silver Mercedes, she waited as Janice laid out a convincing argument for the
women’s shelter. Nancy nodded her head in agreement, but Laurie noticed she didn’t commit herself one way or another—probably
to have the satisfaction of keeping the mayor’s wife on the string while she withheld a decision she’d probably already made.