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“Have Hamett and Evinrud reached you yet?” Lang asked.
“No.”
“They will. Be careful what you say to their prime suspect,” he said before heading toward the break room with an empty coffee cup.
Savvy gritted her teeth, and then the phone on her desk rang, and she answered, “Detective Dunbar,” checking the clock on the wall. Four p.m.
“Hey, Savvy,” a female voice said. It was Geena Cho, who worked dispatch for the TCSD. “You gotta call from Toonie at the shelter. She said someone there named Mickey really needs to talk to you.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“You gonna call her?” Cho asked, hearing Savannah’s lack of enthusiasm. “’Cause if you don’t, she’ll keep calling and calling and calling.”
“I’ll stop by there tonight,” Savannah promised, adding it to her list of errands to run before she could make her way to Hale’s house.
“You sure?” she asked.
“Yes! I’ll go. If Toonie calls again before I get there, let her know I’ll be there within the hour.”
Ravinia watched as Catherine began the trek upstairs to her bedroom, looking exhausted. With much solicitation, Isadora and Cassandra helped her to the second floor, while in the great room below, Ophelia, Lillibeth, and Ravinia watched their progress.
“Aunt Catherine wanted to see Earl again,” Lillibeth said, sounding worried.
“She always wants to see Earl,” Ravinia answered with a shrug. She didn’t want anyone questioning what had transpired between her aunt and Earl. Not with some grave digging in her near future. She suppressed a shiver at the thought.
“Did they say anything while you were with them?” Ophelia asked casually.
Ravinia slid a look at her sister, but Ophelia’s bland expression gave nothing away. Careful, she warned herself.
“Not particularly. Let’s turn the TV on,” Ravinia said and walked over to the old set, switching it on. Lillibeth’s attention span was such that she would tune in to just about anything.
She half expected Ophelia to keep badgering her, but she just stood by while Ravinia channel surfed until she found something their antenna would pick up other than news: an ancient episode of Gilligan’s Island.
“We are going to get cable TV,” Ravinia stated, a challenging tone in her voice, as she left the room, heading toward the kitchen. Ophelia followed after her immediately, but Lillibeth stayed with the television program.
“I thought you were leaving,” Ophelia said.
“You sound kind of anxious to get rid of me.”
“That’s not it.”
“What’s your deal?” Ravinia demanded, taking in Ophelia’s long dress and the loose bun in her hair. “You’ve been drinking Aunt Catherine’s Kool-Aid a long time, but you’ve got a cell phone, and you’ve been sewing me pants and shirts like it’s your job. Yet you look like that.” She swept her hand up and down, pointing out her sister’s dress.
“Well, you’ve certainly picked up some idioms and colloquial terms from outside the gates. Part of your new friendships?”
“You’d better believe it,” Ravinia said with a snort. “Last summer I thought this imprisonment was over, but then you and Aunt Catherine and Isadora decided it wasn’t. I’m not going to live like this.”
“You know it was Aunt Catherine’s idea to shut the gates again.”
“Well, it hasn’t worked. Whoever she’s trying to keep out is coming. Just ask Cassandra. ‘He’s coming.’ She damn near can’t say anything else.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is, Ophelia,” Ravinia said, exasperated. “This whole thing is screwed up!”
“You want cable TV?” Ophelia shot back. “Fine. You’re talking to the right person. I run the books for Catherine, for all of us, and yes, I think we need a new television, and yes, maybe the gates should be opened again.”
Not yet, though, Ravinia thought with a stab of fear. She’d gone into her rant because it was what she always did, but she needed to help Catherine move the bones before anything changed. Still, she had to play a part. “Hallelujah. She sees the light!”
