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tensed. She trudged down the hallway and through the living room. It had to be two or three in the morning. Only drunks and people with bad news call at this hour.
    She picked up the phone on the fourth ring.
    And I don’t know any drunks.

Ginger appreciated the way Earl clasped her trembling fingers in his big strong hand. She was grateful that the female police officer spoke so kindly to her and brought her hot cocoa.
    After Kindra had phoned Ginger and Suzanne, they agreed to meet at the police station to get the details about Mary Margret together. They had gone up the stairs to the station house with arms wrapped around each other. She was thankful she didn’t have to do this alone.
    But none of it made her friend any more alive.
    The officer who said her name was Tammy spoke softly. “We’ll have to notify her next of kin.”
    “How did—how did she die?” Ginger knew she was talking, but the voice didn’t sound like hers.
    Tammy cleared her throat and shifted in her chair. “I didn’t know if you wanted to hear the details.”
    Ginger closed her eyes. “Tell me. She was my friend.”
    “A hiker had found her in a forest not far out of town. She was lying in the grass with a head wound…and a hunting arrow sticking out of her back.”
    Earl gripped her hand tighter. Suzanne gasped.
    Ginger twisted the top button of her blouse and stared at the off-white walls of interview room number two. Hold it together. Focus on what you can deal with. She swallowed. “She has a daughter in California, Mariah…and a grandson. Please let me make the call.”
    Her vision blurred. Kindra sobbed beside her, but all noises seemed to be coming through a filter that made everything sound far away. She reached out and patted Kindra’s leg with numb fingers.
    “So the last time you heard from Mary Margret was eleven or twelve on Saturday afternoon?” Tammy picked up her pen beside the legal notepad on the table.
    “That’s when she must have called.” A chill blanketed Ginger’s skin. “I had a migraine. I couldn’t check messages until—until—later.”
    “Thank you for giving me the answering machine tape.” Tammy kept her eyes on Ginger. “You said she sounded afraid on the message?”
    Ginger nodded.
    “Did she say where she was? Where she was going? Why was she out there in the forest at night?”
    The barrage of questions made her thoughts tangle. This was too much. Ginger’s hand curled into a fist. “If only I had checked those messages earlier, maybe—”
    Kindra cupped Ginger’s shoulder. Even the warm touch of someone who cared about her failed to shake her from the paralysis.
    “I’m sorry to put you through all this.” Tammy placed her pen delicately on the notepad in front of her. “But any time there is foul play—”
    “That’s an understatement.” Suzanne’s voice cracked.
    “Could it have been an accident?” Kindra squared her shoulders and wiped a tear from the rim of her eye.
    “It’s possible someone was out there practicing for bow hunting season.” Tammy tapped her pen on the table. “But it seems like they would have known, would have heard her. In light of the message on Mrs. Salinski’s machine and that Mary Margret’s car was gone and then put back, I think we need to look into this.”
    Tammy seemed like a real nice lady. Though her build was like one of those big German women who threw the shot put at the Olympics, she had a pretty face. Her light brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and she wore only lip gloss for makeup. But she had a sweet demeanor, more suited to a nurse or Sunday school teacher than a police officer. That’s probably why she had been sent in to talk to them.
    This had been the longest night of Ginger’s fifty-six years on earth. If only she had listened to her messages earlier. If only she had been there to pick up the phone in the first place. Her temples throbbed. She’d make this right. Or as right as she could. She’d be a