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Unseemly. It’s time to stop getting into these distasteful situations.”
    She simply appraised me with frosty blue eyes. I didn’t know what was going through her head, but it wasn’t a happy thought.
    “What is it you want, Rosalyn, in exchange for helping my friend?”
    I wasn’t mercenary. It hadn’t occurred to me to ask for anything in return, other than the jolt of satisfaction I got from torqueing her. But it was an intriguing question. I wasn’t sure I wanted anything. But to admit that—uh uh, no way.
    “If I do this for you, I want a favor in return, at a time of my choosing.” Sullivan’s negotiation skills were rubbing off on me.
    However, the part that shocked me in all this was my mother’s loyalty to Annabelle Mathers. Status and keeping up appearances were the two most important things in her life. That’s why my dropping out of real college, dating inappropriate men, working as a waitress drove her batshit. I put a dent in her façade. I was living, breathing proof that she’d failed. A blemish on the perfect family, the perfect life. And I suspected a small part of her hated me for it. My mother staying true to a friend who was being cold-shouldered? That was an unexpected move.
    With her lips pressed so thin they almost disappeared, she nodded. “Deal. You need to clear his name. His children are being harassed at school and poor Annabelle is under so much stress, her doctor has her on three different medications.”
    Okay, now I felt like crap. Yes, Martin Mathers was shady, a cheater, a cop on the take, but his kids didn’t deserve the harassment they were getting. Of course I wanted to help them, if I could.
    “Why didn’t you hire a private investigator?” I asked. “They know how to do this stuff better than I do.”
    “I’ve checked into private investigators. Every last one of them in this town is a former police officer. People talk, Rosalyn. Even if they sign confidentiality agreements.”
    Ah, so I was the only avenue she had left. All the pieces finally slid into place.
    “I’ll agree on two conditions,” I said. “Number one, I can’t offer you any guarantees about Mathers’ innocence. He might be guilty. And number two, you have to let me ask the hard questions. The embarrassing, uncomfortable questions that Annabelle won’t want to answer.”
    Barbara nodded. “Agreed. You can ask all your questions, though I hope for once in your life, you’ll apply a little sensitivity to this delicate situation.”
    “Huh. When have I ever not been sensitive?”
    With her eyes on me, she reached into the middle drawer and pulled out several sheets of paper. She had a list that started with my resistance to potty training and it went downhill from there.

Chapter 6

    I’d called Officer Hard Ass before heading over to my parents’ house, agreeing to his request to find the truth about Delia. He was on the job at the time and at his insistence, we set up a meeting at Huntingford City Park by the entrance to the wooded trail at nine p.m. Nope, not a scary place at all. In the dark. On a cold, cloudy night.
    I was cutting the time a little close. Once my mother started reading my list of transgressions, it was almost impossible to make her stop. And doesn’t every kid bite their mom at one point? Okay, I may have been more excessive than most. I’m sure I didn’t mean to leave scars. Jeez, time to let it go, woman.
    Now at five till nine, I looped my car around the winding, dark lane of the park. All five acres of it. Past the kiddie playground and the jogging track, across the bike path, working my way toward the back end. A wooded trail circled the outskirts. Not being a big fan of woods and ticks and creatures that carried rabies, I rarely had cause to come here.
    Parked beneath a street light and facing the bike path, Andre sat behind the wheel of a big, white SUV. I pulled in next to him and shut off my engine before climbing out of my car and into his.
    “Can we meet