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house and confronted them both. I said some things in the heat of the moment that I normally wouldn’t say, and I lost control.”
    What did that mean? Missy hated to pry because she could tell reliving this pained her mother. But she had to know.
    “What happened?”
    Mom sighed. “You have to understand, Missy, that we were in dire straits. Daddy hadn’t found another job yet and the mortgage was due. I just…lost my head.”
    She couldn’t imagine Mom losing her head. She didn’t do that. Ever.
    “What did you say to Loretta?”
    Mom hesitated before answering. “I said I was going to kill her.”
    “Wow.”
    “And next thing I knew my hands were around her throat.”
    As in, she tried to strangle Loretta? “Oh my God. Was it one of those moments where you didn’t know what came over you?”
    Mom started crying. “Oh no, Missy. I knew exactly what came over me. I’d watched my husband lose his way. My little girl’s education was in jeopardy. We were going to lose our house, everything your father had worked so hard for. I was ready to kill that woman, believe me.”
    But she couldn’t believe it. Mom wasn’t like that. She was the sweetest woman on the earth.
    “What happened?”
    “Albert managed to separate us but not before the damage was done. She actually filed a lawsuit against me. Aggravated assault.”
    “Oh my God! I remember that one day…I asked where you were going and you must have slipped. You said you had to speak to an attorney.”
    “Yes, that was the time.”
    “Loretta eventually dropped the lawsuit.”
    “Wow, that was nice of her.”
    “It wasn’t her being nice, dear. That woman didn’t want it getting out that she and her husband had practically ruined us. She agreed to drop the suit but kept a restraining order in place against me for a year.”
    A restraining order? Against Mom? This was unreal.
    “Mom, I can’t believe I never knew this.”
    “We kept it from you, dear.” She had stopped crying. “So don’t feel badly about it. This is the way it’s supposed to be. Parents protect their children.”
    “And Dad was never the same?”
    “No, dear.” Mom went quiet again for a moment. “I think your father held on till you had made it through college. When that was done, he felt like he could…you know.”
    They talked for a few more minutes, but Missy couldn’t stop thinking about the repercussions of what she’d just learned. Mom had motive to kill Albert Switzer, and the police had to know about all of this.

Chapter Nine
     
    Missy composed herself before going back inside. 
    An hour in, once everybody had gotten settled and the small talk had died down, Missy glued her last paperback cover into place on her first page and eyeballed the layout. Something was missing, but she couldn't figure out what. Oh well, she'd come back to it later. For now she had to ask some questions and it was the perfect time. Carly was alone for the moment at the other table.
    Missy put her glue down and got up. Carly perked up as she came over and proudly displayed her work.
    "Check it out, Miss! I used that pattern you shared last time."
    Carly had used the pattern to develop a collage of coffee mug pictures. The woman had three children, a loving husband, and rescued labradors in her spare time, but for the past three months she'd focused solely on creating pages displaying her love of coffee.
    Missy smiled. "Looks great, Car!"
    Carly patted the long bench next to her. "Have a seat, let's talk, girl."
    Missy did. These benches for grade schoolers were a little too narrow for her admittedly large derriere but she made it work. Missy put her back against the table. This way she could talk away from anybody else that came to sit down. She kept her voice low.
    "Crazy about Switzer, isn't it?" Missy said.
    Carly nodded as she turned back to her scrapbook. She flipped to an empty page and began holding up more pictures of coffee mugs, trying to put them together. Missy thought