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public kudos. I knew I’d done the right thing. But I couldn’t help wondering about how all this would really affect Mamie.
    “Do me a favor, will you?” I asked Nina.
    “What’s that?”
    “Check on the Internet to see all you can find about why people who care about animals become hoarders. And what usually happens to them after they’ve been found out. I know what’s likely to happen with Mamie officially, since Matt told me, but I want to know any unofficial scoop. Do they hoard again? Do they hurt themselves . . . ?”
    “You found a hoarding situation there?”
    I nodded and sighed. Putting my bag on the floor, I lowered myself into a chair beneath the window, at the small table where we asked people interested in pet adoption to fill out initial forms. Zoey lay down at my feet.
    I glanced around at photos we had hung on the bright yellow walls—lots of happy pets with their new adoptive humans. That made me smile. It always did.
    Nina joined me. “Tell me about it, then I’ll go online.”
    I gave her a thumbnail version of who Mamie had been to me and what had happened that morning.
    “I think you need a hug, Lauren,” Nina said when I was done, and I let her make good on the offer.
    “Any visitors today?” I asked. “Potential rehomings?”
    “A couple of real possibilities.” She described a young lady who had just gotten her first job and post-school apartment and had fallen for one of our kittens, and a couple whose dog had recently passed away and were looking for a new companion.
    “Great,” I said, cheering a little. “I’ll talk to you more about them later.” I crossed the welcome room to the hallway with Zoey at my side, then turned back toward Nina. “No hurry about finding statistics on hoarders. Even if there’s something that can be done to help them, Mamie’s in the system now, at least, undergoing psychological evaluation.”
    “I hope they hospitalize her forever,” Nina spat. “Or throw her in jail. Sorry, Lauren. I know she was your friend, but—”
    “You’re absolutely right,” I told her, then headed toward my office. But maybe you’re a little wrong, too, I couldn’t help thinking.
     
     
    I sat down at my desk. To help understand my own hypocrisy, I decided to call Dr. Mona but only got our semiresident shrink’s voice mail.
    I still wanted to discuss this with someone official. The HotRescues vet tech, Angie Shayde, was sweet and young and would have an opinion, but I decided instead to call Carlie. As a veterinarian, she’s a wellness aficionado. Besides, her TV show is on the Longevity Vision Channel, a cable network that focuses even more on human life than animals.
    I explained to her what I’d seen today, as well as my strange ambivalence.
    “You poor thing.” Her immediate sympathy made me feel a little better. “I’m nearly done here for the day. Want to get together for dinner?”
    “As long as it includes a bottle of wine.”

Chapter 5

    Before I left the office, I made some phone calls. Matt had said that Mamie was likely to be released in a few days, although he had assured me that if she appeared suicidal to the doctors, they would continue to monitor her. He had checked in about their initial assessment, though, and extending the seventy-two-hour detention seemed unlikely.
    Assuming they didn’t keep her, where would she go? Home, no doubt.
    She’d be lonely, but as sad as that was, she’d have to deal with it. In fact, I’d tell her outright that she had better not start collecting animals again. She’d be watched—not only officially, but by me, too. I’d suggest that she get some kind of counseling, and would at least pop in on her now and then to be sure all was well.
    One thing I could do for her now was to make sure the home she returned to was livable. So, I called a cleaning service I’d used and got their price and availability. Then I called Dante to see if our benefactor would be willing to help in this kind of