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you think?”
    â€œReally?”
    Bernie leaned over and rubbed her ankle. “Okay. It’s not.” If Ellen wasn’t a total Drama Queen she was pretty close to it. “But not like this.”
    â€œSo her plan didn’t exactly work out, did it?” Sean continued.
    Bernie licked her lips. “No, it didn’t,” she allowed.
    â€œWell, she did want attention,” Libby observed.
    â€œYeah, but she didn’t get the kind she was aiming for,” Bernie replied.
    â€œAmazing,” Sean said. “Truly amazing.” He tut-tutted. What people came up with never failed to amaze him.
    â€œEllen probably thought Bruce was going to break down in tears or something when he got to the motel room and found out she was okay,” Libby observed.
    Sean thought of his response if his wife had pulled a stunt like that. Breaking down in tears would most emphatically not have been what he would have done. Wringing her neck would have been more like it. “She’s definitely living in a fantasy land, I’ll say that for her.” Sean leaned back in his chair. “Why would Ellen do something like that?”
    Bernie repositioned the frozen peas. “Because she felt neglected. She felt that no one in the family paid any attention to her.”
    â€œCouldn’t she find something a little less dramatic to make her point?” Sean asked. “Your mom used to order pizza from Domino’s when she felt like that.”
    â€œOh,” Bernie said. “I thought that was a treat.”
    Sean laughed. “I know Ellen gets worked up over things, but talk about exercising bad judgment. I gotta say this is really high up on the list of the stupidest things I’ve heard of, and I’ve heard of a lot of them.”
    â€œEllen told me she’d tried everything else, but nothing worked.” Bernie thought of her and Ellen’s conversation in the park. “I should never have said what I did.”
    â€œSomeone who wasn’t off somewhere in la-la land wouldn’t have taken your suggestion and run with it.”
    â€œAnd then when we were looking at the body she told us she had to go to the bathroom and she took off,” Libby said. “We tried to catch her, which was another mistake.”
    â€œI think she overheard us talking about calling the police and got spooked,” Bernie added. “We probably should have talked outside.”
    Sean massaged his temples. “Leaving Ellen’s craziness aside, the thing that interests me is the body on the bed. Who is he?”
    â€œWe don’t know,” Bernie replied. “He didn’t have any ID on him. We checked.”
    â€œAnd Ellen said she didn’t know who he was or how he got there?” Sean continued.
    â€œThat’s what she said,” Libby responded.
    â€œAnd you believe her?” Sean inquired.
    â€œI want to,” Bernie said.
    â€œThat’s different,” Sean pointed out.
    â€œI know,” Bernie said.
    Sean turned to Libby. “And where do you stand on this?”
    â€œWith Bernie,” Libby said.
    â€œThis makes no sense at all,” Sean observed. Then he reached for the remote and turned on the TV. The sound of Law and Order filled the room. “I’ll tell you one thing though,” he said. “I’m going to enjoy being on that fishing boat. At least it’ll be peaceful there.”

Chapter 10
    I t was a little after six-thirty the next morning when the doorbell of the Simmons’s flat started ringing.
    â€œYou’ve got to be kidding me,” Libby said, stifling a yawn as she looked out the living room window and saw Ellen Hadley’s sons standing outside. She automatically pulled down the hem of the oversized T-shirt she had been sleeping in, the one that was from the gristmill down the road, and sighed.
    She was exhausted, as was her sister and her dad. They’d all fallen asleep late. It