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them if my life depended on it.”
    “But you trust him ?”
    “Yes, chica, I do. Despite what we all know about his
family, and that he was somewhat of a brawling legend in high school, Toby
turned out to be a good guy.” She continued, “He has a good relationship with
his mother. I think taking care of her kept him grounded, especially when
everything with his father and brother was so messed up.”
    “Mrs. Faye is a good person,” I acknowledged.
    “My mother said women from church go over there regularly
and help out.”
    Thinking of the revolving presence of church ladies at the
Faye house, I smiled. “Yes, they’re surrounded by lots of bighearted people.”
    “It’s nice to know she has help,” April said. “And since
Toby came home, he obviously wasn’t charged. No need to worry her about it.”
    “I suppose,” I answered. “Hey, how come I didn’t know you
and Toby were friends in high school?”
    “I distinctly remember telling you some years ago that he
asked about you. I was surprised that he remembered you, but I guess, like most
guys, he was a non-entity to you. You, my dear, were far too busy with your
Saint John’s friends raising awareness of the atrocities in Darfur or
fundraising for a cure to the AIDS epidemic in Africa to care about cute guys
showing interest in you.” April laughed. “I, on the other hand, was busy
flirting with all sorts of cute guys over lattes.”
    “You did support local business.”
    She laughed again. “Chica, you can put a positive spin on
almost anything.”
    “Put a positive spin on Toby, 'cause I’ll need a line of
defense when my dad hears what happened.”
    “He’s actually quite sweet and always easy to talk to,” she
said. Suddenly she giggled. “Oh, my God, I just remembered that he and I were
voted best eyes in the senior class! He has those eyes that made the girls in
school fall over themselves whenever he looked in their direction.”
    “I’m sure my dad will be impressed with that.”
    “Forget your dad. Aren’t you?” she asked. “ Mmm , kind
of hard to ignore boys with pretty eyes and broad shoulders. And who are good
to their mothers. Means they treat their women well—”
    “Stop trying to sell him to me,” I groaned. “If you think
he’s so wonderful, how come you never had any romantic interest in him
yourself?”
    “Oh, please.” She sighed dramatically. “Toby is cute and
all, but you know I never had a thing for pale-skinned guys.”
    “Yes, I know, my beautiful, mocha-skinned friend. No
pasties.”
    We both laughed.
    “That party is tomorrow night,” April reminded me. “Do you
know if he’s going?”
    “He said he was, but after what happened with the police,
who knows?”
    “Well, either way, we should go. The Ryans have crazy
money, and I heard Jim hired a live band. It’s going to be absolutely amazing.”
    “Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll go.”
    “Good. Dario has to work, but he said he’d meet us there.
We’ll wear our new dresses, and I’ll come over early and do your hair.”
    It came in handy having a hairstylist for a best friend.
     
    When I hung up, my father still wasn’t home. Short reprieve.
I lay in bed wondering what happened with Toby and the police until I heard the
car in the driveway. I held my breath.
    “Claudia!” My father bellowed from the bottom of the steps.
“Come down here.”
    I crept down the stairs. My father was a formidable figure
in his dark blue officer’s uniform. His belt was loaded with gadgets worthy of
any crime-fighting superhero.
    “There was an attack on a Dominican man a couple of days
ago.” The key ring attached to the belt loop of his uniform jingled as he moved
into the kitchen.
    “Wednesday night?”
    “Yes. Between ten and eleven p.m.”
    “Oh. That’s terrible,” I mumbled.
    “They brought that Faye kid in for questioning as well as
two others, Van Sloot and Rudack, known friends of his.”
    No wonder Toby didn’t want his mother to know.