The truth was they were trying to rush something that probably would take weeks, maybe months. It was a crazy plan and if they weren’t so desperate-and trading on the blackmailers feeling the same-they wouldn’t have contemplated it.

Stella, kicking off her ugly square pumps, said suddenly, “Stewart is accompanying me tomorrow. So maybe that will be the start of something.”

“Stewart’s going with you to meet the personal buyer?”

Stella nodded.

“We should call Mother. She’ll be wondering what’s happened, whether we’ve made any progress.”

Stella raised her brows but said nothing.

A.J. phoned Elysia. It was obvious that Elysia, having spent the morning trying to get Stella’s livestock fed and watered and taken care of, was not in the best of moods, but she heard the unexciting report of Stella’s day in silence and then said, “She needs to be wired.”

“Wired?”

“Of course. We did it all the time on 221B Baker Street. It never failed. We need proof in case anything is said or suggested to her that might help us build our case.”

A.J. said, “I think it’s a little early for wiring her.”

“I don’t agree. What if we miss something crucial tomorrow?”

“Mother, we have no idea how to wire someone.”

“It can’t be very complicated.”

“It can’t? To start with, what equipment do we buy? Where do we buy it? And then, assuming we can figure out how to wire Stella properly, do not forget that the person wearing the wire will be Stella.”

Silence.

“I suppose you have a point,” Elysia conceded.

“I’ll just loan her my cell phone. It has just about every app in the world.”

Elysia sniffed in disapproval.

A.J. remembered Jake’s call and informed Elysia that Peggy Graham had not been murdered.

Elysia heard this out in grim and unconvinced silence.

At last A.J. said, “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Mother. Try not to worry. We knew we wouldn’t have all the answers we needed in one day. I think it went very well today. From what Stella says everyone at The Salon was asking questions of her. I think they’re bound to have picked up all the information we wanted them to.”

Elysia sighed.

Twenty-three

When A.J. returned to the living room where Stella was watching TV, Stella glanced at her and said, “Not happy is she?”

“No.”

Stella shrugged.

“It’s the strain of waiting,” A.J. said. “The DA is building his case against her and there’s not much she has in the way of defense. Except that she’s innocent. And that doesn’t seem to count for much. This is such a long shot, but it’s all we’ve got.”

Stella turned back to the TV. “I don’t mind helping her,” she stated.

“It is really generous of you,” A.J. admitted. “Given that Mother has never been…”

Stella snorted.

They watched the TV for a time, some thriller where the good guy turned out to be the bad guy despite the fact that the bad guy had never given any indication of bad guyness. All the time A.J. was trying to summon the nerve to ask Stella about the supposed affair with her father.

On the one hand she was uncomfortably aware that her parents had a right to their private lives. On the other hand it really bothered her to think that her father had had an affair. She couldn’t help but remember Andy’s affair-and the subsequent destruction of her marriage. She hated thinking these terrible, harsh things about her beloved father.

But perhaps there was no affair?

Elysia seemed convinced that there was. And Elysia should know, right? And would hearing Stella confirm that A.J.’s father had cheated on her mother really help her come to terms with the situation?

Back and forth A.J. went. If there was ever going to be a time to ask, this was it. She and Stella were alone, no one would ever know they had discussed this.

The thriller ended. The news came on. Stella didn’t move and neither did A.J., but A.J. had the sense that Stella wasn’t watching the television any more than she was.

“Stella,” A.J. said suddenly, surprising herself.

She was more startled when Stella made a sound one of her pigs might have recognized. “I know what you’re going to ask, A.J. I’ve been waiting for you to ask for nearly a year now.”

A.J. met Stella’s dark, round eyes, bracing herself for the truth.

Stella said “There wasn’t any affair. Not the way Elysia means it. Your daddy just liked to come and have a quiet drink and talk and think. This was when your ma wasn’t… herself.”

“She was herself,” A.J. said. “She just happened to be a drunk.”

Stella smothered a cough. “Well, they were separated and your daddy was pretty miserable. He never cared about anyone like he cared about your mama.”

That was certainly true. As much as A.J.’s father had loved her, Elysia had come first. Elysia had also come first for Elysia at that time in her life, but how long did you continue to blame someone for hurting you once you understood that they were truly sorry and would undo the past if they could?

At some point you had to let go of the old pain and anger.

Stella was still talking. “You have to understand. I’d known your daddy since we were kids. Yes, we were sort of sweet on each other at one time, but that was far in the past. Once he saw Elysia, well that was it. I don’t think he ever looked at another woman. But he liked to come to my place and he liked to talk. And I liked that, too.”

Had Stella loved A.J.’s father? A.J. had no idea and didn’t think she should pry; that truly was not her business. Stella had never married. But that could mean a lot of things, including the fact that no one wanted to live with four cats.

“Did Mother-”

“I tried to tell Elysia the truth a long time ago. She wouldn’t believe me. Didn’t want to hear it. If you want my opinion, I think the betrayal for Elysia was that your daddy was talking to me about private and personal things that Elysia wanted to believe no one else knew about. I don’t think she ever really believed your father and I were having a romance.”

There was probably a lot of truth to that.

“Thank you for telling me,” A.J. said.

Stella nodded, rising and tying her thick, plaid bathrobe more tightly around her burly frame. “Busy day tomorrow,” she said.

A.J. nodded.

Stella hesitated. “I don’t like your mother, I won’t pretend I do, but I respect Elysia. I admire the way she pulled herself out of that gutter. It wasn’t easy for her, but she got herself dried out and she made your daddy very happy those last years.”

A.J. blinked back the unexpected sting in her eyes. “I know. Thank you.”

“Sweet dreams,” Stella said.

Shortly after breakfast the next morning, Stella waved good-bye to A.J. and set off in her rental car to meet Stewie at The Salon.

A.J. spent the morning surfing the Internet trying to find an agent to handle Diantha’s memoirs. She was trying to figure out what was involved in putting together a cover letter when the phone on the desk she was working at began to ring.

A.J. jumped and stared at it trying to remember who, besides Andy, had the number to this house.

Stella.

A.J. glanced at the clock.

Shouldn’t Stella have been back by now? How long did this personal shopping thing take? They weren’t driving to New York for heaven’s sake. Were they?

The phone rang again.

Elysia, of course. Elysia had the house number, but Elysia would try A.J.’s cell phone. Except Elysia knew that A.J. had loaned Stella her cell phone for the day. So… Elysia?

A.J. picked the phone up and said cautiously, “Hello?”

“What the hell is going on?” Jake demanded.

“Sorry?”

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” He bit out each word.