“I understand,” she said. “And I appreciate your candor. I won’t make this public unless it’s absolutely necessary, and I can’t imagine it would be. Still—you being a cousin and all—any chance you could be there to help out when I go over to interview Miss Annabel?”
“Happy to help,” I said. “When?”
“Sometime later today,” she said. “I’ll be in touch. Give me your cell phone number.” She turned her notebook around and offered me a page to write on.
“Is cell service back, then?” I asked, as I printed out my number.
“Not yet,” she said. “But they say we’ll have power back at least downtown by five p.m. today. Cell towers might come back sooner, and if they don’t, I’ll come out and pick you up when I’m ready to talk to her. Thanks in advance for your help.”
That sounded like a dismissal, so I nodded and joined Michael and the boys.
“Mommy!” Jamie jumped up and hugged me. “Are you helping the police lady catch the bad man?”
“I’ve explained to the boys that Chief Heedles is trying to find out who let the emus go during last night’s joust,” Michael said. “And Caroline has suggested that perhaps another expedition in her caravan would be a good plan for today. Steer clear of all the gossip.”
“Good idea,” I said.
“But Mommy,” Josh said. “We need to guard the emus!”
“I have a good idea,” I said. “I have to stay here to help the police look for the bad man who tried to let the emus go. So I can guard the emus. And I’ll get Auntie Caroline to tell me where you guys are going, so if we finish catching the bad man quickly, I can join you.”
“Okay,” Jamie said.
“Hey, Meg.” Natalie joined us. “I just talked to Caroline. She’s going to have Clarence take the emus we’ve already caught down to the sanctuary a little later today, so we should all go over and say good-bye.”
“Only it’s not really good-bye, is it?” Michael said quickly, before the boys could react. “Because she’s only taking the emus home to live with her at the animal sanctuary, where we can visit them any time we like. So it’s more like ‘see you later, emus,’ right?”
“Go now,” Josh said, tugging at Natalie’s sleeve.
“Can we give them treats now?” Jamie asked.
“Clarence says it’s okay to give them grapes and sliced apples,” Michael explained. “And the mess crew kindly prepared a supply for us. Yes, let’s go give the emus their treats and let Mommy eat her breakfast.”
The boys scurried off, with Michael and Natalie in their wake. I got up and headed for the chow line. There was no one else there, and only one anxious-looking crew member serving.
“Everyone else out hunting the emus?” I asked, as I filled my breakfast plate.
“Most everyone,” he said. “Clarence and the other guys who were on patrol are still here, being interrogated. And the police chief told us not to leave town. I thought they only said that in the movies.”
“Maybe Chief Heedles watches the same movies we do,” I said.
I saw Caroline come into the tent and sit down with her laptop, so I took my plate of bacon, eggs, and fruit and went over to sit with her.
“I hear the boys are going out with you today,” I said. “Thank you.”
“We don’t want them upset by whatever’s going on here,” she said.
“Does the presence of your laptop mean the power’s back?” I asked.
“No, I’m on battery. I just want to make copies of those photos of yours before I send them off.”
“Photos of mine?”
“The hundreds of cell phone photos of emus you told Thor Larsen to give me,” she said. “Did you say something to give him the idea I wanted them at 5 a.m.?” Oops. She sounded a little frazzled.
“Sorry,” I said. “I told him last night to bring them today. I didn’t think I had to tell him to wait to a decent hour. What’s wrong with today’s teenagers? I don’t recall ever getting up voluntarily before noon when I was his age.”
“I don’t think he got up, he stayed up,” she said.
“Maybe he thought it was urgent,” I said. “He seemed to think there was some way you could use them to track where the emus hung out. I don’t know how, though.”
“Neither do I,” she said. “But I’m sure the kid who runs my computer system back at the sanctuary does. So I’m going to send Thor’s flash drive down there. As soon as the police are finished with him, Clarence is going to load the emus we’ve caught and transport them down to the sanctuary. He can take the flash drive with him. I just wanted to make a copy before I send it. Can you keep an eye on my laptop while I run over to the emu pen for a minute? Just make sure no error messages pop up, or if any do, remember what they are.”