There Was an Old Woman by Hallie Ephron

la-di-da.”
    â€œIt’s a good thing, too, because between fixing the house so she can live in it and getting her some help when they send her back home, it’s going to be expensive.” The bus was getting near her stop. Evie stood and walked to the front.
    â€œHey, I thought you had a date with Seth tonight,” Ginger said.
    Evie held on to the grab bar overhead as the bus slowed and pulled to the curb. “I told him I couldn’t make it. Family emergency. He’s going to the basketball game.”
    A pause. Then, “Oh.” Ginger’s oh was filled with understanding and tinged with regret, and Evie hated that one stinking syllable. Ginger was like a heat-seeking missile when it came to piercing Evie’s confidence and poking at her vulnerabilities.
    Ginger quickly filled the silence with “Don’t worry. You’ll—”
    â€œWorry?” Evie got off the bus. “I’m not worried.” She took a breath and coughed bus exhaust. “It’s really no big deal, and he’s not the one. He was never the one. Got to go.” She disconnected the call before Ginger could start in with her favorite platitudes.

Chapter Sixteen
    â€œSo what do you make of this?” Mina said. She was standing at the checkout counter at Sparkles showing Finn the work permit she’d snitched.
    He examined it. “I . . .” His gaze traveled from the front of the store to the back, and he lowered his voice. “Where’d you get this?”
    â€œFrom Angela Quintanilla’s house. Have you seen what a mess it is? I went to pay a condolence call and found the house roped off and this stuck to the front door.”
    â€œAnd you helped yourself?”
    Mina fiddled with the top button of her sweater and smiled. “It blew off the door, and I picked it up.”
    â€œSo that’s your story and you’re sticking to it? You know, one day they’re going to arrest you for—”
    â€œFor what? I was picking up litter. Pfff. Besides, they wouldn’t want to draw attention, would they? And there’s another house not two doors away from this one that’s already been demolished. Did you know that?”
    â€œI heard, but—”
    â€œSo who’s responsible? I’d like to know that, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.”
    â€œI don’t know anything more than you do.”
    â€œBut you talk to everyone. Surely—”
    â€œHaven’t heard a thing.”
    â€œSo I think you should find out.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œYou’re an attorney, aren’t you?”
    â€œWas.”
    The bell over the front door tinkled. Mina looked over. It was Sandra Ferrante’s daughter. She dropped a slip of paper as she entered the store. Stooped and picked it up.
    When Mina turned back, Finn had slid the permit under the mat on the counter.
    â€œHi,” the girl said as she picked up a shopping basket from the stack nested by the register. She looked tired and frazzled.
    â€œHey,” Finn said. “Need help finding anything?”
    The girl consulted her crumpled scrap of paper. “Roach bomb?”
    â€œOver there, against the wall,” Finn said, pointing to the far side of the store.
    â€œLightbulbs?”
    â€œThey’re over there, too.”
    Mina followed Finn’s gaze as he watched the girl walk off. When he turned back, Mina winked at him.
    He chuckled. “You’re entirely too observant for your own good.”
    â€œHave to be blind as a bat not to see,” she said. “So that permit. You’ll look into it?”
    Finn took the permit out again and read it, front and back. “SV Construction Management. Soundview?”
    â€œDo you know them, or are you guessing? Because guesswork I can do myself. You have a computer, don’t you? Isn’t that what they’re for?”
    â€œMrs. Yetner.” He shook his