Time and Trouble by Gillian Roberts Page A

brim with fears, both semi-sane and irrational, with erratic moods, rock-hard stubbornness, an ability to always choose the dramatic but destructive option. … She did not change her mind, did not give in.
    This sudden, sunny and complete capitulation did not compute. But peace and Penny coexisted in his home for the first time, so he ’ d be damned if he ’ d question it. Instead, he smiled back, poured himself a beer and forced himself to believe for as long as he could that all was well and going to get better still.

Seven
    Emma heard the outside office bell ring and went out to play receptionist yet again. It was time to put pressure on Zack — either he was able to come back, or he was not. She had cut him more than enough slack but she had a business to run, and enough was enough of trying to make do. “ I ’ m sorry, ” she said as she entered the outer office, “ our receptionist is on sick leave and …”
    A man who looked polished for an event more ornate than a visit to her office stood with one manicured hand on the shoulder of a woman in a wheelchair.
    She knew that frizzy hair, or a picture of it, the one clear part of the tape. She ’ d seen that face over and over, screaming.
    Sophia Redmond, suffering a relapse of insurance-scam paralysis, looked at a newspaper she held, then at Emma, and seemed to find the match satisfactory. “ You ’ re Emma Howe, ” she said.
    Emma nodded agreement.
    “ You own this agency, don ’ t you? ”
    Emma was sure she was about to be slapped with something. Billie had done her in, screwed up so badly that now they were being sued. She nodded again.
    “ Good, ” Sophia said. “ I want to hire you. I read about you in the l.J. and that gave me the idea to hire somebody like you — to hire you. I knew you were the right person — and right here, in San Rafael! ” She waved her copy of the article, as if it were proof of something.
    The power of PR, Emma thought. A human interest story can spark a little human interest. Even in the burbs where there wasn ’ t a PI on every corner, it didn ’ t hurt to get your name out, generate business.
    “ I like that you ’ re a woman detective. I think that matters, ” Sophia said. She swivelled her neck to watch her husband as she spoke the words with an air of defiance.
    He shrugged and yawned, barely bothering to cover his mouth. “ I figure a woman ’ s just as good, ” he finally said. “ For snooping, that is. ”
    Emma said nothing. They were not announcing or threatening a lawsuit.
    “ We ’ re here about a missing person. A kidnapping, ” Sophia said.
    So much for new business. They shouldn ’ t have come to her at all. “ Missing or kidnapped, either way, that ’ s a police matter, ” Emma said. First Miriam, then the Redmonds bypassing free and available public servants. People were nuts.
    “ The girl ran away, ” Mr. Redmond said.
    “ She was kidnapped — taken by a cult! ” Sophia said.
    The man waved his hand dismissively. “ She cut out, is all, ” he said. “ She ’ s on drugs. Or knocked-up. ”
    “ The thing is, even though she ’ s a senior at San Rafael High, she ’ s a little older than some, eighteen, because we moved a lot when she was a child and also her birthday comes so late in the year, the kindergarten teacher thought —”
    “ Sophia, ” the man said.
    Sophia closed her eyes. Time out. Then she opened them and continued. “ I don ’ t want you to think she ’ s stupid because she ’ s older. She ’ s not. And not even that much older. There are other eighteen-year —”
    “ Sophia. ” He didn ’ t raise his voice, but the tension in his throat as he said her name was audible.
    “ But even though she ’ s still in school, her age makes her legally an ‘ emancipated adult. ’ Which means she can leave home if she wants to, so it wouldn ’ t be a police matter, especially the way my husband puts it. As if she just plain ran away and wasn ’ t