Chapter 13: The Visit

I found my jeans under his bed and my sweater on the kitchen floor.

My bra I never found at all.

"Tilly's still at the sleepover," I said, hopping into a boot. "Joan knows that. That's why she came now."

"Then let her see an empty bed with clean sheets on it." Bram tossed me a hair tie from the counter. "Go down your own stairs. I'll get the door."

I ran down one flight and into my apartment.

I splashed water on my face and pulled my hair into a braid.

Then I walked down to the shop.

Bram had the red door open.

The caseworker stood on the step in a raincoat, holding a clipboard against her chest.

Joan stood beside her in a camel coat and pearls, at eight in the morning, on Halloween.

"Ms. Mahan," the caseworker said. "I'm sorry for the hour. We had a report last night of concerns for the child's safety. We're required to look in."

"A report from who?"

She didn't answer.

She didn't have to.

Joan smiled at me.

"I was worried, Frances," she said. "A mother worries."

"You're not her mother."

"I'm her grandmother."

"You're the woman who told her I was sick."

The caseworker wrote something down.

I couldn't tell which of us it was about.

"May I come in?" she said.

"Please."

Joan stepped forward too.

The caseworker turned her head.

"Mrs. Clagett, you aren't a party to this placement. I'll ask you to wait outside."

Joan's smile didn't move, and she stepped back onto the wet sidewalk.

The caseworker walked through the shop.

She looked at the sharps box, and at Tilly's spelling test taped to the mirror.

"Where is Tilly now?" she said.

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