Got Your Number

she sang, waving at her adoring audience. "Thank you, everyone. Thank you."
    Roxann wheeled her to the side entrance where a refurbished Goldie awaited them. And Mike Brown. He was dressed in work clothes, including a John Deere ball cap, but he looked fresh-scrubbed. He smiled at Angora and juggled the items he was holding to take off his hat when they came closer. Without preamble, he thrust a wildflower bouquet into her hands.
    "Picked them myself this morning," he said, fiddling with his hat and the large brown paper bundle he held. "When I came back from milking."
    "Milking what?" Angora asked, then buried her nose in the flowers.
    "Cows," he said, pushing up his glasses. "And a couple of goats."
    "I didn't know you could milk goats."
    "Oh, sure," he said solemnly. Then he thumped the bundle he held—it sounded solid. "And I brought you a ham."
    Angora's eyes bulged. "A ham?"
    Roxann was pretty impressed herself. The man was scoring big with pork.
    "I'll put it in the van for you," he offered.
    Roxann slid back the van door and he deposited the ham on the floorboard behind the bench seat where she'd made a bed for Angora. New seat covers hid the damage of Frank Cape's knife—or Nell's. She wasn't sure who had done what anymore. Had Elise broken in to the duplex and left the message on the computer at Nell's instruction? But Nell hadn't known about the secret at the time, so was the word fake an accidental word choice that just happened to push Roxann's buttons? Was her guilt that deep?
    So it seemed.
    Mike helped Angora out of the wheelchair and practically lifted her into the van, then settled her onto the seat and tucked in covers all around. "You look like a queen," he said a little breathlessly, and Roxann realized that the man had a huge crush on her cousin.
    Angora beamed. "Thank you, Mike."
    "I'm sorry that Dr. Oney used me to get to you."
    He spoke so quickly that it must have been weighing on his mind for some time.
    "You couldn't have known," Angora said, touching his arm. "It's not your fault."
    "Still, I'm going to stick to farming from now on."
    "I think you're a wonderful lawyer," she said, and Roxann was glad to hear the sincerity in her voice. "I appreciate the way you stood up for me." She pulled him forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
    He blushed furiously and turned his hat inside out. Then he withdrew his wallet and extracted a business card. "You probably never want to see this place again, but if you're ever up this way, I'd be proud to show you my farm."
    She took the card and nodded. "I'd be proud to see it."
    "Goodbye, ma'am." Then he shoved his hat on his head and strode off, climbing into a white Suburban parked nearby.
    Roxann smiled. "Ready?"
    Angora looked up. "Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go home."
    She shoved the door closed, then climbed into the driver's seat and adjusted the rearview mirror so they could see each other. "What a trip this has been."
    "I'll say. Honestly, Roxann, I had no idea this much sorrow and...evil existed in the world. Or maybe I knew, but I didn't think it could get to me. I've led such a charmed life."
    "Are you sorry you came?"
    Angora thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't know how to explain it, but it's as if the last couple of weeks had to happen, as if I've been holding my breath all my life waiting for it to unfold." She frowned. "Of course, I had no idea it would be so tragic." Her eyes were pinched, sorrowful. "Roxann, not a day goes by that I don't feel terrible about the deal we made."
    She leaned on the steering wheel, her pulse elevated. "Same here."
    "Do you think it had anything to do with what we just went through?"
    "You mean some kind of penance? I don't think all those people died just to jump-start our conscience, but maybe something good can come out of all of this."
    Angora bit into her bottom lip. "Is there anything we can do about it now?"
    Roxann turned around in her seat so they could speak face-to-face. "We could always come clean." How many times had she almost picked up a pay phone to make an anonymous tip on herself, just to get everything out in the open? But they'd promised each other sacred silence and she'd kept her end of the bargain.
    "What would happen to us?"
    "That's hard to say. Worst-case scenario, we could be brought up on criminal charges."
    "Not again."
    "But that's not likely, especially in light of the publicity the university has just suffered." She sighed. "And there would be personal