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“What? The man was smart. There was no way to prove he did what he did.”

“Look, whatever he did, that still doesn’t excuse murder.”

“Do you have children, Detective?”

“No, I don’t.”

“I hope one day you’re blessed with a family the way I was blessed. Lavinia was my heart. My life. The moment she was gone it was as if the light went out of my world. The only thing I could think of was how to punish the man who’d taken her from me. Dick Dickerson was not human, Detective. He was a monster. And monsters don’t deserve to live.”

Odelia turned away and left the small room. She’d heard enough. Now it was time to go home and be with her family again. She felt for Olaf Brettin, she really did, but Uncle Alec was right. If everyone started to take the law into their own hands, the world would not be a fun place for very long.

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“Mom. You can’t do this,” Marge was saying.

“And you can’t force me to change my mind,” Vesta insisted stubbornly.

Marge and Alec had called this emergency family meeting to try and talk some sense into their mother. Tex was still at the office, Odelia was home, and now it was just the Lips, gathered in Marge’s kitchen, having this thing out once and for all.

Vesta wasn’t budging, though. She’d folded her arms across her bony chest, and had jutted out her chin, a clear sign she’d made up her mind and that was all there was to it.

“Can’t you see Odelia has a real shot at happiness here?”

“She has a better shot with me there to guide her along.”

“Chase won’t even come near the house since you moved in!”

“Which just goes to show: sometimes you think you know a man until you discover that you don’t. I mean, what kind of man is afraid of a little old lady?”

“I don’t think he’s afraid of you, Mom,” said Alec now. “He just doesn’t want to inconvenience Odelia. He’s a real gentleman that way.”

“I think he’s scared of me—which should tell you something about the guy.”

Alec laughed.“Oh, for crying out loud, Mom. Don’t you want Odelia to be happy?”

“She’s very happy with me. We’re like peas in a pod. BFFs for life. A girl needs her grandmother, there’s no two ways about it. She knows I’ll be there for her always.”

“A woman also needs her man, and you’re standing in the way of that,” Marge insisted.

But Vesta simply rearranged her features into her most mulish expression and gave her the kind of stare Marge remembered from when she was a little girl. Frankly she wouldn’t blame Chase if he were afraid of Vesta. Most men were. Heck, most humans were. She was a little scary. She also could be very sweet, but right now there was no sign of that.

“Is this about Tex?” she asked. “Are you still upset he cancelled your credit cards?”

Vesta shrugged.“Water under the bridge as far as I’m concerned. He begged me to come back so I did. We’re good, Tex and I. In fact we’ve never been better.”

Marge directed a quick look at her brother, who nodded, then dug into her purse and brought out an envelope and slid it across the kitchen table at her mother.

“What’s that?” Vesta inquired frostily.

“Just open it and you’ll see.”

Vesta narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but couldn’t contain her curiosity. She picked up the envelope and tore it open. A credit card dropped out and fell onto the table. Vesta stared at it, then slowly picked it up. It was a red-and-gray AARP Chase Bank credit card.

“I’m not with the AARP,” said Vesta, taking a firmer grip on the card.

“Doesn’t matter. There’s plenty of advantages for everyone,” said Alec.

“I read that the Sapphire Preferred Card offers travel rewards.”

“When do you ever travel, Mom?” said Alec.

“There’s a hundred dollar cash back,” said Marge.

Vesta’s grip around the card was tightening, her cheeks now flushed and her eyes glittering like Gollum when he took possession of the one ring. “What’s the catch?” she finally asked.

“Move back here,” said Marge. “Give your granddaughter some space.”

Tex wouldn’t be happy, but that couldn’t be helped. At least Odelia had a shot at landing herself an actual date with Chase again if the cop wouldn’t find his date’s grandmother breathing down his neck when they got home from the movies.

“Fine,” said Vesta finally. “I’ll take your blood money.”

The credit card had disappeared into the folds of the flowery dress she was wearing.

“That’s great,” said Marge, much relieved. “You won’t regret this, Mom. We’re also getting you that new mattress you asked about—the one with the memory foam, we’re installing a faster modem and a new computer so you can surf to all of your favorite websites a lot faster. And Tex has promised to look into that cruise you wanted to go on.”

A smile had appeared on Vesta’s lips, and for the first time in a long time she looked satisfied. Then the smile disappeared, as if wiped away with a squeegee. “You could have saved yourselves a lot of trouble if you’d just listened to me in the first place.” She got up and grumbled, “The lengths an old woman has to go to to get anything done in this place.”

“So when are you moving back?” asked Alec.