On Tuesday Alma came to the transport office with a paper cup of coffee and a decision she had not asked Mara to make. Ren had told her Nell was willing to give a full account of what she had sold Owen. Alma did not want to meet Nell. She wanted Ren to hear the account, write down what was relevant to her, and ask before passing any part to an employer or anyone else.
“She can say my name to him,” Alma told Mara. “I don't want to have to sit in a room with her to earn the truth.”
“You don't.”
Alma drank the coffee. The lid had leaked, leaving a brown crescent on her thumb. “The center confirmed my next shift. Saturday's was already filled. They're still calling Friday unpaid because I didn't work it. Ren is helping me challenge that.” She watched Mara's reaction. “Don't look relieved about the next shift. I'm going back because I work there, not because they fixed it.”
“I wasn't relieved about them,” Mara said. “I'm glad you get to be there if you want it.”
“I do. Most days.” Alma wiped her thumb on a napkin. “Nita asked whether I could help with the children's art this week. She asked before she put my name on the list.”
Mara smiled.
Mara's supervisor had asked for a written account of what she'd said at the center and why she'd given Nell June's key. The first question belonged to Mara's job; the second had come because Mara herself included the shelter in the statement Alma authorized. There would be a meeting next week. Mara had spent Monday imagining the best explanation. She had written the plain one instead: she gave Nell shelter and money after learning of Owen's pressure, without asking Tess; she did not arrange transport for Alma. She had not attached June's notebook as a defense of her intentions.
“Did you get in trouble?” Alma asked.
“I may. My supervisor wants to know why a dispatcher was involved outside an assigned ride.”
“Tell her what you told me.”
“I did.”
Alma nodded. She finished her coffee and went back into a Tuesday that still had bills and coworkers and a bus to catch.
That afternoon Mara met Tess at June's house. They had not tried to settle their argument over the weekend. Tess had answered a few practical messages about locks and papers. Mara had collected the house key Nell had dropped through the letterbox before setting out on Friday with her coach ticket. The other key remained with Tess. Nell had called Ren and given him her real name; Mara knew no more of where she was staying. Owen had not returned to the library or the center, but neither sister called that an ending to his interest.
The house smelled of cardboard and the bread they had taken from the freezer. Mara had brought a new glass for the cracked photograph in the hall. Tess held the frame while Mara worked the tabs free. June stood in the picture between her daughters at a fair, her hair blown across one eye. Tess had kept the image on her phone for years but had never taken the paper print from June's wall.
“She looks annoyed,” Tess said.
“She was. The ride broke down and we had to walk from the car park.”
“I remember her buying us the enormous lemonade afterward.”
“She bought one for three people. We fought over the ice.”
Tess ran a thumb over the edge of the old glass. “I thought she was being cheap.”
“She might have been. I thought she wanted us to share.”
“Both are possible.”
Mara fitted the new glass and pressed the last tab down with her thumbnail. She handed Tess the frame. Tess set it on the shelf while they packed the case. “I'd like to take this one home,” she said. “You can have the print from the mantel if you want it.” Mara nodded. She had brought new glass to protect it, not to decide where it belonged.
The case sat on the table with June's wider notebook inside. Tess had brought a lockbox from her flat. Mara had cleared a shelf in her cabinet at home and fitted the door with a lock. The case would go in the box, the box inside the cabinet. Tess kept the lockbox key; Mara kept the cabinet key. They agreed to make a list of the contents without copying unrelated routes, and to ask affected people through Ren when there was a reason to contact them. If somebody whose page was there asked to see it, both sisters would have to open their locks.
“You're trusting me with a key again,” Mara said.
“With half an arrangement. Don't make it more than that.”
Mara put her key on the table. “I should have called before I gave Nell the key.”
“Yes.” Tess closed the lockbox and kept its key in her hand. Mara pocketed the other.
They carried the box to Mara's car together. It was heavier than the one Tess had lifted after the funeral. Tess put a hand under the bottom when Mara opened the boot; neither asked the other to let go.
At the curb, Mara said, “I made too much bread on Sunday. Not June's. Mine.”
“Is that an invitation or a warning?”
“Both. You can take a piece at the door and leave.”
“I have a library meeting tomorrow. I could come after.”
Mara nodded. Tess shut the boot and then went back inside for the photograph. She held it against her coat while Mara waited by the car. The three people in it had been happy for one instant at a fair, or at least warm and thirsty enough to lean together.
Mara pulled away first. At the next light Tess's car appeared behind hers and stayed there for three blocks before turning toward the library. Mara lifted a hand though Tess might not see it. Tomorrow Tess might come for bread.