“What did Grandma say?” I asked, keeping my voice even, though my chest felt tight.
“She said I was just nervous because of the end of the school year,” Lily said, her grip tightening on Barnaby’s ear. “She said we had to hurry because Aunt Claire had the reservation at the lake club.”
The lake club membership had cost my mother-in-law eight thousand five hundred dollars this spring, a sum she mentioned at every Sunday dinner.
“The school nurse wanted to call the ambulance,” Lily whispered. “But Grandma told her no. She said she would drive me to our clinic. But then we went to Mrs. DeLuca’s house instead.”
My ring clicked twice more against the cold metal rail.
“Why did you go to Evelyn’s house?”
“Grandma wanted to leave my bag there,” Lily said. “She said we didn’t need it at the lake.”
“And your medicine was in the bag?”
Lily nodded, her eyes filling with a quiet, solemn understanding that no ten-year-old should possess. “The pink backpack. The emergency injector was in the front pocket.”
“Did Grandma know it was in there?”
