“Oh my God,” she said as Anne and Wendy got out of the car. “My neighbor told me there was a murder in the park. He’s eighty-five and he’s in a wheelchair, and he listens to a police scanner,” she rambled. “Was Wendy there? Did she see what happened? Wendy!”

Wendy trotted into her mother’s arms as Sara Morgan dropped down on one knee.

“Are you all right, baby?” She scanned her daughter for any sign of damage.

“We were running, and then we fell down a hill, and then-and then-” Wendy gulped for air. “Tommy fell right on her! He fell right on a dead lady! It was so gross!”

“Oh my God!”

“And Dennis kept trying to touch her. He’s so sick!”

Sara Morgan looked up at Anne. “Who was it? How did she-Was she shot or-or what?”

“I don’t know,” Anne said. “I’m sure they won’t release any details for a while.”

“And there was this dog,” Wendy went on. “Like a wild dog. And he growled at us, and Dennis said maybe the dog killed the lady-”

“A dog?” her mother said. “What kind of a dog? Was it foaming at the mouth? Did you touch it?”

“No! It ran away.”

“It could have had rabies! Are you sure you didn’t touch it?”

“I didn’t touch it!” Wendy insisted.

Sara Morgan raked a handful of blonde mane back from her face and looked at Anne. “What’s going to happen? Will the police come?”

“I don’t know,” Anne said. “Dennis Farman’s father is a deputy. He said I could take Wendy and Tommy home. Maybe the sheriff’s office will call later. He didn’t say.”

“This is just awful. We moved here to get away from crime. And smog and traffic. I never think twice about letting Wendy walk home from school. Do you think the dog could have killed the woman?”