I dumped an indignant Madeleine from my lap and moved around the room restlessly. I was standing at the window staring out at my patio, thinking I’d have to bring in my outdoor chairs and table and store them down in the basement during the coming weekend, when the phone rang. I reached out to the kitchen wall extension.

“It’s me again,” said my mother. “We’re having a meeting this afternoon for everyone on the staff, two o’clock. You’re going to need to come, too.”

“Did the police question Mackie?”

“They took him to the police station.”

“Oh, no.”

“It turns out Detective Liggett-I mean Detective Smith- was already here when I was on the phone with you. I’m sure this all happened as a result of what I told Jack Burns, about Mackie taking Tonia Lee the key. I was only thinking of Mackie having possibly seen who was at the house with Tonia Lee. It didn’t occur to me until too late that they might pick up Mackie as a suspect.”

“Do you think it’s because he’s-?”

“Oh, I’d hate to think that. I hope our police force is not like that. But you know, being black may work in his favor, actually. Tonia Lee would never have gone to bed with Mackie. She didn’t like blacks at all.”

“They might just say he raped her.”

There was a long pause while Mother digested this. “You know, somehow it didn’t… well, I can’t say why. And I only looked for a second. But it didn’t look like a rape, did it?”

I paused in turn. Tonia completely undressed, the sheets pulled back as if two people had actually gotten in the bed together… Mother was right, it looked like a seduction scene, not a hasty rape, even though the leather thongs might indicate force. My first thought had been consensual kinky sex. But maybe Mother and I were both factoring in Tonia Lee’s known reputation for infidelity. When I suggested this to Mother, she agreed.