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“Your daughter is refusing to tell the police what they want to know,” said Odelia. “Is that your doing? Did you advise her not to cooperate with the authorities?”

“No, I most certainly did not. Look, she doesn’t want to talk to us, and her father and I are frantic with worry. First this whole breakin thing, and now she’s being accused of attempted murder? I just don’t understand!”

“Emma is part of a gang of burglars,” Odelia explained. “The Hampton Heisters, as they’ve been dubbed. They only target the rich and famous, and always take a lot of memorabilia, apart from the valuables and the money that they steal.”

“I know. I read the papers. I know what she’s being accused of. I’m just telling you this is not like her. Emma is a good girl. All I can think is that she must have gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd somehow.”

“Emma chose to be involved with this gang, Mrs. Hudson,” said Ellie. “She chose to participate in these high-profile burglaries, so it’s not as if she simply tagged along.”

“Who are you?” asked Mrs. Hudson, giving Ellie a not-so-friendly look.

“Ellie is my… intern,” said Odelia.

“Well, I suggest before you start casting aspersions on people you first check your facts,” said Emma’s mother. “Because I know for a fact that this is nothing like my daughter. And I also know for a fact that she would never raise a hand against anyone. So whatever the police are saying, she can’t possibly be involved with this—no way.”

“She was caught red-handed,” Ellie pointed out, also getting a little worked up. “Odelia caught her personally breaking into Carl Strauss’s house last night.”

“How is Carl?” asked Mrs. Hudson. “Is he going to be all right?”

“He’s still in a coma,” said Odelia. “We went to see him this morning and the doctors have no idea when he might come out of it.”

“Or even if he’ll come out of it,” Ellie added.

“This is a nightmare,” said Mrs. Hudson. She then directed a pleading look at Odelia. “Can’t you put in a good word for Emma? You saw her, you met her. You must have seen that she’s not like these other people she got mixed up with.”

“She did strike me as a highly intelligent young woman,” Odelia admitted. “But I think she also realizes that she made a big mistake.”

“I know,” said Mrs. Hudson ruefully. “Please talk to the police, Miss Poole. I know you have a lot of pull with them. Tell them that Emma is not a violent person. She just got swept along with these Hampton Heisters people and somehow things got out of hand.”

In spite of herself, Odelia felt sorry for the woman. It wasn’t easy for her to watch her daughter languish in the police lockup. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said therefore, earning herself a frown from Ellie, who clearly wasn’t as taken in with Mrs. Hudson as she was. “But if you get the chance to talk to your daughter, you need to tell her togive us the names of the other members of the gang. It would create a lot of goodwill for her, and the judge will be more lenient with her as well. I think it would make a big difference.”

“If she agrees to see us, I’ll tell her,” said Mrs. Hudson, already a lot more subdued than she had been when she first barged her way into the office yelling accusations.

“Just tell Emma to cooperate, Mrs. Hudson,” Ellie advised. “That’s the best thing you can do for her right now. Simply tell her to cooperate with the police as much as she can.”

Mrs. Hudson nodded and got up.“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for the advice.”

Once she’d left, Ellie said, “How could you promise to help her? She’s clearly guilty.”

“Even guilty people have rights, Ellie. And I think Mrs. Hudson just might be right in that her daughter got mixed up in something that simply snowballed out of control.”

“I think she knew exactly what she was doing. And it wouldn’t surprise me if she took a swing at Carl, too.”

“I guess the police will have to decide what happened.”

“I thought they always listened to you?”

Odelia smiled.“Not always.”

Her phone rang out a pleasant tune and she saw that Charlene Butterwick was trying to get in touch with her.“Hey, Charlene,” she said.

“Odelia, you really have to do something about your grandmother,” said Charlene.

Oh, dear.“What did she do this time?”

“She tried to bribe me!”

“She did what?”

“Offered me money in exchange for a building permit. Fifty thousand dollars if I would allow her to build an extra few stories on top of the house. I told her what she was doing was illegal, but she insisted!”

“I’m sorry, Charlene. You know Gran. She’s a little…”

“Nuts!”

“… eccentric.”

“Your uncle’s already had a strongly worded talk with her, but I was hoping you could have a conversation with her, too. I know she respects you and listens to you.”

“Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn’t. Gran has a mind of her own, and oftentimes she doesn’t listen to anyone.”