"Why do people do that to animals?” Harriet said.
"I don't know-it's an illness. The weird part is that the people don't look crazy to the outside world. These people in Ephrata worked outside the home, and I bet if you asked people they worked with, they wouldn't have a clue."
Harriet started to relax. It felt good to be talking to him about normal things again, not that dog hoarding could be considered normal. But it was his job, and she liked hearing him talk with such passion about it.
"The local authorities might not have found this situation if it hadn't been for an alert UPS driver. The family worked hard at keeping people away from their house. The kids were homeschooled, and they weren't allowed to have friends over.
"The mistake they made was letting the kids have computer access. One of them ordered a video game and gave the street address and-enter the UPS guy. The parents were out, and the kid answered the door. The driver took one whiff and called nine-one-one. He thought he was reporting a child welfare case, and I guess he was, but he had no idea what was inside the house and in the outbuildings around it."
"I'm so sorry, Aiden. This must be awful for you."
They rode in silence the rest of the way to the coffee shop. He'd driven them to The Steaming Cup, the same place she'd had her phone altercation with Neelie. She watched his face as he parked in the small lot, looking for any indication he'd done it on purpose, but she saw none.
She ordered a hot caramel apple cider at the counter.
"That sounds good,” Aiden said. “I'll have the same thing."
A group of teenagers were sprawled on the upholstered chairs, so he led her to a table across the room. He pulled out her chair for her then sat in the one opposite.
"Nice place,” he said.
Before Harriet could say anything in response, the barista delivered their steaming whipped cream-topped drinks.
"I know Mavis made you ask me to coffee, but you know as well as I do she's going to know if we don't talk,” Harriet said when the silence had stretched to the breaking point.
"You want to talk?” Aiden said, and looked into her eyes. “Tell me this-was that baby Connie was holding the one that's supposed to be mine?"
Harriet stared back at him, then turned in her chair and started to stand up. He grabbed her wrist.
"I'm sorry,” he said. “Stay, please."
"No, I'm sorry,” Harriet said. “But that doesn't seem to be good enough for you, and at this point, I don't know what else to say.” She pulled her wrist from his grasp but returned to her seat.
Aiden raked his hand through his hair. “I'm sorry, really. Mavis is probably right."
Harriet sat up. “Exactly what did she say?"
"Basically, she said to get over myself."
"She must have said more than that.” She tried to suppress a smile. “She was out there with you for a while."
"Oh, yeah, she said a lot,” he said with a rueful smile. “But she meant ‘get over yourself,’ and by the way, you can stop enjoying this so much."
"I should have handled things better,” Harriet said in a serious tone.
"How? Some crazy lady shows up with a baby she claims is mine. As Mavis pointed out, they don't hand out babies at the local Walmart. Most rational people would assume that if someone arrives on your doorstep with a baby it probably is their baby, or whosever they claim it is."
"Thank you, Mavis,” Harriet said.
"I said I'm sorry."
"I guess I'm glad you finally understand."
"That's the hard part,” Aiden said and took a drink of his cider. “I still don't understand what's going on, if it's still going on. Why would someone show up with a baby and claim it was mine, when obviously I'd deny it and a simple DNA test would prove it."
"That's what we've been trying to figure out. If Kissa really is from Africa, it would take some time to get her and then come back here with her. Even you didn't know you were going to be out of town when she arrived, so she must have been planning on confronting you."
"But again-why?"
"Assuming she wasn't completely nuts, the next obvious motive is money. She didn't have any-that was why we let her stay at your house. We were worried about her ability to care for Kissa."
"Do you think she thought I'd feel sorry for her and give her money?"
"That would be pretty risky. You might have dismissed her out of hand. No, I think she had reason to believe you would take responsibility for Kissa. Maybe she really did think the baby was yours.
"Do you think Neelie's sister might have been conning her?” she continued. “Maybe she didn't want her baby and figured Neelie wouldn't have the money to return to Africa with her."
"If you're talking about Nabirye, I'm telling you, she didn't have that or any other baby. I'll be surprised if that woman turns out to have been her sister or any other sort of relative. I still haven't heard from her, but that's not unexpected. When she's able to call, she can confirm her part, or lack of part, in this drama."
Harriet sipped her cider, and Aiden did the same.
"I was just thinking about what Mavis said."
"That I need to get over myself?” he asked, and smiled.
"No, the part about not being able to pick up a baby at Walmart. If the baby isn't her sister's-and you say that's not likely-then where did she get Kissa?"
"Unfortunately, if you know your way around Africa, and you aren't a highly visible American pop icon, you can get a baby and the papers to go with it for a few well-placed bribes."
"That's sad."
"That's life in undeveloped countries."
"I wonder what's going to happen to the baby."
"I was going to ask you about that.” He covered her hand with his. “I didn't realize Connie had been certified to do foster care.” He looked at her. “She did get certified, right? Tell me you ladies didn't kidnap that child."
"I don't think it's kidnapping when someone gives you a baby."
"What, exactly, would you call it?"
"More of a failure to return.” She gave him what she hoped was a winning smile. “You aren't going to turn us in, are you?"
"Are you serious?"
"Carla said the baby was undernourished, and we were afraid if we told the police about her, she would be put into a series of foster homes where they wouldn't take care of her."
Aiden laughed. “Are you listening to yourself? Carla is now the expert on baby health and the rest of you were…what? Going to keep the baby until she's eighteen? You've all have been watching a little too much TV if that's your image of our foster care system."
Harriet had the good grace to blush.
"They have a program at the clinic that pairs up dog owners with foster kids who need a dog for the canine Four-H program. All the foster care parents I've met have been selfless, caring people who either don't have children of their own at home or always have room for one more around their table."
"I didn't say it was a well-thought-out plan."
"I can't believe Robin went along with this. As a lawyer, doesn't she have an obligation as an officer of the court to report a crime in progress?"
"I think the rule about not having to incriminate yourself trumps her officer of the court status. Besides, we haven't committed a crime. We were asked to take care of Kissa, and we are. When someone asks for her, we'll hand her over."
"Isn't that what's known as a sin of omission?"
"Repeat-are you going to turn us in?"
"My only professional obligation is to protect any animals involved, so no, but I'd encourage you to let the police know you have her."
"I'll tell Aunt Beth,” Harriet said, and took a long swallow of her cider, effectively ending the discussion.
"How's the raffle quilt coming?” Aiden asked, switching to a safer topic.
"You'll have to ask the Small Stitches. So far, we haven't come up with anything that's even suitable to be used as dog beds, much less the silent auction, and forget about being chosen for the raffle."