“Just trying to get this investigative reporting down.”

“I heard a cat got hung.”

“The news is making its way around, is it?”

“Gossip travels fast.”

“You hear anything else?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Kids talk. We’re trying to figure out if the neighbors did it.”

“No, I didn’t hear anything.”

“What about this Web site I showed you the other day? Anyone talking about that?”

Hunter shook his head. “Not that I’ve heard.”

Suddenly Damien got an idea. He leaned forward. “Edgar wants me to check this whole thing out. The Web site. Try to figure out where it’s coming from. You can do that, can’t you?”

“You mean hack into it and try to find the host and therefore find the person responsible?”

“Can you do that?”

“I can try. It’s not easy. Or, um, legal.”

“How about after work, I’ll join you upstairs, and we’ll see what we can dig up.”

Hunter pitched a thumbs-up.

The succulent smell of pork chops wafting into the dining room did nothing to add any ambience to the chilly atmosphere at the dinner table. Kay brought in scalloped potatoes and returned to the kitchen for the rest of the food. She wasn’t in the mood for the moods. Not today. But she faked a smile and returned to sit with her family. If she couldn’t have the happy family, the next best thing was the illusion of one.

“Pork?” Jenna moaned, leaning over the platter. “What is it with you and pork? Do you know how fattening this is? And then you have the carbs with the potatoes.”

“It’s a lean cut of pork,” Kay said, serving Damien and then Hunter. She tried not to focus on the paper-thin T-shirt Jenna wore. It barely covered her stomach. “It’s high in protein. It’s not like I’m serving up bacon here.” She stabbed the last chop and plopped it on Jenna’s plate. The sauce splattered onto her shirt.

“Mother!” Jenna barked, grabbing her napkin.

“It was an accident,” Damien said, handing Jenna another napkin. “Calm down. It washes.”

Jenna glared at Kay as she furiously scrubbed her shirt. “I’m not hungry,” she said and started to rise from the table.

“No ma’am,” Kay said sternly. “Sit your rear end back down right now.”

All movement froze, Damien holding the scalloped potatoes, Hunter with a big bite of pork bulging in his cheek. Jenna’s glare cut through the steam coming off the lima beans. But she finally sat, grabbed her knife, and started sawing at her pork as if she intended on murdering it had it not already been dead.

Kay cleared her throat and passed the bread basket. “Hunter, how was your day?”

“Good. Dad came to eat with me.”

Jenna looked up briefly, studied her brother for a moment, then went back to her food.

“Yeah, I’m going to need Hunter’s help for my first investigative piece. Edgar wants me to do some digging, see if we can figure out where that Web site about Marlo is coming from.”

“What Web site?” Kay asked.

“It’s called Listen to Yourself. Apparently it’s recording private conversations of the citizens of Marlo.”

“Are you reading it?” Jenna stared at Damien.

“Not for pleasure, no. But it’s a little eerie. And newsworthy. Not to mention illegal if the person doing it is indeed eavesdropping.”

“Or maybe it’s more like Robin Hood. You know, stealing from the rich, giving to the poor.” Hunter shrugged. “Except with words.”

“That’s stupid.” Jenna’s attention returned to Damien. “What kind of stuff’s on there?”

“Just weird, random conversations. Some are harmless and some are…”

“Are what?” Kay asked.

“Well, damaging. You two haven’t heard about this?”

“No,” Kay said. She looked at Jenna. “Have you?”

Jenna continued eating one lima bean at a time.

Kay watched her daughter for a moment, trying to read that mind of hers. When she was little, she’d worn every emotion on her sleeve. She became glassy-eyed at a moment’s notice if something didn’t go her way, or anyone else’s way for that matter. She had the biggest heart, always concerned for other people, including her little brother, who often made her life difficult if not embarrassing.

Then, as if a switch had been flipped, the emotions were gone and in their place, nothing more than sulky, disapproving expressions that went no deeper than the gobs of makeup she smothered her face in. She had the most beautiful freckles sprinkled across her nose, but they hadn’t seen the light of day since she’d discovered a high-priced foundation that promised to cover up all flaws. So what once had been a bright sign that summer was here was now like a shameful secret that was not allowed out.

Kay really missed those freckles. And so much more. Jenna was like a whisper of who she used to be. Friends told Kay not to worry. Jenna would come out of it one day. It was what you were to expect with a teenage girl. But Kay had never expected it to be like this.

And then there was the way she’d suddenly started dressing. Sleazy. That was the only word for it. She hated to say it, but it was true. Cleavage when at all possible. Jeans tight and low. Shirts flimsy and revealing. Damien didn’t seemed concerned, but Kay knew what it meant.

Kay cleared her throat and focused her attention on Jenna. “Hey, so who are you hanging out with this year? I haven’t heard you talk about anybody in particular. What about the girls on the cheer club? Zoey. Caydance. What about Madison?”

“Just because I cheer with them doesn’t mean I have to hang out with them,” Jenna said.

Damien added, “What about Natalie? She used to be a good friend.”

Jenna’s gaze darted from Kay to Damien as she stopped chewing. “What is this, twenty questions?”

“We just like to know who your friends are,” Damien said, his voice kind in tone like it always was with Jenna. Kay, for some reason, could never quite find the right tone.

Jenna sighed, picking at her dinner roll. “Yeah, fine. Natalie. We still hang out some.”

Kay lowered her fork. “You do?”

“What? You don’t approve of Natalie now?”

Damien frowned. “Nobody said that. Natalie’s a perfectly fine-”

“She’s not.”

Everyone stopped and looked at Kay.

“What I’m trying to say,” she said, forcing a calm tone on top of a tight smile, “is that Natalie seems troubled.”

Jenna placed her fork onto her plate and put her elbows on the table just like Kay hated. “What are you talking about? No, she’s not.”

“I’m just hearing some things-”

“What things?”

“Her mother is… well, there’s some trouble at home and-”

“So what? That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with Nat. Her parents are screwups. But it’s not fair to say she is.”

Damien held up a hand to each of them. “We’re not saying that. Not at all. I think you’re reading what your mom is saying wrong; isn’t she, Kay?”

Kay bit down hard on her lip, casting a measured look at Damien. “I think that she should be careful when choosing friends. Sometimes kids can act out when their parents are going through something and can be bad influences on other kids.”

Jenna gripped the edge of the table. “So you think Caydance and Zoey are good examples?”

“They seem like nice girls.”

“Do they. Hmm.”

“And Madison in particular. She’s a straight-A student.”

“So let me get this straight. You want me to hang out with Caydance and Zoey and Madison because they’re popular and straight-A students, and you don’t want me to hang out with Natalie because her parents are weird.”

“That’s not what your mother is saying,” Damien said, shooting Kay a look that said stop talking. “You’ve always chosen your friends wisely. We don’t question that at all. I think what your mother is trying to say is that if Natalie becomes a bad influence, think twice about hanging out with her.”