Gossip being what it was in Stillwater, Evelyn and everyone else would probably know by the end of the day.
"Actually, I already have a job," she said.
Evelyn immediately pounced on that. " Really? Wonderful. Where?"
Allie swallowed a groan. "I'm helping Grace with Clay's case."
Silence. Allie gripped the phone a little tighter but refused to speak first. Finally, Evelyn said, "You're kidding, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not."
"Allie, this...this obsession of yours with Clay Montgomery has gone far enough, don't you think?"
"Obsession?"
Her mother ignored her. "It's up to the courts to decide his fate now."
"How can they come to the right conclusion without the facts, Mom?"
"What facts? You're a good detective, Allie. But even you haven't been able to come up with anything new."
"I can't give up. Someone just tried to kill him. What's going on is not as clear-cut as everyone would like to believe."
"You know it was Joe who shot Clay. So take your old job back and go after him. He deserves it. But then forget about Clay."
"I'm not convinced it was Joe."
"Then you should be. When I was at the Piggly Wiggly a few minutes ago, I heard Joe's ex-wife tell Francine Eastman she thinks Joe has your gun. She said she stopped by to get some money he owes her and saw something that looked like a gun at his house."
"Why hasn't she reported it?"
"There's been nothing but trouble between those two. And she's just getting her life back.
She doesn't want to step into the middle of this."
"No one does! But what's happening is a farce. All the people who've been out to get Clay are finally gaining the upper hand. And I'm not going to watch the Vincellis and others with a personal agenda use the law for their own purposes."
"Can't you see what Clay's doing?" Evelyn argued. "Do you think he's been lavishing his attention on you because he likes you?"
Allie felt her jaw drop but was too offended to be able to respond right away.
"Clay doesn't like anyone," her mother went on. "He's using you. He knows he needs allies--solid, reputable allies--so he's trying to elicit your support, hoping you can save him. And he doesn't care if he ruins you in the process."
"That's not true," Allie said. "Clay doesn't suck up to anyone, for any reason. He doesn't even want me in his life. He told me--" What good would it do to explain this to her mother? The people of Stillwater wanted a scapegoat and they thought they'd found the perfect candidate.
"Never mind."
"Think about the number of women he's slept with," Evelyn said. "You're just another conquest to him. A calculated conquest because now, in addition to getting exactly what he wanted from you at the cabin, you're going to help him."
Allie hung up. She knew she shouldn't. Her mother was her last support. But Allie was so angry, she couldn't stop herself.
"Mommy?" Whitney called.
Allie forced back the rush of emotions that were assaulting her all at once. "What, honey?"
"Did Boppo ask you?"
"Ask me what?"
"If I can stay with her tonight?"
Allie didn't know what to say. They hadn't gotten that far.
"Did she?" Whitney pressed.
The phone rang again. Allie answered instead of answering her daughter.
"Are you really choosing Clay over your family?" her mother asked.
Allie cursed silently. "Of course not."
"You are if you're going to help the Montgomerys. Your father will take it as a personal affront, and although I've tried to remain neutral, this will compel me to choose his side. Do you realize that? I have to be loyal to my husband."
"This isn't about loyalty. At least not entirely. I need the job," Allie said.
"If you weren't being so stubborn, you could go back to work for your father."
Working for the police department would give her a lot more stability. She'd have a long-term income and benefits, which she wasn't going to get helping Grace. And she had Whitney to think of. Her responsibility to her daughter and the emotional pressure she faced from everyone else would make it infinitely easier to fall in line with her parents.
Except that no one seemed to care about actually solving the case. They wanted someone to punish for Barker's disappearance so that the Vincellis would finally be satisfied and everyone could go on with their lives. And, unlike his mother and sisters, Clay was defiant, angry. In fact, the depth of the anger running through him was a little frightening at times. That made it easy for some people to believe he was capable of such a crime. But Allie cared about the truth.
Or maybe she just cared about Clay.
"I can't," she said.
"Not even for Whitney's sake?" Evelyn asked.
Allie hugged her extra pillow to her chest. "I'll make sure she gets everything she needs."
"But she loves us. Putting a rift between you and us will hurt her."
"Mom, we don't even know what happened to Barker. Clay deserves a fair trial, don't you think?"
Her mother's voice rose. "He'll have his sister to defend him. She's never lost a case."
"She's never had so much at stake before, or been up against odds like this!"
"Let her deal with it! She'll be fine without you."
"I have to do what I think is right," Allie insisted.
There was a long silence, then her mother said, "Are you sure it's your conscience you're trying to satisfy?" And this time it was Evelyn who hung up.
"Mom-my?" Whitney wailed, losing patience. "Why won't you answer me?"
Allie wanted to throw her phone across the room but set it gently on the nightstand instead.
"I'm sorry, honey," she called back. "You can't stay with Boppo tonight. She forgot that she already has other plans."
"But she just asked me! We were going to bake cookies!"
"Why don't I see if your friend Emily can spend the night with us?"
"What about Boppo?" Whitney asked.
"Maybe you can go there next week," Allie said. "But it's not looking good," she muttered to herself. Then she turned her thoughts to what her mother had said about her gun. Cindy thought she'd seen it at Joe's house? Considering that Joe had the strongest motivation to shoot Clay, and he had no alibi, she thought the police could establish probable cause for a search warrant. But the situation being what it was, she knew she'd never convince her father to try. He wouldn't act against the Vincellis right now. No one would.