The eldest Oyster looked at him, But never a word he said

Saturday, glorious Saturday. Or it should be glorious if only I didn't have a sense of impending doom. Catherine wants to spend her Saturday learning how to paint and doing a bit of fishing. Shannon is due at work, that's going to keep her away for most of the day.

As for me, I have a few things to do about Alaina. I have my nephew Picasso ready to take photos of his Aunt if he sees her around. I don't know if anything will come from that but it's worth the effort to at least try.


And I want to answer the burning question who rang me? Who warned me that the police were looking for me? Why did they ring? I know the voice was female, but I didn't recognise her.

I do know someone who might though. Someone who gets along with many of the ladies of this town. My friend, Thomas Leman, fashion guru and town gigolo. I arranged a meeting at the local art gallery. If there is anyone who knows all the ladies in town and their gossip, it will be Tom.

"Hey, Tom, how is the family?"

"The oldest boys are doing pretty well in school. I believe Clayton is good friends with your girl Catherine. Our toddler Bob gets into so much mischief. He takes real advantage of being the baby of the family. He broke Zayne's favourite vase the other day and looked so darned cute doing it that everyone just laughed." It was pretty obvious that he adores his sons. The glint in his eyes as he describes them says it all.

"Catherine did bring home a boy named Clayton the other night. He's your son?" I was a bit puzzled, my memory said the boy had dark hair, very unlike his parents.

Tom laughed, " I know, I have red hair, Zayne has pink hair and our son has black hair. We think he's a throwback a few generations. He doesn't look like his brothers but he is still our son."

I nodded. "We never could find a blond on the family tree so we have no idea where Catherine got her hair colour."

I paused for a moment. Now seemed as good as time as any to bring up the topic I really wanted to discuss with Thomas. "Have you heard anything about what my ex Alaina is up to?"

"Other than applying for sole custody, getting a court order to keep you away from Catherine, you spending the night in the holding cell behind the police station; no, I haven't heard a lot."

Damn, he really is connected in town.  I'd hate to think what he'd classify as a lot of information.  "That's not a lot?"

"The ladies trust me with their hair, their clothes and their secrets. I think that's the usual order of importance for most of my clients. The fashion clients that is."

"Someone rang me to warn me that the police were on their way. Can you tell me who might ring me?"

"It's best if I don't name anyone. That could be very bad for business if I gave away their secrets."

I sighed. I should have know this wasn't going to be easy. "I don't want to jeopardise your business."

Thomas continued. "But I can give you a hint. Your ex is not at all popular with someone at city hall."

"A female someone?"

"Indeed. There is one lady there that rather objects to your ex's way of doing things."

Now that was useful. Very useful. Barnacle Bay is a small community and there are only a few people working in city hall.

"Thanks Tom, I appreciate the info." He's a good friend and I'm going to need every friend I can muster.

I took a taxi over to City Hall. It's the weekend, so I'm not going to be meeting anyone today. But I can go over the records and see who is my likely contact. I've never paid much attention to the local politicians before this.

It didn't take me long to narrow the field. There are only four women working in City Hall and two of them only started last week. That leaves our governor, Eleanore Goldbeard and Luisa Libros who is one of the local representatives.

I managed to track down someone who could make an appointment for me to talk to the governor first thing Monday morning. That's all I can think to do for the moment.

Well, one more thing. We'll be staying in the campground on the other side of town for a few days. We'll have to bring our tents but I feel a bit more secure about Catherine if we aren't staying at home. And surely camping is the last thing that Alaina would think of, she never was much for travel to start with.

At least my daughter has had a fun day.