The call from the social worker came after dinner, as promised. Maureen Glynis was the case worker who liaised between them, the Ministry, and the biological parents.

"Hi Rachel," she said. "So. Difficult things to discuss."

"Yes."

"Are you within earshot of Emma right now?"

"No. As soon as I saw the number for the Ministry on my phone I ran up to my room."

"Good." She sighed and said, "I take one weekend off and come back to this."

"Did you know Jenna visited on Saturday?"

She made a plosive sound, as if she'd been holding her breath and somebody had slapped her back. "I'm sorry about that. She never told me she was going to do that. Then again, that's pretty much in character for her. Oh, God," she said, "I just used the present tense with her."

"Have they told you how she died?"

Maureen was silent for a moment. "This is why I wanted you to be away from Emma, because you and I need to agree on what to tell her before I come and tell her."

Rachel sighed in relief. "So, you will tell her? I don't have to?"

"I think it's best if it comes from me."

"Thank you. So, when you say we need to agree... does that mean it wasn't a natural death?"

"The coroner listed alcohol poisoning as the cause of death," she said. "However... the manner of death has been checked as undetermined."

"Jesus..." Rachel breathed. "When it's alcohol poisoning, wouldn't that be something like, 'death by misadventure'?"

"Yes, normally. Suicide could also be checked, but it's hard to prove that unless there's a note. Jenna was an alcoholic, and most alcoholics don't drink to kill themselves. And then, um, there's a bit of suspicion about how Jenna was found that led the police to believe she might not have drank that alcohol willingly."

Rachel gasped. "You mean... someone might have forced it down her throat?"

"They're still investigating."

"Which police are investigating?"

"New Westminster Police. Jenna was residing at Westminster House."

"Oh! Huh. I wonder if Tracey and Rhodes are on the case."

"Who?"

"Sorry, a few years ago, Al and I were involved in a case the New Westminster Police investigated. Those were the two detectives we dealt with."

Silence for a moment. Then Maureen said, "Was this ever discussed in your application?"

"No, but that's because it wasn't anything serious. I was the executor of a will, and as we were cataloguing the house's contents, we discovered the mummified body of a baby in the coal cellar."

"Oh! Okay, so nothing that led to charges against you or Al."

"No. We were not responsible for that baby being there."

"No, of course, I didn't mean to imply that you were," she said, chuckling. When she calmed down, she took on a sober tone when she said, "Still, that's sad."

"It was sad, but it wasn't murder, just so you know. I won't say anything else, though."

"Of course. It's none of my business." 

"Thank you," Rachel said. Then something occurred to her. "You know, Maureen, when you say she might not have drunk it willingly... when I was talking to Jenna on Saturday, she seemed sober, and she mentioned struggling with sobriety and needing to see her kids to give her the strength to keep going with it. That woman was trying to better herself to get her kids back, and that doesn't align with the circumstances of her death."

Maureen was silent for a moment before she said, "That does sound suspicious, and you make a good point, and I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but... Jenna went through that treatment program multiple times. She'd sober up, find work, get her kids back for a while, and then something would come up, some new stress, maybe the father would pop back into her life, screw her around, she couldn't cope, and then she'd be off the wagon again; or she'd hook up with some new guy who drank himself, and she couldn't stay sober when her partner wasn't, especially when there was alcohol in the house. I don't want to diminish the effort she might have been making, but this was a pattern with her."

"Oh." Suddenly Rachel had a thought. "You said sometimes the father would come back into her life. So, he's alive?"

"As far as I know. His name is Bill Davenport, and he's never once expressed interest in his children except to conceive them. Jenna was basically a port of call for him."

"So, in your opinion, would he ever consider relinquishing his rights?"

"Do you ask because you're thinking of adopting them?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, thank goodness," Maureen said, and Rachel felt her eyes welling at this statement of confidence in her parenting; up to now she'd never gotten any indication from Maureen that she was doing a good job. "I'm pretty sure that if Bill Davenport were suddenly faced with the responsibility of parenting his children, he'd gladly let the state take that responsibility off his hands."

"Do you know what he does?" Rachel asked.

"He's a career criminal. He's spent his life in and out of prison, with a rap sheet as long as your arm. Drugs, theft, assault, sexual assault, breaching bail, the list goes on."

"Charming. When you say drugs, do you mean he's a dealer?"

"Dealer, user..."

"Smuggler?"

Maureen paused a moment before saying, "Now that's an interesting word. I talked to Melinda, and she told me about what you discovered."

"Yes. Has he been involved in the large scale smuggling side?"

"Not as far as I know, but when you're in that world, who knows what kind of people you'll meet?"

"I ask because I found something else out that Melinda might not know yet."

Maureen was silent for a beat, then, with hesitancy, said, "Go on."

"Okay, first, I need you to promise me you won't tell the police this."

"What? What's going on?"

"Okay, last night we made a copy of the files on that memory card so we could look at it and see what Logan had gotten himself into, and why he had it at all. I don't think it was legal for us to do it; maybe it's tampering with evidence or something."

Maureen sighed. "Okay, when I hang up I'll pretend I never had this conversation with you."

"Thank you. So, we found out that there's a document out there showing that Logan owns the fishing trawler used in the smuggling."

"Fuck," Maureen breathed. "This has to be Bill's doing. That fucker."

"Well, we were wondering about that. How else would Logan get himself caught up in all this? Unless it has something to do with Larry Kranski."

"Larry Kranski?"

"That was a name the detectives asked us about. Either he was involved in whatever got Logan arrested, or he was the victim of the homicide."

"Huh," Maureen said. "Maybe. I don't know that name, but he could easily be one of Bill's associates."

"Okay. So, what will we decide to tell Emma?" Rachel thought about it for a second. "How about, her mother died suddenly due to an accident?"

"Hm." Maureen chewed it over. "I like the sudden part of it. It certainly wasn't expected. And until we know more about what made that alcohol go down her throat, maybe accident is the best word we can use; death by misadventure encompasses accidents and other ill-conceived actions, anyway, and Emma would probably understand accident more than misadventure."

"I agree."

"She's going to ask what kind of accident it was. In her mind she'll think car crash, or she was hit by a car."

"What should we say it was? We can't tell her she drank herself to death, can we?"

"Definitely not," Maureen said. "Since her drinking is what separated Emma from her in the first place, telling her that will scar her for life."

"She won't be jumping for joy at the news, anyway." Rachel thought harder and said, "When Jenna left us on Saturday, we dropped her off at the Skytrain station. Could we say she fell on the tracks? Those can electrocute you to death, I hear."

Maureen thought about it for a second. "Well, electrocution can kill without mutilating the body, unlike getting hit by a car or being in a car accident. Since Jenna's body, I hear, is relatively intact, that might make a plausible explanation. It might even explain her discoloration. Of course, this explanation will only be used if Emma asks how it happened."

"It's going to be awful," Rachel groaned. "And I feel like we'll be lying to her, but the truth is so much worse."

"I know, but I'm trained in breaking bad news, so I'll be right there with you."

To her embarrassment, Rachel felt herself tearing up again. "Thank you. So much. I couldn't imagine doing this on my own. Poor Emma."

"I know. Look, I shouldn't be saying this, but I could see this happening eventually. Jenna wasn't ever going to get well enough to really be the mother those kids needed, and Emma, and Logan, are very lucky this happened while they were placed with two great parents who want to do the right thing and give them a forever home."

Now Rachel was in full ugly-cry mode. "You don't know how much that means to me," she blubbered.

"It's just the truth. I've seen with my own eyes, during my visits, how they've flourished in your care."

"Really? But what about Emma's grades? What about Logan staying out all hours?"

Maureen chuckled good-naturedly. "Oh, kiddo, I didn't say you were a miracle worker. They're fed, they're clean, they're clothed, they have comfortable lodging. They have a routine, and I know about Logan's excursions, but that's every teenage boy out there. I know he's in trouble now but that's not because of your parenting. Emma's issues predated you, and you're not a trained special education assistant. What matters is you care for them."

"I love them," she admitted. "I know I shouldn't say it but I do, Emma especially."

"Don't worry, it's completely natural, and who wouldn't love Emma, she's the sweetest kid. And Logan, well, we'll do our best to get him out, and to ensure he has a fair trial if we can't."

"Thank you. So, when do you think you can come?"

"How does Wednesday evening sound?"

She took a deep breath and said, "Okay. We can do that. Two more days for Emma to be a normal kid before her world comes crashing down."

"Yeah," Maureen said, her own voice heavy now. "She loved her mom in spite of all the shit she put her through. She's not going to take it well."

"All right. I guess we'll see you then."

"Goodnight, Rachel."

"Goodnight."

She hung up, sat on her bed and put her head in her hands. A minute to feel sorry for herself, then she went into the bathroom to wash her face with cold water, so Emma wouldn't wonder why she looked like she'd been crying. Then she steeled herself and stood again, walking back down the stairs to act like nothing was wrong. 

Before she alighted on the main floor, her phone rang again. Al looked at her as he cleaned up after dinner, and she shrugged and looked at her phone. 

"Oh! It's Tej," she said. She answered and said, "Hey, girl!"

"Hi, Rachel, how's it going?"

"Um, been better, but it's nice to hear from you."

"Oh, is everything okay?"

"I'll tell you about it another time, there are people in the room with sensitive ears."

"Oh, I get you. Well, I was calling because I have Wednesday clear and was wondering if Emma wanted to go out to the beach that day."

"Wednesday, huh? Hold on." She covered her receiver and said, "Emma, want to go to the beach on Wednesday?"

Emma looked up from the TV and said, "Are Naomi and Tosh going too?"

"And Harpreet and Ajit, I think."

"Yes!"

Rachel smiled and thought, she'll always remember that day. "I'd say that's a yes from Emma," she said. "Have you talked to Lauren?"

"Yup. We're good to go. Poor Lauren's still at work so she asked me to call Joe and let him know too."  

"I know. Al and I had to Skytrain home. She'll take the time back eventually."

"She said she'll finalize the details with you tomorrow on the way to work."

Rachel smirked as she realized what Lauren was really going to talk to her about. They had their hooky day. "I look forward to it, then. This will be so much fun for the kids! I don't even know if Emma's even been to the beach."

"I haven't!" Emma chimed in.

"There you go, I heard that," Tej said. "That's great."

"And hey," Rachel said, "We're still holding you to Harpreet's special day, just us girls, whenever it happens, okay?"

Tej chuckled. "You got it. I can't wait, actually. How naughty do you think us gals can get while our daughters are in the room, considering I don't drink?"

"Oh, girl, you'll be sorry you asked that," Rachel said. "Challenge accepted."

Tej burst out laughing. "I'm a little scared now. Goodnight, Rachel."

"Goodnight, Tej."

Rachel hung up, feeling thankful for Tej and her well-timed invitation. She would have kissed her if she was in the room, and she was sure Al would have loved to see it, and Lauren would have been jealous.

"So," Al said, "Beach Wednesday?"

"Looks like. And for us, some much-needed sunshine before the rain comes."

Thanks for reading this far! If you liked what you read so far, hit "Vote" to send this title up the ranks. If something doesn't ring true about Coroners' reports, or the foster parent/social worker relationship, leave a comment. I strive for authenticity. To flash back to Joe and Lauren's first apartment, and her first day working at Justiciar, click on "Continue reading."