After school, Francie went home to meet with the police and be interviewed by them. Normally, such an interview would be conducted at the police station, but because of her age, and her family's fame, accommodations had been made to take care of things at the Santangelos' penthouse apartment. Chester was also allowed to be present and be interviewed at the same time because he was peripherally involved.

The detectives were named Bustamante and Chadwick. Detective Bustamante was petite and wore her hair in a sedate bun. Detective Chadwick was over six feet tall, had a crew cut and mustache, and looked like he blocked for the New York Giants. They were already there when Francie and Chester got there, and had already spoken to Pete and Daisy, from the looks of things.

Francie and Chester sat down in the living room with Pete, looking expectantly at the detectives, who already had coffee and cake in front of them. Daisy had corralled the younger kids in the dining room.

"So," Detective Bustamante began, turning on the recorder. "We've already gotten a lot of preliminary information from your parents, Francie, and we've gotten permission to interview you without your parents present, Chester, since you're not a suspect or anything, if that's okay with you? Or do you prefer to wait until one of your parents is present?" The two detectives looked questioningly at Chester, who shook his head.

"I don't care," he assured them.

"Good, then we'll just talk to both of you now and see what we can find out," Detective Bustamante went on. She looked back at Francie. "Please tell me in as much detail as you can how all of this began? And if you'd be more comfortable with your father or your boyfriend out of the room at any point, let me know, okay?"

Francie nodded. "It's fine, they both know all of this, I don't care if they stay," she said. So she told the detectives everything, beginning with how she'd met Antonio, thought she'd liked him, but gotten to know Chester and figured out she liked him instead.

"That can happen sometimes, can't it?" Detective Bustamante agreed with a smile in Chester's direction. "The heart wants what the heart wants."

"Yeah," Francie agreed, reaching for Chester's hand.

"So we went to the dance, and people stared at us, and Tony got the wrong idea, you know, thought it was some sort of pity thing, which it definitely wasn't, and then Chester's friend, Jill, made a scene, cried and said I stole Chester from her--"

"Her whole name, please?" Detective Chadwick asked in a voice as deep as a bassoon.

"Oh, um, Wyler, Jill Wyler. I've known her to say hello to since elementary school, but we've never run in the same circles," Francie elaborated. "Chester came to our school in sixth grade, and they got to be good friends pretty quick, I think." She looked at Chester for corroboration, and he nodded.

"She's sort of an unusual girl, you know, kind of nerdy, very smart, into computers and anime and stuff like that?" Chester said. "I've always sort of known she had a crush on me, but I never encouraged it or anything, I figured it was harmless, just a proximity thing that would go away once she met someone she really liked. Then this thing with Francie happened and things just sort of blew up. Jill's been really upset."

"So Jill could be upset enough to do something like this is what you're saying," Detective Bustamante said, making it sound like a statement, though it was phrased like a question.

"Oh, no, I don't think so!" Chester protested. "She's really a nice person, a gentle person. And besides, she's a reader of anime and all that, but she's terrible at drawing, it's something she's really upset about. She's practiced and practiced, but she's never been any good at it. There's no way she could've done those drawings, not with a week, not with a month." Chester was emphatic.

Francie continued with her story, telling the detectives about the doctored recording of her voice that Tony had made and about how he'd gotten caught, the session in Dr. Alvarez' office and how angry he'd gotten.

"He's already on our list of people to interview," Detective Chadwick said to Detective Bustamante. "Son of an attache to a diplomat at the UN or something like that."

Francie nodded, trying to remember what happened next.

"I think after that it was just rumors and general unpleasantness," she said. "You know, people whispering about me, saying I was sleeping around, stuff like that?"

At her words, Pete put his arm around his daughter, his face like a stone. A muscle in his jaw twitched. "I'm so sorry, mimma, that people at your school are treating you so terribly," he murmured.

"Please, dad, everyone gets treated badly at one time or another," Francie responded with spirit. "I'm fine." She turned back to the detectives. "So then they started saying I was pregnant, but no one knew who the father was, or that I'd been pregnant, but I'd gotten an abortion, or that Chester was the father, or that Antonio was the father, it's been crazy--"

"And no one can pinpoint the origin of any of these rumors?" Detective Chadwick asked.

Francie and Chester shook their heads.

"And that brings us up to date?"

"We should probably tell them about what happened up at the retreat." Chester spoke slowly, touching the stitches on his forehead, which could only be seen if he lifted his hair.

"Something happened over the break? Up in the Adirondacks?" Detective Bustamante asked, looking sharply at Francie.

"Well, sort of," Francie responded uncertainly. "But I don't think it's related, do you?" she asked Chester. "I mean, how could it be? Holden and Nadine certainly couldn't have painted the graffiti, they were up there with us. And they couldn't possibly have known anything about what's been going on with you and me at school, don't they live out in Westchester or something?"

"Yes, but who knows? I think we should tell them," Chester said. "Those two are seriously twisted, and they're loaded, all it would take is a couple of phone calls to find out what's going on at school, and they could hire someone to do the graffiti."

"No 'should' about it, young man, tell us what happened at the retreat," Detective Chadwick said in his deep voice, pencil at the ready.

So Chester and Francie took turns telling the detectives about their run in with the bizarre brother and sister duo who had insulted Francie and tried to turn the circumstances around when things went bad for them.

"Well, they certainly sound like an unsavory pair," Detective Bustamante said when Francie and Chester were finished talking. "And you said their last name is Levine?"

Chester nodded. "Their dad is a big deal in the classical music world, they won't be hard to find. But they're going to be pretty angry if you try to interview them or imply that they're involved in any, uh, hanky-panky I guess is the best word."

"Well, we're NYPD, and we're a pretty big deal, too," Detective Bustamante replied with a wink. "I think we're the best judges to decide if anything either hanky or panky has happened, don't you?"

Chester smiled and nodded.

The detectives asked a few more desultory questions before excusing themselves and leaving, telling Pete that they'd be in touch if they had any more questions.

"You know," Chester said after they'd gone, "I just realized that they're probably investigating me, too, as a suspect."

"What?" Francie looked at him in amazement.

Chester nodded. "Probably not very seriously, because I was with you all week when it was happening, and we're obviously very close, but if they're going to check out Nadine and Holden, well, they have the same alibi I do, don't they? Except the loving you part."

And Pete had the good grace to look away when Francie leaned in and kissed Chester.

"Chester, would you like to stay for dinner?" Pete asked after looking at his watch. "I smell the cartons of Chinese food in the dining room as we speak."

"Oh, no thank you, I'd better get home," Chester responded. "I'm sure my parents want to know how things went with the police and everything. I'd better get going."

So Francie saw him to the door, where she got to kiss him again, leaning in to make it last so long they both got a little dizzy.

"I love you, Francie," Chester whispered.

"Love you, Chester. Thanks for staying with me today. It was a horrible day, and you made it better."

Finn came into the foyer just as the elevator doors closed, looking disappointed. "He left already? I didn't get to say hello or good bye," he lamented.

"He had to get home to his parents," Francie explained. "We spent a long time with the police, and he was late. I'm sorry, Finn. Next time we go to the park, we'll take you, okay?"

"Promise?"

"Yes." She picked up her brother like she had earlier at school and hugged him to her, loving the way he wrapped his legs around her and hugged her back.

"Oof, you're getting heavy, I'm not going to be able to pick you up much longer," Francie said as she swung him around.

"You really think so?" Finn responded, and Francie could tell he was smiling. "You think I might be as tall as daddy someday?"

"I think you might," Francie answered. "You do look an awful lot like him, don't you?"

"I hope so, because you know why?"

"Why?" Francie began to walk toward the kitchen, still carrying him.

"Because if I get as tall as daddy, that means that someday, I'm going to be taller than all of you guys!" Finn said these words with glee. "I'll be taller than mommy, and Clio, and you and Lottie and Brina too!"

Francie set him on the island in the kitchen so she could look him in the eye. "No way!"

Finn nodded vigorously. "Unh hunh, yes I will, yes I will!"

"But you don't even know how tall Lottie and Brina will be, young man," Francie finally said. "Especially Lottie. She has unknown genes, and she's already getting taller than Brina. She could end up really tall, even taller than daddy, did you ever think of that?"

Finn stopped. Obviously this possibility had never occurred to him.

"When do people usually stop growing?" he finally asked.

"Well, girls usually do stop growing before boys," Francie told her younger brother. "I think it depends on genes and nutrition and all that, but usually girls are finished by the time they're eighteen? Boys usually keep growing for a little while after that, so we won't know about who's tallest in our family until you're at least eighteen, I guess."

Finn's eyes got huge at her words. "Well, I want to be the tallest and the biggest and the strongest," he said stoutly. "Because you want to know why?"

"Why?"

"Because so I can protect you all from the bad and mean things that people say and do to you," he said fiercely, grasping her hands tightly.

Aww.

"Finn, you don't have to do that," Francie told him gently. "I can take care of myself. Why, did you hear something at school today?"

Finn swallowed, then slowly nodded.

Francie sighed.

"Someone said that you were a bad girl, and that you did bad things and everybody knew it and pretty soon no one would want to be friends with you," Finn whispered. He shook his head and his chin trembled.

"But I told them, I told them Francie, that it wasn't true, that you never did bad things, and that the boy who said that was a liar!" His grip on her hands was vise tight. "But he was a big kid, an upper grader, so I couldn't do anything because I'm still little, I'm still only this big, but someday I'll be as big as daddy and then I can protect you, all of you, my whole entire family, right?"

Francie nodded and hugged her little brother.

"So today you didn't do anything?" she asked carefully. "To the big kid? The upper grader? You didn't--you didn't yell or hit him or anything?"

Like I would've done?

Finn shook his head.

"I just said that it wasn't true and that whoever said that was a liar and walked away," Finn reiterated into Francie's ear. "You don't think I was a coward, do you Francie? For walking away?"

Francie shook her head.

"No, baby brother, I think you did the right thing. Now let's go see how much Chinese food the family's left for us, okay?"

Finn nodded. "Okay."