The Mason police had a lot of catching up to do. I think they were a bit overwhelmed. My assailant turned out to be a bank vice president; the president of that bank was the mastermind behind the 1980 robbery and had indeed benefited from the cooperation of the Timberwood bank manager. The mastermind's identity had been well established and it was his trial at which Mr. Garcia was to testify. No one had known about the involvement of the Timberwood bank manager (an old school chum of the mastermind's) or the man Nyssa had clobbered, nor of Burt Smith's having got a glimpse of one of the robbers. We were assured that there was no one left to deter Mr. Garcia from testifying, or indeed to threaten Mr. Smith, should he choose to come forth.
"I hope we can still meet your family," I told Lisa as we left the Mason police station. I'd had enough of police stations, and enough of being knocked about as well. Nonetheless, I did have to go back into the station one more time; I'd forgotten to turn in the gun I'd pocketed.
"Of course!" she declared. "In fact, I think Mom will be glad to make y'all breakfast!"
We all agreed that breakfast sounded like an excellent idea, and the breakfast itself turned out to be excellent too, a real farm breakfast. Mr. and Mrs. Mason forgave me for abusing their doorbell as soon as they found out what had happened, at least in a general sense (we were tired of explaining everything over and over; they got the short version).
"You've been through a lot," said Mrs. Mason. "You're welcome to rest a bit, as long as you'd like. Any friend of Lisa's is a friend of ours, you know."
"I can't even imagine what would have happened without Lisa's help," I said. "Lisa, I hate to say goodbye, and I don't even know how to begin to thank you."
"Well," she said, with what I can only describe as a wicked grin, "I actually do have something in mind."
Nyssa, Tegan and I spent the rest of the day helping the family transfer year-old Christmas tree saplings from the Masons' greenhouse to a field already tilled for that purpose. Nyssa had the honor of planting the first one: the sapling she'd weaponized. It had been set aside with a few other crooked specimens, for kindling, and that's what had made it available for Nyssa to save the day. We stayed for dinner, another feast, and then at last had to make our goodbyes, I kissed Mrs. Mason's hand and shook Mr. Mason's, Nyssa and Tegan hugged both of them. Then we grabbed Lisa and hugged and got hugged until we were all silly. My friends cried a bit. I am sure I didn't cry. That's just not me.