High Country Fall

“Thinks it’s too trashy.”

“Of course, Simon did almost shoot him,” May reminded her twin.

“No, he didn’t,” said June. “That was just to scare him. Besides, Dr. Ledwig wasn’t shot, remember?”

I licked the last of the chicken salad off my fingers and shook my head when May offered me more. “Seriously, though, if Danny Freeman really didn’t do it, what about your friend Carla? She had the same set of motives and she could have walked right up to him out on the deck. What’s her alibi?”

“She was with us,” June said. “We were studying for a test—”

“—in the library,” said May, as usual, finishing the other’s sentence, except this time June finished her own sentence at the same moment: “—in her room.”

“So which was it?” I asked.

“Both,” June said promptly. “We started out in the library, then finished up in her room.”

“All afternoon,” said May.

They were lying, of course. The question is, how deep were they in? “Is that what you told the police?”

They nodded.

“Did they ask you to sign a statement to that effect?”

“Um, yes,” said May.

“Not smart to lie to the police in writing,” I told them.

“We didn’t lie to them,” June said indignantly. “She really was with us all afternoon.”

Her indignation sounded real, but I was too tired to pursue it. “Have it your way. I’m off to bed. I suppose you two are staying over again?”

Another nod.

“At this rate, your parents ought to ask the college for a rebate on your room and board.”

May looked at me with guilt all over her pretty young face. “We’re not in your way, are we?”

“Cramping your style?” asked June, going on the offensive. “Would you have asked the luscious Lucius in for a drink if we weren’t here?”

“Dwight’s an awfully nice man,” May observed solemnly.

“Yeah, I really like him, too,” said June.

“Too trusting, though.”

“Lucky for him that we are here.”

“Chaperons.”

“Defenders of chastity.”

With two sets of twin brothers, I know when I’m being double-teamed, but I was too sleepy to stay and hope to figure out what it was they were trying to keep me from noticing.

Instead, I yawned and headed down the hall to my bedroom. “Don’t forget to put the cat out,” I called back over my shoulder.

“Cat?” I heard May ask.

“She’s got a cat here?” asked June.

I’ve really got to start remembering how literal-minded they are.

CHAPTER 11

I awoke Tuesday morning to the smell of coffee, sausage, and something sweetly fragrant. Wearing nothing except an oversize Carolina T-shirt that’s been through the wash so many times it’s almost handkerchief thin, I stumbled sleepily down the short hallway, stubbed my bare toes on a lamp base that protruded from the midden of furniture and clothes piled in the living room, and was fumbling in the cabinet for a coffee mug when someone rapped on the front door.

Without thinking the situation through, June went and opened it and I heard male voices, voices followed by the presence of three large male bodies in the kitchen. Two immediately eyed my T-shirt with unseemly interest; the third was Danny Freeman, who did a second take, realized who I was, and suddenly looked as startled as I felt.

“Paint crew’s here,” May chirped as she lifted a large casserole from the oven and turned to greet them. Her welcome died in mid-chirp as soon as she saw Freeman, and she darted a guilty glance toward me.

I was already heading down the hall with my coffee. She followed me into the bedroom and I glared at her. “You couldn’t have mentioned this last night?”

“God, Deborah, I am so, so sorry. We didn’t know Danny was coming with them. When we told Carla to send some guys up from school, we never dreamed she’d send Danny, too. I guess she thought it would help for him to do something physical instead of stewing about what’s happening. Want me to tell him to leave?”

Before I could answer, she climbed back on the same hobbyhorse she and June were riding last night—“He’s not a killer, though, Deborah. And you can’t really think so either if you let him out on bond.”

She had a point. But while I wasn’t afraid he would suddenly attack someone with a paintbrush, it was still awkward as hell and nothing Miss Manners had prepared me for.

“Do as you like,” I snapped. “I’m leaving for the courthouse as soon as I dress.”