than half angry.
“Is it Emma?' Jane asked.
He nodded.
“Dead?'
“Very,' he said. 'A neighbor called half an hour ago. Said he found her cat out in the hallway. Took it home and found the door ajar. Went in and found her.'
“How was it done?' Shelley asked quietly.
“A smack in the head with a small barbell-type thing. Prints wiped clean. Very tidy. No struggle. No blood. You'll have to explain yourselves, but not to me.' He addressed the officer who'd fetched him. 'Smith, will you take statements from these ladies? Mrs. Jeffry and Mrs. Nowack. And don't let
He went back into the apartment building, and Shelley and Jane gave their statement. Jane explained that Emma, whom she knew only slightly, had approached her, setting up an appointment to meet at this address at four.
She turned over the slip of paper on which Emma had written her address.
“If you didn't know her, why did you come?' the officer asked.
“Plain old curiosity,' Jane admitted.
“And you, ma'am,' he said, looking at Shelley. 'Were you invited, too?'
“No, I just came with my friend Jane.”
“What was this appointment about?' he asked.
“I have no idea,' Jane said. 'As I told you, I hardly knew her. But her boss died at the deli where my son works. I was present at the time. Maybe she wanted to ask me about it. Or just have someone sympathize. I don't know.'
“Sympathize?'
“It was a small office. She might have been out of a job for all I know,' Jane said. She'd promised Patsy she'd tell Mel about the argument Patsy had overheard, but she felt she should tell Mel directly. 'If you're through with us, I need to get home,' she added.
“I guess VanDyne knows where to find you?' the officer asked.
Jane didn't like his wink-wink-nudge-nudge tone, but decided she wasn't in a strong position to get huffy. 'I think so,' she said stiffly.
She and Shelley went back to the car in silence and Jane drove out of the apartment complex and straight through the drive-up lane of a fast-food restaurant on the next corner. She ordered two coffees and pulled over under a shade tree a block away.
“Jeez!' Shelley said. It was the first time she'd spoken since they left Emma's.
They sat sipping their drinks in silence for a long while. 'I guess the investigation into Stonecipher's death is back on,' Jane said. 'Mel's going to find a way to blame me.'
“Jane, just think. . if we'd come early, we might have found her! If you think you're in trouble with him now, imagine what that would have been like.'
“Oh, God! You're right, Shelley! We might have even stumbled into the middle of it happening.”
The enormity of this rendered them both silent again. Finally, Jane said, 'I have to go home and start dinner.”
When they reached Jane's driveway, Shelley said, 'Call me if you hear anything more from Mel. I just can't take this in.'
“I guess the only good thing about this is that it's clearly something personal with Stonecipher's office or home life. Nothing to do with the deli. Thank heaven! Still, I wish Mike had a nice summer job in Timbuktu and none of this had ever happened.”
'Where's Mike?' she asked Katie, who was standing in front of the open refrigerator doorlooking as if she'd come to the end of a long quest and had found out that the prince really was a frog.
“At work. And Todd's upstairs on the phone with Elliot. What's for dinner? There's nothing in here.”
Jane joined her. 'Somebody ate the last of the turkey, didn't they? I guess I'm going to have to do a grocery store run. Help me make a list.”
They sat down at the kitchen table and wrote down everything they'd need for the next couple days. Somehow this included a lot of soft drinks, chips, dip, and even blusher and pantyhose for Katie. Jane looked at the list, put her head in her hands. 'I can't face it. I hate the grocery store. I've spent half my adult life there.' ?
“Then let's have something from the deli,' Katie suggested. 'I want that deviled ham sandwich they make.'
“Sounds good to me. Find out what Todd wants. We'll do this grocery run tomorrow.”
Jane parked in front of the deli, surprised there weren't more cars around and disappointed that Mike's new truck wasn't among them. Conrad was at the counter. The only other customer was leaving. 'I guess Mike isn't around?' Jane asked.
“No, he's making deliveries,' Conrad said. 'You need him? I could give you the list of addresses and you could try to catch up with him.'
“No, I was just wondering. Actually, I need dinner for my family. You've ruined me for cooking.”
Grace Axton came in from the kitchen behind the counter area. 'Hi, Jane. I thought that was your voice. What do you need?' Jane told her and Grace said, 'Conrad, sit down and rest. I can fix these things without messing anything up.”
Conrad came around the counter and sat down at one of the little tables with Jane. He was limping. 'You've hurt yourself?' Jane asked.
“Just a blister on my heel. Do you mind if I take my shoe off?'
“Not in the least. I hardly ever wear shoes unless I leave the house. And then I can never find a pair that matches.”
Conrad took off his shoe, dropped it on the floor, and happily massaged his aching stockinged foot. 'That boy of yours is really something, Mrs. Jeffry.'
“Please, I'm Jane. Mike is terrific, isn't he?'
“Do you realize he came in early and tidied up the yard and mowed the lawn this morning? Nobody asked him to, he just thought it needed doing. What a kid!'
“And he'd been up all night at the graduation party,' Jane bragged. 'He's okay.'
“I think I'm going to need another driver. I thought most people would come in for things, but the delivery service is, so far, much more popular. There's too much for just him. Grace had to help with the afternoon deliveries. Mike suggested his friend Scott. I guess if Mike says he's responsible, he really is.”
Jane laughed. 'Scott looks like a misplaced beach bum, but he is responsible. And the girls adore him. He'll make your delivery service even more popular.'
“How you doing, Grace?' Conrad called. 'I'm hurrying,' she replied. There was a thud and a muffled 'Dammit.'
“Don't hurry, Grace,' Jane said. 'I'm not in a rush. If Conrad would give me a glass of iced tea, I wouldn't care if it took an hour.”
Conrad limped off to get them both a glass of tea.
“How's Sarah doing?' Jane said when he returned to the table.
“Oh, fine. Just fine,' he said too heartily. 'Doctor says she can come home tomorrow. She's just overworked. I'll make sure she takes it easier from now on.”
Jane waited for him to elaborate, but he said nothing more. 'So the business is doing okay? The incident at the opening didn't matter?'
“Incident? Oh, yeah. Made no difference at all. I thought at first that's why so many people were ordering out — because they were afraid to come in — but now I think it's just that they like having their food delivered. Every order has a menu in it, so it's easy to know what we've got without having to see it. In fact, one of the orders Mike's delivering now is for a party. The folks just said to send them a nice casual dinner for six. Didn't even care what it was.'
“That's a real credit to you,' Jane said.
