War and Peas

“Enormously,' Jane said dryly. 'How come you get a power tool, even if it is a wimpy little one, and I'm the slave labor with the rag and the toothbrush?'

“I think it's just because Life Isn't Fair.'

“Mel says Caspar's being very defensive about the pea thing,' Jane went on. 'He's claiming he has every right to try to find and develop it since it was originally grown by his great-grandfather. I guess the legality of that would depend on Auguste's will. But the fact is, Caspar has convinced himself of it. All the more reason to discount the theory of Guilty Surprise.'

“So if we eliminate Caspar and assume someone asked Derek to meet them down in the basement, who have we got?'

“Practically anyone,' Jane said.

Shelley was working on another serving fork. 'Isn't it most likely it was a spur-of-the-moment thing having to do with the nasty things he'd just said to Jumper? Who did he go after? Babs, Georgia, and Jumper himself.'

“Right. Plus a crack about Regina and one about Jumper's friend the anchorwoman.'

“I think we can probably eliminate the anchorwoman,' Shelley said with a smile. 'And Regina was dead by then.'

“All he said about Jumper was that he dressed funny — and Jumper does dress funny. Apparently it's deliberate. Besides, it's inconceivable that anyone would kill somebody because of a comment about their wardrobe.'

“Right. Otherwise that guy who does the Worst Dressed List would have been blown away years ago. So that leaves Babs and Georgia, both of whom were around and could have heard what Derek said.'

“Yes, and Babs explained to us what he meant about her killing her husband.”

Shelley looked up and turned off the drill. 'Actually, Babs told us what she wanted us to know. It was certainly convincing and probably the truth, but — well, what if it wasn't, Jane? What if it was just her sheer force of personality that convinced us?”

Jane thought for a minute. 'But her story does match what Sharlene told us about the newspaper article. Once you discount Sharlene's romanticism.'

“Okay, that's right. So that leaves us with Georgia, who's an ideal suspect.'

“Uh-huh. She could have killed Derek because he'd dumped her — or was getting ready to. The Lover Scorned. And she must have known she was under a cloud over fudging the fund-raising. And if she had confided in Derek about some other funny-money stunts, then heard him shooting off his mouth — well—'

“And she's a suspect in Regina's death as well. For much the same financial reasons.' Shelley turned the serving fork around to work on the other end. 'You know, there's another possibility, if, in fact, Derek's death is related to what he said to Jumper.'

“Let me guess. Whitney Abbot.'

“Listen, Jane, it's possible. He'd lost his fiancee and then overheard a slimeball calling her names and commenting on her sexual preferences. He'd be justified in being real damned angry.”

Jane got up to rinse off the platter she'd been working on. 'You're going to have to do the fancy stuff around the edges,' she said, reaching for a dishtowel to dry the piece. 'Okay, I'll give you the point that Whitney would have found Derek's comments offensive if he heard them, or heard about them. The problem with that theory is Regina's death. I find it hard enough to believe that one of the people at the museum is a murderer, and impossible to consider that two people are. If Whitney killed Derek, don't we have to assume he killed Regina, too? And if he killed Regina for some reason of his own, he'd hardly compound the crime by bumping off someone who criticized her.'

“That's a bit baroque, but I think I see what you mean.'

“Oh, I almost forgot the rest. About Regina's will. It was made a year or so ago. She left something to a couple charities, including the local public television station — which is the first thing I've heard about her that makes me really like her — and the rest, including the house she and Lisa shared, to Lisa.'

“How much was her estate?' Shelley asked.

“Mel said about two hundred thousand dollars, plus the house, whatever that's worth. Or more likely the equity in the house.'

“Did she own it herself or did she leave Lisa her joint share?'

“I didn't think to ask.'

“Two hundred thousand,' Shelley mused. 'A nice amount of money. Even once the taxes are paid on it. But not enough to kill your bestfriend for, especially when you have a good job yourself.'

“Money's a good motive, though,' Jane said doubtfully. 'And Regina would probably have done a new will after she married. What kind of house did they live in?'

“I don't know, but I had the impression they lived quite close to the museum, and there aren't any outstandingly valuable properties in that neighborhood that I know of.'

“I have the feeling we're looking at this all wrong,' Jane said, selecting a silver bowl with very simple, easily cleanable lines. 'As if we're asking the wrong questions of ourselves.'

“What do you mean?'

“Well, we're asking who could have heard what. Who could have been where? But maybe the question is simple: who's better off now than before Regina and Derek died?'

“So who is?'

“Maybe it really does have to do with the directorship in one way or another,' Jane said. 'Somebody's going to have a new job as director — although I doubt that's a consideration unless some unknown job applicant decided to lurk around, explore the entire museum, and create a position by killing off people. The other possibility — and this one is real — is that there's something only the director and the assistant director knew that was highly dangerous to someone.'

“But what could they have known that nobody else did?' Shelley asked. 'It's not as if they were chummy. In fact, they seemed to barely get along. Derek wanted Regina's job; Regina regretted having recommended him as assistant. If Regina knew something to someone's detriment, she'd be much more likely to tell Lisa, who's her friend, or Jumper, who's the museum's lawyer, or Whitney, who's her fiance. In fact, she'd probably have confided in Babs or even Sharlene before she'd tell Derek an important secret. And Derek, if he revealed anything, might have revealed it to Georgia, although I doubt even that.”

Jane nodded. 'Funny. The only person you didn't mention was Caspar.”

Shelley looked surprised. 'That's true. But we're assuming that this secret, whatever it might have been, was told voluntarily. Caspar's a great one for snooping around and eavesdropping. That's how he knew about the Little Beauty pea. But to go back to your question about who's better off now. Nobody.”

Jane said, 'I guess you're right. Sharlene's lost a good boss. Lisa's lost a best friend. Jumper and Babs have lost their director and will have to spend a lot of time and effort finding a replacement.”

Shelley added, 'Georgia's lost a lover. Whitney's lost a fiancee. And Caspar had already lost a fortune he thought was half his, but the murders won't change that.'

“And Regina and Derek lost everything,' Jane said quietly.

Twenty-three

Jane and Shelley arrived at the museum early th next morning, determined to make up for lost time. They found a stranger in the boardroom, a gaunt, pale individual who looked alarmingly like the late Andy Warhol. He was seated at the center table with a lot of file folders spread around him.

“Can I help you ladies?' he asked, glaring at them as if they'd broken in and were planning to steal his files.

Shelley introduced herself and Jane and explained that they were the volunteers entering information in the database preparatory to the move to the new facilities.

As she spoke, his face relaxed. 'I'm sorry if I sounded rude. It's just that I had an ugly moment with some gawkers outside when I arrived. There was an article about Derek in this morning's paper, and this couple, whom I assume to be badly disguised reporters, made no bones about the fact that they wanted to get in to pry.'

“And you are—?' Jane asked.

He shook her hand. 'I'm Eli Bascomb.' He said it as if they should recognize his name, then added, 'The