Mulch Ado About Nothing

dying, was she?'

“I have no idea.”

Jane said, 'Oh, well. It doesn't compute anyway. Nothing happened to either of them. Nor did either make any bad comments about the other. Never mind.”

Mel got up and stretched. 'Well, back to the salt mines. You and Shelley apply your overactive imaginations to this information for a while. It'll keep you out of the pool halls.'

“Probably not,' Jane said. 'I might learn to shoot pool with my crutch. Is that legal?'

“Probably not, but give it a shot. See you later. Lock your door.' He gave her a slightly more serious kiss than the last time before he left.

Jane was done with the shirts and decided to do what little cleaning she could in the kitchen before the girls started their dinner project. She scared the cats out of the house, trying to wield a floor mop and one crutch. Willard moved into the far end of the living room and woofed pitifully.

She managed to knock over Arnie's flowers, but without breaking the little vase she'd put them in. She also made a tiny dent in the refrigerator door and almost toppled over a kitchen chair. And it didn't look any better when she was done.

Her hands felt sticky and she smelled them.

And a light dawned. Feeble, but a flicker of understanding took fire.

Twenty-eight

Jane sat clown in the living room, turned off the television, and just thought for a long time. Pieces started falling in place. But only if she was right about what she was remembering. She'd been a little obsessed with her foot all week, just like poor old Arnie was obsessed. Maybe she would be as weird as he was if she had to wear the cast for the rest of her life.

It could be anyone, but the one she was thinking about could fit all the requirements if the things she'd seen — and smelled — were right.

She could hardly wait for Shelley to return. Shelley would talk her out of this and she'd be glad. She went back to the kitchen where she could watch for the van to return. And waited. And waited. They must have been making another heavy hit at the grocery. God only knew what they'd fix for dinner tonight.

Shelley came in with a bag of groceries. 'Only dessert tonight. Black Forest cake. Had to stop at 241 the liquor store to get Cherry Heering. I've never heard of it.'

“We're only eating dessert?'

“No, I'll make a salad and rolls for dinner.' 'Come outside. I need to run something by you. In private.”

She started by telling Shelley what Mel had said he'd found out about the rest of the class.

“Nothing really there, is there?' Shelley said.

“But while I was tidying the kitchen, I noticed a smell.'

“Lysol, probably.'

“No. Smell my hand.'

“Do I have to?' Shelley sniffed delicately and asked, 'Eucalyptus?'

“Nope. Guess again. Close your eyes.”

Shelley sniffed again, eyes closed. 'Oh, I know. So what?”

Jane explained.

Shelley objected to every step of Jane's theory, as Jane thought she would.

But Jane said, 'All we need to do is make a short visit to Julie's house. A sympathy call. We'll take them some of the girls' cake after dinner. That might be a good get-well present.'

“We hardly know her. And your idea is insane. They'll throw us out.'

“But what if I'm right? Only Julie will know.' 'Julie Jackson has amnesia, in case you've forgotten.'

“Only about the attack on her. Mel says she re-members everything before she was hurt. And that's what we need to know.”

Katie, Denise, and Jenny were already destroying the kitchen with their early stages of making the Black Forest cake. Jane tried to keep from watching what they were doing. She called Mel from her upstairs extension and confirmed that Julie remembered most things that happened before she was hurt.

“What have you got on your mind?' Mel asked suspiciously.

“Just a question and a look at her office. If I'm wrong, I'll shut up. Shelley is sure I'm wrong.' 'Jane, don't do anything stupid, okay?'

“We won't be in the slightest danger. I prom? ise.”

Mike turned up for dinner. 'How'd your garden tour go?' he asked.

“Everybody knew it was faked,' Jane said. 'Have you seen what Katie and her friends have done to the kitchen? What are they mak? ing?'

“Black Forest cake. I'm afraid to see so much as a glimpse of the kitchen.”

Mike loved the cake and so did the rest of them. The girls had even cleaned up the splattered batter and the smears of cherry juice they'd spilled down the front of a cabinet. It was a fight to keep Mike from finishing the cake up. Jane had to cut off three little token pieces to take to the Jackson house. Mike begged Katie to make it again over the weekend. 'That will really impress Sandra,' he said.

Jane resisted, with great restraint, asking who Sandra was. Had he ferreted out Kipsy's real name or was a new Sandra on the horizon?

She called ahead and asked Geneva Jackson if she and Shelley could drop by with a dessert. Geneva was delighted. 'We had take-out barbeque for dinner, which we all pretty much hated. We'd love a dessert. I'll start a big pot of coffee.”

Fortunately, Julie was back in her basement office when they got there. 'I'll call to her to come up,' Geneva said.

“Don't bother,' Jane replied. 'We'll go down to her.”

When they got to the basement, Jane was pleasant but brisk. 'Dr. Jackson, I'm Jane Jeffry. We've met before.'

“At the city hall flap about cats on leashes,' Julie laughed.

“And this is Shelley Nowack, my next-door neighbor and best friend. We were enrolled in the class you were to give on botany and gardening. I have three questions to ask you if you don't mind.”

Julie looked surprised. 'I guess that's all right. I hope I can answer them.'

“Okay. First, would you open one of your file drawers?”

Julie, looking a bit like she was concerned for Jane's mental health, pulled a drawer open. Jane nodded, thanked her, and asked the second question. 'Here's a list of the people in the class. Do you recognize any of the names?”

Julie studied the list. 'Most of them,' she said.

“Have you done whatever you do, which I'm sorry I don't quite grasp, for any of them?'

“I was called in to analyze material regarding a patent for these two.' She picked up a pencil and checked off two names.

Jane nudged Shelley. 'I think I'm right. Thank you so much, Dr. Jackson. There's Black Forest cake and coffee upstairs. Are you feeling well enough to have some?”

Julie smiled. 'After nearly five days of hospital food? Of course I am.”

Jane and Shelley made small talk, knocked back a cup of coffee each, and made their escape.

As soon as they were on their way home, Shelley said, 'It isn't proof of anything.'

“But there is proof. And Mel can get to it if it hasn't been destroyed yet.”

Jane went straight home and called Mel and outlined her case. He, like Shelley, scoffed at her crazy reasoning. But having hashed it out with Shelley and squashed her objections, Jane was ready with her ammunition.

“Jane, I don't pretend to believe this story.' 'But you'll check it out anyway.'

“I guess I have to.”

On Saturday, Jane was never away from the phone, but Mel didn't call. He'd either found a lead of his own, or was still chewing over what she'd said. She knew better than to run him down and ask which it was.

Sunday morning he called and said, 'May I run by and take you for a ride? Maybe somewhere out in the country where you can't hurt anyone with your crutches?”