I'd lived a hundred years ago, I'd need to have a nice lie-down with a cold cloth over my eyes.'
'It's not a bad idea today,' Jane said, trying to urge Shelley back onto her feet.
Shelley was back to her normal coloring, and her expression turned serene. 'No, we can't run away. It would look like a flounce. Exactly what the jerk expects of women. I hate to admit this, but Bitsy did a better job on him than I did.'
Jane's mouth dropped open. She'd never heard Shelley admit this about anyone before.
Sixteen
The police still had most of the ground floor roped off but had allowed the workers to go upstairs to continue their work. Fortunately, the investigators were just tech people, packing up their gear to leave. No sign of Mel.
When Jane and Shelley got upstairs, Henrietta and Jacqueline greeted them and Evaline said in a muffled voice through her face mask, 'Hi there, you two.' She was busy using her sander on some of the Sheetrock joints. It had a small vacuum bag and created almost no dust, but she must have simply been in the habit of wearing the mask to sand, whether she needed it or not.
Wesley, the furnace guy, came up, welded one last piece of ductwork, and said, 'As far as I'm concerned, I'm done in here. All I have to do now is turn the furnace on to make sure it's up and running again. Go ahead and Sheetrock the ceiling if Thomasina's ready.'
'Not quite. Another hour for the ceiling fixtures,' a voice boomed behind Jane.
Jane turned and saw a gigantic woman with big hands and big blond hair that looked as if she'd suffered a real electrical shock, though the hair was probably just overbleached and over-permed.
'You must be Thomasina,' Shelley said. 'Or do you prefer Tom?'
'Thomasina, if you don't mind. Nobody but that idiot contractor ever called me Tom. And you are…?'
They introduced themselves, and she enveloped both their hands in turn in her huge paw. 'Welcome aboard. I saw Joe Budley on my way up. Is he Bitsy's new contractor?'
'I think so,' Jane said. 'Do you know him?'
'Worked for him once l?out five years ago. Not crazy about the guy, but he does move things along pretty briskly,' Thomasina said. 'Sometimes too briskly.'
'We'll need to consult with you later, if you have a bit of free time,' Shelley said.
'Why?'
'About placement of the wall sockets and ceiling lighting.'
'As for the walls, I always put at least two sockets on each. Three, sometimes even four, if it's a long wall. It's overkill, but in these days of computers and all sorts of gadgets that need juice, it can't hurt to have extras. I'll have some time to jaw with you over the ceiling lighting over lunch if you want.'
'That would be fine,' Shelley said.
So much for Thomasina being the horror that Mel described. Though rather stunningly unattractive, she was very pleasant — so far, Jane thought. But still, she hoped they didn't have to clash over ceiling lighting. That might bring out the belligerent woman Mel knew.
Bitsy and Joe were huddled over a piece of plywood on sawhorses, looking over the plans, which were being kept from rolling up with various blocks of scrap wood and hammers. Joe kept looking around to see how far the work had progressed. If he found fault with any of it, he had the common sense to keep it to himself in front of the workers.
'Are those Sandra's plans?' Shelley asked, strolling over to look. 'Bitsy and I have discussed the fact that the measurements aren't entirely correct.'
Jane suddenly had an insight that had nothing to do with this job. She'd been creeping through what she hoped would turn into a historical novel for a couple of years. She realized as Shelley spoke that the spooky house where the main character lived was almost a character itself> and that one of the problems she'd always faced with the writing was that she could picture the sprawling old house sitting on a hostile crag. But she had no idea what it was like inside. Her character had looked out over the dark, cold sea from her bedroom window. That was all she knew.
Jane desperately wanted to run and get a com-
puter program that would allow her to make the house plans so that when her heroine walked from the bedroom suite to the stairs, Jane could actually picture how many steps it would take and what other doorways were in the upper hall. And she had a new computer it would work on. The plans Shelley, Joe, and Bitsy were looking at had to have been computer-generated.
Thomasina was back at work. Shelley had presented her own measurements to Joe Dudley, and Jane pulled Shelley aside and quietly said, 'Do you really need me to talk to Thomasina? I have something I really want to do with my book today.'
Shelley looked pleased. 'I haven't heard you mention your book in forever. I'm glad to hear you're still working on it. Go ahead. I can handle this myself.'
Jane rushed to her car, headed for the nearest computer center, and dashed home with the program the clerk had recommended. Not a truly professional one. Those, she learned, cost thousands of dollars and you had to take classes to learn how they worked. But lots of do-it-yourselfers used the one she had bought for a hundred dollars. She dithered a bit reading the instructions for installing the program and was astonished when she got it right on the first try.
She didn't have any car pool duty today and realized when Katie and Todd barged through the kitchen door, slamming their backpacks on the kitchen table, that what had seemed like mere
minutes had been at least five hours of concentrated creativity. It wasn't writing, of course, but she had the basics of the house in her mind, and when she finished the last details, she'd be eager to get back to work on the endless book. Maybe it wouldn't truly be endless. It was odd to feel both exhausted and exhilarated at the same time.
'Kids, come look at this!' she shouted down the stairs.
Katie looked at the screen. 'What's that?'
'Where Priscilla lives,' Jane said.
'Who's Priscilla?' Todd asked, leaning closer.
'The woman in the book I've been working on for as long as I can remember.'
'I don't see any bathrooms,' Todd said.
'Oh!' Jane said, putting the palm of her hand on her forehead.
'But it's sure a cool program,' Todd said, glancing through the instruction manual.
'I have you to thank,' Jane said. 'If I hadn't bought this computer, I wouldn't have ever been able to do this. The old one couldn't have coped with something this elaborate. Would you have a little time to help me figure out where to put the bathrooms?'
'After dinner. Sure.'
'Dinner?' Jane asked as if she'd never heard the word. 'What kind of carryout would you like?'
'Pizza!' both kids chorused.
'Then spring for delivery. Todd, you can help me while we wait.'
When Shelley dropped in for coffee around eight o'clock, Katie said, 'Mom's on the computer. You'll have to crowbar her hand off the mouse.'
'What's she doing?'
'Making a house for Priscilla,' Katie said with a laugh. 'Go on upstairs. You'll probably have to beat her on the head to get her attention.'
Katie was nearly right. Shelley had to call Jane's name three times before she noticed. 'Shelley, this is so cool. Look at this.'
Jane explained that when she saw Shelley, Bitsy, and Joe looking over the house plans, she'd realized they were done on a computer. She went on, showing Shelley every detail of the bleak, windswept house she was constructing.
Shelley had often nagged Jane, though gently, to finish the book and was truly delighted that this had inspired her to get back to it.
'I haven't seen you this excited about your book before. I think it's wonderful. But isn't it set in the 1800s? I think this kitchen you have on the ground floor would have been in the basement, or even a separate building if it was in the South. All the cooking was done with real wood fires and they didn't want them smoking up the whole
