The House of Seven Mabels

house. That's the whole reason those domelike silver things were made to put over plates. So you carry the food quite a long way without it getting cold before it got to the dining room.'

'Another head slapper,' Jane said. 'You're right.'

'Doesn't this make you more interested in the house plans?'

Jane instantly felt a twinge of guilt. 'Shelley, I'm sorry. I've been so obsessed with what I was doing that I didn't even ask how your meeting with Thomasina went.'

'Pretty well. She explained to me at great length how someone gave Jacqueline a bit of a shock.'

'And you understood?'

'Not in the least, but I pretended I did. I'm not sure she believed me. No, I know she didn't believe me, but it led to an interesting discussion. Thomasina said the liability insurance for electricians is right up there with malpractice policies for physicians. Hefty payments. And even more hefty penalties if a suit is brought against the electrician. She's so grateful that Jacqueline wasn't hurt seriously that she offered to pay the hospital bill. But she was really furious about Sandra allowing the house to be free to trespassers.'

'She thought it was someone coming in off the street?'

'No. Thomasina suspects Joe Budley.'

'Why?'

'She says word has gotten around in the trades that he has some troubles of his own with other projects and is involved in a couple of lawsuits over shoddy work, because he cuts corners to get projects done as fast as possible.'

Jane saved her house plan and shut down the computer. As they went down the stairs to the kitchen, she asked, 'You mean he could have been responsible for all the bad things so Sandra would be fired and Bitsy would have to take him on?'

'Remember, Bitsy had consulted him before she ran into Sandra. He lost a big job to a woman who wasn't even competent. Thomasina's pretty convinced he's behind the shrimp episode.'

'Are you convinced?' Jane asked.

'Nope. I'd say it's Bitsy's ex-husband, if I had to guess. Or someone who had a personal grudge against Sandra.'

Jane said, 'That might be anyone who was forced to work with or for her.'

Shelley nodded. 'Exactly.'

Seventeen

Jane was wide-awake at six in the morning, eager to get back to Priscilla's house plans. Todd's bedroom light was on as well. 'How's it going?' she said, stepping into his room.

'I have a lot to do before I can even start the real work,' he said. 'See, I figure I've got to have at least ten thousand numbers to see a pattern.'

'That many?'

'At least. First I'm making a regular grid. Fifty wide. With five digits in each cell. Making the grid is easy. Cut and paste, but filling in the numbers is going to take a long time.'

Jane looked at the grid. The number for one was really four zeros and the one at the end. It was red.

'Reds are prime numbers?'

'Right. I just keep putting numbers in and when I get bored with entering them, I go back, multiply by twos, and make them black.'

'There's a nine thing I learned when I had a summer job at a bank,' Jane said. 'Any number

like…' She punched in multiplication in the little adding machine beside him. Nine times eighty-three. It came up seven hundred forty-seven.

'See? The two sevens equal fourteen and with the four they equal eighteen, which is divisible by nine. It's always that way.'

'Cool! How'd you know that?'

'My dinky job at a bank one summer during high school was checking tapes of wads of checks. They were always added twice. When they didn't add up exactly, this wise old woman, who'd started at the bank doing the same boring job when she was my age, told me that if the difference in the two tapes equaled something divisible by nine, at least one number on a tape had been transposed.'

'Transposed?'

'Yes, like sixty-three for thirty-six. It made it easier to find the error. So I played around with nines and discovered how neat they are. You want to shower first?'

'Okay. I'll leave you some hot water.'

Todd saved his grid, shut down his computer, and headed for the kids' bathroom before Katie could pull herself together and occupy it for half an hour.

Jane went downstairs, made peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, and got out little plastic containers of orange juice for Todd's and Katie's traveling-to-school breakfasts. Then she hotfooted it back upstairs to work on her house

plans. Two hours later, she realized that the house was quiet except for Willard barking at the back door to be let out.

It had seemed mere minutes since she'd sat down at the computer. This could be dangerous, she thought. Time just flies away when I'm doing this.

When she opened the back door, the cats shot out between Willard's legs and headed for the field. He snapped at them and growled but made no real effort to make contact. They had sharp claws and he didn't. Jane fixed a cup of coffee and went outside as well. She looked around the yard at her fledgling gardens and realized it was going to be an awfully nice day to do a bit of weeding and deadheading.

'You're not moving very fast this morning, are you?' Shelley asked as she came through the gate. 'Sleep hair, still in your robe.'

'I've been up for hours, though,' Jane said. 'I've been playing with the computer. I've realized that since Priscilla's house is on a steep hill, there have to be lots of steps going up and down to rooms at different levels.'

'Aren't you making this even harder for yourself?'

'Yes, but that's part of the fun. Do we have anything at the renovation we have to do today? I thought I might tidy up the yard if not.'

'I don't think so. Bitsy called a few minutes ago. She's working with her attorney on our contract today.'

'Good for her. I half hope it's not as good as we'll like.'

'That's because, like your son, you have found another obsession,' Shelley said, taking a seat at the picnic table with her own cup of steaming coffee. 'But keep in mind, even if the contract is okay, this isn't a full-time job. And it involves a lot of shopping.'

'There is that to consider. Not to mention making a bit of extra money.'

'Quite a bit,' Shelley said, 'if we get our way. I think you're right about it being a good day to garden.'

'I had a bit of a coup and impressed Todd this morning,' Jane said, smiling. She told Shelley about the nines tricks.

'That can't be right all the time,' Shelley said.

'Try it and see,' Jane said smugly, standing up and yawning. 'I need to shower. Want to lunch somewhere?'

'Of course.'

Jane had never seriously gardened until the previous spring. She and Shelley had taken a course about it and imported fake gardens for the garden tour near the end of the class. But it had really inspired both of them.

What she liked best about it was pulling weeds. It was therapeutic to tidy up nature. It was a relaxing solitary thing that had nothing to do with words or other people. The best part was that it

didn't take much intelligence and allowed her mind to wander all over the place.

While she was pulling out the crabgrass that infested one part of her yard, she thought about her imaginary house plans and how she could refine them. As she worked on deadheading the cone-flowers, she considered Todd's project. While she loaded up the trash with unwanted greenery and dead stuff, she thought about the