The House of Seven Mabels

'It's not going to be me, and it shouldn't be you. We're not being paid, or even contracted to be paid yet.'

'Good point.'

'Besides, she didn't give me a key,' Jane continued.

'She gave me yours. This was the first chance I've had to pass it along. So where was the purse found?'

Jane told her.

'More vandalism,' Shelley said with a sigh. 'I'm starting to wonder all over again if Sandra really was murdered. Nothing else that's happened actually hurt anyone.'

'The planer hurt Jacqueline,' Jane argued.

'But only because she jumped back and hit her head against something. It wasn't meant to harm her, according to Thomasina.'

Shelley went on. 'All the other catastrophes are just nasty. The damage to the Sheetrock, the shrimp in the furnace pipes — excluding, of course, the two women who were nauseated. The salting of the fresh concrete and the fake bomb in the toolbox are other good examples. They all merely caused trouble and delays.'

'Even if nobody was seriously hurt, the next such incident might go awry,' Jane objected. 'And anyone working there or even sneaking onto the site will probably go on doing things until they get their way.'

'Say that again.'

Jane repeated her statement.

'That could be what it's all really about,' Shelley said. 'Who stands to profit by this? Bitsy's ex-

husband? Just to destroy her project that he thinks he's actually paying for out of the divorce settlement? Or Joe Dudley, who ended up with a job he seemed to have needed?'

'Shelley, that doesn't make sense anymore, unfortunately. I can see that he might have tried to sabotage the job to get Sandra fired, so he got a second shot at making money on Bitsy. But why would he continue?'

'Just to cover his own ass, Jane.'

'I don't think so. Mel told me something else I almost forgot to tell you. He says Budley's furious because Bitsy made him sign a contract that specifies penalties if he doesn't finish it at the bid he gave and on the date he set for completion.'

'Uh-oh. Bitsy got herself a good lawyer at last.'

'Exactly what I thought.'

'She's probably running my version of our contract by him, too.'

'Oh. That's true. Honestly, Shelley, I hope he tears it to pieces. We don't really want to do this job, do we?'

'I'd still enjoy the shopping part,' Shelley said with a slight whine in her voice. 'And I'd like to be a part of the end result. But not if a savvy attorney gets involved.'

'I guess we'll see. I didn't get a chance to ask Mel something I'm wondering about, now that I think about it. I asked what was in the purse. And he said everything you'd expect to find. But when I asked if she had a notebook or any receipts or

scraps of paper with notes or lists, he said no. That's what he was complimenting us for thinking of.'

'So what did you forget to ask?'

'Whether they'd found a filing system at her house. I assume they searched it pretty thoroughly for clues about her life. He mentioned that maybe she was just too organized to carry trash around in her purse.'

'You have to catch up with him and find out,' Shelley said.

'I guess I do. So, do we have anything else we really need to do today? I'd like to stay home, go back over the book, and make changes now that I know what Priscilla's house looks like.'

'I don't think we need to go over there again until we find out about the contract,' Shelley said. 'But just in case we get what we want, there's something I'd like to do this evening.'

Jane was immediately wary. There was something odd about the way Shelley spoke. 'And what is that?'

'It's a full moon tonight and it's supposed to be a really clear night.'

'So?'

'Well, I thought since we have a key, we could go over and see what the House of Seven Mabels looks like at night. All those windows and skylights. Just to fuel our imaginations, you see. It may change our minds about color schemes.'

Jane didn't like the idea, but said, 'I suppose

we could. I know from your tone of voice that you're going to do it whether I go along or not. And I don't want you in that place all by yourself, but I'd like to get Mel to come along to protect us.'

'He wouldn't go along with that, do you think?'

'Maybe. I'll see.'

To Jane's surprise, Mel agreed. 'I don't want you two roaming around there when it's empty. Besides, it might provide me with something I've missed.'

They met at the front door at nine. Shelley and Jane had stayed in Jane's car until Mel arrived. It turned out that he had a key of his own that Bitsy hadn't mentioned.

'There seem to be a great many more keys floating around than we thought,' Jane mentioned in passing to Shelley in an undertone.

Mel also had a flashlight to lead them upstairs. He kept it carefully aimed at the floor.

When they got into the part of the house that was being renovated, Shelley pointed first to the skylight over the door to the area. 'Hmm,' she said.

'Hmm, indeed,' Mel said, looking up. 'I don't think that's the Northern Lights.'

Jane looked up. The sky, instead of being the clear white of a full moon, was faintly pink.

Mel said, 'Stay right where you are,' in a voice

that couldn't be argued with. He went to one of the back windows. 'There's a fire out back' was all he said before asking Shelley for her cell phone to call the fire department.

Twenty-three

Mel had jane and Shelley out of the house, into Jane's car, and on their way home before the first fire truck arrived. He wasn't about to admit to anyone that he was there simply to help out the decorators in his free time. With them gone, he could justifiably say he was checking out the house, just being a good cop on his own time.

He called Jane a short while later from his apartment. 'Sorry I was so curt. I had no idea if there was something in the Dumpster that could explode,' he lied. 'But whoever did this put only a pint or two of kerosene in the far end. The fire probably could have been doused with a pitcher of water instead of three fire engines.'

'So, just one more little nasty trick?'

'Not necessarily,' Mel said. 'If we hadn't happened to be there to notice, it might have burned to the other end of the Dumpster and generated enough heat and flame to burn the whole place down.'

'Am I to understand that you're saying it was

a good thing we dragged you over there?' Jane asked.

'I guess it was,' Mel admitted.

'Any hints of who did it?'

'Nope. No container left behind. And the ground around the far end is so compacted it won't take footprints. Janey, you're not really going to take this job, are you?'

'I hope not,' Jane said. 'Shelley's excited about the shopping possibilities and I'd hate to let her down. But Bitsy seems to have found a good attorney who probably won't approve the contract Shelley drew up. That's about the only thing that. could get me off the hook. You want to come by for glass of wine?'

'Thanks, but I've had a very long day. How about tomorrow?'

'That sounds fine. Are you going to suggest to Bitsy that she hire some security people?'

'I already called and reported the fire to her and suggested it,' Mel said, his voice fading with weariness. 'She says she doesn't think she can afford it. So much has already gone wrong and it's costing her much more than she planned, she says.'

'She has a point. But I worry that the next little trick might actually harm or kill someone.'