hand. “I’ll see one of your wives home,” he said.
“You’ll see me again tomorrow. Stay put.” Cairo,
Dilys, and Vivian left the house.
“Oh, Joe,” Judith murmured, “I’m so tired! But
what will we do about breakfast tomorrow?”
“We’ll work it out,” Joe said grimly. “You go to bed.
I’ll check things around here before I come up.”
Judith started to protest but lacked the energy for argument. She did, however, have one last question.
“So you really think Bruno’s death was an accident?”
Again, Joe said nothing.
Indeed, Judith was too tired to care.
*
*
*
To her great surprise and relief, a smiling Chips
Madigan met her as she came down from the third
floor just before nine o’clock the next morning.
“That’s great!” he exclaimed, framing her with the
ever-present viewfinder. “ ‘Early A.M., overcoming
tragedy, ready to face the world.’ My mother would be
proud of you, Mrs. Flynn. She’s had a couple of B&B
guests die on her, too.”
“Really?” Judith quietly closed the door to the thirdfloor staircase. “What happened?”
Chips made a face. “I’m not sure. I mean, it was so
long ago that I don’t quite recall. One was maybe a
stroke. Maybe they both were.”
Strokes, heart attacks, even aneurysms sounded
comforting to Judith. Anything was better than murder.
She smiled apologetically. “I’m afraid I can’t make
breakfast this morning. No one is allowed in the
kitchen until the cause of Mr. Zepf’s death becomes
official.”
Chips nodded. “That’s what Win and Dade told us.
Dade got his start writing for a TV cop show a few
years back. He’s our police expert. And Win—well,
Win knows everything. Or so it seems.”
“How is she?” Judith inquired. “I thought she was
terribly upset last night.”
“She was,” Chips agreed. “She still is. She and
Bruno were like that.” The boyish-looking director entwined his first and second fingers. “But she’s a survivor. She’s had to be,” he added on a grim note.
“I guess everybody in Hollywood has to be a survivor,” Judith remarked, slowly heading for the front
stairs.
“True.” Chips’s voice held no expression. “We’re
going out to forage. At least Win and Ellie and Ben and
I are. Dade already left.”
