Sunlight flashed off the rhinestones in Tutti's spectacles, obscuring her eyes. There was an uneasy silence. She resumed, in tones approaching her normal voice, 'I thought you were planning on skiing with Claire, Alphonse.'
'Yeah, yeah.'
'Don't yeah, yeah me.' The whiplash was back.
'Tutti?' Elaine fluttered behind her, a moth against her mother-in-law's stolidity. 'The flowers are here. Shall I tell them to bring them in? Quill?' Her voice trailed off into its usual inaudibility. She was wearing yet another long- sleeved blouse with lacy sleeves and high collar, and looked fragile, despite her substantial curves.
Quill stepped away from Santini. 'I'm sorry, Elaine, I wasn't paying attention. Would you like me to talk to the delivery people? Are the Cornell students here to do the decorating? They are? Then it shouldn't take too long to have the whole dining room looking wonderful.'
'The church,' muttered Elaine. Her eyes teared up.
'We'll put the flowers for the church on the terrace. They won't freeze and they'll keep just fine until morning. Then we'll whip over to the church and get them up.'
Tutti gave a discreet little cough. 'We'll see you at dinner tonight, then, Alphonse.' The benign grandmother was back. Alphonse snarled at the three of them and stamped off, presumably, Quill hoped, to cool off skiing down the slope of the Gorge.
'Well, dear,' Tutti said briskly. 'Let's get those roses up.'
'You'll have to excuse me, Tutti, Elaine. But I have some pressing business in the office,' said Quill. She badly wanted to go through the computer disks, if only to save Claire and her female relatives the embarrassment of having Alphonse Santini hauled off to jail at the church door.
Tutti fixed her with a gimlet eye. 'My dear. I have no wish to be more direct than necessary. But my family and I have spent a great deal of time - and money - at your Inn. I would appreciate it if you would help in the arrangement of the flowers.' Her rose-leaf cheeks crumpled in a smile. 'It won't take very long at all.'
The dining room was decorated in less than two hours. And it was because Tutti, Quill realized, had the instinct, if not the outright talents, of a second Napoleon. 'Except there were two, weren't there? Or three?' she murmured aloud.
'Three what, dear? No! Redo that swag, young man. I want all the roses facing out. And the drape needs to be loosened just a little. That's it. That's too far. Put it back. Good.' She clapped her hands. 'I want this mess cleaned up and all of you gone. Five minutes.' The crew went to work with a will.
Quill turned slowly in a circle. 'It's not just good, Tutti. It's beautiful.'
'It is, isn't it?' Her faded blue eyes sparkled. 'I never had a formal wedding myself, my dear. I took a great many pains with this one.'
'The rose swags were designed by...' Elaine leaned forward and whispered a name most of America knew into Quill's ear. 'But he wouldn't come here to direct it himself, of course. So Tutti said she'd do it.'
'Why wouldn't he come himself?' asked Quill. She caught the exchange of glances between the two older women.
Tutti said tactfully, 'Well, it's the family, dear.'
'Nonsense,' said Quill. 'Shaw was right, you know. Good manners don't have anything to do with whether you treat a shop girl like a duchess, good manners have to do with whether you treat a duchess like a shop girl.'
'I'm afraid I don't quite understand, dear,' said Tutti.
'Just that plumbing money is morally neutral. It's what you do with it that says whether or not you have taste. And this is wonderful.'
Quill looked around the dining room again and was delighted. It must have cost the earth, but the florist had delivered outdoor roses in the depths of December. The vibrant peach-orange of Sutter's Gold, the full glorious yellow of Faust, the paler yellow of Golden Fleece were all mixed in glorious confusion with the rich reds of Frenshman and Dickson's Flame, An ivy of a deep, pure green twined around the rose bouquets, interspersed here and there with full-leaved fern, The rose garlands hung from the long windows, swung gracefully from the center chandelier, and twined down freestanding vases in the corners.
'It smells like June,' Quill said. 'It's amazing.'
'Now,' Tutti said briskly, 'The crate's arrived with the table linens. Elaine, dear, if you'd go find that nice groundskeeper...'
'Mike,' said Quill.
'Mike, and ask him to wheel it in here, we'll set out the tablecloths for this evening. Then tomorrow, Sarah, we'll use the white damask and the linen napkins. But tonight is a quiet, family celebration, so we don't need to be as formal.' She smiled at Quill as Elaine left in search of Mike. 'I had a chintz sent directly from England. It has a wonderful Chinese yellow back- ground with aquamarine accents. It just makes these roses.'
'Tutti,' Quill began. She hesitated. 'I thought... Forgive me, I don't mean to be rude. But do you want Claire to marry Alphonse Santini?'
'Of course I do. It's time we had a little political connection in the family. At least, one that we can count on.' She twinkled at Quill's expression. 'You can't count on money alone, my dear. Blood ties are everything.'
'Oh,' said Quill. 'But, Tutti. What you said about the rabbit. At the s‚ance. You know who killed Nora and Sheriff Dorset. I don't understand. I don't understand at all.'
'You think Alphonse was responsible?' Tutti took a small muslin handkerchief from her purse and patted her cheeks. 'That's warm work, decorating. Well. My little messages to Alphonse were more in the nature of letting him know who's the head of the family. Not, my dear, that that's any of your business. As far as I'm concerned, if Claire wants him, she can have him. As long as he treats her well. As long as he understands the rules.'
'But murder, Tutti. If you know something, you really have to tell the police. Have you met Sheriff McHale? He's wonderful. A wonderful sheriff, I mean. And you won't find it difficult to talk to him at all.'
