"Won't you need a witness?" asked Quill. "You know, in case Baumer tells you one thing in private and then lies to you later?"
"No."
"But, Myles, Baumer was with Mavis the whole morning before the play. He ate breakfast with her. He showed up at the play with her."
"And Baumer came down to the station at noon to put up bail for his wife," said Myles. "He was at the station until well after two-thirty. He left to walk down to the Pavilion - a twenty-minute walk from the station, Quill - and I saw him leave."
"But he could have gotten a lift and gotten there early."
"Mavis hadn't had any beer; four or five mint juleps, judging from the stomach contents, and only beer is served at History Days. You know the ordinance. She must have gotten them from a private source, or a bar. Baumer wasn't carrying a Thermos when he left the station."
So Nate would know who she'd been drinking with.
"So Nate will know who she'd been drinking with, since the Croh Bar sure as hell doesn't make mint juleps. Quill, you are not to question Nate. Do you understand me? I love you. I will also put you in jail for obstruction of a criminal investigation."
" 'Oh God of love, and God of reason sa-a-a-y,'" sang Quill, " 'which of you twain shall my poor heart obey?' "
Myles grinned. A reluctant, very small grin, but a grin nonetheless. "Stick to the contralto roles. Your voice cracks on the B flat. Gilbert, not to say Sullivan, would spin in his grave." Quill bobbed a mock curtsy. She watched Myles jog upstairs to beard Baumer in his den, then went into her office to place a call to Nate.
"Nope, sorry, boss," he said. "Bar was busy at one, but I remember the damn mint juleps. I didn't make any on Sunday."
"Was Kathleen waiting tables? She sometimes makes up orders when we're busy."
"Nope. Two of the kids from Cornell were on the early shift. And I don't let them behind my bar."
Quill hung up the phone and pulled out a pad of paper.
She wrote: "Bolt. Must find."
Then she wrote: "Seconaclass="underline" Who has?"
Followed by: "Follow the money!"
Then: "More matchbooks?"
And last: "Mint juleps: Who can make?" Then she drew a chart.
DUCK POND OPPORTUNITY MOTIVE
Marge Yes, if she and Mavis Set up before
were together hand to get Mavis?
Tom Peterson Yes Business/tainted meat?
Baumer Yes Mavis blackmailing
him?
She scrawled John's name in pencil, so she could erase it, and listed Yes, for opportunity and motive.
She scribbled and drew little arrows under "Motive." She was certain that the duck pond murder had been aimed at Mavis, not Gil. She considered the possibility that Mavis had murdered Gil, and that Marge had murdered Mavis in revenge. The chart exercise began to resemble her note-taking as Chamber secretary. She got irritated, balled it up and threw it in the wastebasket. Mavis couldn't possibly have wanted to murder Gil, at least not until she'd gotten her hands on his car business.
A new chart would serve a more useful function.
THE PAVILION
MOTIVE (ALL HAD OPPORTUNITY)
Marge - Yes, if she stole $300,000; if Mavis was blackmailing her?
Baumer - Yes, if Mavis was blackmailing him?
Tom - Yes, if Mavis had leaned on him to give bigger cut of proceeds from car deal? Query: tainted meat?
Then again in pencil, for John, "Yes." She promptly erased it.
Quill perused her chart with a sense of accomplishment. She had a very satisfying list of suspects. It was becoming more and more clear to Quill that Mavis had drawn the unfortunate - although still revolting - Keith Baumer to the Inn the same week as she and Mrs. Hallenbeck had planned to stay. She was probably going to hit him up for an increase in the blackmail money. Stranger things had happened before, Quill mused. Far, far stranger things. If she could get Marge and Baumer to answer the right questions, she could solve this case.
The door to her office opened. Harvey Bozzel poked his head inside. "Hel-Io!" he said.
"Harvey? What are you doing here?"
The look (resignation mixed with hurt) on Harvey's face told Quill that this was probably his usual reception, and she hastily apologized.
"Yes. Our meeting was for ten o'clock, right?" Harvey edged into the office. He was carrying an oversized briefcase.
"Oh," said Quill, "The ad campaign for the Inn. I forgot... I mean, I'm delighted to see you."
"You'll be delighted to see these," said Harvey heartily. "Now, I never got a chance to properly pitch my first and, I believe, my best campaign for the Inn, Quill. If you could sit right here - " He grasped her by the shoulders and piloted her to the couch. Quill sat down. Harvey swept the top of her desk clear and set up an A-frame display. Next to it he placed a battery-operated tape recorder. "I have to show you the print ad first." Harvey flipped the A-frame open. A pen-and-ink sketch of the Inn, which, Quill admitted, wasn't half bad, covered the upper two-thirds of the display.
"What's that big wooden thing in front of the Inn?" Quill asked.
"I'll get to that," said Harvey. "What do you think of the copy?"
Quill leaned forward and read:
THE INN AT HEMLOCK FALLS!
* Four-Star Food (word of Edward Lancashire's intent must have gotten around.)
* And splendid views (true, thought Quill)
* Luxury rooms (absolutely)
* Splendid yews (?)
"There's no yew here, Harvey," said Quill.
"I couldn't think of anything to rhyme with Hemlock,'" said Harvey, "and it's a mnemonic aid. You know what a mnemonic aid is, Quill?"
"Yes."
"It's a rhyme that helps your customers remember your product. Very important, mnemonic aids. Essential principle of good advertising. Now," said Harvey expansively, "here's the best part." He reached over and turned on the tape recorder. There were a few bars of jazzy music, then a bark, then a "shit" from someone who sounded like Harvey. "The dog," said Harvey apologetically. "I recorded this at home." He fast-forwarded the tape. "Here we go. I picked up one of those musical scores from a catalog. You know, where you can sing the lyrics along to the background music? Sounds pretty professional, if I do say so myself."
The tape played the intro to "Rock Around the Clock." A voice (Harvey's) sang the opening bars, with verve, if not with accurate pitch, and ending with smash! instead of the expected chord in A major.
"What's that smashing sound?" said Quill.
"The rocks! You know! On the bam door that squashes Clarissa. Wait-wait-wait. You gotta hear the verse after the intro."
Harvey's recorded voice finally reached twelve o'clock, assured his audience that there were "Rocks! Around! The! Park! Tonight!" and then attacked the verse:
"When you walk on through that old Inn door
You'll find gourmet food and historic lore
And yeah! There's more.