“I don't think so. She's just stuck here until her sister is well, and apparently needed to fill her time with something interesting. She's involved in the plant business as well. You don't seriously think anyone in the class is responsible, do you?"
“Probably not, but it's interesting and might be relevant down the line. Jane, I'm falling-down tired. I better go home and get some sleep before something else comes up. Do you need anything done before I go?"
“Just one thing. Tell me what you thought when you met me the first time.”
Mel grinned. "That you had terrific tits.”
He had to dodge some hurtled sofa pillows, a paperback book, and an emery board to escape.
Fifteen
Shelley came over a few minutes later. "Any- thing you need help with?"
“Not a thing," Jane said, still laughing silently over Mel's abrupt departure as she limped back to the living room. She'd learned she could go a few steps without the crutches if she took it carefully and stayed on carpeted floors.
“I saw Mel leave in a hurry. Did he tell you anything new about Julie Jackson?" Shelley asked.
Jane started repeating what he'd said about the attack, but Shelley interrupted. "What about the flowers with the strange note?”
Jane slapped her forehead. "I completely forgot to ask."
“How could you forget, Jane? That seems to me to be a very important part of the case. It was a warning, and by saying 'You're next,' it suggested that an earlier crime had been committed."
“I hadn't really thought about it that way, but you're right," Jane said, easing herself back onto the sofa.
“I only realized it myself about an hour ago. You can't imagine how hard it was to wait for Mel to leave, so I wouldn't be butting in."
“I don't dare call him and ask now," Jane said. "Mel's working three cases and just went home to try to catch some rest. I can't believe I didn't realize the significance of the note before. Why is this foot injury going to my brain?"
“What else did he tell you?" Shelley asked, heading for the kitchen. "Want a soda?"
“No, thanks, but help yourself.”
When Shelley was settled in with a Diet Coke and handful of Wheat Thins, Jane reviewed the conversation with Mel. Unlike her guilt at telling Miss Winstead too much, she knew Mel was aware that she'd tell Shelley everything and they'd keep it to themselves. In fact, Shelley would be more reliably silent than Jane herself had been.
“So he does suspect one of the class members?" Shelley asked.
“Not exactly 'suspect.' I had the feeling it was just one more thing he felt he needed to check out to be thorough. Just in case."
“It sounds like he's got a full plate of suspects already," Shelley agreed. "But it could have some connection to someone we've met. Ursula is an obvious madwoman, and that Jones guy who looks like he gets his hair cut every three days seems more than a little bit strange. If Miss Winstead is telling the absolute truth about her cousin, Dr. Eastman isn't a very nice man either. Miss Winstead herself is frightening. Such anger."
“But not at Julie. And justified," Jane said. "If, as you say, it's the truth."
“Yes, but she's a strong-minded woman. It wouldn't surprise me completely if she just decided to eradicate someone.”
Jane laughed. "So are you firm-minded!"
“That's why she worries me," Shelley said with a smile. "Seriously, I only get irritated with incompetents and fools. I don't hold lifelong grudges against anyone but the IRS. After they had those public hearings, their threats got smarmier, but they're still threats…"
“Shelley!" Jane exclaimed, having heard this all before.
“What I'm getting to is that I guess if Miss Winstead were to try to bump someone off, it would have been Dr. Eastman a long time ago. No real reason to wait several decades."
“I wonder if her hints that Stefan Eckert was up to some sort of hanky-panky were true."
“That was an odd thing for her to say. Maybe she's just naturally suspicious of everyone. Especially someone who can line up speakers that she couldn't manage to get. I'm sure that irritated her. I think she expects to get her way by ordering people around and hates it when someone like Stefan outwits her with pure charm and good looks. Did you notice how much he looks like George Stephanopoulas?" Shelley said.
“I certainly did, but what I'm most anxious to look at is Miss Winstead's garden," Jane said. "I felt that the other gardens we've visited really said something about the gardeners' personalities."
“Oh, dear! Then I'm in trouble," Shelley said. "Mine isn't even really mine. It's out on loan."
“So will mine be," Jane said smugly. "I followed your bad example and called the nursery. My garden 'arrives' tomorrow afternoon. And I have a water feature!"
“Jane! You didn't! What fools we're making of ourselves. I'm really regretting my pretense. The others are going to see right through us and despise us."
“Why? It's not as if we won't enjoy having nice things for people to see. And we might both want to keep them all instead of letting them go back to the nursery.”
Shelley looked embarrassed. "I've been looking around and had already decided I'm going to keep the stuff I rented. The yard looks so nice now."
“What wimps we are," Jane said. "I've already committed to keeping the little fountain. I saw it when Mike showed me around the nursery last week and longed for it."
“Then you should have it," Shelley said authoritatively.
Jane's calf muscle was cramping, and she shifted around to get more comfortable. "Does it strike you as strange that the only ones of us who found something to like in Ursula's garden were you and I and Miss Winstead?"
“Naturally we liked some of it because we're open-minded," Shelley said. "But yes, I was surprised to see Miss Winstead taking notes."
“Don't you wish you could have seen the notes?”
Shelley looked at Jane and asked, "What are you suggesting?"
“Maybe her notes weren't exactly about the garden. That's all. Maybe they were about Ursula herself."
“Why would you think that? Oh, if she were a suspect…”
They both fell silent for a moment, then Shelley said, "You have half an excuse to be speculating wildly, what with the foot, and the crutches, and Kipsy Topper and all. But there's really no reason to think anybody in the class had anything to do with hurting Julie even if Mel insists they're second-string suspects."
“I suppose you're right. But Julie Jackson knew some of them. Dr. Eastman for one. She worked out the schedule with Stefan Eckert. Her own sister joined the class. And Miss Winstead has been in touch with her as well. What if one or even all of the others also knew her? We're all in the same neighborhood and have been for a pretty long time. Even I had met her at a city council meeting and remembered who she was."
“But isn't it more logical that one of the men she was always being seen with is more likely?" Jane smiled. "Maybe so, but we don't know who they are and can hardly gossip about them. Anyway, this is taking my mind off The Dreaded Kipsy and my foot.”
Mike was late again. At eleven o'clock as Jane was wondering how to get upstairs with her book, her last cup of decaf coffee, and the clean towels for her bathroom, Katie stormed down the steps. She was livid with sibling rivalry. "Mike's not that much older than me."
“Not much older than I…" Jane corrected her. "Why can't I come and go whenever I want like he does?"
“Because you're younger. And, much as I hate to say it, a girl. Could you help me carry up some of these things?"
“Mom! You're positively medieval! I'm not a dumb little girl. I'm a young woman. If you just got me a can of Mace and a cell phone, I'd be perfectly safe anywhere."