Jane closed the door and came back into the kitchen. "Crispy's?"
"Probably. Part of it anyway. You'll have to take a closer look later. Some of the stuff is real raunchy. Crotchless panties with obscene sayings, bras with the nipples cut out. The embroidered phrase 'Tuesday's
Tits' sticks in my mind. If she really brought that stuff along, she was expecting this reunion to be a lot more fun that most of us were anticipating."
"Where was the cop they left here while this was being done?"
"Probably asleep on the sofa in the library. He'll probably be in big trouble for not apprehending somebody, even though it's not a crime to redecorate with lingerie."
"Does Edgar know? Poor Edgar."
"No, but I think he's beyond caring. I believe Gordon's really worried about his state of mind. He stayed home today, too."
A shriek of laughter came from the other room as someone else discovered the underwear. "This trick's odd, Shelley," Jane said. "It seems more elaborate. More personal. It seems to actually 'mean' something."
Shelley picked up her purse. "I'm too tired to analyze the fine points. I'll be back later. Or maybe I'll just go to the airport and ask them to put me on the next plane leaving the country."
As Shelley left, Edgar came into the kitchen. If Gordon was worried about him, he shouldn't have been. Edgar looked rested and relaxed. "Jane! You're bright and early," he said, opening the door to the mammoth refrigerator.
"Edgar, you're so perky!"
"I think I'll do the creamed eggs and asparagus this morning," he said. "Yes. Over toast points. Maybe a breath of curry…"
He was back on form. As Jane made the basic white sauce for him and was inordinately pleased when he complimented her on it, Crispy came in the kitchen, her eyes red and her voice trembling. "Where is the
wastebasket?" she said, holding out a wad of flamboyantly colored underwear as if it were soiled.
"Over there," Edgar gestured. "What's that?"
"Disgusting underwear," Crispy said. "A nasty, filthy little trick."
She was genuinely upset, which surprised Jane. In the back of her mind, Jane had been assuming that Crispy herself was the Joker. She hadn't even consciously realized this before now. But obviously this wasn't a joke Crispy had played on herself to avoid suspicion. This joke had really bothered her. Jane kept stirring the sauce, turning the heat down slightly. It was possible, though, that Crispy had played the other tricks, and someone else — suspecting her — had engineered this one. It was difficult enough to imagine that this group contained one practical joker, let alone two.
Jane had a desperate craving to just sit down and think for a long time. These last two days had dumped so much information and so many impressions into her, that her subconscious seemed to have sunk under the weight of them. She was sorry that she and Shelley couldn't sit out on the patio, or at one of their kitchen tables, and chew it over together. They were such good, familiar friends that they could communicate in a verbal shorthand that was very comfortable. And sometimes very productive.
Edgar took over the sauce and Jane went to the dining room to set the table. Most of the women had gathered there and were standing around the silver coffee urn. They were discussing the fund-raising activities that had been decided on the evening before. Shelley would have been pleased.
As preoccupied as she was, Jane couldn't help but notice the change in Kathy. Instead of the dreadful
luu
hick/hippy clothes she'd been wearing before, she had on a very smart, crisp plaid blouse and neat denim skirt. This preppy, casual outfit even included a colorful woven belt, hose, and apparently some very effective underpinnings that did wonders for her rather generous figure. She was still a big woman, but a very tidy big woman.
Mimi and Beth were still in robes, albeit a very elegant black silk robe that would have done as a hostess gown in Mimi's case. Beth, in a tailored blue robe that looked utterly sexless, had gone remote, as if she'd fully realized that this wasn't a good place for a woman who had to maintain an impeccably orderly public life to be.
Avalon, in jeans and an elaborately knitted beige sweater with beads and what appeared to be twigs woven in, had really gotten into the fund-raising spirit and was chattering with Pooky about a craft booth someplace. They were deeply involved in the theoretical pricing of tie-dyed scarves. Crispy was still sulking.
Jane went back to the kitchen to eat. Gordon and Edgar were at the kitchen table, where they'd set a place for her and the policeman, who'd apparently heard about the practical joke with the underwear and was looking distinctly worried. Gordon was studying a piece of paper. "It's very clever, isn't it? Look at all the details."
"What's that?" Jane asked.
"One of the women gave Edgar this picture," he said, turning it so she could see.
"Oh, Avalon's drawing of the carriage house. I thought Pooky had probably gotten it away from her. It is clever. That was nice of her to give it to you."
"I'll get it framed next week. A deep gray mat with
a narrow black frame, I believe," Gordon said. "Where do you think it should go?"
"Upstairs for now," Edgar said, "if one of the guests is hot to get her hands on it. These women are really odd."
Echoing Mel, Jane said, "No, not all of them. Only one."
12
"Where's Shelley today?" Crispy asked from the kitchen doorway.
"She's gone home for a while — to punch out her sister-in-law, probably," Jane answered, stacking the last of the breakfast plates in the dishwasher.
"And what's become of Edgar?"
"He needed a few things from the grocery store. I told him to go on and I'd clean up."
"Want some help?"
"No, but I'd love company. There's some coffee left, if you'd like."
Crispy poured herself a cup and sat down with it and a cigarette. "Want one?"
"When I'm done," Jane said. "I'm trying to cut down to six a day. But I went off the rails last night and smoked four in a row because I couldn't sleep."
"I wish I could stop entirely," Crispy said.
"Unfortunately, it takes more than wishing," Jane replied.
"Listen, I'm sorry I was such an ass this morning about the underwear. It was just such a nasty trick and it really embarrassed me."
Jane put a dishcloth in the bottom of the sink and laid the crystal juice glasses on their sides on it before running hot water over them. "Crispy, answer me honestly, okay? Haven't you been the one playing the tricks?"
"God's truth, no!"
Jane poured dishwashing soap over the glasses and began to wash them. "But when I first met you, you implied that you were here just to cause trouble."
"Yes, but it soon became apparent to me that Lila was going to cause quite enough without any help from me," Crispy said wryly.
"But Lila wasn't responsible for the underwear. Or that antique thing of Pooky's being stolen and hidden."
"No…."
"Then who do you think it is playing the tricks?"
"I really haven't the faintest idea. Mimi, maybe?"
"Surely not! She was really angry about that thing of Pooky's being taken. She's the one who made everybody look for it."
"How do you know that wasn't a good act?" Crispy asked. "She's quite an actress, you know. Always had the lead in the school plays. We did Oklahoma our junior year and she played the goody-two-shoes role. Five minutes into it, you forgot all about her Chinese features and believed she was that girl. She played Lady Macbeth just as well."
"Is that so?" Jane said. That was interesting information, and put her conversation with Mimi the previous afternoon in'a whole different light. Jane had accepted everything Mimi had said about the others without question. Maybe she should get a second opinion.