Silence Of The Hams (18 page)

They had to make their way around a sewing table, spinning wheel, and loom to get to the table, where Patsy was hastily clearing a spot for them to sit without their elbows in a project. It was a fascinating house reflecting an enormous variety of interests and skills.

“I know it’s a mess, but it’s my house,“ Patsy said with a laugh. “When I turned fifty, I decided I was entitled to live any way I wanted without apology. It was tremendously liberating. My late mother-in-law used to give me a cleaning service every year for my birthday and they always quit within the month because they couldn’t stand all the stuff. There, I think that will give us a little space. Jane, you can sit over here, just watch where you step.”

Alarmed for a second, Jane glanced down. Pushed up against the wall by the chair was a cardboard box containing a fluffy towel, a big tawny cat, and four of the cutest kittens Jane had ever seen. “Oh, how pretty they are!“ she said, squatting on the floor. “Will the mother let me touch them?“

“Only if you give her a good petting first,“ Patsy said. “They’re Abyssinians. Aren’t they lush little guys?”

Jane sat down cross-legged on the floor and played with the kittens while Shelley and Patsy started going over the basic outline of the high school graduation night party. Patsy had charts showing who reported to whom, a day-by-day plan for the year that put the most elaborate “Plan Your Wedding“ chart to shame. She had notebooks for each committee and subcommittee, which gave the entire history of their work from inception, all suppliers they’d ever used with assessments of each, and annual budgets balanced down to the last penny. There were scrapbooks that captured each graduation party in pictures, boxes of ribbons and buttons that identified the workers, and small plastic containers of attractive tiny lapel pins to reward the workers. Patsy had had her collection of pins made into charms on a bracelet, which she showed them with. well-deserved pride.

Jane was far more interested in the kittens, who were now climbing around on her, but got the impression from what she overheard of the conversation between the other two women that Patsy thought all this organization was not only easy but fun. And Shelley agreed. The strongest of the kittens had climbed up the front of Jane’s T-shirt to her shoulder, and after studying her ear with great concentration, licked her earlobe with its tiny emery-board tongue. Jane’s heart turned into marshmallow goo.

By the time the kittens started to tire, nearly an hour had passed. Shelley and Patsy were winding up their overview of the graduation night party’s history and methods. Jane tucked the exhausted kittens into the box where the mother cat had been calmly sleeping, and joined Shelley at the table. Patsy was putting away notebooks. “What did I miss?“ Jane asked with a guilty grin.

“I signed you up for six committees,“ Shelley said. “You don’t need a personal life, do you?“

“You’ve been talking to my kids if you think that.“

“Actually, Patsy thinks I might be good as junior co-chairman of the food committee and you’ve agreed to assist me,“ Shelley said. “You
do
agree?“

“I wouldn’t think of disagreeing with the two of you. Patsy, there are people like you and Shelley who like running things, and people like me who will do anything Shelley tells me to—“

“Not quite anything,“ Shelley murmured. “I told you a white winter coat was a waste of money.“

“—but,“ Jane continued, “there are a lot of people who can’t stand being told what to do by anybody. How on earth do you manage? Everybody seems to come out of this still liking you.“

“Kindness,“ Patsy answered. “Deadly kindness. There are plenty of people who don’t like me, but since I’m so terribly,
terribly
nice to them, they can’t quite figure out why and are embarrassed to say so. Being kind to someone puts them in your power.“

“Are you being kind to us?“ Jane asked.

Patsy laughed. “I hope so, but it’s because I like you two so much. How about some cookies and coffee?”

Jane glanced around the busy room. “If you’re a good cook, too, I might have to kill you.”

Patsy laughed heartily. “Don’t worry. My family has nearly banned me from the kitchen. My kids are all good cooks out of self-defense. They’d have starved otherwise. I’ve mastered egg salad sandwiches and that’s about it. But my oldest daughter came by last night and made the cookies. Stay where you are.”

She bustled off to the kitchen while Shelley studied the one notebook that was left on the table. As Jane watched her, Shelley suddenly did something very odd. Her eyes widened, she looked down and said, in the sappiest voice Jane had ever heard, “Ooooh, my.”

Jane stood up and leaned over the table to look. The mother cat had deposited a sleeping, milk-sated kitten in Shelley’s lap.

Shelley, who despised cats, looked up at Jane and said in a tiny voice, “That’s so sweet I think I’m going to cry.“ She gathered the kitten up tenderly and held its little soft body to her face. “What a baby!”

Patsy came back in with a tray. “She wants you to have that one,“ she said.

“No, no. I hate cats,“ Shelley said. She had her eyes closed and the kitten against her cheek.

“They’ll be ready for new homes in about two more weeks,“ Patsy said as she poured coffee. “Jane, you need one, too.”

Jane shook her head regretfully. “I have two cats already who would probably consider these little guys chipmunks. And my dog would either be afraid of them or think they were snacks. These cookies are wonderful! And the coffee is—well,
hot.”

Patsy didn’t take offense. “Best I can do. Would you prefer tea? I boil water well and you could drop the tea bag into the cup your- The sludgy coffee was removed, Shelley reluctantly put the kitten back in its box, and the three women applied themselves to cookies and Earl Grey tea. “Strangely impersonal funeral this morning, wasn’t it?“ Patsy said. “I felt sorry for Tony Belton.“

“Me, too,“ Jane said. “He didn’t seem pleased at the way Rhonda latched on to him. What do you suppose the nature of their relationship really is?“

“I don’t know. I’ve only seen Tony at the office when I went in to pick up paperwork,“ Patsy said. “I’ve always thought he was a nice young man. I wonder what Rhonda has in store for him.“

“What do you mean?“ Shelley asked.

“Just that I assume her interest in him is self-interest, because she’s that kind of person. He’s handsome, young, and apparently pretty pliable judging from the fact that he sat up front with the family even though he
and
they were obviously unhappy about it,“ Patsy said. “But does she plan to marry him or does she think she can profit from him financially?“

“How would she do that?“ Jane asked.

“I’m not sure, but Rhonda never lets a penny go without making it scream for mercy. Depending on what kind of partnership agreement Stonecipher and Tony had, she might stand to profit from stringing him along.“

“Might they both have profited from her husband’s death?“ Jane asked.

Patsy shrugged. “I guess it’s possible. But I only handled the client billing. How the money was distributed once it came in is anybody’s guess.“

“But Emma would have known,“ Jane said. “Are you thinking they conspired to bump her off?“ Patsy asked bluntly.

“Not thinking, exactly, just wondering. After all, somebody did kill her.“

“Isn’t that odd?“ Patsy said. “If you divide people into potential victims and potential perpetrators, I’d have put her firmly on the perpetrator side. I didn’t have many dealings with her, but I had the feeling she had a strong instinct for the main chance.“

“But she was victimized by Stonecipher, apparently, and for a long time,“ Shelley said.

“Yes, but that was sex,“ Patsy said. “Whole different category. How are the police getting along with their investigation of her death? The article in the paper this morning was awfully vague.“

“Badly,“ Jane said. “There were two other things going on at the apartment building at the same time. A party and a garage sale. Apparently half the town was in and out all afternoon. They need someone like you to organize all the information,“ she added with a smile.

“I hear she was blackmailing people,“ Patsy said.

“Where did you hear that?“ Jane said, surprised.

“Oh, here and there,“ Patsy said with a smile. “I have my sources. Actually, the police must have been asking people about some kind of file folders. File folders contain information and information is a saleable commodity. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to make the connection.”

Shelley had been quiet. Now she said, “I was surprised to see Grace Axton at the funeral this morning. You’d think as much grief as Stonecipher had given them, she’d have just been glad he was gone.“

“Grace feels strongly about appearances and manners,“ Patsy said. “Some Puritan strain in her. Most of us would have thought we should show up and then thought up excuses not to. But Grace doesn’t give herself excuses. She’s a tough lady. Tougher with herself than anyone else. At least since her divorce, which was about the same time we met in an accounting class. She had to be strong to get out of that marriage in the first place, and then make a life and profession for herself. I really admire her.“

“How long ago was the divorce?“ Shelley asked.

“Oh, a good ten years ago, I think. Maybe only eight or nine. And she was just starting out with her accounting business when Sarah went to pieces. She had to drop everything. Grace’s ex-husband had disappeared and wasn’t making the house payments like the settlement ordered. Grace gave up the house, her fledgling business, and everything to go to her sister. That’s how she ended up living with her grandmother when it was all over. But I never once heard her complain.“

“Poor Grace. And poor Sarah,“ Jane said. “I can’t imagine having only the one child and never even getting to take it home.”

Patsy looked at her curiously. “What do you mean, never take it home?“

“Wasn’t it born with brain damage? That’s what Grace said.”

Patsy shook her head. “I think you misunderstood. The baby was born normal. He was a year old when he died.“

“Oh. I guess I did.“

“I misunderstood, too,“ Shelley added. “But now that I think about it, Grace just said they had a child who was severely brain damaged. She didn’t say it was born that way. What happened to the child?“

“It drowned in the bathtub,“ Patsy said. “Well, didn’t quite drown. Sarah had forgotten and left something on the stove, smelled it burning, and dashed to turn off the burner. She was only gone a few seconds, but it was long enough. The paramedics did their job too well. It would have been better if they hadn’t revived—oh, well. Not for me to say, I guess. Anyway, the baby never regained consciousness, was on life support. It must have been horrible. About the only thing in its little brain that didn’t die was whatever triggered convulsions.”

Jane was appalled. “Oh, that’s so much worse than I imagined. And it goes a long way toward explaining why Sarah is still unbalanced. It wasn’t just fate, it was her fault. How unutterably awful.“

“I’m sorry. I guess I shouldn’t have told you,“ Patsy said. “It’s horrible even knowing, but it does explain Sarah’s condition. And Grace’s concern.”

Shelley stood up and came around to the cat’s box. “I need to cuddle a kitten,“ she said.

“We all need to,“ Patsy said with a smile. “Shelley, you know you’ve fallen in love with them. Why don’t you just admit it to yourself?“

“No way,“ Shelley said, stroking the mother cat. “I don’t like cats. Never have. What’s her name?“

“Abby,“ Patsy said. “Not very original.“

“Don’t feel bad. Shelley’s got a French poodle named Frenchie,“ Jane said. “She may be my best friend, but I have to say she’s not good at names. I’ve always been sort of amazed that she didn’t name her children Boy and Girl.”

18

“You know you’re going to cave in,“ Jane said as they drove home.

“No, I’m not,“ Shelley said. “Those kittens just cast a temporary spell over me. Now that I’m away from them, I’ll get over it in no time.”

But she still had a dreamy, goofy look on her face.

Jane glanced at her watch. “There’s supposed to be a soccer practice at four. I imagine it’s canceled.“ “Why?“

“Won’t Tony Belton still be tied up with funeral stuff? You don’t suppose Rhonda will let go of him so he can coach a bunch of little boys,“ Jane said.

They pulled into Jane’s driveway. Shelley said, “There’s a calling committee. If it’s been canceled somebody will have told us.”

But neither of them had a message on her answering machine. And since it was beginning to cloud up, they decided to drive the boys to the practice later and stick around to remove them if it rained. Jane had an hour to kill, looked around the kitchen—which appeared to have been the site of a food explosion—and decided it could wait to be cleaned up. She went to the basement with the intention of getting a little writing done and ended up playing solitaire on the computer while her mind churned over Emma’s death.

By the time Shelley knocked on the door upstairs, Jane had done nothing but further confuse and frustrate herself. They rounded up their boys and Suzie Williams’s son and went to pick up the other two in their car pool and delivered them to the soccer field behind the high school. Summer vacation was still new enough that the boys were hyper and the trip seemed much longer than it really was. Tony Belton was already out on the field, demonstrating various techniques to the early birds.