A Farewell to Yarns

him completely by surprise.“
    “Behind a dumpster at the mall? What on earth was he doing there? Besides getting killed?“
    “That’s probably all. I imagine he was supposed to meet someone.”
    Mel was silent as Jane rummaged in the end table drawer until she found a stale cigarette. He leaned forward and lit it for her. She sat back and took a long drag. “It’s odd,“ she finally said, sensing that he was waiting for her to say something. “I’m not surprised or sad, because he was probably the most hateful, obnoxious person I’ve ever known. But in another way, I am sorry. It’s just not right to stab people in the back because they’re awful.“
    “I’ve always sort of felt that way,“ he said wryly.
    “It certainly blows my theory of Bobby being Phyllis’s killer. Unless Chet—“ She caught herself thinking out loud.
    Mel VanDyne laughed at her discomfiture. “Do you honestly think that wouldn’t occur to me? Don’t be so careful what you don’t say. It won’t stop me from thinking, but what you do say could help.“
    “All right. Unless Chet killed him as revenge.“
    “I take it you’ve talked to Chet Wagner.“
    “Oh, yes—“ Jane told him about the evening she and Shelley went over to pack Phyllis’s things and found themselves in the midst of a dispute between Bobby and the Wagner father and son.
    VanDyne was dumbfounded and displeased. “Why in the world didn’t you ask an officer to go with you? You could have put yourselves in a dangerous situation.“
    “I don’t know. It sounds a lot stupider now than it did at the time. I guess we just weren’t thinking. Still, it was an interesting experience, to say the least.
    “Did you get the feeling that Chet Wagner honestly believed Bobby was responsible for his mother’s death?”
    Jane thought for a long moment. “That’s hard to say. I’m certain he held Bobby to blame for the circumstances which brought about her death, but to be honest, I think he’d have mauled him on the spot regardless of witnesses if he’d thought Bobby actually killed her. He was furious, but it was Chet himself who kept John from attacking Bobby.“
    “Did John Wagner think Bobby was responsible for her death? Is that why he tried to attack Bobby?“
    “No, it was because Bobby said Chet was going to be blamed. I think he was outraged on his father’s behalf, and of course Bobby had hit on his worst fear. Bobby was being absolutely revolting.“
    “Hmmm. Tell me again about this will business. When I inquired, Mr. Wagner said his will and his wife’s were with a lawyer on the island, and he authorized us to request a photocopy. It should be here today. He seemed quite cool about it. Of course, that was before Bobby dropped his bombshell.“
    “But if there was another more recent will, the earlier one wouldn’t be valid anyway. Actually, I’m not at all sure it wasn’t all bluff, just to further insult Chet. The only convincing part of it was that he said she came out of the lawyer’s office with a ‘blue folder thing’ she was putting in her purse. That sounded true, or at least possible. I don’t think he had the wit or imagination to make up convincing little details like ‘blue’ and ‘folder.’ He’d have just said ‘papers’ if he was making it up, I think. I knew a girl in school who was a really good liar, and she got away with it because there were always all kinds of tiny, vivid, believable details in her stories. You bought the details, and before you realized it, you’d bought the whole story.“
    “I think that’s characteristic,“ Mel said shortly.
    Jane realized she’d been wandering off the main point again, a habit that annoyed him. “However, there wasn’t a will or anything that looked like one in her things,“ she continued. “We went through everything—not snooping—well, yes, snooping—and the only paperwork was in a needlepointed case. One envelope in there contained memorabilia. Family pictures, high school yearbook, birth certificates, that sortof thing. The other envelope was all craft stuff. Patterns, order forms from yarn shops.“
    “Yes, I saw that.“
    “I thought you probably had. Her purse, too?“
    “Yes. There wasn’t anything incriminating in it. If there actually had been a will and she’d had it in her purse in New York, where could it have gone? Was it a direct flight, or did they go someplace else on the way here?“
    “I believe it was direct. She could have