Alex Harris 00 - Armed

Haddock’s house this morning. Just a lovely woman.”
    “Yes, she is. She must miss Mrs. Scott terribly,” I added, once again awed and proud at how my mother immediately sensed the woman’s loneliness and took her under her wing.
    “I invited her for Christmas, but you’ll never guess where she’s going.”
    I gave Mom a quizzical expression. “Where? Oh! Meme’s.”
    Mom laughed. “That’s right. My mother will have that sweet, refined woman out collecting her debts in no time. The two of them are probably on a bus right this minute headed for a casino.”
    “I wish Meme was coming here. She could bring Mrs. Haddock.”
    “They’ll be here for dessert, but you know your grandmother enjoys her pot luck with all her neighbors. Many of them are alone so they stick together.” Mom turned the piecrust around and began vigorously rolling it out on the counter. “Did you know Mrs. Scott’s house got broken into? The police asked Mrs. Haddock to go through the house but nothing seems to be missing.”
    “No. I didn’t know that.”
    “Somebody probably knew Mrs. Scott died and broke in.”
    “But you said nothing was taken. Wouldn’t kids, or anyone else for that matter, take something? I mean, why break in for nothing?”
    “Maybe they didn’t have time.” Mom shrugged, as she added nuts to the bubbling cranberry sauce.
    I sat on the stool munching a piece of celery. The rest would eventually be stuffed with a cream cheese and olive mixture. “Now why would Richard or Jerry risk breaking into the house?”
    “Did you say something?”
    “Just talking to myself. Richard is probably in jail anyway.”
    “Who’s in jail?”
    “Oh, just a diamond smuggler.”
    “Oh, is that all. Alex, what are you going on about?” Mom asked. “Alex?”
    I shook myself from my thoughts. “Sorry, Mom. Just thinking. The police uncovered some kind of diamond smuggling going on at the factory. They thought the people responsible for it might have killed Mrs. Scott.”
    My mother stopped stirring for a moment and looked sternly at me. “Good heavens! What does William think about all this?”
    “I don’t know. Why would Jerry break into Mrs. Scott’s house? Unless he’s really obsessed and wants something of hers to remember her by like some sicko pervert.”
    “Who’s Jerry? And don’t say that word. And stop eating all the celery, Alex. There won’t be any left to stuff.”
    I put the piece I had just taken back on the plate. “Jerry is a man Mrs. Scott jilted. Has kind of a temper. My money’s on him.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

    At ten-thirty, after first stopping off to get Meme, we all piled into Dad’s Buick and went to midnight Mass. Why they called it midnight Mass when it started at eleven I had asked my parents more than once. No one knew. I usually only went to church to drop Meme off at bingo, Christmas being the exception. Once again, we found ourselves in St. Michael’s surrounded by people who only ventured through the massive doors once a year. Sometimes Sam and her family came too, but Henry couldn’t stay awake long enough. For a kid with all his energy, once seven-thirty rolled around, he dropped into a sound asleep. Meme tried to hide behind me as we entered, but no one came and branded her a cheater or dragged her from the church. Apparently all was forgiven.
    By one-thirty, my parents’ house fell silent. I lay in my bed staring at the ceiling in my old room listening to the voices of past years.
    The best Christmases were the ones when Meme came to visit. Dad would pick her up in New Haven and bring her to the house for a weeklong visit. She always had a story. She told us she sent away for them and received a new one each month, kind of like the book of the month club. But as I got older I learned she made them up on the spur of the moment.
    My room was illuminated by the street light across the road. The small square space remained the same, though Dad painted the walls several years ago. My bookshelf still stood in the corner with several mysteries by Mary C. Jane taking up the space. Mystery by Moonlight had been my favorite. I hoped Kendall and Henry would discover these treasures.
    I got out of bed and walked over to the window clad in my green plaid men’s pajamas and thought that Victoria’s Secret would have to wait until spring to get my business. I stood there in the dark and thought of Mrs. Scott lying on the hard, cold cement floor of the factory with the