Anything Goes

left Lily at the house and went to put the Duesenberg in the garage. Lily had loved seeing the island, but, as Robert had predicted, it didn’t seem to have ‘told’ them anything except that it was a dangerous place even on a mild day and horrendously dangerous in bad weather.
    She took her handbag to her room and went to alert Mrs. Prinney that they’d returned. But she stopped short in the hall leading to the kitchen.
    Mr. Prinney was in the kitchen and sounded upset. I can’t imagine how I forgot,“ he was saying.
    “Anybody can forget, dearest,“ Mrs. Prinney said. This was obviously a private conversation, but Lily couldn’t help herself. She shamelessly eaves- dropped.
    “I know. I know. And Mr. Brewster had a great deal of property that he was always buying and selling, but to forget I’d notarized a deed... it’s just not like me. And the county clerk out there in California sure took his own sweet time returning it.“
    “Then it’s their fault, not yours,“ Mrs. Prinney said. “Don’t worry about it. Didn’t you tell me he’d transferred a lot of property not long before he died? He was really keeping you busy for a while early last summer. Buying and selling and making partnerships and buying out other ones?“
    “True. That’s true.“ Lily could picture the way Mr. Prinney would be nodding like an elderly professor who was approving of a student’s answer, even though she couldn’t actually see him. “But I’m going to have to amend the probate filing I’ve already made. Such a nuisance.”
    Lily backed out of the hallway, then returned, making more noise so she would seem to have just arrived.
    “We’re back, Mrs. Prinney,“ she said as she entered the kitchen. “We didn’t want you to fret about us being late for lunch.“
    “I wasn’t fretting,“ Mrs. Prinney said. “Have you seen Mimi? I’m ready for her to set the table.”
    “I’ll do it.“
    “You will not,“ Mrs. Prinney said pleasantly. “It’s Mimi’s job.“
    “Then I’ll find her for you.”
    Mrs. Prinney patted Lily’s arm with approval and turned back to adding some spice to an apple dish. Mr. Prinney had quietly disappeared.
    Lily looked all over the house for Mimi, but couldn’t find her. Perhaps she’d found yet another rug to beat. Lily went to the south side of the house, where a stout rope was tied between two trees at the front of the woods that concealed the garage, which was down a slight slope. There was a rug on the line, and the rug-beater, looking like an oversized snowshoe, was lying on the ground, but there was no sign of Mimi.
    · Lily called out for her and it was Robert who answered. “Right here,“ he said. He and Mimi appeared from the woods. He was holding her by the arm and she was crying. Lily hurried to meet them. “What’s happened?“
    “Nothing, Miss Lily. Really, it was nothing,“ Mimi said, pulling away from Robert and trying to hurry to the house.
    Lily put out a hand and stopped her. “Mimi, it isn’t nothing. Your eye is going all black and blue. How did you hurt yourself?“
    “She didn’t hurt herself,“ Robert said furiously. “She was smacked in the eye by some ugly hay-shaker. A hick. I saw it happen as I came out of the garage. He took off like a jackrabbit when he saw me.“
    “Billy?“ Lily asked Mimi quietly.
    . Mimi nodded and put her hand over her swelling eye.
    “That’s Billy Smith, Mimi’s husband,“ Lily explained.
    “Husband? You’re married to that sniveling cowardly bastard?“ Robert asked.
    “Robert,“ Lily said, “let me take care of this.”
    Robert stomped off and Lily took Mimi to the kitchen where Mrs. Prinney chipped off some ice from the block in the icebox, wrapped it in a clean dish towel and applied it to Mimi’s eye.
    “They say a silver knife is best to stop bruises, but I never believed it was as good as ice,“ Mrs. Prinney said. “What happened to you, Mimi?“
    “I just ran into a branch,“ Mimi said.
    Mrs. Prinney mouthed over Mimi’s head, “Billy?“ Lily nodded. She needed to have a blunt talk with Mimi, but this wasn’t the time.
    “We’ll put back lunch for half an hour,“ Mrs. Prinney said. Then she added, “Was that the doorbell?”
    “I’ll get it,“ Mimi said, starting to rise.
    Mrs. Prinney pushed her back into the kitchen chair. “You will not. You look like something the cat drug in.”
    Lily didn’t wait for the end of the argument. She went to the door herself and found