Anything Goes

miss?“
    “Mimi, I hardly know what to say. I’m glad you’re free of Billy, but I know you must be sad. At least a little.”
    Mimi set the breakfast tray, a nice white wicker tray with a cutwork cloth and matching napkin, on the bedside table after Lily had gotten the lamp out of the way. “I guess you’re right, miss. Billy wasn’t a good person, but nobody should die like that.“ But as she said these practical words, her chin was trembling.
    “Was he around last night? I mean earlier. When we and the Prinneys had gone out to dinner.”
    “He yelled up at my window right after you’d all gone. He must have been watching from the woods. I hadn’t locked up, but I said the house was locked and he believed me. Told me to come down and let him in to talk. I said no.“
    “Then what?”
    Mimi looked out Lily’s window and said quietly, “He said he had some other folks to talk to and he’d be back. That’s what he must of done. And somebody followed him here.“
    “How did he get around?“ Lily asked. “Did he have an automobile or a bicycle or what?“
    “No, he can’t afford neither except when he steals one. Then he always gets—got—caught. He walks. He knows all the old paths.“
    “Paths?“
    “Yes, miss. There used to be Indians hereabouts.
    There was paths everywhere through the woods. When the Indians went away, the settlers used them. And the deers and such, too. Billy told me the dirt is so packed down that even though nobody much but the hobos uses them now, nothing’ll grow on them.“
    “Are there paths around this house?“
    “Sure. Lots. One starts across the road and goes straight down to town. The road winds all over the place, but the path makes a walk to the town real close. It’s kinda steep, though. And another goes to the houses on both sides of here and a couple more back a ways from the river. We’re much closer to them than you’d think from just going by the road.“
    “Does everybody who lives up here know about these shortcuts?“
    “I s’pose so. The kiddies and the men, anyway. Ladies don’t often use them because their clothes get caught on bushes and things. And folks from town come up here hunting sometimes.”
    Lily repeated her polite regrets and Mimi said, “There’s men wanting to talk to you downstairs. But I told them they’d just have to wait until you’re feeling up to it. Mrs. Prinney told them the same.“
    “Men? Who?“
    “The police chief and the coroner.“
     

Chapter 17
     
    Lily bathed, and dressed slowly and carefully. She wasn’t anxious to talk to anyone, least of all the police and a coroner. She put on one of her frumpy old dresses that she used to wear to the bank. The one that was least threadbare.
    As she descended the stairs, Mr. Prinney popped up from a chair in the hall where he’d been waiting and met her. In a voice that was almost a whisper, he said, “Miss Brewster, a word with you.”
    They slipped quietly into his office. “I’m really the attorney for the estate, not your personal attorney, but I wish to advise you anyway. Say very little to Chief Henderson.“
    “I don’t even know who that is.“
    “The police chief. Answer his questions politely and sparsely. He’s not a very bright man and is easily led astray by extraneous information. And he’s highly resentful of the rich, which he believes you to be.“
    “Thank you, Mr. Prinney. Have you told Robert this as well?“
    “I have. Now, let’s get your interview over with.“ They went back to the library where Chief Henderson and the coroner were waiting impatiently. The coroner was the doctor who was at the house the night before. He was properly dressed now and introduced as Dr. Polhemus. There was another man, a young one who wasn’t introduced and was sitting by the door with a notebook and pencil.
    “Now, miss,“ Henderson said, smoothing a hand over his bald head. “Let’s get to the bottom of this murder.”
    Lily merely nodded.
    “I hear you and your brother were out last night.“ Lily nodded again.
    Henderson waited for her to be more forthcoming and when she said nothing else, he went on. “Where were you?“
    “At the Winslow home for dinner.”
    And so it went. Lily followed Mr. Prinney’s advice and Henderson grew more and more frustrated with her short, correct, terse answers. He tried to get her to gossip about the Winslows. He suggested that Lily and Robert might have stopped by the Grace and Favor before going to