Anything Goes

arrests and jail terms. He was known to have made enemies of law enforcement officials and many of the populace.
     
    Jack sat back and considered the last sentence. Just to be sure, he read it out loud in an undertone. Maybe he shouldn’t mention law enforcement. That ass Chief Henderson might take it to mean the police were suspects in the murder. Jack X’ed out that section of the sentence. If he wanted to continue to be allowed to trail along with Ralph and eavesdrop, he’d better not offend the chief.
     
    So far, no suspects have been identified, although many people are being questioned as to their whereabouts last Saturday evening. Billy Smith was last seen at Mabel’s Cafe, telling a number of people he was going to have a long talk with someone and would be a “rich man before you can say Jack Robinson.“ Several patrons heard this comment, but no one saw which way he went when he left the cafe.
     
    Jack read back over the piece, preening a bit. What a fool Billy Smith was. Jack hoped this statement would prove it to anyone who was in doubt.
     
    There has been speculation that Billy Smith might have gone to Grace and Favor to see his wife and that a tramp or hobo—of which there are so many in Voorburg lately, owing to the presence of the train lines—might have overheard Smith’s remarks about money and followed him.
    Jack had worded this carefully. It was his own speculation, but he didn’t want to attribute it to himself. If Kessler crossed out anything, it would be this. He didn’t like words like ‘speculation.’
    This publication will continue to assiduously monitor the investigation and report further developments.
     
    Would anybody in town know what “assiduously“ meant? Probably not. He substituted ‘thoroughly.’ The thing that frustrated him was that by the time the paper came out on Tuesday, everybody in town would already know all about it. Rumor would be rife and it would be old news. His only hope was that something dramatic, like an arrest, would happen late Monday night and he could add a grand finale to the article. If only he worked for a real newspaper. A city newspaper with lots of reporters, lots of contacts and daily publication.
     
    Lily was starting to think she’d never get to finish her conversation with Mr. Prinney about the boat trip that killed Uncle Horatio. When the tree was successfully toppled and the limbs were being cut up for firewood, Mr. Prinney received a phone call saying his sister was ill. Mrs. Prinney made him a quick corned-beef sandwich for his dinner and sent him on his way.
    “I hope she’s not seriously ill,“ Lily said, when Mrs. Prinney informed her of the reason for his absence from dinner.
    “Lord, no. She’s one of those hypo people.”
    “Hypo people? Hypodermics?“
    “No, that other hypo word.“
    “Hypochondriac?“
    “That’s it. Imagines herself a fragile little thing. Likes the attention, I suppose. Always complaining that people don’t visit her often enough, so she stages these ‘spells.’ Naturally no one wants to visit her. She makes you take your shoes off to come in the house, if you can imagine. House-proud, that’s what she is. Serves tea so sweet it makes your teeth hurt, though God knows how she affords the sugar—”
    Mrs. Prinney rattled on a bit about her sister-in-law, not seeming to care much whether Lily responded or not. Finally, she finished up, “... and with Elgin gone, there will be extra leftovers for your dog’s dinner.“
    “You and Mr. Prinney don’t mind having a dog in the house, do you?“ Lily asked belatedly. She should have thought to ask earlier if anyone was allergic or afraid of dogs. Though she couldn’t have given the dog up no matter what.
    “Lord, no,“ Mrs. Prinney said. “Elgin and I always had dogs when the girls were at home. It’s safer to have a dog. If this dog had been part of the family yesterday and guarding the house while we were gone, who knows how things might have turned out.”
    They had a nice dinner of corned beef, cabbage and cornbread and a rhubarb cobbler for dessert. Mimi was back on duty, setting the table, serving the food and then sitting down to eat it with them. She was subdued, attending only to her meal, but had stopped looking so dreadfully sad.
    Lily gave the dog the leftovers, let her outside for a few minutes and then she and Robert played pachisi at the library table for almost two hours, ending in a score of four wins for Lily