Anything Goes

unlikely he killed Uncle and someone killed Billy for revenge. Uncle wasn’t all that well-liked. I can’t imagine his death causing such passion.“ He raised one finger of his right hand. “Then there’s Cousin Claude, whom we do know and dislike and Mr. Prinney feels the same way.“
    “He said Claude was both stupid and greedy. And probably expected to be Uncle Horatio’s heir.”
    Robert raised another finger on his right hand. “So we have Mimi and Claude to consider, as well as the newspaper editor, who was about to be out of work.“ Another finger of the right hand went up.
    “But Mr. Prinney said—“
    “Enough of Mr. Prinney for the moment,“ Robert said. “In these days a middle-aged man with a job has to hang onto it for dear life. Especially if he has a family. Does he have a wife and children to support?“
    “I didn’t think to ask,“ Lily said.
    “We know we didn’t commit either murder, so that eliminates seven people from consideration, with three still in the running—Mimi, Claude and the newspaper editor—and leaves only one more to consider.“
    “Who?“
    “Mr. Prinney himself.“
    “Robert!“
    “Lily, think about it. Almost everything we know about most of these people comes from him. But he was on the boat, too, and he and Mrs. Prinney came home from dinner before we did the night Billy was killed.“
    “But they went straight upstairs and not to the kitchen.“
    “I repeat—according to him. And Mrs. Prinney might either be lying on his behalf or she fell straight to sleep and didn’t know he went back downstairs.“
    “And you claim that I’m the most cynical! I would never consider Mr. Prinney as a murderer.“
    “But you have to, Lily. Horatio’s death solved his problems, too. He and his wife managed to unload their house and live at Grace and Favor. And he gets to handle all Uncle’s considerable fortune without asking anyone.“
    “I refuse absolutely to listen to more of this,“ Lily said, springing to her feet.
    “But you have to think about it,“ Robert said calmly. “You’re the one who reads the murder mysteries and fancies yourself quite a sleuth.“
    “Come, dog,“ Lily said sharply, marching hard on her heels back to the house.
    The dog ambled along behind obediently, but stopped at the bench for a pet from Robert.
    “I sure rattled her cage, didn’t I,“ Robert said with a grin.
     

Chapter 23
     
    Lily was furious.
    How dare Robert accuse Mimi and Mr. Prinney of being killers and Mrs. Prinney of covering up a murder. Okay, not accuse exactly. Just suggest the possibility. That was bad enough. Yes, his arguments about their motives were as good as the other motives they’d talked about. But it was impossible.
    Or was it? Rats! Now that Robert had put this treason in her head, she couldn’t help but consider it. But not for long. All silly motives aside, Lily was convinced that Mimi, Mr. Prinney and his wife were all thoroughly good people. Yes, she’d thought for a while that Mimi might have taken her scarf and the ten-dollar bill, but the scarf accusation had been dismissed by the fact that Lily had left it at the Winslows’ and Sissy had brought it back to Grace and Favor. And Lily had come to think she had simply carelessly lost the money. It wasn’t like her to lose something so important, but it had to be what happened. She was ashamed of herself now for having the least suspicion of Mimi.
    Lily went to her room, sat down on the bed and patted the bedclothes, indicating that the dog could come take a nap with her. The dog sprawled out beside her and Lily said, “We have to figure this out. We can be Agatha Christie.“ She stopped and thought. “Agatha. You look like an Agatha. Would you like that as a name?”
    The dog licked her chin and thumped its tail.
    “So, Agatha, who committed these murders? It’s inconceivable that two people among the suspects could be killers. Billy was the best suspect---until somebody killed him as well. It had to have been the same person.”
    Agatha had taken up most of the bed. Lily eased herself around the dog and closed her eyes, determined that concentration and common sense would tell her the answer if she just thought very hard about everything she knew. But as her anger at Robert faded—she knew Robert too well to really believe he meant his suspicions, he was just making fun of her—she felt her eyes growing heavy and fell sound asleep.
     
    When she woke, there was something