Anything Goes

household.“
    “It’s certain nobody will ask them to cook a meal more than once,“ Robert said.
    Lily laughed, but there was an element of sadness in the sound. “We won’t have to appear at his trial, will we?“
    “I doubt there will be a trial,“ Mr. Prinney said. “He has confessed, after all. He might plead that he was only trying to protect his family’s financial wellbeing, but I doubt that will make the least difference to the judge. Major Winslow says he went out for a breath of air during dinner and found Billy lurking at the back of the house. Billy told him what he’d seen on the boat and Winslow said they couldn’t talk about it here. That he’d meet him in the woods behind Grace and Favor Cottage. Winslow went inside for a moment, noticed Lily’s scarf and took it along so that if there were violence, he could implicate you.”
    Robert muttered something obscene.
    Mr. Prinney went on. “Major Winslow told Chief Henderson that Billy attacked him outside your kitchen door and he went into the house to escape him. But that won’t hold up. Winslow has no injuries and Billy had no weapon. He killed him with a butcher knife that was on the counter, tied the scarf around his neck and went back through the woods and calmly finished dinner.“
    “This has been horrible,“ Lily said, rising from her chair. “Come, Agatha.“
    “Where are you going?“ Robert asked.
    “To take this back to Jack. And to take a very long walk with my wonderful dog.“
    “Want any other company?“ Robert asked.
    Lily shook her head. “No, thanks. I need to clear my head of this whole awful experience. I want to forget it ever happened.”
    Lily and Agatha walked down the path to town and Lily was relieved that Jack wasn’t in the office. She didn’t feel like talking to anyone. She left the draft on his desk with a note saying, No changes requested. Publish special edition for tomorrow.
    Then she made her way slowly back up the hill, around the house and to the bench overlooking the river. This was her home and she had helped make it safe. She must keep that in mind. And she wasn’t responsible for Mrs. Winslow and Sissy’s misfortune. Jonathan Winslow’s greed and lack of moral will had ruined them. So why did she still feel so guilty? She heard the sound of Robert’s whistling. He must have been practicing, because his version of “Ain’t Misbehavin’“ had improved significantly from the day they’d come here.
    Lily said to him as he approached, “Why did Billy wait to attempt to blackmail Major Winslow? The boatwreck was months ago.“
    “Because of us,“ Robert said, standing and gazing at the river below them.
    “What do you mean?“
    “Until we actually moved into the house, Billy probably believed that Mimi was going to inherit. She’d told him the truth, that she wasn’t Uncle Horatio’s child, but he probably didn’t believe it. I’d guess he thought that blackmailing Winslow was a little risky. He knew, or suspected, that Winslow had bashed Uncle Horatio with that cane. If 1 were Billy, I’d figure it was better to just hold onto that information until after I found how much moola my wife was inheriting.”
    Lily rubbed her eyes. “Good Lord, I think you’re right. So it was us moving into Grace and Favor that persuaded him to take the chance of blackmailing Major Winslow.“
    “Right. Because it was obvious he wouldn’t ever get the house or the fortune.”
    He sat down beside her, saying nothing, not even looking at her. Finally, he spoke again. “This really isn’t such a bad place to live. I think I’m going to survive it.“ He slapped at a mosquito that had landed on his wrist.
    “Me, too,“ she said, and leaned her head on his shoulder.