Fall Guy

chicken salad with water chestnuts and snow peas, and little round fish cakes with swirls of red bean paste on top.
    „How is Mary Margaret doing?“
    Even in all this heat, he had his jacket on, an ugly print tie, maybe a Christmas present from a brother or a cousin who'd received it the year before, a blue shirt that had been washed a few dozen times too many.
    „Typical,“ I said.
    „What?“
    „You expect me to answer your questions but you never answer mine.“
    „I called to tell you about Elizabeth Bowles, didn't I?“
    „You did,“ I said. „Now tell me something else. Confession is good for the soul.“
    „That's if you confess to a priest.“
    „Don't get technical,“ I told him, the line my mother had used when she was caught in a mistake.
    He shifted his weight and cleared his throat.
    „Anything?“
    „Anything.“
    „Okay. The keys Parker claimed he lost—“
    „The keys to Tim's apartment?“
    He nodded. „They were there, at Ms. Bowles's place.“
    „Then why did he enter by the window?“
    „Probably forgot to bring them with him. If criminals were smart, we'd never close a case.“
    He might have left them in the apartment when Tim caught him partying with his buddies, I thought, but I didn't share what I was thinking with Brody. Maybe after he got in through the window, he picked them up from the little table near the front door or from Tim's desk, wherever he'd dropped them after letting his friends in. Maybe he'd made a point to find them for a possible return visit.
    Maggie was on the west side of the garden, talking to Jin Mei, both of them animated, as if this were a garden party instead of a memorial. I saw Maggie check her watch and frown. It was twenty minutes after four, but Dennis hadn't yet arrived and we were waiting. Netty was sitting in O'Fallon's kitchen so that someone would be there to buzz him in, but there was still no sign of him. As for the others, Irwin and his weird assortment of unsavories, no one knew if they were actually coming at all, so once Dennis showed up, the proceedings would begin.
    „Maggie arrived when we were on the phone,“ I said to Brody. „I turned my back, hoping she wouldn't hear me, and when I turned around, she was gone.“
    „The bathroom?“
    I nodded. „That's when I hung up on you. I figured for sure she was going to blow, that it was going to be Mount Etna at last. But it wasn't. She started to pack up the things she wants to keep, mostly family photographs and some of the books, and telling family stories.“
    „That's good. You're doing a good job.“
    „How so?“
    „You make people comfortable. You're easy to talk to.“
    „Yeah? So talk to me, Brody. Tell me about the bone.“
    „Would you like a glass of wine? Something to eat?“
    I shook my head. Half the people were eating, the other half waiting. Helene Castle was feeding her husband tiny egg rolls while baby Emma slept on his shoulder, her face red and crunched with concern. When I'd first come outside, Helene had introduced herself and David to me and Maggie, then asked if she could have her keys back. She said Tim had a set, in case Netty got herself locked out. Kevin, drink in hand, had introduced me to Rob and we'd talked about Tim for a minute and then about Rob's plans for fall plantings, how he wanted to keep things blooming in the garden until it was covered with snow, and about the pergola he wanted to build next year. He was thinking he'd put in a grapevine. Jin Mei had said she knew how to make grape jelly. Kevin thought it wouldn't be too hard to make wine if they had a good crop. Rob asked if I'd found his keys, by any chance. I said I had found some keys and I'd bring them out later on.
    I checked my watch, worried that Brody would have to leave before the memorial got started. He shook his head, as if he knew what I was thinking.
    „Let it go. These things never start on time.“
    The door opened and Irwin appeared in the doorway. I had the sudden image of him on stage, tossing back one side of a long silk cape, taking off a top hat and pulling a rabbit out, then letting it hop about the garden. I guess it was the way he stood there, not entering the garden until he had everyone's attention. But it wasn't that at all. There was a step down into the garden and that step made the garden not inaccessible but difficult for him. I watched as he held on to the doorframe, steeled himself and jumped, losing his footing for just a moment, regaining