Grime and Punishment

I’ll talk to you later.”
    Shelley was rummaging in the cabinet for Jane’s jar of instant coffee. Meow jumped onto the counter to see what was going on that might provide nibbles for her. There was no sign of Willard. Probably hiding in the basement. Hands shaking, Jane turned on a burner and started some water boiling. They didn’t speak. Jane had a strange nightmarish sense of reality and horror interwoven. Next door, a dead woman lay in the guest bedroom and police searched the house. Here, they were silently making coffee, as if that were a solution to something.
    Shelley sat trembling at the table, sipping her coffee. Jane watched out the window. More emergency vehicles arrived, and somebody put up white-and-orange-striped sawhorses several doors down to stop traffic. Dear God, it would scare the kids to death if they came home and found the neighborhood seemingly under martial law. Todd would be at Dorothy’s house, but Mike and Katie...
    Hating to do it, Jane picked up the phone again and called her mother-in-law. “Thelma? Jane. I can only talk a second. Something awful has happened next door and the police have the block cordoned off. No, I’m fine. I’m not in any danger. But I’m worried about Mike and Katie trying to come home and thinking something has happened to me. I can’t get out. Would you please call their schools and order them to stay there until you or Ted can pick them up? Thanks, Thelma. I’ll come over to get them just as soon as I can.”
    As she hung up, there was a knock on the front door. Opening it gingerly, she was faced with a cop who couldn’t have been more than twenty. “Is the homeowner of the house next door here? I was given this address.“
    “Yes, please come in.”
    She introduced herself and Shelley and he said, “We’ve gone through the house, and there’s nobody there but the victim. We’ll need to ask you some questions. Would you rather stay here for a while to answer them?“
    “Yes, I would,“ Shelley said. She’d gotten a grip on herself and was back to her normal color. “I think Mrs. Jeffry can probably tell you more than I can anyway. I’ve been gone almost all day. You were home, weren’t you, Jane?“
    “Mostly. I ran some errands. Tangerine juice,“ she added.
    “Why didn’t you just take some out of my freezer?“ Shelley asked.
    “Do you mean I ran all over town and it was next door all the time?“ She felt an urge to laugh, but knew it would turn into full-blown hysteria if she started.
    Another officer had come to the kitchen door, and with him there was a handsome, blond man in a business suit who introduced himself as Detective Mel VanDyne. He looked like a movie version of an investigator—shoulders wide enough to slightly strain an expensively tailored jacket, and smooth, economical gestures. As soon as Shelley and Jane identified themselves, he said in a deep, reassuring voice, “I noticed the uniform the victim was wearing and I’ve called the company to send someone over to make the identification, Mrs. Nowack.“
    “Thank you. I couldn’t look at her again,“ Shelley said, lighting another cigarette, then stubbing it out. “I shouldn’t be doing this. I quit.“
    “You’ll quit again tomorrow,“ Detective Van-Dyne said in a voice so assured that Jane felt certain it would happen just as he said. “Do you have any idea what happened?“
    “None. I left around— Oh, dear, I don’t really remember—“
    “It was ten o’clock. I saw you go,“ Jane put in. “Where did you go?“
    “To the airport. To have lunch with my mother. I’ve been there the whole time. I’m sure there are people at the restaurant who will remember us. My mother managed to offend nearly every employee—”
    Detective VanDyne’s smile was friendly. “I wasn’t asking you for an alibi, yet. But thanks anyway. When did you get back?’ Shelley didn’t even bother to answer. She looked at Jane.
    “At three, or a few minutes before. I was at her house at quarter of and she wasn’t back yet.”
    VanDyne gazed at Jane speculatively. “What were you doing there?“
    “Taking over a carrot salad.“
    “I’m having—I was having a meeting at my house tonight. A group that’s planning to raise funds for new playground equipment,“ Shelley explained. “It was a potluck dinner, and everybody was supposed to bring their food ahead of time.“
    “So you were letting people in for Mrs. Nowack?“ the detective asked