Grime and Punishment

why do you suppose this happened?“
    “I have no idea. I guess it could have been someone that woman knew.“
    “But why? And how would the killer have known she was at my house? As I understand it, she didn’t even know where she’d be until she reported in to work early this morning. The Happy Helper man called a while ago. He said she’s a ‘floater,’ a worker with no regular assignment but to fill in. Like a substitute teacher.“
    “Well, there’s always the wandering maniac theory. That’s what Thelma thinks—somebody whose lack of moral fiber pushed them over the brink.“
    “The next stage after growing hair on the palms of your hands? Murdering cleaning ladies? Forget wandering maniacs. You know as well as I do this is a neighborhood of devoted snoops. You can’t even go for a walk without somebody alerting the police. If you aren’t decked out like a full-fledged jogger, you’re assumed to be a criminal. How would this maniac have cruised around the neighborhood without being noticed?“
    “You know what you’re saying, don’t you? That it had to be someone familiar. Someone from the neighborhood.”
    Shelley’s eyes widened. “Not necessarily, Jane. It could have been someone who looked like they had business around here. A TV repair truck or a Sears van or a gas meter reader in a uniform.“
    “Shelley, what would be the point? There would be no reason to go to all the trouble of disguising himself just to kill her in your house instead of her own.“
    “There is that, of course. Well, then we have to consider that he didn’t want to kill her. Suppose it was someone who came to rob the house.“
    “Was anything stolen?“
    “No, nothing was touched, apparently. I haven’t searched everything, of course, but it doesn’t look like anything’s been torn apart or dumped out, as if someone had been rummaging for valuables.”
    Jane had to take her word on this. If you moved so much as an ashtray in Shelley’s house, she noticed immediately.
    “So why kill her and not take anything?”
    “Maybe she caught him coming in?“
    “While she was vacuuming the guest room?“
    “Jane, you’re just picking apart everything I suggest as a possibility,“ Shelley said with a hint of anger. “What do you think could have happened?“
    “I’m sorry. I don’t know. But, by damn, I’m going to find out. We’re all in danger until we know who it was and why. If someone could come in your house, murder someone, and leave right under our noses, it could happen again.“
    “But why would it happen again? Why did it happen this time? I just keep asking myself the same questions over and over.“
    “All right. Let’s get organized about this. I read a lot of mystery books and I know all about motives. I’ll make a list and then we’ll cross them off one by one. Whichever one’s left has to be the right answer.“
    “Somehow, I don’t think it’s quite that easy,“ Shelley disagreed. You make it sound like a computer course.“
    “You’ll see,“ Jane assured her, getting out the notepad and a stub of pencil. “Since it didn’t look like robbery, let’s assume for the moment that somebody meant to kill her. Now, what are the reasons for murder. Greed. That’s usual.“
    “I doubt that a cleaning lady had a vast fortune for someone to inherit, otherwise she’d own the company. And she didn’t seem to be wearing a strand of emeralds or anything that I noticed.“
    “True, but it might have been greed for something in your house.“
    “But I told you, nothing was taken.“
    “Still, it might have been that the murderer meant to take something and just didn’t get it. Suppose he’d gone in and determined to kill anybody who was there and then rob the place, and just as he killed her, he heard you coming in?”
    She was immediately sorry she’d suggested it.
    Shelley hugged herself. “Could I have actually been in the house with the killer? No, Jane. That doesn’t work. If he didn’t mind killing her, he wouldn’t have minded killing me. And how would he have gotten away? If he’d jumped from a second-story window, he’d have been bound to hurt himself, and the police checked all around the house for signs of things like that. If he didn’t go out the window, he’d had to have come downstairs, and I could see the stairway from the time I came in the kitchen. I wasn’t looking at it, but I would have certainly noticed anyone coming down.“
    “Okay, cross off