Grime and Punishment

nationwide chain of Greek fast-food restaurants? That sort of thing didn’t happen to wimpy men.
    Questions started popping into her mind. Some pertinent, some idiotic. Why not Polish fast food, at least? Even if he were involved in something unsavory—which was highly unlikely—a disgruntled business enemy would hardly think killing his wife’s cleaning lady would intimidate him.
    Besides everything else, very few people had any idea where he lived. Shelley had said many times that he felt business was business and home was home. They even had an unlisted phone number, because he didn’t want his franchisees being able to call him at home. In fact, his office staff didn’t know how to find him; only his private secretary knew their home number. “The franchisees will call him in the middle of the night to ask how the dishwasher works otherwise,“ Shelley had said once when Jane asked about it.
    That in itself was odd, now that she was thinking about it, in the light of a recent murder in the Nowack home. Was that really the reason for the unlisted number? Or was there a more sinister reason for keeping their number and address secret from the outside world? That is ridiculous! Jane told herself. Suspecting Paul of dark secrets was as insane as suspecting Shelley.
    ...suspecting Shelley?...
    “No!“ she said out loud.
    “No what?“ Mike asked.
    She’d forgotten Mike and Katie were in the car. “Nothing. Just a crazy thought I had.“
    “You know what they say about people who talk to themselves,“ Katie said meaningfully.
    “No, and I don’t want to know,“ she said.
    Jane dropped Katie off at the junior high and Mike and his group at the high school. Mike had the wisdom to refrain from asking to drive this morning, which she thought showed a nice sense of maturity. When she got back home, Todd was sitting on the front porch, playing with a neighborhood cat.
    “Todd, I told you to stay inside with the house locked until Mrs. Wallenberg got here,“ Jane said. She must not have worded it strongly enough in her efforts to keep from frightening him with the implications.
    “I know, but she called and said her car won’t start and could you drive us today?“
    “Oh, dear. All right. Hop in,“ Jane said, glancing at her watch. She’d wanted to be sure to be here when the cleaning lady arrived, but that was hardly reason to make the whole bunch of kids late for school.
    Dorothy Wallenberg was in her driveway, pacing around on sturdy legs and slashing at grass blades with a tennis racket when Jane arrived. Obviously, this car problem was going to interfere with more than her car pool plans. “I’m so sorry, Jane.“
    “No problem, I was up and out anyway. Do you need help getting your car to the shop or anything?“
    “No, they’re supposed to be sending someone with a tow truck pretty soon, and I haven’t got anything going today that can’t be canceled. Stop back by and tell me what Shelley’s found out.“
    “I can’t, Dorothy. I’ve got Edith coming myself today. Maybe later on.“
    “You’re having Edith? Why?“
    “Well, I’m told she’s terrific and I need somebody.“
    “I keep hearing how wonderful she is, Jane, but I had her for a month once and it was a waste of money. The woman just slouched around, pretending to work. ‘A-lick-and-a-dab’ cleaning, as my mother used to say. I complained to the Happy Helper people and they sent me somebody else.“
    “How odd. Robbie Jones says she’s terrific, and so does Mary Ellen Revere. Even Joyce Greenway swears by her, and you know what a cleaning fanatic she is.”
    Dorothy laughed. “I went over once, and Joyce came to the door apologizing for taking so long. She’d been in the storeroom dusting the luggage, she told me. I thought she meant she was getting ready to go somewhere, so I said, ‘Oh, why is that?’ Do you know what she said? She said because it was Tuesday, of course.”
    Jane was still chuckling when she dropped Todd and his car pool off at the grade school. She detoured by way of the grocery store to make a quick foray for cleaning materials. She’d meant to take a careful inventory the day before, but had naturally forgotten about it in all the upset. Not knowing what she might be nearly out of, she dashed down the aisle, grabbing one of anything that might clean floors, tubs, sink stains, carpet spots, ovens, windows, even silver polish. The stuff cost a fortune. She consoled herself with the thought