Grime and Punishment

cutting out coupons, Jane thought, and smiled a little. Who would have guessed a woman so glossy and professional would cut out grocery store coupons just like normal people?
    “Jane, what’s happening about that horrible murder?“ she asked, scooping up the papers with her good hand as if embarrassed at being caught at such a mundane task.
    “I don’t know and I don’t want to know,“ Jane said firmly. “It’s none of my business. It’s up to the police. I’ve got to get home,“ she said, suddenly depressed at how this thing had come to be the core of all her conversations. What did they all used to talk about?
    Shelley came over and had lunch with them, and persuaded Jim to let Jane go to the grocery store with her. Jane came back and spent the afternoon cooking. Reluctantly, Jim agreed to let Jane pick up Todd’s car pool, as long as she took Shelley along. Just as she was leaving, the red MG pulled up.
    “I just got a call from your uncle to come talk to him. Why didn’t you tell me Jim Spelling was your uncle?“
    “You didn’t ask and he isn’t really. Why? Do you know him?“
    “No, but I’ve heard of him. I’m really looking forward to hearing what he thinks of all this.”
    She let him in the house and went to get Shelley. “He’s looking forward to hearing what Uncle Jim has to say,“ she told her friend. “I don’t like it. That means he needs help.”
    Shelley was cranky. “I’m never going to get my children back. I hope my sister remembers to invite me to their graduations and weddings. I’d have them home now except for Paul. I’m concerned for their safety. He’s fanatic about it.”
    She was quiet the rest of the way. Jane crammed her grade-schoolers into the back seat and got them all dropped off without Shelley saying another word. When they finally got home, Todd scrambled out and the two women stayed in the car. The MG was gone.
    Jane broke the silence. “We have to do something, don’t we?“
    “I thought you were cured of snooping.”
    Jane lit her first cigarette of the afternoon and considered it. “I thought so too. But this isn’t getting resolved. At least when we meddled something happened, even if it was awful.“
    “You promised your uncle you’d behave.“
    “I know I did. But now we know to be more careful.“
    “So, what’ll we do?“
    “I don’t know. Let’s think about it, and I’ll come over later tonight.“
    “He’ll let you out of the house?“
    “I’ll claim I have to borrow some personal, female thing that he’ll be embarrassed to question. Of course, he’ll probably stand at the door and watch me cross the driveways. Maybe hold my hand and walk me across.”
    For the second night, the children stayed home to enjoy the rare treat of having Uncle Jim around. About eight o’clock, Jane made her escape. As she predicted, he did stand at the door and watch until she was safely inside Shelley’s house.
    “Where’s Paul?“ she whispered as she came in.
    “Not to worry. He had to go back down to the office. One of the franchisees got flooded out this afternoon and he’s wrangling with the insurance people. So, what have you come up with?”
    “You first.“
    “I asked first.“
    “Well—“ Jane sat down, elbows on the table and chin in hands. “This might sound sort of absurd, but my thinking is, nothing’s happening. Obviously everybody’s got some kind of secret, right? We’ve found out what a few of them are already, and we could go on nosing around forever and all we’d find out is more secrets— not who’s willing to kill somebody to keep them. Right?“
    “Right. Go on.“ Shelley was sitting across from her in a mirror-image attitude. She’d been nodding the whole time Jane talked.
    “So, if we go on, we might just make everybody mad without solving anything. And it’s possible—probable—that we’ve already questioned the person responsible, and it would be a waste of time too. Shelley, I don’t think this is a confirmed murderer, somebody with a mad bloodlust. It could be a once-in-a-lifetime thing. So, the way I see it, there’s one logical way to find out who tried to kill Edith and accidentally killed the other woman.”
    Shelley nodded again. “To give her another shot at it...“
    “Exactly. All we have to do is recreate the same circumstances. That’s what you came up with too, wasn’t it?“
    “Yes. But there are two big problems. First, Edith isn’t working this week. There’s no