Grime and Punishment

way we’d get her to cooperate with this. Don’t forget, she’s as much a criminal in her own way as the killer. She’s hardly going to willingly become bait for her own blackmail victim.“
    “Yes, but if you insist—Shelley, you can do it. You’re the best ‘insister’ I know.”
    Shelley shook her head emphatically. “That gets us to the second problem. I have a strong premonition that the police aren’t going to welcome this solution. It just doesn’t seem the tried and true method.“
    “But, Shelley, I’ve got that figured out too. This is the sneaky part you’re going to love. We don’t tell them!”
    Shelley sat back, shaking her head. “No way. We can’t stage this whole thing by ourselves. For one thing, I just want the criminal caught: I don’t want to do the catching myself.“
    “No, wait! I didn’t mean we never tell the police. I just meant we set it all up and then tell them.“
    “Hmmm—not bad. So we get the story out that the house is going to be empty with only Edith here, then we suggest to the cops that they take it from there? They can’t tell me I can’t tell people anything I want, can they? And once it’s already set up, they might use the opportunity, no matter how irregular they think it is.“
    “Sure. We’ve got nothing to lose.“
    “Jane, we have everything to lose. But I want the killer arrested so I can have my family back. All right. How do we get everybody here?“
    “I’ve got some ideas on that...”
    Within fifteen minutes they had a story worked out. “Who do we try it on first?“
    “How about Mary Ellen Revere? She’s not mad at us yet.“
    “Good enough. She’s smart. If we can fool her, we can fool anybody.”
    Shelley picked up the phone, dialed, and said, “Mary Ellen? Shelley. With all the horrible stuff that happened last week, I lost sight of the fact that we’re supposed to turn in a report on the committee’s work on that playground project. I’m afraid we really do need to have a meeting as soon as possible— That’s nice of you, but I can have it here—I’d like to try again for this Thursday night, that’s the best night for me—Yes, potluck again, just bring the same thing I assigned last week. That’s less confusing—Good. Now, there’s one little difficulty, and I’m a little embarrassed to tell you. It’s really a bit ghoulish—”
    She looked over at Jane and crossed her fingers as she went on. “Jane and I promised to take her aunt in Evanston to the doctor that day, so neither of us will be around— No, it takes both of us. The poor old dear is in a wheelchair— Yes, in Evanston. You haven’t ever heard Jane mention her? That’s funny, it seems to me that she talks about her all the time—”
    She listened for a minute, looked uncomfortable, and said, “I guess I don’t either sometimes. Now, the house will be open, of course. It’s Edith’s day. What?— She’s not? Well, she’d better come here on Thursday. I paid in advance for the first month, and the Happy Helper people are going to give me what I paid for or I’ll know the reason why!”
    Jane nervously paced around the kitchen while Shelley finished up the call. When Shelley hung up, she pounced. “It worked!“
    “She was pissed that I was going to have Edith, come hell or high water, when she couldn’t get her this week, but I think I convinced her I could do it.“
    “What was that other stuff? About me and my fictional aunt in Evanston?”
    Shelley laughed. “She said she probably hadn’t been paying attention when you mentioned her, and went on to say that she often tuned you out because you talk so much.“
    “And I thought she was hanging on my every word,“ Jane said, smiling. “All right. Who’s next?“
    “Why don’t I go down the list and call you when I’m done? You better go home before he sends the National Guard to fetch you.“
    “Right. Shelley, this is going to work, isn’t it?“
    “It better, or we’re going to both have to move to Alaska to escape our neighbors and the wrath of the police.”

    The phone rang at 10:10.
    “I’ll get it upstairs,“ Jane said, sprinting up the steps, leaving Uncle Jim and the kids looking at her like she’d gone around the bend.
    “Sorry it took me so long. I couldn’t get Suzie until a few minutes ago,“ Shelley began.
    “So, did they all buy it?“
    “All but Suzie. She just laughed and said, ‘Ah-hah! A trap!’ and when I said I had no idea what she